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White House official promises 'new interest in the airline industry' after flight woes
James Blair, the Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, vowed to show a "new level of interest" on Thursday in?the United States. After he and wife had issues with separate American Airlines flights, Blair vowed to take a "new interest" in the aviation industry. "Today, American Airlines delayed?me 2.5 hours because someone failed notice empty hydraulic liquid before it was time for the plane to go down to the runway. Blair told X that yesterday, it was apparent that they forgot to book a pilot for my wife's trip. "I am going to develop a new interest for the airline industry." American Airlines and the White House did not comment immediately. American Airlines has been under fire for its performance since a winter storm in late January caused widespread cancellations of flights that put the'recovery system' to the test. OAG, an aviation analytics company, found that American Airlines was the least reliable airline in January. It was behind Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Delta Air Lines. The Trump Administration reverses BIDEN's proposals Since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term in office last year, his government has taken several steps to reverse consumer aviation proposals made by the former administration of President Joe Biden. The Transportation Department reversed some penalties that were imposed by the Biden Administration on airlines. This included waiving $16.7 Million in fines for American Airlines, which was imposed in 2024, as part of an agreement?over how the carrier treated disabled passengers. Southwest Airlines was also exempted from paying the $11 million remaining fine as part of the $140 million settlement for operational problems which left more than 2 million passengers stranded during the holiday travel season in December 2022. In November, the Department withdrew from consideration a proposal made under Biden which sought to compel airlines to compensate passengers in cash when they are "responsible" for U.S. flights disruptions. Last month, the?Transportation Department? proposed revising their guidance to reduce the emphasis on imposing civil penalties on airlines that violate consumer rules and to abandon Biden's policies that tightened enforcement. (Reporting and editing by Jamie Freed; David Shepardson)
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Brazil's Monetary Council expands airline access to the Public Aviation Fund
The Brazilian 'National Monetary Council' (CMN) announced on Thursday that it would?loosen the conditions of loans given to airlines backed up by the FNAC, a fund funded by a public entity?expected to release 778.66 millions reais in 2026. The Council is the top economic policy-making body of the country and is composed of three members: Finance Minister, Planning and Budget Minister, and Central Bank Chief. Brazil's Finance Ministry said that the changes include expanding airlines' access to FNAC for services like training pilots and aviation workers, rather than using it for only domestically produced aircraft and components. In a statement, the ministry said that the changes also "raise the cap on financing for eligible items from 10% to 30% of an aircraft's value" and allow the loan proceeds to be used as contractual guarantees. The report stated that the changes were approved to align credit lines with airline operations, without increasing subsidies or changing the financial conditions for financing. Last week, documents from the government showed that the changes were anticipated. They were requests made by Brazil's Ports?and airports Minister?Silvio Cost Filho to finance ministry. The government argues that airlines need assistance?after pandemic? to buy aircraft, perform?maintenance? and purchase sustainable aviation fuel. Embraer, Brazil's largest aircraft maker, could benefit from a?higher cap on financing. Gol, LATAM, and Azul are the largest airlines operating in Brazil, by market share.
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Virgin Australia's half-year profits exceed estimates on the back of strong demand for holidays
Virgin 'Australia posted a 20.7% increase in underlying profit for the 'half-year period' on?Friday. This was a better result than expected due to strong customer demand, and its transformation program. Australia's second largest airline reported an underlying net profit of A$278.7?million ($198.07?million) for the six-month period ended December 31. This was higher than Visible Alpha's consensus estimate of A$261.1 million and A$230.9?million a year ago. The company's airline division benefited from the strong domestic demand that occurred during the holiday period, and the progress made in the transformation program of the group has yielded more than A$200 millions in gross benefits. The program was launched after Virgin Australia voluntarily left voluntary administration. It aims to update outdated technology and systems, streamline processes, reorganise business for efficiency, and simplify its fleet.
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Bombardier CEO: Bombardier can boost business jet sales to India in the long term
Chief executive officer?Eric Martel stated on Thursday that?India's efforts to upgrade its aviation infrastructure?will give Canada’s Bombardier an opportunity to increase?sales?of business -jets?there. Martel told reporters at Montreal that Bombardier operates around 60 jets in India. He added that the lack of infrastructure is a challenge for the company. The good news is they are spending a great deal of money right now. As far as I'm aware, they are building at least a dozen airports. "The infrastructure (investment), which will be taking place in the next few decades, will certainly 'open doors for us to grow. Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, is headed to India in the hope of improving trade relations and boosting the country's economy. Carney pledged to diversify Canadian trade away from the United States. This is even as the country tries to negotiate tariff-free goods movement with the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump's latest tariff regime allows planes to be imported duty-free into the United States. Bombardier is dependent on the United States as it is the largest business aviation market in the world. It expects to increase revenues and deliver more private jets by 2026. Martel added that Bombardier has a?important U.S. presence with?2,800 U.S. suppliers and a Kansas-based division for defense. "I believe that common sense is going to prevail."
