Lufthansa stuck to its forecast for higher earnings this year as a strong start to 2016 will help the German carrier offset a series of headwinds to travel demand. “The guidance remains what it is,” CEO Carsten Spohr said Monday. “We have a little bit of a buffer from the first months of the year, when performance was better than planned.” Lufthansa forecast that adjusted earnings before interest and taxes this year will be “slightly higher” than 2015’s E1.82b ($2b). Analysts have lowered their expectations for the company in recent weeks and are now predicting adjusted Ebit to fall to E1.77b, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. In addition to tourists wary after recent terror attacks, the UK’s vote to leave the EU has raised concerns about recession hitting travel demand. Airlines have been hard hit by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit because of the volatility of demand. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary last week said the discount carrier would “keep lowering fares to keep people flying” following the pound’s drop. Immediately after the vote, British Airways owner IAG SA cut its 2016 earnings outlook because of the likely impact of exchange-rate changes. After Lufthansa flew 3.3% fewer passengers in May, “June was in line with expectations, not super,” said Spohr, who cut financial forecasts twice in 2014, his first year as CEO. After reaching a “satisfactory” result in a mediation with its cabin crew union, Spohr said he is “optimistic” Lufthansa will reach a deal with pilots by the end of this month in a conflict that has caused strikes since 2014. “Lufthansa’s biggest issue is the negotiations with the pilots, and Spohr sounded fairly confident on those today,” said Jochen Rothenbacher, an analyst at Equinet Bank AG in Frankfurt. “Reiterating the profit guidance is also a positive.”<br/>
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SIA is counting down to going where no carrier has gone before. The airline will start its "Capital Express" service in September which will link Wellington, Canberra and Singapore four times a week. It will be the first time the Australasian cities have been linked by direct flights and the first ever international services out of Canberra. Driving the project from New Zealand is Simon Turcotte, country GM. "We've done our sums and we looked at it for many years. I think at this point of time the figures add up - it makes sense for us to do it and there's possibility to do it on a profitable basis and now is the time to make that investment and give it a go.' The airline will use a 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200 aircraft, with 38 business class seats and 228 economy class seats. The 35-year-old says the Capital Express is part of a strategy of investing heavily in New Zealand and Australia. "As a network carrier we're always looking out for opportunities and studying options world wide - we see Southwest Pacific as a key part of our network," he said.<br/>
A South American airline is asking its employees to be on the lookout for a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was resettled in Uruguay after being freed by US authorities. The alert about Syrian native Abu Wa'el Dhiab adds to a growing mystery about his whereabouts. Uruguayan authorities have insisted for weeks that he is visiting neighboring Brazil and that as a refugee he is entitled to leave Uruguay, but the Brazilian government has said there is no record of Dhiab entering the country. Danilo Alves, a spokesman for Avianca Airlines, said Monday that the alert was issued internally to employees, but declined to give any more details. The alert, published by the Argentine web news portal Infobae, warns employees that Dhiab may be using a fake passport. The image of the alert posted by Infobae says the information came from Brazil's anti-terrorism police. Belela Herrera, a former Uruguayan deputy foreign minister who is a human rights activist, said "this is crazy" to use the word terrorism in relation to Dhiab, who was never charged by US officials and cleared for release. She also questioned media interest in his whereabouts.<br/>