European Union politicians have moved a step closer to tightening up regulations governing the thorny subject of ensuring fair competition for air transport within the bloc.

The European Parliament says its negotiators and those of the European Council reached a provisional agreement on 20 November on rules to “ease” the process for opening investigations into unfair practices.

These rules could be used to identify cases where it is suspected that competition is being distorted in a way that "cause injury or threaten to cause injury" to EU-based air carriers.

These include providing subsidies to own airlines,"preferential access" to airport services or "unfair pricing" by non-EU country airlines. They also set out the procedures for "redressive measures".

Airlines, unions and regulators are working to understand the 737 Max's flight systems while unions uncover seeming errors in emergency "runaway stabiliser" checklists.

The work comes amid reports that the US industry was unaware Boeing had equipped the 737 Max with a new system that has been linked to the 29 October crash of a Lion Air 737 Max 8.

"We are working at an extraordinarily positive pace to share information," says a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots at American Airlines, a 737 Max operator.

"We are looking at differences between the Max and the non-Max aircraft" in an effort to understand nuances in stall prevention and notification systems, the union adds.

Bombardier has disclosed that it is selling its Dash 8 turboprop programme to a subsidiary of Longview Aviation Capital Corporation for $300 million.
Longview is a holding company which includes Viking Air, the manufacturer of the revived DHC-6 Twin Otter programme.
Bombardier says the sale includes the Q400 programme, as well as all assets and intellectual property for other Dash 8 models – comprising the -100, -200 and -300.
It also involves divesting the related aftermarket operations.
Bombardier says the transaction will close by the second half of next year. It expects net proceeds of $250 million.
Having already sold the CSeries twinjet programme to a partnership controlled by Airbus, Bombardier has been left with the CRJ regional jet as its primary commercial air transport product.
Bombardier says it will give its “full attention” to the CRJ programme.
It says it will also “explore strategic options” for the CRJ, while focusing on reducing costs and increasing volumes, as well as “optimising” the aftermarket for the fleet of 1,500 CRJs in service.