Former motor racing champion Niki Lauda’s winning bid for insolvent Austrian airline Niki beat that of British Airways owner IAG by E4m, a German newspaper reported Sunday. Lauda offered E30.3m for the carrier, plus a E16.5m liquidity injection, German weekly Bild am Sonntag said, citing sources close to the negotiations. The sale to Lauda, announced Monday, undid an agreed deal with IAG after two courts ruled that the insolvency proceedings had to move to Austria from Germany. Lauda has not said so far how much he is paying for Niki. Bild am Sonntag said he had already transferred around 12 million of the purchase price. A spokeswoman for Lauda declined to comment. The paper also said that around half of what Lauda is paying will go toward paying back a government loan that Niki parent Air Berlin received when it collapsed in August.<br/>
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Budget carrier Hong Kong Express took its latest step to bolster its leadership amid a company shake-up by naming the head of a young Ghana-based airline backed by troubled Chinese conglomerate HNA Group to take the helm. The CEO and co-chairman of small-scale Africa World Airlines, Michael Luo Cheng, overseeing a fleet of six planes, was appointed with immediate effect as chief executive officer, the company announced Friday. Luo will be responsible for the airline’s overall direction and strategy, playing a key part in its investments and operational decisions. The move came as the budget carrier serves a punishment meted out by Hong Kong’s aviation regulator for cancelling flights during a major Chinese public holiday last September. Luo would monitor day-to-day business, which would be led by company president Li Dianchun, who was poached from Hong Kong Airlines. Zhong Guosong would remain executive chairman and overlap with Cheng in a number of duties.<br/>
Mexico City-based LCC Interjet will make San Francisco (SFO) the 10th US airport its network when it adds flights to SFO from both Cancun and Guadalajara on March 14. It plans to fly 3X-weekly on both the SFO-CUN and SFO-GDL routes using Airbus A320s seating 150 passengers. Flights will operate Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays on both routes. Interjet currently serves nine US airports: Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Orlando/Sanford (Florida) and San Antonio. Its fleet comprises 47 A320s, three A320neos, six A321s and 22 Sukhoi Superjet 100s.<br/>
Eastern Air Lines and Mitsubishi Aircraft have terminated a purchase agreement for 20 MRJ regional jets, shaving off close to 10% of the manufacturer's firm order book. Mitsubishi said that the sales agreement, which also includes options for an additional 20 of the type, was terminated "very recently", following the airline's acquisition by luxury private charter operator Swift Air. "They sold their business to Swift, they returned their AOC to the US FAA, so this is a change in their business consideration and we agreed that the best option for both parties was to conclude the termination," said Yugo Fukuhara, Mitsubishi's VP and general manager of sales and marketing. He adds that while the loss of Eastern is "regrettable", he expects it to have no "major impact" on the MRJ programme. The deal with Eastern was signed in 2014, with deliveries then set for 2019. The delivery timeline has however been pushed back due to two rounds of programme delays since. The manufacturer would not disclose the updated delivery schedule for Eastern, but says that those slots can now be offered to existing and potential customers. With Eastern's cancellation, Mitsubishi now has firm orders for 213 aircraft from six customers, comprising All Nippon Airways, Trans States Holdings, SkyWest Inc, Air Mandalay, Japan Airlines and Aerolease Aviation. Swedish lessor Rockton signed a letter of intent for 10 MRJ90s in 2016, but this still has not been firmed.<br/>