Air Canada plans to ease its debt load and push back maturities to cut costs as the airline industry wrestles with overcapacity and weak fares. The airline intends to redeem $700m of US dollar first- and second-lien bonds maturing in 2019 and 2020, as well as C$300m of Canadian dollar bonds maturing in 2019, Air Canada said Tuesday. The arrangement includes plans to refinance its existing senior secured credit facility as well as the notes, the Montreal-based company said. Air Canada is in the midst of a plan to trim its key cost ratio by about 21% by 2018. To get there, the carrier is cramming more passengers on long-haul aircraft, expanding the low-cost Rouge leisure unit and adding fuel-efficient jets such as Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner. Airfares are under pressure as US airlines add capacity, with Air Canada’s yields on trans-Atlantic routes falling 9.6% in Q2, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. <br/>
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A United Airlines flight has made an emergency landing in Nashville, Tennessee, after an apparently intoxicated passenger caused a disturbance. An arrest affidavit from Metro Nashville Police says the passenger, Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri, told officers he had eight drinks before boarding Monday's flight from Cincinnati to Houston. The pilot diverted the flight after police say Aldoseri broke one of the plane's bathroom doors, threw up in a sink and then starting speaking loudly in Arabic. News outlets report the affidavit says officers found Aldoseri passed out in his seat when the plane landed. Police said he had slurred speech, red, glassy eyes and was unsteady on his feet. Police charged Aldoseri with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.<br/>