Iran has reached a deal with a foreign leasing company to finance the first 17 jets it plans to buy from Airbus, breaking a logjam in efforts to import aircraft following the lifting of sanctions, people familiar with the move said. The deal removes a significant hurdle to securing the first tranche of jets, following uncertainty over financing and political opposition in the United States and Iran, though the sources caution months of talking have thrown up new potential hurdles. Iranian officials declined to name the lessor involved, but industry sources said in September that Iran was in advanced talks with the United Arab Emirates' Dubai Aerospace about helping to finance the purchase. "We have a deal to finance the first 17 aircraft," a senior Iranian official told Reuters. Dubai Aerospace and Airbus both declined to comment. Under the deal, the leasing company would take over part of Iran's order for dozens of new jetliners and then lease them to the country's flag carrier.<br/>
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A gunman who killed a federal transportation security officer and wounded three other people during a rampage at Los Angeles International Airport was sentenced to life plus 60 years in prison Monday for the attack that crippled the nation’s second-busiest airport and disrupted travel nationwide. Paul Ciancia, 26, had faced the mandatory life sentence for murdering a federal officer, but prosecutors also sought the additional 60-year term because he showed no remorse and still clings to the beliefs that led to the violence in 2013. Addressing the court about what led up to the attack, Ciancia said that in 2012 he was sick of life and decided to kill himself. At the time the 2012 presidential race was underway, he was watching a lot of cable news and there was a great deal of talk about gun control, he said. “I told myself that day I need to get a gun,” he said, adding that not long after that he was harassed by Los Angeles police. He did not give details of that but continued his account. “I knew exactly how I wanted to die. I was going to take up arms against my own government,” he said. Story has further details.<br/>
Budget carriers are feverishly launching new international routes as the domestic market has reached a saturation point. Jeju Air Monday said it will launch four new international routes next month. They will include flights between Incheon and Sanya, China from Dec. 5, and flights from Busan to Tokyo, Saipan and Phuket from Nov. 15. The airline will also increase the number of flights between Busan and Fukuoka from seven to 10 per week. Korean Air's no-frills carrier Jin Air will launch three international routes next month. It is set to operate flights from Busan to Kitakyushu, Japan on Dec. 1 and flights from Incheon to Kitakyushu on Dec. 13. It also offers flights to Cairns, Australia during the period between mid-December to early February to attract more winter holidaymakers. Asiana Airline's new budget spinoff, Air Seoul, which was launched in July, started operating international flights last month. Most of them were routes operated by Asiana Airlines, but it added more routes. Eastar Jet, which launched a route between Incheon and Hanoi early this month, will offer flights from Busan to Kota Kinabalu next month. Budget carriers are mostly targeting niche routes flagship carriers do not offer, and many of them depart from Busan instead of Incheon in a bid to draw travelers in the provinces by decreasing their inconvenience of coming up all the way to Incheon to go overseas. In tandem with this trend, the number of international passengers using budget carriers is increasing significantly. Budget airliners' combined share of international flights grew from 2.2% in 2010 to 14.6% in 2015.<br/>
FedEx is grounding one of its planes temporarily that has an engine General Electric flagged after a passenger jet erupted in flames last month, a spokesman for the cargo airline told Reuters on Monday. Engine-maker GE on Friday alerted airlines about a small number of parts under investigation following American Airlines Flight 383, which caught fire on Oct. 28. The parts were made from the same lot of alloy as a turbine disk used by American, which GE subsequently discovered had a "material anomaly." While US investigators have yet to assign blame for the non-fatal incident, they have found what appeared to be fatigue cracking where the disk had an anomaly. Experts have said the disk's corrupted material may indicate a manufacturing defect, either by the parts or metal maker. FedEx spokesman Chris Allen said the company was notified that an engine in one MD11 aircraft was affected. "The aircraft associated with the affected engine is temporarily not in service until the engine is replaced. Safety is our top priority,” he said. GE Friday said all but one of the parts related to the anomalous disk were out of service.<br/>