NewsMozambique Plane Crashes In Namibia, 34 DeadA Mozambique Airlines plane en route to Angola crashed in a game park in northeast Namibia killing all 34 people on board, Namibian police said on Saturday. Flight TM 470 left Maputo on Friday for the Angolan capital of Luanda with 28 passengers and six crew on board when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, the national carrier said in a statement. Namibian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Willy Bampton said rescue workers had found burned-out wreckage of the aircraft in the dense bush of Bwabwata National Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana. "The plane has been completely burned to ashes and there are no survivors," Bampton said.
LinkUS Airlines Give China Flight PlansUnited, American and Delta airlines, have notified Chinese authorities of flight plans when flying through an air zone Beijing has declared over the East China Sea, following US government advice. The zone has raised tensions, particularly with Japan and South Korea, and is likely to dominate the agenda of a visit to Asia this week of Vice President Joe Biden. He will travel to Japan, China, and South Korea and try to ease tensions, senior US officials said. However, China's declaration of the zone also represents a historic challenge by the emerging world power to the United States, which has dominated the region for decades.
LinkEl Al Chief Executive To Step DownEl Al's chief executive, Elyezer Shkedy, tendered his resignation on Sunday and will step down after his successor is in place, the company said in a statement. Shkedy, a former Israeli air force chief, has led the national carrier for four years. El Al quoted Shkedy as saying he felt "pride and tremendous satisfaction" about his role at the airline, but regretted failing to put together a new collective agreement for staff. "El Al must reduce spending for the sake of a better future for its personnel and passengers, if it wishes to continue to grow and compete in the field of aviation, which is variable and challenging," Shkedy said in the statement. The FIMI fund, Israel's largest private investment fund, had agreed in April to inject up to USD$75 million into El Al but the deal was contingent on the airline reaching a new collective labor agreement aimed at allowing the carrier to deal with an increasingly competitive environment.
LinkWestJet Pilots Reject Tentative DealPilots at WestJet Airlines have turned down a tentative agreement with the company, but the airline said no disruption was expected. WestJet pilots, represented by the non-union group WestJet Pilots Association, voted against the deal by a 58.7 percent margin, with 96 percent of pilots casting a vote, the airline said in a statement. "There is no chance of a labour disruption of any kind," said WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer. "Our pilots, like all WestJetters, have a vested interest in the health and stability of the company, and it will be business as usual as we head toward the busy Christmas travel season."
LinkIs Alitalia Running Out Of Options?After a poor response to its emergency rights issue, Alitalia has been left with the prospect of literally running out of fuel before the peak season next summer unless it can get Air France-KLM or some other investor to pour in billions of euros and revamp its fleet. Italy's national airline has so far raised less than two thirds of the EUR€300 million (USD$408 million) wanted from the share sale and will rely on the state-owned postal service and other investors to come up with the rest. Air France-KLM was one of several shareholders to refuse the rights offer and let their stakes be diluted, saying that it needed to see a much more radical restructuring of Alitalia's debt before it could help. "If Alitalia remains with only Italian shareholders, it does not have a future," Gilberto Benetton, whose motorway group Atlantia has an 8.9 percent stake in Alitalia, told La Repubblica newspaper this week.
Link 
