With many rival airlines scaling back plans to add travel routes and seats in a bid to protect margins, Oscar Munoz is taking United in a different direction. The US air carrier is forging ahead with a strategy to boost its flight network by another 4 to 6% next year after an estimated 5% network growth in 2018, Munoz, CEO of United since 2015, said Wednesday. The growth plan has allowed United to claw back market share in a competitive US airline sector and boost its profitability. Traditionally capacity growth in the airline business has come at a cost to yields because it can drive down fares. So far, United has bucked the industry trend, increasing unit revenues - a closely watched metric that compares airlines’ sales to available seat miles - at a faster pace than rivals American Airlines and Delta. When the airline unveiled an aggressive plan to add capacity in the middle of a price war with low cost carriers in January, the stock of parent company United Continental Holdings fell 7%. But United investors have more than reversed course, sending its shares up about 30% so far this year against a roughly 2% drop on the S&P 500. Munoz offered new details to his growth strategy on Wednesday, saying United will add flights to New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne from San Francisco to tap higher-paying international routes. “The strategy is working,” Munoz said.<br/>
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The CEO of United says his pilots don't need any additional training on the new Boeing jet that is at the center of the investigation into a deadly crash in Indonesia. Oscar Munoz says United's pilots are prepared to respond to problems that might arise with automated systems on modern planes. Munoz said the Boeing 737 MAX is safe and reliable. United — along with American and Southwest — uses the new Boeing model that was involved in the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash.<br/>
A Brazilian bankruptcy judge late on Tuesday granted a request by the country’s fourth-largest airline, Avianca Brasil, to suspend lawsuits seeking repossession of at least 14 of its aircraft, according to a court document. Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, after aircraft lessors sued and won initial victories in seeking to repossess the planes. The airline has 494m reais ($129m) in debt, according to a court filing that is under seal but was seen by Reuters. Its top creditor is state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, owed 60m reais for fuel, followed by airports and aircraft maintenance providers including General Electric unit GE Celma and United Technologies Corp’s Pratt & Whitney. At least three leasing companies have sued Avianca Brasil seeking to repossess passenger jets representing 30 percent of its fleet. Leases, which are not classified as debt in the company’s financial statements, are not protected by Brazil’s bankruptcy rules, making it unclear how long Tuesday’s decision will hold if the leasing companies appeal. The judge said he was suspending those lawsuits because of the impact they may have on passengers.<br/>
Canada is introducing new regulations to limit the maximum number of hours that commercial pilots can fly and cap the time they remain on duty, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Wednesday. The new rules, which large airlines would have two years to apply, are similar to proposals weighed by regulator Transport Canada (TC) in 2017 and come after years of studies on ways to reduce fatigue in the cockpit. The rules would lower the number of flight hours to 1,000 from 1,200 over 365 days and set a maximum work day anywhere from nine to 13 hours, depending on start time, TC said in a statement. A commercial airline pilot’s flight duty period was previously capped at 13 hours and 45 minutes. The US NTSB cited fatigue as a contributing factor in a July 2017 incident when an Air Canada flight from Toronto overflew other aircraft at close range on a San Francisco International Airport taxiway, nearly causing a potentially “catastrophic” incident. “For too long, Canada has lagged far behind the rest of the world when it comes to ensuring its pilots are well-rested when they fly,” said Dan Adamus, president of the Air Line Pilots Association in Canada. “The new regulations will without a doubt improve our safety and the safety of those we fly.”<br/>
Separate strikes threatening to disrupt travel plans in the run-up to Christmas have been averted as mediated negotiations came up with offers strong enough to take to union members. Last night Air New Zealand and union negotiators reached an agreement in principle on pay and conditions for more than 970 workers, lifting a planned three-day strike just ahead of Christmas. Pacific Fuel Haul today said it successfully ended talks with First Union on behalf of 164 truck drivers, who also lifted a planned five-day strike notice that threatened to disrupt fuel supplies. Both deals still need workers to accept the agreements, which have been recommended by the respective unions. The Air New Zealand claim threatened to disrupt 120,000 travellers in the three days before Christmas, triggering accusations by opposition MPs that the Labour-led coalition government had emboldened unions to take more aggressive industrial action.<br/>