Airline group IAG is confident of meeting all EU regulations relating to its ownership British Airways, it said on Monday after the CEO of rival Ryanair suggested it may have to jettison the UK flag carrier after Brexit. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary believes IAG may have to relinquish ownership of BA after Britain’s Brexit transition ends on Dec. 31, saying he expects France and Germany to insist on strict application of EU rules demanding that airlines must be at least 50% owned by EU nationals or risk losing their operating licences. “I cannot see how IAG can survive as an owner of BA in a post-Brexit environment,” the Ryanair CEO said Monday. However, an IAG spokeswoman responded by saying: “We are confident that we will comply with the EU and the UK ownership and control rules post-Brexit transition period.”<br/>
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BA says it isn’t letting the pandemic stop its multi-year overhaul of how it distributes its tickets to travel agencies. But a top executive conceded that it had postponed several of its planned steps to crank up the pressure on agencies to switch to its direct connects. Some industry skeptics had expected the direct distribution pushes by large airline groups like IAG, Lufthansa Group, Air France/KLM Group, and Qantas Group to run aground during the pandemic. The effort often involves surcharges on tickets, changed financial incentives for agencies, and new technological systems that agents have to learn. The goal is to reduce indirect sales via tech partners like Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport and create new ways of selling, the carrier said. “We were wondering what was going to happen and if the enthusiasm and the interest in our NDC proposition would decrease because we assumed some agents would be in financial difficulty,” said Rogier van Enk, head of distribution and payments at BA. “Surprisingly, [the crisis] has increased the level of interest. BA announced its biggest agency win yet last month when Reed & Mackay, the UK’s largest travel management company, made a direct connection with BA’s modern data feed (or application programming interface, or API) that gives the agency access to all of the airline’s content, including content using new messaging standards, called the new distribution capability (NDC). “We see in our numbers that, for bookings that come through NDC, the passengers there are a hundred times as likely to buy an ancillary as a passenger who booked through a GDS [global distribution system],” said van Enk.<br/>
The Malaysian government will spend RM23.32m on the Dutch trial involving the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, says Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. "The trial is currently ongoing and the RM23.32m is 30% of the trial cost which the government will bear next year to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice," he said when winding up his ministerial replies on Budget 2021 at the Dewan Rakyat on Monday. He added the trial comes after the conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board's initial probe and the subsequent criminal investigations by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT). Dr Wee said the allocation will cover both lawyers’ fees and court costs. "The country has a responsibility as it involved the downing of a Malaysian aircraft whose perpetrators must be punished," he added. MH17 was said to have been shot down by a BUK missile over the conflict-hit eastern Ukraine while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17,2014.<br/>
Japanese authorities are investigating a significant engine failure aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 777-200, which involved the loss of large panel and fan blade damage. The incident occurred on 4 December as the aircraft, JA8978 (MSN 27637), operated flight JL904 from Okinawa’s Naha airport to Tokyo Haneda, says JAL. At 11:53, nine minutes after taking off, the crew requested to make an emergency landing. The aircraft returned safely to Naha, with none of the 178 passengers and 11 crew injured. “Upon taking off from Okinawa Naha airport, the left engine experienced a malfunction at approximately 16,000-17,000 feet,” says JAL. “Upon inspection, a part of the engine cover and the fan blade were confirmed to be damaged. As a result, the [Japan Civil Aviation Bureau] categorised the event as a serious Incident.” Images on social media show part of the left-hand PW4000’s outboard casing sticking upwards, with most of the panel apparently shorn off. Another image suggests that the tips of several fan blades are missing. Story has more.<br/>
American Airlines’ former assistant treasurer Meghan Montana has succeeded Tom Weir as VP and treasurer, the airline says. Weir, who has worked for American and its predecessor companies since 2000, is retiring. Montana joined American in 2018 as managing director and assistant treasurer. This year, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, she worked with Weir to land more than $20 billion in financing for American, the airline says. She will report to CFO Derek Kerr and oversee corporate finance, global banking, cash management, fleet transactions, asset management, insurance and fuel purchasing. Before joining the airline, Montana worked at London-based bank Standard Chartered, where she covered the aviation and transportation industries.<br/>