The US FAA said Tuesday it is investigating an incident involving a single-engine private plane that flew over an American Airlines Boeing 737 jet in Santa Ana, California. NBC News reported that actor Harrison Ford was piloting the private plane, an Aviat Husky, that was involved in an incident at John Wayne Airport on Monday afternoon. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the plane was cleared to land at runway 20L and the pilot correctly read back the clearance. "The pilot then landed on a taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, overflying a Boeing 737 that was holding short of the runway," Gregor said. American Airlines flight 1546 to Dallas had 110 passengers and a six-person crew and was waiting for the private plane to land before taking off, a person familiar with the matter said. It left shortly after the private plane landed without incident. American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the airline reported the incident to the NTSB and the FAA. NBC News said Ford was captured on air traffic control recordings asking, "Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?" Air traffic controllers informed Ford that he had landed on a taxiway rather than the runway, NBC said.<br/>
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Pilots at American Airlines denounced the carrier's CEO, Doug Parker, on Tuesday, citing his decision last week to skip a meeting with US President Donald Trump. The pilots' union, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), issued a symbolic vote of "no-confidence" in Parker's leadership abilities. It also cited lagging pay increases compared to pilots at other carriers and "questionable economic and strategic decisions." American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said that the union and the airline share the same goal and that they "have a solid foundation in place upon which to build... Therefore, further public dialogue serves no purpose," Miller said. American had said at the time of the White House meeting that Parker's decision not to meet with Trump and other airline executives was due to a previously scheduled leadership conference. "We've watched Mr. Parker and his team being out-managed by our competitors' executives and have lost trust in their ability to lead and protect the interests of American Airlines employees and shareholders," the APA said. <br/>
IAG has sealed a deal to take seven long-range variants of Airbus Group’s A321neo single-aisle jetliner for Aer Lingus, people with knowledge of the agreement said. The transaction may be unveiled on Feb. 24 when British Airways parent IAG reports full-year results, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the details aren’t yet public. The company is likely to take the jets via a lease deal involving a new order from a third party, one of the people said. The planes will replace four aging Boeing 757s on some Aer Lingus flights to the US as IAG renews the unit’s fleet amid increasing competition from carriers including Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, which is establishing an Irish arm and aims to operate trans-Atlantic services using Boeing 737 Max jets. IAG said on Nov. 4 that it had issued a request for proposals for the longer-range LR variant of the A321neo and planned to spend E400m (US$425m) on switching to the model, which will complement the Airbus A330s that form the mainstay of Aer Lingus’s US services. IAG is also in talks with American Airlines about incorporating Aer Lingus in the trans-Atlantic joint venture that BA operates with Spain’s Iberia, and may also bring it into the Oneworld global alliance. <br/>