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The European Commission has dropped previously announced interim measures against Lufthansa as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation, it said on Thursday. The Commission said last month that it would order the German carrier to reinstate charter airline Condor's access to Lufthansa's short-haul network to feed Condor's Frankfurt-New York route. The order related to an investigation of a joint venture between Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air Canada, which the EU executive believes could restrict competition for flights between Frankfurt and New York. The Commission had said Lufthansa should reinstate arrangements agreed in June 2024 that provided feeder traffic to Condor to and from Frankfurt, which had ceased to apply in December. Further consideration of all evidence, however, had shown that not all legal conditions for the interim measures were met, the Commission said on Thursday. "This comes without prejudice to the ongoing investigation in the main proceedings," it added.<br/>

South Africa’s government has appointed John Lamola as the group CE of South African Airways, cementing a position he has held on an interim basis for close to three years. But the decision is proving controversial, after the country’s second-largest political party claimed that the airline’s board preferred Kenya Airways chief Allan Kilavuka. The Democratic Alliance insists the appointment of Lamola “raises serious concerns about the integrity and transparency of the process”, suggesting it was politically-motivated to favour the rival African National Congress party. It adds that it plans to submit an application to access minutes of relevant meetings. Lamola was approved for the post by South Africa’s cabinet on 26 February. Transport minister Barbara Creecy – the shareholder minister of SAA since August last year – has defended the selection process, stating that she was informed of three candidates with a request to approve one of them. Creecy says one of these candidates, the head of another airline operating in Africa, is not a South African citizen and expressed her concerns to the SAA chair regarding the “potential complexities” – relating to security clearances – in appointing a non-South African to the CE post. The ministry says it consulted South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of the African National Congress, on the best way to proceed.<br/>

Pilots first heard about a Chinese live-fire naval exercise near Australia last week when already in the air, receiving messages that forced some to change paths through a busy air corridor, satellite text messages to and from pilots seen by Reuters show. The incident highlights how airlines are increasingly having to react at short notice to geopolitical disruptions and military hazards, such as missile and drone barrages between Israel and Iran last year. It also shows how China's military, in its first drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, is raising tensions by being more assertive across the Indo-Pacific region, according to Western defence analysts, including near Taiwan. China has said it gave adequate warning to Australian and New Zealand authorities about the exercise. Planes first heard about a live-fire drill when a Virgin Australia pilot picked up a Chinese navy broadcast on the 121.5 MHz emergency radio channel pilots use to communicate between planes at 9.58 a.m. Sydney time last Friday (2258 GMT on Thursday), according to Australian officials. The pilot reported the broadcast to an air traffic controller, who passed the message to Australia's military, according to Airservices Australia. "At that stage we didn't know whether it was a potential hoax or real," said Peter Curran, deputy CEO of the air traffic control agency, at a parliamentary hearing this week. Air traffic control started sending hazard alerts to nearby aircraft, including a Singapore Airlines flight from Christchurch to Singapore and an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Melbourne around 11:30 a.m., according to previously unreported text messages. Half an hour later, the Air New Zealand pilots told the ground: "Hi, lots of chatter on 121.5 including Chinese navy. Same pos[ition] and ht/radius as you advised. Cheers." An airline dispatcher told the Air New Zealand pilots 20 minutes later there was "unannounced live firing in Tasman to the nth of you by Chinese military." "Below is all we know. Broadcast on 121.5... just FYI we have been notified of a Chinese live firing exercise as follows. Posn. 37S 15702E. Radius 40nm. SFC-45000. Until 0300Z. No ack required." The messages were sent between aircraft and ground stations using an Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) system.<br/>

Asiana Airlines expects to complete the transfer of its cargo unit to compatriot Air Incheon by 10 June, with aircraft and employees to be transferred to the latter operator. The timeline was disclosed following a shareholders’ meeting on 25 February, where the deal was overwhelmingly approved, marking the formal completion of the divestment. Asiana will transfer 11 freighters – comprising a single 767F and 10 747Fs – as well as 800 employees from the cargo division to Air Incheon. On 16 January, Asiana signed the contract for the divestment, in a deal valued at around W470b ($322m). The divestment of Asiana’s cargo unit had been a crucial pre-requisite to gain European regulatory approval for the merger between Asiana and Korean Air. The European Commission conditionally approved the merger in February 2024, on the basis that parts of Korean Air’s passenger network to Europe, as well as Asiana’s cargo business, would be given off. Meanwhile, Air Incheon in January outlined its expansion plans following the acquisition of Asiana’s cargo business. The cargo operator is looking to grow its long-haul operations following the divestment, and has applied to operate scheduled services on the Seoul-Anchorage-Chicago routes, from which it would also serve Dallas-Seattle and Atlanta.<br/>

The airline has launched a marketing campaign to highlight the improved connection times and to raise awareness among UK travellers about the destinations they can conveniently fly to via India. The campaign runs until March. Air India has optimised its international network to offer faster connections to travellers from the UK and rest of Europe to Australia and South-East Asia via India and vice versa, reducing connection times to around 2.5 hours. The airline has launched a marketing campaign called ‘Via’ to highlight these improved connection times and promote India as a world-class hub. The campaign running until March, is launched to raise awareness among UK travellers about the destinations they can conveniently fly to via India. “India’s geographical advantage and impressive airport infrastructure, combined with Air India’s robust route network, offer convenient one-stop access for travellers from the West to East and vice-versa”, said Nipun Aggarwal, CCO, Air India.<br/>