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Mexico orders Paris auction house to stop selling pre-Colombian artworks
Mexico's government announced on Thursday that it had taken legal action to force Millon, a French auction house, to stop the planned sale this week of 40 precolombian artifacts Mexico considers to be its cultural heritage. Mexico has launched "appropriate legal procedures before?the?relevant?authorities", and reached out via diplomatic channels to repatriate the artifacts, Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel stated in a social media post. She said, "The protection of cultural heritage is the responsibility of the State and an act historical justice." Millon will hold an in-person sale of a precolombian collection entitled "Les Empires of Light" (The Empires of Light), in Paris, on Friday. Millon didn't immediately respond to the '?request for comments. On Thursday, the auction house's site displayed a message that it was under maintenance. Curiel sent a letter dated Tuesday to?Millon in which she stated that Mexico's anthropology institution INAH had?determined 40 of the artifacts?advertised at the auction house were protected by Mexican law. In a letter, she stated that "These goods are the property of the nation, unalienable, and incontrovertible. Their export has been prohibited since 1827 and as such, their presence outside national territory is derived from an illegal extraction." Mexico has been trying to retrieve?artifacts from private collections all over the world that are part of its precolonial history. Although some governments have accepted repatriations of artifacts, others remain the subject of extended disputes. The iconic headdress with bejeweled motifs is said to be the one that belonged to Aztec Emperor?Moctezuma, before he fell to Spanish conquistador Hernan cortes. The Austrian Weltmuseum, which houses the headdress, has stated that transporting it would damage its delicate iridescent quetzal feathers. Mexico launched a separate lawsuit against Millon in 2023 over 83 items it had put up for auction that it determined to be part of its cultural heritage. At the time, ARTnews reported that?Millon had told the trade outlet it would proceed with the sale. It said all of its lots were "irreproachable" and met criteria set by French law and UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency. Reporting by Raul Cotes, Writing by Sarah Morland and Editing by David Gregorio
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Russia aims to increase exports of Urals grade to China
Urals crude differentials have remained unchanged in a'muted market,' while traders are looking at a broader discounting to Brent grade, as Russia diverts its exports from India to China, with higher freight costs and wider discounts. Some market participants expect that the discount for Urals will increase by up to $5 per barrel, from the current $10-12 on a delivered-to port basis. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban asked for a fact-finding mission to assess damage caused to the Druzhba Oil Pipeline in Ukraine on Wednesday. He suggested that this could unblock EU funding to Ukraine. MOL Group, a refiner, said that in an email statement sent on Thursday, the Croatian pipeline operator JANAF should allow transit to Hungary and Slovakia of Russian oil transported by sea. It added?that these imports are not subject to EU sanctions. PLATTS WINDOW * There were no bids or offers made on Thursday for Urals BTC, CPC Blend, and Azeri BTC, traders said. * The Caspian Pipeline Consortium which transports oil from Kazakhstan to a Russian terminal on the 'Black Sea,' increased its exports by 12% in 2012, reaching 70.52 millions metric tons. * The United States has slowed down the sale of international assets owned by the Russian oil giant Lukoil to exert pressure on Russia during the peace talks in Ukraine. (Reporting and Editing by Shailesh Kumar)
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What caused the cocoa crisis in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria?
