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Velocity Airline Partner Update
Effective 2 April 2012, Malaysia Airlines will no longer be an airline partner in the Velocity Frequent Flyer program. The final day members will be eligible to earn Points and Status Credits for travel on Malaysia Airlines flights is 1 April 2012. The final day to redeem Points with Malaysia Airlines is 1 April 2012. These tickets are valid for up to 12 months from date of issue and are non-changeable and non-refundable. Claims for Retrospective Points for travel up to and including 1 April 2012 on Malaysia Airlines will be accepted until 30 September 2012. To find out more please click here.

Yours sincerely,

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With the big scribe damage (i think thats the term) - from shoddy maintenance during painting. Almost resulted in a couple of hull losses.

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What were they thinking?

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In the last 20 years, corporate ownership began to look odd. The nominal owners – stockholders – typically traded every few months and took on the part of institutions, with little or no interest in corporate affairs, with the result that corporate officers appeared to own the companies and behaved accordingly. Stock option programs transferred ownership from shareholders to managers in giant dollops and were awarded on short-term results. One consequence of this was a distorted incentive that encouraged leverage and other forms of going for broke with other people’s money. Boards of Directors demonstrated little timely intervention and typically only found their claws in situations of complete disaster, when it was too late. Total remuneration in the U.S. for senior officers, unopposed by typical boards, rose as a percentage of the average worker’s pay from 40 times in Eisenhower’s era to over 600 times today, with no indication of any general improvement in talent. Few rewards were carefully related to long-term results.

Pretax income inequality rose in most countries and was offset by tax adjustments in very few. In the U.S., oddly, the tax changes accentuated the shift. Such an increase in inequality was caused by all of the benefits of the substantial productivity flowing to a few, while the average hour’s pay stayed unprecedentedly unchanged for 40 years!

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Qantas' Asian flight partner weighed down
Andrew Cleary
March 02, 2012
The Australian Financial Review Edition: First
Copyright 2012. Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited.

Qantas Airways' entry into Asia via a new premium carrier could suffer further delays after potential partner Malaysia Airlines said it was "in crisis" following a fourth consecutive quarterly loss.

The Malaysian national carrier reported a net loss of 1.28 billion ringgit ($395 million) in the final three months of 2011, prompting the airline's new management team to step up cost-saving measures. Malaysia Airlines is retiring old aircraft, withdrawing from more long-haul routes and potentially delaying aircraft deliveries to save money.

Qantas has turned to the exact same cost-cutting measures as it looks to trim capital expenditure that has been running ahead of free cash flow. The Australian carrier has been in detailed talks with the airline regarding a joint venture for a premium airline in Kuala Lumpur.

The plan under discussion involves the new airline starting with a fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft coming from scheduled deliveries to Malaysia Airlines, with Qantas's initial investment to be kept to a minimum and the newly created entity to sit off balance sheet.

Malaysian chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof said the company was confident it had the right business plan in place to "bring the necessary sacrifices to ensure a turnaround and recovery", while acknowledging the airline's precarious financial position.

"The results make for unpleasant reading. The company is in crisis," he said on Wednesday.

Analysts who have met with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce since the company's first-half results last month said they were told any new airline could be between six to 18 months away depending on which option the company chooses.

Analysts said Mr Joyce again stressed that whatever form the airline joint venture took, it would be a "capital light" solution requiring minimal start-up investment from Qantas.

"Malaysian is in trouble. Qantas may want a capital-light option, but how is this new airline going to get any capital when the partner also doesn't have any to put in?" asked one of the analysts.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Matt Crowe said Qantas had to stay focused on a partnership with Malaysia because its options in the region were limited.

"Virgin [Australia] has nabbed the prettiest girl at the dance with Singapore [Airlines]," Mr Crowe said.

"An alliance is the right strategy for Asia, Qantas can't do it on their own. But of course you'd rather have a financially healthy partner."

Qantas is committed to establishing a new airline in Asia from which it can add routes into the booming markets of China, India, and elsewhere in Asia that it is unable to competitively service direct from Australia. While the pace of talks in Kuala Lumpur has slowed in recent months, a deal with Malaysia Airlines remains the company's focus.

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