New Zealand manufacturing contracts in May amid economic uncertainties
[SYDNEY] Manufacturing activity in New Zealand fell back into contraction in May, after four straight months of expansion, because of weak demand, rising costs and low business confidence amid global economic uncertainties, a survey showed on Friday.
The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ's seasonally adjusted Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) dipped to 47.5 from a revised 53.3 in April. New orders slumped to 45.3 from a revised 50.8 in the prior month.
A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing activity is expanding, while anything below that threshold points to contraction.
'The New Zealand economy can claw its way forward over the course of 2025, but the PMI is yet another indicator that suggests an increased risk that the bounce in GDP ... could come to a grinding halt,' BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said. AFP
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Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
With tragic plane crash, Air India's revamp to take longer
Debris of Air India flight 171 seen after it crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 13. PHOTO: AFP Follow our live coverage here. - The crash of the London-bound Air India flight in Ahmedabad on June 12 that left at least 241 dead could slow the erstwhile national carrier's plans to expand and revive its reputation and profitability. This is because it must turn its attention now to restoring internal morale and consumer confidence after the tragic accident. Officials are still investigating why AI-171 crashed, but it is the airline's first wide-body aircraft accident in 40 years. The Tata Group bought the carrier from the Indian government in 2022. For Air India, which posted an operational profit in early June after decades of losses and hoped to reach full profitability by 2027, the crash changes many plans. The incident could result in significant losses for Air India not only because all except one of the 242 passengers were killed, but also the airline may be held liable for the plane's plunge onto a medical hostel in a residential area. After the accident, Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran announced a compensation of 10 million rupees (S$148,932) to the families of each person who lost their life. He also promised to cover medical expenses of those injured and help reconstruct the BJ Medical hostel the plane fell on. The airline is suffused with nostalgia with its turbaned Maharaja mascot and delicious Indian meals, and unsmiling but efficient crew. In recent years, however, it has become a butt of passenger ridicule for persistent delays, poorly maintained planes and years of losses. Under Tata ownership, Air India's chief executive Campbell Wilson helmed a five-year intensive transformation plan beginning in 2022 to revamp an ageing and outdated fleet, upskill staff, upgrade IT systems, and create a world-class airline on a par with rivals like Emirates. Air India's losses had reduced by more than 40 per cent since the privatisation in January 2022 as it aimed to break even. It flew a total of 43.5 million passengers during the financial year April 2024 to March 2025. In April 2025, Air India announced a US$400 million (S$513.5 million) fleet upgrade programme for 106 of its 198 aircraft. This involved refurbishing seats, carpets, curtains and lavatories. The full-service carrier, which started making money in 2025, had made financial gains reportedly from cost cutting and streamlining operations, aided by lower fuel costs and a surge in passenger numbers. Sources close to the company said the airline was eyeing full profitability by 2027, once the low-cost arm of the group, Air India Express, which has been expanding its fleet, also increases its revenue. Mr Campbell , a former CEO of Scoot, had reportedly informed employees during a townhall in June that Air India was advancing towards becoming 'a self-sustaining company'. The crash changes, if not all the well-laid plans, many of them. 'We are devastated. All of us are wondering what went wrong,' an Air India pilot who has worked for over 15 years in the company told ST, requesting anonymity. Aviation expert Sanjay Lazar, chief executive of Availalaz Consultants in Mumbai, said: 'A tragedy like this strikes at the heart of an airline. It will set the company back tremendously, as crashes do. The morale of personnel and external consumer trust will have to be rebuilt.' This is the first accident of an Air India wide-body aircraft since 1985, said Mr Lazar. The last Air India hull-loss – which means an aviation accident that damages the aircraft beyond repair – was on June 23, 1985, when a London/Mumbai-bound flight from Montreal exploded due to a bomb planted by a Canadian Sikh terror group. Just 17 years old at the time, Mr Lazar had lost his entire family in the 1985 crash, after which he trained to be a pilot and worked in Air India for 38 years. 'From 1985 to 2025, there has been no hull-loss for Air India. Strong companies bounce back. Air India has a good safety record and robust systems that must be reinforced like in the past,' he told ST. Beyond the aftermath of the crash, headwinds in the form of trade tariffs imposed by the US, tensions on the India-Pakistan border and airspace closures from conflicts in other parts of the world such as the ongoing bombing of Iran by Israel remain concerns for the airline. 