Etihad will rescue rival Jet Airways

India's Jet Airways will be rescued from bankruptcy.

Here's some airline news I picked up while searching my online sources:

- It looks like India's Jet Airways, which offers service out of Toronto to India via Brussels - they have some great deals, folks - will be rescued from bankruptcy by Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, which intends to buy a piece of the struggling Indian carrier. The deal is being finalized and should be announced early next week. Terms have not been disclosed but an Indian government source
said earlier this month that Etihad was in talks to pick up a 24 per cent stake in Jet for up to $330 million U.S. Stay tuned!

- Seeing the battery problems Boeing is having with its Dreamliner, Airbus said yesterday it has been forced to study alternatives to the lithium-ion batteries it will employ on its next generation jet, the A350. Despite Boeing's teething problems and passenger anxiety over the malfunctions so far, Airbus has no choice but to go ahead with plans to use the same lithium-ion batteries, because
frankly, there's no other choice. "We studied the integration of these batteries on the A350 very carefully," Airbus chief executive Fabrice Bregier told a group of French aerospace journalists this week. "I am very relaxed about this." Wish we could same about your passengers, Mr. Bregier! 

- Despite the economic chaos gripping not only their country, but also their industry, Iberia workers said they still intend to go on strike after rejecting the troubled carrier's contract offer. Iberia, part of the International Airlines Group, and unions were in a deadlock over the airline's plans to cut up to 4,500 jobs and reduce salaries in what it has called a "fight for survival". In a revised proposal, Iberia said it offered 3,147 job cuts, 30 per cent fewer than in the original plan, lower wage reductions and capacity cuts of 10 per cent for this year,  rather than an initial plan for 15 per cent.