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A US appeals court has ruled that United pilot instructors have failed to show that their union's decision to grant pilots a larger share of a nine-figure backpay settlement with the airline was discriminatory. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said the Airline Pilots Association International's (ALPA) decision was reasonable because the pilot instructors had received considerably larger raises than pilots when United agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement in 2012. The proposed class action stemmed from a $225m settlement that Chicago-based United entered into with ALPA that year to compensate pilots for a three-year period when their previous bargaining agreement had lapsed and they did not receive raises. ALPA, which is represented by in-house counsel, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did the plaintiffs' lawyers at Myron Cherry & Associates. ALPA's bargaining agreement with United expired in 2010, and a new contract finalized nearly three years later granted larger raises to pilot instructors than to line pilots. Story has full details.<br/>

EU competition regulators will investigate whether a E3.2b restructuring plan for ailing Portuguese airline TAP is proportionate and complies with EU state aid rules, the EC said on Friday. The overhaul plan involves around 2,000 job cuts by 2022, pay cuts of up to 25%, a reduced fleet and the sale of non-core assets. The EU watchdog said it would investigate whether TAP or market operators would provide a sufficient contribution to the restructuring cost and also whether measures would be adopted to offset any negative impact on competition. The Commission also re-adopted an earlier decision clearing a E1.2b rescue loan for TAP after Europe's second-highest court in May annulled its approval because regulators had not provided adequate reasons. Ryanair had challenged the TAP rescue loan, which forms part of the E3.2b restructuring aid and will be converted into equity. Portugal's infrastructure ministry said the EU probe would focus on assessing the compatibility of the aid with the rules for supporting companies in difficulty. "This is an important step for the European Commission to make more solid, namely from a legal point of view, the solutions that may be found to ensure the future viability of TAP without dependence on public resources," the ministry said.<br/>

Singapore Airlines has been ranked the top brand that people in Singapore would recommend to their friends and colleagues, according to a recent study. The flag carrier came ahead of several other international brands, including Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, which ranked second, and third-placer Amazon Prime. Streaming service Netflix came in fourth and e-commerce platform Shopee came in fifth. The study by British-based independent research firm YouGov measured the percentage of a brand's customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague, taking into account metrics such as advertising awareness and customer satisfaction. Data from June 1 last year to May 31 was used. YouGov said factors such as customer experience, brand image, brand values, emotion and consumer personality play a pivotal role in determining whether someone is likely to recommend a brand or not. SIA's vice-president of public affairs Siva Govindasamy said: "We are very proud of this recognition, which comes as we gradually restore services amid the debilitating impact of the pandemic on our business."<br/>

Air New Zealand has appointed three new directors to its board. Alison Gerry, Claudia Batten and Paul Goulter will take up the positions from their approval at the airline's annual shareholder meeting later this year. Chair Dame Therese Walsh said the appointments would provide further digital, strategic and employment relations expertise to support the airline as it moves onto the next phase of its strategic recovery from Covid-19. "Alison Gerry is currently a director at ANZ Bank New Zealand, Infratil Limited, is the founding Chair of Sharesies and is a director at Suncorp New Zealand," said Walsh. "The airline will benefit from her extensive experience in governance, capital management and audit and risk with those companies and via previous directorships at Spark, TVNZ, Kiwibank and Queenstown and Wellington Airports," says Dame Therese." Batten is the current chair of Serko, a director at Vista Group and the digital advisor to the Westpac New Zealand board. Goulter is the national secretary of NZEI Te Riu Roa (New Zealand's largest education union) and a director of the Co-operative Bank. Walsh said the appointments will fill the vacancies created by the retirement of long-serving directors Jan Dawson, Rob Jager and Linda Jenkinson.<br/>