Etihad Airways

Air Berlin is in talks with three competitors about buying up its assets, the insolvent airline's boss said on Aug. 17, warning that not all jobs would be saved.

"Aside from Lufthansa, we are in contact with two other interested parties from the aviation industry," Air Berlin chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 15 after key shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses, leaving valuable runway slots up for grabs.

Turkish police have said they were working with Australian authorities to investigate a foiled plot to bomb an Etihad Airways flight using explosives which Canberra said were flown in from Turkey.

In a statement issued late on Aug. 5, police said they had contacted Australian authorities as soon as they received news of the foiled plot.

An Australian man sent his unsuspecting brother to Sydney airport to catch an Etihad Airways flight carrying a homemade bomb disguised as a meat-mincer built at the direction of a senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) commander, police said on Aug. 4.

Seized pangolin scales are shown by a Malaysian Customs officials after a press conference at Customs office in Sepang, Malaysia on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017.

The U.K. has informed Turkish officials that it would lift the electronics ban on flights from Turkey, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on July 20, citing diplomatic sources.

The sources said that Alan Duncan, Britain's minister for Europe and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson both called Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to tell him the ban was being lifted.

Turkey's transport minister and the Turkish Airlines chief executive have said they expect the ban on large electronic devices in the cabin of U.S.-bound flights from certain countries will be lifted on July 5.

Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan was quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency on July 4 as saying the ban would be lifted on July 5 following a visit by a U.S. delegation.

Turkish Airlines chief executive Bilal Ekşi has said he expected the ban on large electronic devices from the cabin of U.S.-bound flights from certain countries to be lifted on July 5.

"We expect the electronic device ban applied to American flights to be lifted on Wednesday July 5," Ekşi said on Twitter late on July 3 without giving further detail.

A delegation from the United States will visit Turkey soon to examine whether the country's key airports are complying with its latest security standards. Following these checks, the U.S. laptop ban may be lifted, a top Turkish official said on July 2.

Turkish Airlines has been named the best airline in southern Europe for the ninth consecutive year in the 2017 Skytrax World Airlines Awards.