Tensions over how to characterize the findings of a probe into an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash two years ago have prompted US investigators to consider taking the unusual step of issuing separate comments with their own conclusions, according to people familiar with the probe. The Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau said Wednesday it plans to release a final report on the fatal crash of the Boeing jet in the “near future” after lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 pandemic hampered the investigation. The work is in the final stages, the Transport Ministry said on its Facebook page Wednesday, without giving a publication date. The update coincided with the two-year anniversary of the Ethiopian Airlines jet disaster outside Addis Ababa, which killed all 157 people on board. Looming in the background is disagreement over findings in the report, said two people familiar with the behind-the-scenes activity. The US NTSB has been concerned about pilot actions during the fatal flight and how systems on the jet should be described, said one of the people. The Ethiopian report was still being discussed between local investigators and external stakeholders, said a third person with knowledge of the matter in Ethiopia. The NTSB continues to work with Ethiopian investigators “to assist them with completing the investigation, which includes reviewing their draft final report and providing our comments,” the US agency said. “In accordance with the provisions in Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, all investigative information will be released by Ethiopian authorities.”<br/>
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Lufthansa is planning to launch an asset disposal programme as early as summer with the sale of its E1b Airplus unit as the German carrier seeks to raise cash to emerge from a government bailout, people close to the matter said. Lufthansa is working with Goldman Sachs on the divestiture of the business travel expenses manager, the sources said, adding that the summer timing of the auction will depend on bookings picking up after lockdown restrictions ease. CFO Remco Steenbergen said last week that Lufthansa will evaluate strategic options for Airplus and the international business of its caterer LSG once it is able to realise the full value of these businesses. Lufthansa is also considering a listing or stake sale of maintenance unit Lufthansa Technik, Steenbergen said, adding that a such deal would be complex as it would need to ensure Lufthansa's continued access to know-how and intellectual property and not have negative repercussions on relationships with customers.<br/>
ANA and Japan Airlines have stopped accepting new reservations for some of their international flights in an effort to tackle the spread of novel coronavirus variants. The two airlines decided on the reservation halt in response to a request from the transport ministry to reduce the number of people entering Japan via international flights as a border control measure, company officials said Wednesday. New reservations were suspended for all of ANA’s international flights that arrive in Japan and for JAL’s Japan-bound flights from Britain, Germany and France, where coronavirus variants are believed to be widespread, officials said. The suspension will be in place at least until March 21 for ANA flights and until the end of March for JAL flights. ANA may maintain the measure beyond its date.<br/>
Personal and leisure travel will return from the second half of this year as borders reopen to tourists hungry to be free again and to reunite with families and friends, the director of the IATA said. Alexandre de Juniac said the recovery in business travel will be slower, and the actual volume of travel by the year end will still be low compared with the pre-Covid-19 period in 2019. "We will likely start seeing a change in the air travel landscape after May or June this year," he added. "We at Iata are already working with states to design and plan protocols and road maps for the reopening of borders." Key among these protocols is Iata's Travel Pass, a mobile health verification app which electronically captures a traveller's vaccination history and Covid-19 test results for cross-border safety checks. Singapore Airlines has been the first to officially announce that it will begin testing the Iata Travel Pass on flights from Singapore to London. Beginning Monday, passengers on that route using Apple iOS-enabled phones will be able to download the Travel Pass app and create a digital identification with their photo and passport information.<br/>
It is a mistake to believe that business travel demand will be fundamentally altered by the Covid-19 pandemic, even if its recovery will lag the return of leisure markets, according to United CE Scott Kirby. Acknowledging that his view ”is not the consensus” and that “almost everyone disagrees”, Kirby states during a CAPA Live event Thursday that predictions regarding the “death of business travel” are likely to be proven wrong, and that is ”ultimately” going to come back. “People were having this conversation 20, 25 years ago when video conferencing first started,” he states. “It was wrong then and it’s wrong [today].” Rather, he describes the situation as “a question about human nature”. Business travel “is not transactional”, he explains. “It’s about relationships.”<br/>