Malaysia Airlines secures USD1.7bn financing for six A380s and two A330s

Malaysia Airlines secured state-backed Islamic bond facility to raise up to MYR5.3 billion (USD1.73 billion) for the purchase of eight new widebody Airbus aircraft, comprised of six A380-800s, one A330-200F and one A330-300. The state-guaranteed bond was established through Turus Pesawat Sdn Bhd, a special-purpose vehicle wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance, MAS said. Notes issued under the bond will have a tenure of up to 20 years.

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Qatar Airways upsizes A350 order

Qatar Airways modified an order for 20 A350-800s to a larger variant of the aircraft, most likely the A350-900.

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Qatar Airways to deploy 787 to London from Dec-2012

Qatar Airways plans to deploy Boeing 787 equipment on Doha-London Heathrow service, effective 01-Dec-2012. The airline plans to deploy more 787s on the route in the future and also use the aircraft on routes to Australia.

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Kam Air suspends services to the UAE

Kam Air reportedly suspended services to the UAE due to competition making the route unviable. The airline also reportedly criticised Afghanistan's Government for allowing foreign airlines to undercut Kam Air's prices on the routes. 

Kam Air operated daily Kabul-Dubai and weekly Kandahar-Dubai services.

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Hainan Airlines expects 787 delivery to be delayed to 2Q2013

Hainan Airlines reportedly stated the carrier’s first Boeing 787, initially scheduled for delivery at the end of 2012, will be delayed to 2Q2013 adding China Southern Airlines’ first 787 also faces similar delays.

HNA Group chairman Chen Feng previously said the carrier may change its 787 order to the 747-8 aircraft. As previously reported, Mr Chen stated the company is in talks with Airbus and may cancel its order for 10 A380 aircraft due to weak market conditions.

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LATAM aims for investment grade rating, sees decreases in Brazil and Argentina: LAN CEO

LATAM Airlines Group SA is reportedly considering a capital increase to achieve an investment grade rating, according to LAN Airlines CEO Enrique Cueto and as reported by Diario Financiero. Mr Cueto said, "we are working to see what is necessary to achieve investment grade, and we are looking at alternatives. One is to make a possible capital increase." Mr Cueto added Argentina accounts for "about 3%" of LATAM's business, down from 11%, while in Brazil, "For 2013 we expect to fall by 7% in the country. We will reduce flights and remove unprofitable aircraft".

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Uzbekistan Airways resumes Tashkent-Urumqi service

Uzbekistan Airways resumed weekly Tashkent-Urumqi service with Boeing 757/767 on 18-Nov-2012.

The carrier reported an average load factor of 81.3% on the inaugural service. China Southern Airlines operates a weekly service on the sector

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Cargolux confirms Qatar Airways' stake sale, chairman to step down

Cargolux confirmed Qatar Airways' plan to sell its 35% stake in the carrier. Cargolux also announced chairman Albert Wildgen plans to step down from the position on 30-Nov-2012. 

The airline said, "There are many significant challenges facing Cargolux and the shareholders remain committed to implementing those actions that will ensure it long term sustainability."

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Abu Dhabi Airport T4 to open in 2Q2017

UAE's Abu Dhabi International Airport is scheduled to complete construction of Terminal 4 in 2016, with the facility operational by the end of 2Q2017, according to Abu Dhabi Airports Company deputy development officer Daniel Molloy.

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Virgin Atlantic to place A330-300 on London Heathrow-Dubai service in Jan-2013

Virgin Atlantic plans to place A330-300 on London Heathrow-Dubai service from 08-Jan-2013 to 31-Mar-2013, replacing A340-600 equipment currently on the route.

According to Innovata, Virgin Atlantic currently competes with British Airways, Emirates and Royal Brunei Airlines on the route.

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Emirates to equip cabin crew with 1000 HP tablets

In-flight application running on touch-enabled HP ElitePad 900 tablets allows airline pursers and crew to provide exceptional service to customers. 

Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, announced today at the Windows 8 launch event in Dubai the development of a line-of-business application for Windows 8 called Knowledge Dr

iven Inflight Service (KIS). An in-flight communication and customer relationship management device first introduced by Emirates for its pursers in 2004, the KIS application will now run on the soon-to-be-launched HP ElitePad 900 business tablets and will enable Emirates to continue to deliver extraordinary customer service and experiences.

As the first global customer of the HP ElitePad 900, Emirates is creating a new KIS tablet that is light, attractive and has a long battery life, ideal for nonstop flights. The device, announced by HP in October and available to customers in January 2013, is built specifically for business users, offering Windows 8 optimization and a beautiful lightweight design. Combined with Windows 8's touch-optimized user interface, which quickly shows the most important information via Live Tiles, the crew can spend more time interacting with customers in a unique and efficient way.

When deployment across its fleet is complete, Emirates will have 1,000 HP ElitePad 900 devices running the KIS application on Windows 8. More information on the KIS application running on Windows 8 is available at the Microsoft Showcase.

Emirates operates more than 2,500 flights per week to 126 destinations in 74 countries across six continents. The award-winning airline operates the largest fleet of A380s with 27, and the world's largest fleet of Boeing 777s.

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Lufthansa

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