The parent company of United Airlines will pay a US$2.4m fine after reviving a money-losing air route to please a now-disgraced New Jersey politician, US market regulators announced Friday. The penalty by the Securities and Exchange Commission follows a US$2.25m fine imposed earlier this year by federal prosecutors in the bribery case. United's CE and two other senior officials stepped down in 2015 as the investigation unfolded revealing how the airline shareholders footed the bill to restore an unprofitable flight between Newark, New Jersey and Columbia, South Carolina, bowing to pressure from David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and former New Jersey attorney general. Samson used a lobbyist to pressure United into reinstating the non-stop service even though the company had canceled the route in 2009 for lack of profit, officials said. The airline lost nearly US$1 million on the route which ran from September 2012 until April 2014. As Port Authority chairman, Samson held sway over a proposed United hangar project at the Newark airport, a major hub, which the company believed would return US$47.5m in value to the airline as a result of more efficient routings. "United initiated a money-losing flight solely to curry favor with a public official," said Andrew Calamari, head of the SEC's New York Regional Office. The flight was cancelled again shortly after Samson's resignation in the unrelated New Jersey "Bridgegate" scandal in which state officials deliberately blocked traffic into New York to punish a political enemy of Governor Chris Christie, an unsuccessful presidential candidate, according to the SEC.<br/>
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A plane originally intended for Tunisia's toppled president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been sold to Turkish Airlines, Tunisair said Sunday, six years after it was grounded following his overthrow. The Turkish firm bought the Airbus A340 for 181 million dinars ($78 million), Tunisair spokeswoman Amal Bourguiba said, without giving a date for the sale. The A340 had arrived in the French airport of Bordeaux in the autumn of 2010 to be equipped for Ben Ali's use, but a popular uprising in Tunisia toppled the dictator early the next year. According to French daily Sud-Ouest, Ben Ali - who now lives in exile in Saudi Arabia - only used the plane once to test it before it was outfitted. Tunisair put the plane on the market in January 2012, saying it had been outfitted with a living room and bedroom "to suit the travel needs of a head of state". <br/>
A drunken plane passenger threw a punch at a flight attendant at 30,000ft and was rugby tackled to the floor after she asked him if he was smoking in the toilets. Guy Lardinois, a Belgian national who lives in Istanbul, Turkey, was on his way to Manchester for a funeral when the altercation happened on Thursday, December 1. He was approached by the flight attendant on the Turkish Airlines flight TK1995 from Istanbul, Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court heard. The 40-year-old, who had drunk four gin and tonics, denied he was smoking and asked for another drink before returning to his seat, the Daily Mail reported. Prosecutor David Lees said the defendant then started arguing, shouting and became abusive before getting out of his seat and moving to the rear of the plane. Story has further details of incident. Lardinois pleaded guilty to common assault and being drunk while on a flight. He was handed a six-month custodial sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to pay a GBP600 fine. He must also pay GBP100 compensation, a GBP115 victim surcharge and GBP85 court costs before he leaves the country.<br/>