U antitrust regulators are asking whether rivals proposed by British Airways owner IAG to take over some of Spanish airline Air Europa's routes are capable of operating them and competing with IAG, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. IAG, which also owns Spanish airline Iberia, last week offered fresh concessions in a bid to allay the European Commission's worries about the impact of the deal on Spanish short- and long-haul flights. These included making available 52% of Air Europa's 2023 flights to rivals, another source said. Ryanair, Volotea, Iberojet and Binter have signed memoranda of understanding with IAG for short-haul flights and Avianca and World2Fly for long-haul. The details of the MOUs were not disclosed. The EU competition watchdog has asked rivals about the suitability and market strategy of the potential remedy takers, the people said. The commission wants to know whether the rivals have the financial capability to operate the routes, and they have until this week to provide feedback, one of the people said. The commission, which has set an Aug. 20 deadline for its decision, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>
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British scientists have detected a signal that could help solve the mystery of the lost Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The researchers from Cardiff analysed data from hydrophones – underwater microphones – which picked up a six-second signal recorded around the time the plane is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean after it ran out of fuel. They have proposed further tests to establish whether the sounds could finally help identify the resting place of the Boeing 777 aircraft which has been missing since March 8, 2014, when it disappeared with 239 people on board. Despite extensive international search efforts, the location of the aircraft, which inexplicably deviated from its course, remains unknown and has become one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. What is known is that a 200-tonne aircraft crashing at a speed of 200 metres a second releases the kinetic energy equivalent to a small earthquake. This would be large enough to be recorded by hydrophones thousands of kilometres away. There are two hydroacoustic stations able to detect such a signal. One is in Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia and the second is in the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. They were set up as part of a surveillance regime to oversee the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. Both locations were operational around the time MH370 is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean. These stations are located within tens of minutes’ signal travel time from the seventh arc, a search area 1920km west of Perth pinpointed by the last communication between a satellite and the plane. In their research, the Cardiff University team has identified one signal that coincides with the narrow time frame when the aircraft could have crashed into the ocean on March 8. It was recorded at the Cape Leeuwin station. But this signal was not detected at the Diego Garcia station. Story has more.<br/>