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United Airlines has been sued by two longtime flight attendants who say they were excluded from highly coveted assignments to work on charter flights for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team because of their racial background and age. In a complaint filed on Wednesday with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Dawn Todd and Darby Quezada said they were passed over in favor of flight attendants who were "white, young, thin women who are predominately blond and blue-eyed," and fit a "certain look" that the Dodgers players liked. Todd, 50, is Black, and Quezada, 44, is of Mexican, Black and Jewish descent. Both said they have worked for United for more than 15 years, and are seeking unspecified damages for alleged discrimination and harassment. In a statement, United said: "United fosters an environment of inclusion and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We believe this lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously." The Los Angeles Times reported the lawsuit earlier on Friday. The Dodgers are not a defendant. A team spokesperson said the Dodgers do not comment on pending litigation. Todd and Quezada said they had been chosen for the Dodgers charter flight program, which could offer double or triple the compensation of standard flights, after United faced a similar lawsuit in 2020 over its staffing of athletic teams' flights. They said matters changed last year when several white flight attendants were added to the program, eventually leading to Todd getting fewer assignments and Quezada being removed from the program entirely. The complaint said that after Todd objected to being bypassed despite her seniority, United retaliated against her and Quezada, including when employees and managers called Todd the "flight's maid" and demeaned her in flights and meetings. <br/>

Portugal's president on Friday blocked a government decree that kicked off the privatisation of airline TAP, citing poor transparency and doubts about the future role of the state, and demanded urgent clarifications so as not to delay the process. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that TAP was bailed-out by taxpayers and has a strategic value for the country, so there must be "maximum transparency in the entire process". The government approved the sale of at least 51% of TAP a month ago and said it was committed to finding a partner airline that would boost its growth, Lisbon's hub and others airports. TAP's privatisation has already attracted interest from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG. Rebelo de Sousa said that the decree "raised multiple doubts" and he was returning it to the government, adding that his doubts "can be clarified without too much delay, without compromising the urgency of the process". Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in a statement the concerns and that they would be "duly considered". Rebelo de Sousa said he wants clarification on "the state's future effective monitoring and intervention capacity as the diploma doesn't expressly foresee or allow, in subsequent administrative decisions, any role for the state". The president criticised the fact that the diploma allows TAP to "sell or acquire, even before the decision to sell, any type of asset, without the slightest precision or criteria", adding that "full transparency is not guaranteed".<br/>

Air France-KLM sees SAS’s eventual membership of its transatlantic joint venture as the “biggest benefit” from its investment in the carrier, arguing that the Scandinavian operator has been “held back” from fully capitalising on its strengths. Speaking during the group’s Q3 earnings call on 27 October, Air France-KLM chief executive Ben Smith said the initial benefits from taking a 19.9% stake in the Scandinavian carrier as part of a consortium – a deal which is still subject to regulatory and court approvals – will come from it “switching from Star Alliance to SkyTeam and the commercial relations we can put in place”. But the subsequent step would be for SAS to become part of the transatlantic joint venture between SkyTeam carriers Air France, KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic, he says. “So we would obviously need anti-trust immunity from the US [Department of Transport] and the equivalent from the European Commission, but that would be the biggest benefit that we see in SAS,” Smith states. Crucially, Smith’s view is that SAS’s operation “completely underperforms from a long-haul perspective” because the carrier is not closer to its alliance stablemates. “The opportunity with a friendlier group, a larger group, which can capitalise on the position we already have [in Scandinavia] and eventually hopefully come into our joint venture should position us to pull and attract traffic from the other two big joint ventures,” he explains. Those two rival joint ventures are the Oneworld-focused grouping, which includes British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Finnair, and a Star-focused grouping, which includes Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air Canada but not SAS.<br/>