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Just months later, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight using the same aircraft model crashed for the same reason, killing all 157 people aboard. But until now, the 787 Dreamliner aircraft had maintained a relatively strong safety record, said aviation professional Hemanth DP. Launched in 2011, there are around 1,100 Boeing 787s in the world. Air India owns an estimated 35 of them, not including the one that crashed. Some Indian media reports said the Ministry of Civil Aviation was considering grounding Boeing 787s for a safety review. Shortly after the crash, shares of Tata Group's companies saw an increase in selling pressure on June 12. However, analysts said it was sentiment-driven and that the long-term impact of the crash may be limited only to the Tata-owned airline business, and not extend to other entities. Air India operates as a standalone entity, and any liabilities arising from the crash, be it aircraft damage, compensation or lawsuits, are expected to be covered through aviation insurance, analysts who track aviation finance and safety told ST. Shares of Singapore Airlines, which holds a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, dropped by 1.7 per cent on the Singapore Exchange. Rohini Mohan is the India Correspondent based in Bengaluru. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Straits Times
Liverpool agree club-record deal to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen
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Straits Times
14 hours ago
- Straits Times
In a Pakistan valley, a small revolution among women
A woman shopkeeper selling traditional handmade items works at her shop in Karimabad, in the Hunza district of Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region. PHOTO: AFP Karimabad - In a sawdust-filled workshop nestled in the Karakoram Mountains, a team of women carpenters chisel away at cabinets – and forge an unlikely career for themselves in Pakistan. Women make up just a fraction of Pakistan's formal workforce. But in a collection of villages sprinkled along the old Silk Road between China and Afghanistan, a group of women-led businesses is defying expectations. 'We have 22 employees and have trained around 100 women,' said Ms Bibi Amina, who launched her carpentry workshop in 2008 at the age of 30. Hunza Valley's population of around 50,000, spread across mountains abounding with apricot, cherry, walnut and mulberry orchards, follow the Ismaili branch of Shiite Islam. Ismailis are led by the Aga Khan, a hereditary position held by a family with Pakistani roots now living in Europe. The family opened a girls' school in Hunza in 1946, kickstarting an educational investment that pushed the valley's literacy rate to 97 per cent for both men and women. That rate far outstrips the country average of around 68 per cent for men and 52.8 per cent for women. As a result, attitudes have shifted, and women like Ms Amina are taking expanded roles. 'People thought women were there to wash dishes and do laundry,' Ms Amina said of the generation before her. Trained by the Aga Khan Foundation to help renovate the ancient Altit Fort, Ms Amina later used her skills to start her own business. Her carpenters are currently at work on a commission from a luxury hotel. Pioneers Only 23 per cent of the women in Pakistan were officially part of the labour force as of 2024, according to data from the World Bank. In rural areas, women rarely take on formal employment but often toil in the fields to support the family's farming income. In a Gallup poll published in 2024, a third of women respondents said their father or husband forbade them from taking a job, while 43.5 per cent said they had given up work to devote themselves to domestic tasks. Cafe owner Lal Shehzadi spearheaded women's restaurant entrepreneurship in Hunza. She opened her cafe at the top of a winding high street to supplement her husband's small army pension. Sixteen years later, her simple set-up overlooking the valley has become a popular night-time tourist attraction. She serves visitors traditional cuisine, including yak meat, apricot oil and rich mountain cheese. 'At the start, I used to work alone,' she said. 'Now, 11 people work here and most of them are women. And my children are also working here.' Following in Shehzadi's footsteps, Ms Safina quit her job to start her own restaurant around a decade ago. 'No one wanted to help me,' she said. Eventually, she convinced family members to sell two cows and a few goats for the money she needed to launch her business. Now, she earns the equivalent of around US$170 (S$192) a month, more than 15 times her previous income. Farming to football The socio-economic progress of women in Hunza compared to other rural areas of Pakistan has been driven by three factors, according to Sultan Madan, the head of the Karakoram Area Development Organisation and a local historian. 'The main reason is the very high literacy rate,' he told AFP, largely crediting the Aga Khan Foundation for funding training programmes for women. 'Secondly, agriculture was the backbone of the economy in the region, but in Hunza the landholding was meagre and that was why women had to work in other sectors.' Women's increased economic participation has spilled into other areas of life, like sports fields. 'Every village in the valley has a women's soccer team: Gojal, Gulmit, Passu, Khyber, Shimsal,' said Ms Nadia Shams, 17. On a synthetic pitch, she trains with her teammates in jogging pants or shorts, forbidden elsewhere by Pakistan's dress code. Here, one name is on everyone's lips: Malika-e-Noor, the former vice-captain of the national team who scored the winning penalty against the Maldives in the 2010 South Asian Women's Football Championship. Ms Fahima Qayyum was six years old when she witnessed the killer kick. Today, after several international matches, she is recruiting the next generation. 'As a girl, I stress to others the importance of playing, as sport is very good for health,' she told AFP. 'If they play well, they can also get scholarships.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
