Southwest pilots may have the freedom of the skies, but they don't have the freedom to say whatever they want at Midway Airport. At least not on a billboard, according to City Hall, which has barred the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association from using airport advertising to complain about pilots' stagnant wages. So now the pilots are suing the city of Chicago, saying its refusal to allow a billboard at Midway in advance of Southwest's May 18 shareholders meeting in Chicago is an unconstitutional restriction on their First Amendment rights. While the city says its decision to ban the billboard was based on guidelines enacted last summer that preclude the display of "all political and public issue advertising" at O'Hare and Midway airports, the pilots union says it was told the ad was banned because the city found it "offensive" and worried what Southwest would think. "This case represents a classic instance where a governmental entity is seeking to restrict speech in violation of the First Amendment because it disagrees with the viewpoint of the speaker," the lawsuit alleges. Depicting a uniformed pilot holding a sign that reads "Shareholder returns: $3.1 billion; Pilot raises: $0" beside the legend "The Pilots of SWAPA welcome Southwest shareholders to Chicago," the ad was rejected twice by the Chicago Department of Aviation, once in a subtly modified version, according to the suit.<br/>
unaligned
Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes posted its first quarterly profit since 2011 after the Brazilian airline trimmed operations to compensate for plunging travel in its home market. Q1 net income totaled 757.1m reais (US$219m), compared with a loss of 672.7m reais a year earlier, Gol said Wednesday after the close of trading in Sao Paulo. Revenue rose 8.3% to 2.71b reais, more than the 2.58b reais estimated by analysts. Brazil’s second-largest carrier by market share cut the total number of available seats in the quarter, attempting to reduce costs as unemployment above 10% and consumer confidence at record lows kept Brazilians at home. Domestic air travel dropped 7.2% in March, the eighth consecutive month of contraction, according to Brazil’s civil aviation agency.<br/>
Norwegian Air International, a low-fare airline that recently won its first step toward approval for flights to the US, drew protests Thursday from rival workers who contend the bargain jets would skirt labor and safety laws. Hundreds of aviation workers chanting "Deny NAI" picketed in front of the White House on Thursday. Unions for pilots, flight attendants and mechanics claim Norwegian Air International, a subsidiary of the low-cost European carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, located its headquarters in Ireland to dodge tough Norwegian labor laws that prohibit them from hiring contract pilots who may work for lower wages. The airline denies the charges. The company said it hired 400 US crew members based in New York and Florida over the past two years as its application was under review by the Department of Transportation. The airline has 80 workers based in Dublin and 37 aircraft registered in Ireland. Norwegian Air Shuttle officials said its low-cost carrier would increase trans-Atlantic competition without sacrificing safety. The airline said it would hire either U.S.-based or European-based crew for all its trans-Atlantic flights.<br/>