WestJet Airlines says the airline’s Q1 profits were hit by economic weakness, especially in its home base of Alberta, but believes things are starting to turn around. The airline has made adjustments to its flight network, moving some routes out of the West and Newfoundland, which has also been struggling with the steep drop in oil prices, into places like Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario. “All things considered, we feel better (than three months ago),” said Bob Cummings, executive vice-president commercial, during a conference call Tuesday with analysts, pointing to a “little bit of creep in oil prices.” “Alberta is getting to a healthier place. The sentiment, I will say, is changing,” he said, though he wouldn’t say “whether we have the bottom or not.” The Calgary-based company says it had an $87.6m profit, or 71 cents per diluted share, in Q1. That was down substantially from a year earlier, when it had a record profit of $140.7m.<br/>
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Gol Linhas Aereas is offering to exchange $780m of dollar-denominated notes for new securities maturing over a decade, as the Brazilian airline struggles to reshape its finances amid a deepening recession in the domestic market. Bondholders of five different tranches of debt, one of them maturing as early as next year, are being asked to accept new securities due in 2018, 2022 and 2028, the company said in a regulatory filing. The new notes will be senior to all of Gol’s existing and future unsecured debt. The haircut for bondholders, who have until June 1 to accept the offer, will range from 30 to 70%, CFO Edmar Lopes said. In offering the exchange, Gol cited Brazil’s political instability and contracting economy, along with a “sharp devaluation” in the country’s currency against the US dollar last year that led to a decline in travel. Airlines have been particularly hurt by weak demand among business passengers, who typically generate the most-profitable fares. “We are offering a coupon that makes sense for current bondholders,” Lopes said. “We understand this is a good offer, considering market conditions. This is what is possible within the company’s cash flow, looking at our balance sheet and considering how we aim to deleverage the company for the upcoming years.”<br/>
Passengers on a recent JetBlue flight were awarded a free round-trip flight thanks to four crying baby travellers. "People smile at babies everywhere, except on planes," said Elizabeth Windram, JetBlue's director brand management and advertising (and a mother of a toddler). "For Mother's Day, we wanted to acknowledge how moms (indeed all parents and caregivers) often feel stressed while traveling with children." The airline offered the "FlyBabies" promotion on April 15 on a flight from New York City's JFK airport to Long Beach, California, that awarded a 25% discount on future airfare every time a baby onboard cried. There were a total of five babies on the flight. All it took were four cries (fussing and whining didn't count) for the 140 passengers to be rewarded with a free roundtrip ticket on JetBlue. With a flight time of around seven hours, there was a good chance the pint-sized travellers were going to get fussy. Passengers were made aware of the stunt after the first food and beverage service -- and the four cries came before the plane made its final descent.<br/>
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Hawaii mother to a month in jail and three months under home confinement for assaulting her 15-month-old daughter on a flight from Alaska. Samantha Leialoha Watanabe declined to speak at her sentencing hearing. A jury convicted her of assault after last year’s trial where prosecutors alleged she cursed at her daughter, smacked her in the head, hit her in the face with a stuffed doll and yanked out tufts of her hair during the May 2015 Alaska Airlines flight. Defense attorneys argued the allegations were fabricated by judgmental passengers who didn’t like how Watanabe looked and dressed her child. Watanabe didn’t do anything beyond permissible parental discipline during a long flight with a fussy toddler, her attorneys said. Prosecutors alleged she was unreasonably rough with the generally well-behaved girl.<br/>