American Airlines said Tuesday it will ax its Caracas to New York route on April 4 due to low demand just over three months after reinstating it. The surprise move comes amid a years-long battle between American Airlines Group and the Venezuelan government in which the world's largest airline says it has not been able to repatriate revenue. In January, the Forth Worth-based company wrote off US$592m which it said was stuck in Venezuela due to the government's failure to exchange it for hard currency. President Nicolas Maduro's cash-squeezed socialist government has said it is negotiating solutions. "We are suspending service on the JFK-Caracas route until market conditions improve," said Martha Pantin, a spokeswoman for the airline. "This suspension is due to demand not being strong enough to support this route." Since reinstating the flight in December, many seats have remained unfilled except around holiday periods.<br/>
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LATAM Airlines posted a net loss of US$219.2m for 2015, saying the sharp depreciation of Brazil's real currency hurt its bottom line. Chile-headquartered LATAM Airlines said that for Q4 it saw a net loss of US$16.3m and that it was reducing its 2016-2018 fleet commitment by US$2.9b.<br/>
Two years after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared, answers remain elusive with investigators yet to arrive at a conclusion over what happened to the jet. The international team looking into the aircraft's disappearance said in an interim statement released on Tuesday it was still reviewing key information. "The team is continuing to work towards finalising its analysis, findings, conclusions and safety recommendations on eight relevant areas associated with the disappearance of flight MH370," the team said in a statement by lead investigator Kok Soo Choon. The team is led by Malaysia and includes investigators from the United States, Britain, China, France and Australia. Wreckage and impact information were being considered based on the discovery of a wing part in July last year, the team said. The flaperon, washed up on Reunion island off Madagascar, has been the only confirmed piece of wreckage from the aircraft to be found though Malaysia is investigating two new pieces of debris found in Mozambique and Reunion. The team said the eight areas being looked into included the plane's diversion from its flight plan, crew profiles, airworthiness and maintenance of the aircraft as well as the aircraft cargo consignment. The team said a full report of its work would only be released in the event wreckage of the aircraft is found or the search ended, whichever comes first.<br/>
Qantas started its expanded schedule out of Tasmania this week, with two QantasLink Boeing 717s now based at Hobart to facilitate an expanded flight schedule. Having the two aircraft based Hobart has allowed QantasLink to offer early morning departures from the Tasmanian capital to both Sydney and Melbourne. The new schedule, which was first announced in September 2015, involves Qantas operating 13 return flights a week on the Sydney-Hobart route and 33 return services between Melbourne and Hobart. The increase from 35 to 46 return flights a week into and out of the Tasmanian capital added an extra 2,420 seats to Hobart each week, the airline said. In September, Qantas said 10 pilot and 15 cabin crew positions would be added to its Hobart base to support the extra flying.<br/>