A Porter Airlines flight with 54 passengers onboard was forced to dive suddenly to avoid an unidentified object as it approached Toronto on Monday. The Porter Bombardier Q400 was on a flight from Ottawa to Toronto’s Billy Bishop city airport when the pilots saw the object as it flew over Lake Ontario. The pilots took evasive action as the aircraft was flying at 9,000 feet on its approach to the airport. Two flight attendants who suffered minor injuries were taken to hospital as a precaution. The pilots initially thought the unidentified object was a balloon, but later reports indicate it may have been a drone. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said it was deploying a team of investigators following the incident.<br/>
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Two California men convicted of disrupting a Chicago-bound Southwest flight have been sentenced to prison. Jonathan Khalid Petras and Wisam Imad Shaker were sentenced Monday after their June convictions in Amarillo, Texas, on charges of interfering with a flight crew and aiding and abetting. US District Judge Sidney Fitzwater sentenced the 21-year-old Petras to seven months in prison. The 23-year-old Shaker got five months in prison. Both could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison each. An affidavit says six men boarded Flight 1522 in San Diego last August and were seated together when they became aggressive and used obscene language when denied alcohol. Pilots eventually diverted the plane to Amarillo. Two of the other four were acquitted. Charges against the other two were dropped.<br/>
Grupo Synergy has announced plans to buy a stake in Mexican carrier Aeromar for up to US$100m. Synergy would initially buy 25% of the airline, with the possibility of lifting its share to 49 percent later. The purchase is subject to regulatory approval. Brazil-based Grupo Synergy owns two-thirds of Avianca Holdings, formed from the merger of Colombia’s Avianca and El Salvador’s TACA airline. It also has holdings in other aviation-related companies. Aeromar separately announced an order for six ATR 72-600s and two ATR 42-600s in a deal worth US$200m, the airline said. When options for an additional six ATR 72-600s are included, the deal would be worth US$360m.<br/>
South Dakota has dismissed a criminal charge against a SkyWest Airlines pilot accused of being under the influence of alcohol before a flight at an airport in the state. Pennington County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Lara Roetzel said Monday that the state filed for dismissal because a blood draw taken hours after a preliminary breath test showed no measurable alcohol in his system. The 39-year-old pilot was arrested Oct. 26 at Rapid City Regional Airport after a security worker said the pilot smelled like alcohol and notified authorities. The pilot was arrested before passengers had boarded the 50-seat jet. Although the breath test showed a level above the legal limit of 0.04 percent, that level had dissipated by the time his blood was drawn four hours later, Roetzel said. Breath test results are not admissible in court. The flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, with a passenger list of 45, was delayed for two hours until a new crew arrived. The airline based in St. George, Utah, issued a statement Monday saying the pilot was immediately grounded and remains on unpaid leave while the investigation continues. Following his arrest, the pilot posted $300 bail and was released from jail.<br/>
An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Washington, DC, on Monday was powered with a jet-fuel blend containing 20% renewable biofuel made from Pacific Northwest forest residuals — the limbs and branches that remain after the harvesting of managed forests. Billed as the first commercial flight running partly on wood, the alternative jet fuel was produced through the research efforts of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance. Led by Washington State University, the group aims to build a sustainable supply chain for aviation biofuel using the leavings from logging operations. The wood came from Washington, Oregon and Montana, including forests managed by Weyerhaeuser, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes. Biofuels company Gevo used patented technologies to convert cellulosic sugars derived from wood waste into renewable isobutanol at a fermentation facility in St. Joseph, Mo., then further converted that at its biorefinery in Silsbee, Texas. The resultant fuel is certified as equivalent to regular aircraft-jet fuel produced from oil. Alaska used 1,080 gallons of the biofuel on the flight. The airline said that replacing 20% of its entire fuel supply at Sea-Tac Airport with the same fuel would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 142,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. However, for now the biofuel remains much more expensive than regular jet fuel, so it won’t be used for day-to-day flying.<br/>
Hawaiian Airlines has become the latest big US airline to unveil new uniforms for its frontline workers. The Honolulu-based carrier officially unveiled the new look at a company fashion show in Hawaii on Friday. The uniforms are a mix of bold and crisp color schemes as well as floral-themed looks that play off the imagery of Hawaii. Next up for the uniforms will be “on-the-job fit and wear testing” by employees beginning in January. A full roll-out is expected in late 2017, with Hawaiian Airlines saying it will be timed to coincide with the first passenger flights of the carrier's new Airbus A321neo long-haul aircraft. The uniforms will be worn by nearly 5,000 of the Hawaiian's front-line workers, including flight attendants, customer service agents and cargo, ramp and maintenance workers.<br/>
Latvian carrier airBaltic has confirmed the first Bombardier CSeries 300 (CS300) will make its commercial debut between Riga and Amsterdam Dec. 14. “The historic first airBaltic commercial flight with Bombardier CS300 will link Riga with Amsterdam,” airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss said. AirBaltic is the CS300 launch operator, with 20 of the 145-seat aircraft on order. Deliveries were delayed following challenges on the CSeries program. The Riga-based airline is expected to receive its first CS300 from Bombardier in early December, ahead of the commercial launch. AirBaltic operates 12 Boeing 737s and 12 Bombardier Q400s across 60 destinations, spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and the Middle East.<br/>