Ivory Coast, Ghana and the other half of the cocoa-producing countries have had difficulty selling beans and paying farmers due to the abundance of cocoa harvested globally and the lower cocoa price. What are the reasons why the two countries performed worse than their rival producers? How did we get here? Cocoa is not traded freely in Ivory Coast or Ghana. The government-appointed 'cocoa regulators' of the two countries sell 80% of the 'beans? to global traders one year in advance. Based on these sales, they set a price fixed for the farmers when the season begins in October. Farmers sell their beans at this price to local collectors, who then sell them to licensed buyers. Licensed buyers sell the cocoa either directly to global traders, or to local traders that sell to global traders. Cocoa regulators in most countries adjust the farmer's price to reflect the lower-quality mid-crop, which is usually between April and September. Ivory Coast's main crop price was set at $5,000 per metric ton in October last year, while Ghana set the price at $5,300. The price of cocoa futures has fallen to $3,100 per tonne, but they have lost more than half their value in just one year. The price drop had an immediate impact on global cocoa traders. They would suffer?severe losses' if they bought Ivorian or Ghanaian beans, and then sold them to futures market prices. They stopped buying them. Sources in the industry said that Ivorians farmers were also not paid for their beans as of last month. The Ivory Coast government noted that cocoa stocks were piled high. What has Ivory Coast, GHANA done so far in response? Ivory Coast launched a program late last month in order to get cash?to farmers. The government bought 100,000 tons of main crop cocoa from farmers for a price of half a million dollars. The cocoa regulator in Ghana cut the fixed farmer prices by almost a third on 12 February, to about $3,580 a ton, after estimating that the country held cocoa stocks of around 50,000 tons. Sources have confirmed that Ivory Coast plans to reduce its fixed farmer price, starting March 1, by about a quarter in order to encourage sales to international traders. The government announced earlier this week that it would announce a "new farmer price" by the end February, one month earlier than normal. Why did the price of cocoa in the world plummet? World cocoa prices, which nearly tripled to record levels by 2024, have lost around three-quarters of their value since then. This was partly due to a drop in demand as high prices forced chocolate makers to reduce bar size, add non-cocoa ingredients, like wafers and nuts, or substitute cocoa butter for alternative fats. According to traders, the favourable weather conditions have led to larger and healthier crops. The global market is expected to record an excess of between 300,000 and 400,000 tons in this season. Ivory Coast, Ghana and other countries with large surpluses of beans, do not have the means to store them in warehouses. The price of cocoa in futures markets has a lag of about a year before it is reflected in the chocolate sold at retail. COCOA IS IMPORTANT TO THE IVORY COAST AND GHANA ECONOMIES. Cocoa exports account for almost 40% of Ivory Coast revenue and 15% of Ghana's. This makes cocoa one of the largest sources of foreign currency earnings?for both West African countries. Ghana, like Ivory Coast is struggling to recover from the deepest economic crisis it has experienced in a decade after defaulting on and restructuring a large portion of its $30 billion debt. Ghana's cocoa regulator has found it more difficult and expensive to obtain financing for its cocoa purchases. Nearly two million cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast, and their dependents - most of whom are below the poverty level - rely on chocolate as a livelihood. (Reporting and editing by Barbara Lewis; May Angel)
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HOLD Gupta, a businessman, was denied permission to appeal the Trafigura nickel fraud case.
The 'London High Court' refused to allow Indian businessman Prateek gupta, who was found guilty of defrauding commodities trader Trafigura by using fake nickel cargoes. The Geneva-based 'Trafigura' alleged that Gupta had been the mastermind behind a fraudulent "Ponzi Scheme" where he and his firms agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but delivered low-value materials or even worthless ones instead. Gupta admitted he didn't deliver high-grade Nickel cargoes, but said Trafigura?staff designed the scheme. Former Trafigura head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denies this. Last month, Judge Pushpinder Saini found that Gupta's companies and Gupta had induced Trafigura to sign contracts by making "false and fraudulent representations". The judge said that Trafigura's ex-employees, including Oikonomou were "wholly?innocent?of any wrongdoing". Gupta asked for permission to appeal this ruling, and was?refused. However, he may still apply directly to the Court of Appeal. Nathan Pillow, Trafigura's attorney, told the hearing on Thursday that Trafigura owed an additional $140 million for interest, in addition to its $500 million principal. Trafigura's spokesperson stated that Gupta was owed $700 million, plus legal fees. The spokesperson stated that Trafigura will take action to enforce the judgment and recover the amounts awarded. Gupta’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to an?request for comments. Gupta has agreed to limit his monthly living expenses to 5,000 pounds ($6,763.50), from 20,000 pounds. Trafigura received its first complaints in November 2022 about the cargoes that it had sold. The trial concluded in December. The discovery led Trafigura to carry out additional inspections, charge $590 million and then sue Gupta's companies in February 2023 over what they called "systematic fraud". Reporting by Sam Tobin Editing Emelia Sithole Matarise and David Goodman
Cheniere Corpus Christi LNG terminal in Texas gets an increased export approval from the US
The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Thursday that it had?approved an increase of 12%?in the?exports?from?Cheniere Corpus Christi's liquefied gas terminal in Texas.
The department has approved the export of LNG up to 0.47 billion cubic foot per day to large markets in Asia, Europe, and other non-Free Trade Agreement nations. The expansion has been approved for the Corpus Christi Stage Three?Project Trains 8 and 9.
"This order will help?further increase America's LNG-export capacity, providing peace abroad and prosperity to Americans here at home," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, while visiting the project.
Since 2018, Corpus 'Christi LNG is operating as an export facility.?Cheniere has announced its final investment decision for?trains 8 and 9? Mid last year. Cheniere announced this week that it has invested $50 billion over the last decade in expanding its two export facilities and hopes to double production?to 100 millions?tons annually by the middle of the 2030s.
(source: Reuters)