An Indian-American actor and designer who wasn't allowed to board a Mexico City-to-New York flight after refusing to remove his turban said Tuesday that he is satisfied with an apology from the airline. Waris Ahluwalia said he is now waiting for Aeromexico to implement special training on how to treat Sikh passengers, for whom the headgear carries deep religious significance. "We're just a few steps away from a lot of hugs," Ahluwalia said. Aeromexico issued a statement Tuesday saying: "We apologize to Mr Waris Ahluwalia for the unfortunate experience he had with one of our security guards during the boarding process prior to his flight to New York at the Mexico City International Airport. This incident inspires us to make sure that we strengthen the customer service protocols of our safety personnel in respectful accordance with the cultural and religious values of our customers," the statement said. Ahluwalia welcomed the airline's apology. "We've gotten the apology and I'm grateful, and thanks to them for doing that," he said. "The next step is to do the training" for inspecting Sikhs and others with religious headwear, he added.<br/>
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BA will begin flying from Stansted Airport, establishing a presence at London's No.3 airport for the first time and bringing it into direct competition with budget carrier Ryanair on leisure routes. BA, owned by IAG, said on Tuesday that from May it would fly to Faro in Portugal, and Ibiza, Malaga and Palma in Spain, from GBP£49 (US$71) one way. British Airways will compete directly on those routes with Ryanair, whose cheapest flights in May cost about GBP25 one way. BA's move into secondary airport Stansted enters traditional budget carrier territory, a change from a wider trend of low cost airlines increasingly flying from a city's main airport and stealing market share from full-service airlines.<br/>
American Airlines Tuesday said its traffic rose 1.6% in January, while the carrier edged down capacity. American Airlines said total capacity edged down 0.3% in January. Load factor—the percentage of seats filled—increased to 79.7% from 78.2% a year ago. American is benefiting from lower oil prices, which helped drive record profit in Q4. But cheap oil has been a mixed blessing for many airlines. Airlines have added flights and seats that weren’t profitable when fuel was pricier, causing fares to decline. While that can spur US traveller demand, oil’s drop has gone hand-in-hand with a rise in the dollar, which makes tickets on US carriers more expensive for foreign buyers. As a result, unit revenue—the important metric of how much an airline takes in from each passenger flown a mile—has been retreating for the past year.<br/>