Norwegian Air Shuttle will need to order more long-haul planes, with Boeing 787s the likeliest option, once its Irish subsidiary wins US approval to fly transatlantic routes. The US DoT said Friday it intended to grant flying rights to Norwegian Air's Irish subsidiary. Norwegian Air is Europe's third-largest budget airline by passenger numbers after Ryanair and easyJet. "With this permission from the US DoT, we can start flying people from Africa and Asia via Europe to the US. We are going to need more long-haul planes than we have ordered today," Norwegian Air's CE Bjorn Kjos said. The airline has ordered US$18.5b worth of planes from Boeing so far, including 29 787 Dreamliners in October. "Dreamliners are the most likely option," said Kjos, without specifying how many more planes would be needed. "We are going to create jobs in the US. This permit allows us to look at more planes from Boeing." <br/>
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A California university student who was taken off a Southwest flight after another passenger heard him speaking Arabic wants an apology. The incident unfolded as Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was waiting for his April 6 flight from Los Angeles to Oakland to take off. Makhzoomi, an Iraqi refugee, said he had called his uncle in Baghdad after taking his seat when he noticed a fellow passenger staring at him, said an executive from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The woman reported him to Southwest staff and Makhzoomi was escorted off the plane. After he was removed from the flight, the student was searched by drug-sniffing dogs and subjected to a physical search. FBI agents questioned Makhzoomi before releasing him without charges, an FBI spokeswoman said. Southwest said that its employees had acted within protocol in response to another Arabic-speaking passenger's report of what were perceived to be threatening comments. <br/>
There will be a Tax Day silver lining for a few hundred Allegiant Air passengers this year. The leisure carrier surprised 159 passengers aboard a flight Friday by refunding their airfare. Allegiant says it will do the same for five additional flights through Monday. That’s the national "Tax Day" deadline for 2016, substituting for the usual April 15 date this year thanks to a Washington, DC, holiday that’s being observed Friday. Allegiant said it would give the surprise Tax Day-themed refunds to another flight Saturday as well as one Sunday. Then, on this year's actual Tax Day April 18, Allegiant will refund fliers on three more flights. The carrier declined to say which flights so that it would remain a surprise for customers. <br/>
Spirit Airlines said Q1 revenue was better than expected, leading to improved operating-margin guidance, but the company noted that fares remain low in its markets. Spirit, known for pairing very low base fares with fees for things such as carry-on baggage and drinks, said non-ticket revenue was relatively stable, but faced “modest pressure on take rates for certain ancillary items.” The carrier increased its operating-margin guidance to about 21.5%, from a range of 19% to 20.5%. Spirit said total revenue per available seat mile fell about 14%, which was better than expected as revenue-management strategies helped results. In January, Spirit replaced CE Ben Baldanza, naming board member Robert Fornaro as its new president and CE. Last week, the company said March traffic increased 25.1% as load factor rose to 88.5% from 88.1% a year earlier. <br/>
Europe’s largest regional airline, UK-based Flybe, and Channel Islands-based carrier Blue Islands will start a 10-year franchise agreement from June 6, the two airlines have announced. Blue Islands, which operates a small fleet of five ATR 42 and ATR 72 turboprops, is based in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy. Although close to France, the islands are British territories. Under the agreement, Blue Islands’ aircraft will operate in Flybe livery and undertake six routes between the islands and the UK, as well as a winter season service between Jersey and Geneva. Some of the services are currently operated by Flybe, which will be able to redeploy its aircraft elsewhere. <br/>