Japan Airlines Wednesday posted a 2.9% rise in operating profit in its Q3, aided by buoyant demand from inbound and outbound travellers. Operating profit for the three months to December was around Y46.2b, according to Reuters calculations based on the company’s results for the first nine months of the fiscal year. The company maintained its full-year operating forecast at Y166b for the year ending March. The results come a week after JAL announced that President Yoshiharu Ueki, who helped lead the company’s recovery from bankruptcy with cost cuts and code-sharing deals, would be replaced in April. The challenge for his successor, Yuji Akasaka, would be to regain market share from rival ANA, which benefitted from JAL’s bankruptcy by winning slots at Haneda Airport, becoming Japan’s biggest international airline in 2016.<br/>
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An American Airlines flight has returned to a North Carolina airport about an hour after takeoff because of an odour in the cabin. An American spokeswoman said Flight 1965 from Charlotte Douglas International Airport was heading to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Wednesday when it turned around and returned to Charlotte. The cause of the odour wasn't known, and the plane was taken out of service for maintenance. Two of the 183 passengers onboard the Airbus 330 were evaluated and cleared at the airport, while a flight attendant was taken to a hospital with what was described as a condition that was not life-threatening. The plane had a crew of 10.<br/>