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Following recent scares involving pilots, and as a record number of travelers take to the skies, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told "CBS Mornings" that the company works to make sure pilots' mental health is "in a good place." Kirby said United pilots undergo training every nine months, including simulator sessions designed to prepare them for scenarios that he said will hopefully never happen. The training, combined with the airline's policies, aim to ensure pilots are mentally and physically fit to handle the stresses of flying. "We have all kinds of policies in place where people can, whether it's a mental health or substance abuse, anything that's going on in their lives, illness, even fatigue, that they can call off and not come to work without penalties, without repercussions, and they have really good protections to ensure that that doesn't happen," said Kirby. Last month, an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot was accused of trying to shut down a plane's engines midflight while catching a ride in the cockpit from Washington state to San Francisco. There have also been a number of pilots speaking out about not seeking mental health treatment for fear of losing their jobs. In response, the FAA recently announced it is creating a new committee that will examine pilot mental health and some challenges pilots face in reporting mental health issues to the agency.<br/>

At the Annual Aviation Excellence Awards held in Abu Dhabi, CAPA- Center for Aviation recognized Avianca as "Airline Turnaround of the Year", rewarding the reinvention of its business model, its remarkable recovery in the last three years since its restructuring, as well as its excellent operational results and now being part of a larger aviation group in Latin America. Adrian Neuhauser, CEO of Avianca said: “Avianca's turnaround has been the result of the hard work and commitment of each and every one of our 13.000 employees; the trust of our investors, who have bestowed on us their capital and allowed us to build and empower a world-class management team to reinvent one of the world's longest-lived airlines; the support of our partners, including travel agencies, equipment manufacturers, lessors, suppliers, airports and authorities; and, of course, the loyalty and commitment of our passengers, who every day put their travel in our hands. We are grateful to all of them for their key role in our success and look forward to continuing to work together for many years to come. A special thanks to CAPA for this recognition, which is tremendously meaningful to our management team as we leave behind our years of restructuring."<br/>

Lufthansa and Italy sought EU antitrust approval on Thursday for the German airline to buy a controlling minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways, with sources saying that Lufthansa is prepared to cede slots at Milan airport to address competition concerns. Lufthansa will acquire a 41% stake in ITA for E325m as part of a capital increase, a Lufthansa company spokesperson said. This followed an agreement in June between the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Lufthansa on the minority stake buy. The deal also contains options that enable Lufthansa to take over remaining shares in ITA at a later date. Once EU approval is secured, ITA Airways and Lufthansa Group will immediately begin collaboration at a commercial and operational level, the spokesperson said. The Italian Treasury said it made a joint request with Lufthansa for approval of the deal. The European Commission will decide by Jan. 15 whether to clear the deal, according to a filing on its website. It can either clear the deal with or without remedies after the preliminary review or open a four-month long investigation if it has serious concerns. Lufthansa and ITA Airways could hand over take-off and landing rights at Milan-Linate Airport, sources told Reuters earlier on Thursday.<br/>

Deutsche Lufthansa AG shelved a planned sale of a minority stake in its maintenance and repair subsidiary, the world’s biggest business of its kind that had attracted interest from several private-equity bidders. The German carrier said that instead of selling a part of Lufthansa Technik, the company will implement its growth plans “independently,” according to a stock-exchange filing. The company said it’s seeing opportunities particularly from the increasing number of engines that are coming in for maintenance. “In view of the ongoing manufacturer problems — especially with engines — the strategic value of our Lufthansa Technik as an integral part of the Lufthansa Group has again increased significantly in recent months,” Lufthansa Technik said in a separate release. Lufthansa had considered selling as much as 20% of Technik, valuing the entire subsidiary at about E8b, people familiar with the talks said. The plan to retain the asset is a surprise reversal for Europe’s largest airline group, which has been selling assets while seeking to expand its airline operation with a bid for Italy’s ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia. A sale “could have helped unlock hidden value within the group,” said Neil Glynn, an analyst aviation research firm Air Control Tower. “However, it may also have injected additional governance complexity.”<br/>

Scandinavian airline SAS reported on Thursday a bigger than expected pretax loss in the fourth quarter as high fuel costs and a weak Swedish currency weighed on its results. Long-struggling SAS, which is under bankruptcy protection and bringing in new owners as part of a rescue plan, continued to underperform competitors such as Norwegian Air and British Airways-owner IAG. The Swedish-Danish carrier reported a pretax loss of 2.11b Swedish crowns ($204m) in the August-October quarter against a year-earlier 1.70b loss. "This report is a very clear testament that SAS is lacking way behind its competitors earnings wise," said Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen, who had expected a loss of 1.51b crowns. "Competitors all around Europe are booking record results at the moment, and here's a huge deficit ... so nothing really positive or anything to be excited about in this report," he added. Norwegian Air and IAG posted forecast-beating profits in the July-September quarter. CEO Anko van der Werff said the larger four quarter loss was primarily due to the weakness of the Swedish crown. "If there's anything we ask Santa for this year it's lower inflation and of course a stronger krona in 2024," he said, adding he still believed the airline would achieve a pretax profit for the full 2024 fiscal year.<br/>

Airline SAS is set to complete its US Chapter 11 process by June following expected regulatory approvals in Europe, according to CEO Anko van der Werff. That means the process is going according to plan, the CEO said in an interview on Thursday after posting fourth-quarter earnings that saw its adjusted pretax loss widen 30% year-on-year. The Scandinavian carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and in October reached a $1.2b refinancing deal with a group of investors including Air France-KLM and Castlelake. A bankruptcy court in New York signed off on the financing earlier this month. If SAS was an American company, it would likely have emerged from the Chapter 11 process in February, van der Werff said by phone. “But we also have to go through a Swedish reorganization, which we’ll do straight after in February or March, and then we’ll have to wait for regulatory approval from the European Commission. So all in all, I expect it to take until June or so,” the CEO said. The E833m in Danish and Swedish state aid from 2020 was approved by European Union state-aid watchdogs Wednesday, after an earlier approval was struck down by an EU court. The decision was expected by SAS, van der Werff said, adding that “everything is on track, really” in terms of the regulatory processes.<br/>

Turkish Airlines and Vietnam Airlines yesterday signed an agreement to cooperate on air cargo with the possibility of forming a joint venture in the future. Following the agreement, the two airlines said they would examine the potential launch of an air cargo JV providing customers with the “benefits of a larger, faster network with enhanced direct flights, a wider range of destinations, and increased frequencies”. “Combining the resources of the two national airlines will support increased efficiency in the use of their aircraft capacities and further boost their position in global competition,” the carriers said. Dang Ngoc Hoa, chairman of Vietnam Airlines, said Turkish Airlines would benefit from expanding its network to previously limited areas such as Oceania and Northeast Asia through Vietnam’s central geographical location as a transit point. “Furthermore, by using freighters and connecting to Turkish Airlines’ global network of 345 destinations around the world, Vietnam Airlines will be able to significantly expand its scale. We hope this cooperation will facilitate Vietnam’s position and advancement towards becoming one of the leading logistics centres in the Asia-Pacific region,” he added. Turkish Airlines CE Bilal Ekşi said: “Asia is one of our most important markets. Our efforts to increase our presence on this prominent continent continue unabated with our competent teams and R&D activities.”<br/>