Search teams retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from EgyptAir flight MS804 Thursday in a breakthrough for investigators seeking to explain what caused the plane to plunge into the sea. The Airbus A320 crashed into the Mediterranean early May 19 on its way from Paris to Cairo. Since then, search teams have worked against the clock to locate the wreckage and recover the two black box recorders crucial to explaining what went wrong, before they stop emitting signals in about a week. Egypt's investigation committee said that a specialist vessel was forced to salvage the device in stages because it was extensively damaged, but was able to retrieve the memory unit. Egypt's public prosecutor ordered that the recovered device be handed over to Egyptian air accident investigators for analysis. <br/>
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THAI plans to open a new route to Tehran in October and a month later resume service to Moscow, which was suspended during the company's restructuring, THAI president Charamporn Jotikasthira said. The thrice-weekly flights between Bangkok and the capital city of Iran will start Oct 1. Four flights per week between Bangkok and Moscow will restart Nov 1. "THAI is confident more passengers will be drawn from these emerging markets," Charamporn said, noting inbound tourists from Iran have strong purchasing power while Moscow could serve as an important aviation gateway as passenger traffic from Russia to Thailand continues to increase. The carrier stopped flying to Moscow last year as part of its internal restructuring plan launched on the back of the airline's heavy losses. <br/>
Avianca Holdings is not for sale and talks with other airlines are efforts to look for possible partnerships that will speed up growth, the president of the company's board and its top shareholder said Thursday, after recent reports the airline was up for grabs. Sources have said that United Continental, Delta Air Lines and China's HNA Group are interested in purchasing Avianca and Avianca Brasil, both controlled by German Efromovich's Synergy Group. "Avianca is not for sale. Alliance conversations happen constantly every day," Efromovich said. Deals with other airlines could allow Avianca to renovate its fleet of planes with more efficient aircraft sooner, he said. The company is also examining a possible reorganisation that may reduce executive positions, Efromovich said. <br/>
South African Airways said it didn’t sub-lease planes at a discount to low-cost unit Mango Airlines, reversing an earlier statement after the budget carrier’s outgoing CE denied it was subsidised. While SAA did sub-lease a number of aircraft to Mango over the past 10 years, an assessment of the transactions in March showed that “all such agreements had been concluded on a full cost-recovery basis,” the carrier said late Wednesday. “These aircraft were accordingly not leased at a discount.” SAA said June 11 it sub-leased planes to Mango at a “substantially discounted cost” and paid the leasing company the market rate, an arrangement that could have given the budget carrier an advantage in South Africa’s competitive market. <br/>