Lufthansa Group is aiming to recruit more than 2,000 pilots over the next two years in order to meet increasing demand. The company – which is commencing services with its new City Airlines operation next year – has embarked on a promotional campaign to source more cockpit crew. Lufthansa Group says the campaign is intended to attract direct-entry pilots as well as potential trainees, and is particularly looking to encourage women to join. “The group’s cockpit crew corps is drawn from a wealth of paths and backgrounds,” says the company. “With the range of employment models available, a pilot’s position at the Lufthansa Group can be readily tailored to a wide selection of life circumstances and situations. <br/>The company is looking to enlist over 2,000 pilots by the end of 2025. For potential cadets Lufthansa Group offers a two-year course through European Flight Academy, with theory training in Bremen or Zurich and practical work in Rostock-Laage, Grenchen or the US site in Goodyear. Lufthansa Group says its various airlines “give priority” to graduates of the academy when looking for pilots. The company adds that the campaign – which it calls ‘Flybig’ – plans “further promotional waves” over the next year.<br/>

The board of Asiana Airlines, Korea's second-largest air carrier, plans to decide Monday on whether to sell its cargo business, as Korean Air Co. seeks to win antitrust approval from European Union regulators for its takeover of the rival. The EU antitrust regulators have raised concerns that Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana may restrict competition in the markets for passenger and cargo air transport services between the EU and Korea. The board meeting scheduled to be held in the afternoon is expected to be watched closely by stakeholders, as the outcome could potentially make or break the acquisition deal that has been pursued for the past three years. Ahead of the meeting, Jin Kwang-ho, head of Asiana's safety and security division and one of Asiana's two internal board members, has offered to resign citing personal reasons, according to the company. With the absence of Jin, five remaining board members -- one internal and four external members -- will determine whether to proceed with the proposed sale of the cargo division. Korean Air, the larger of Korea's two full-service airlines, was also set to convene its own board meeting Monday to discuss remedies to address concerns raised by the European Commission (EC), the EU's executive body. Korean Air plans to submit formal remedies by the end of the month. It is widely believed that the plan to sell Asiana's cargo business and divest landing slots for four European cities will be included.<br/>

Shares in South Korea’s Asiana Airlines rose as much as 24% on Monday, backed by expectations that a proposed merger with Korean Air Lines would proceed as board members met to decide whether to sell off its cargo service. If approved, the move might help South Korea’s biggest carrier Korean Airlines to win European Union antitrust approval for acquiring Asiana Airlines. Asiana Airlines said on Friday that it would hold a board meeting on Monday to discuss whether to accept Korean Air’s proposal to the EU, according to its regulatory filing. Reuters reported earlier that Korean Air would offer to sell Asiana’s air cargo business and divest routes to four EU cities. Asiana had no additional comment on the board meeting. Separately, Korean Air will convene a board meeting on Monday, said a company official who declined to share further details. At the board meeting, the carrier is expected to finalise a revised proposal to gain EU approval for its merger with Asiana Airlines, Maeil Business Newspaper reported.<br/>

China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines each reported first quarterly profits in more than three years on Friday, as a pickup in international flights complemented a recovery in the domestic market. The results, coupled with similarly encouraging figures from Air China, are helping to fan industry hopes for China's big three state carriers to finally step out of the difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. China Southern, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, reported Q3 profit of 4.2b yuan ($573.89m), compared with a loss of 1.0b yuan in the prior quarter, and a loss of 6.1b in the year-earlier quarter. Shanghai-headquartered China Eastern booked a quarterly net profit of 3.6b yuan, compared with a loss of 2.4b yuan in the previous three months, and a loss of 9.4b yuan in the year-earlier period. The Hong Kong-listed shares of flagship Air China rose almost 6% in their biggest jump in four months, but gave back some gains to close up 4.7% after the airline reported its first quarterly profit in nearly four years. Air China said Q3 net profit was 4.24b yuan on Thursday, versus a loss of 600m yuan in the previous quarter and 8.67bi yuan in the year-ago period. The aviation regulator said on Friday that air passenger numbers in Q3 reached 180m, or 2.6% higher than the level pre-pandemic level in 2019, and a record for any quarter. However, the number of international flights, especially to developed countries, is still markedly smaller than in 2019, said Li Hanming, an independent expert on Chinese aviation. "Those routes are the most lucrative," Li said. Air China and China Southern did not give a breakdown of revenue contributions from domestic and international travel. Air China's profit followed 15 quarters of losses, brokerage Jeffries said in a client report, and turned earnings positive for the nine months of this year with a profit of nearly 800m yuan.<br/>