unaligned

Almost two years to the day after a passenger plane was deliberately slammed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard, a US judge threw out a lawsuit against the Arizona flight school where the pilot was trained. On March 24, 2015, Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain of Flight 9525 out of the cockpit and flew the Airbus A320 into a mountainside. The 81 families of the doomed passengers alleged in a lawsuit that Airline Training Center Arizona Inc. in Goodyear, Ariz., owned by Germanwings parent Lufthansa, bore some responsibility for failing to screen out Lubitz. While finding some merit in the claim, U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa in Phoenix ruled on March 27 that since everything else about the case is tied to Germany, that’s where it must be heard. She cited the legal principle of forum non conveniens, under which judges have discretion to shift a case to a different venue, depending on the facts in hand. Seventy of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are German. “Although Arizona certainly has an interest in this litigation, it is comparatively low when considering the much higher level of public interest in the lawsuit that is likely in Germany given the number of German citizens who lost their lives,” she wrote. Humetewa said a German court, if it accepts the lawsuit, could apply any Arizona laws applicable to the case. For the European plaintiffs, the ruling could spell the end of US litigation over the crash. Marc Moller, a lawyer for the relatives at Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, called Humetewa’s ruling “quite positive” and said his clients will indeed take their case to Germany. “The bottom line is that the decision validates the theories of liability that motivated us to bring the case in the first place,” Moller said. Many of the relatives have already settled, owing to a two-year statute of limitations. Humetewa gave the plaintiffs six months to bring their lawsuit in Germany.<br/>

Emirates may offer passengers loaner laptops as the world’s biggest long-haul carrier seeks to soften the blow from a US ban on electronics in airplane cabins. The airline may explore “creative” ways to work around the ban if it remains in place over the long term, President Tim Clark said. That could include providing government-approved laptops that “can be used in-flight to help people do what they need to do in the absence of devices that are in the hold.” Routes to the US could also be at risk if travellers book with rivals. If customer demand diminishes due to “whatever actions the United States government takes, we will have to adjust accordingly, that’s just good business,” he said. Under a rule that came into effect on Saturday, the US prohibits travelers on flights from 10 Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, from bringing large electronics into the aircraft cabin. The UK partially followed, but didn’t target Persian Gulf hubs. The ban deals an additional blow to the likes of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways after President Donald Trump earlier this year restricted citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. Clark was critical of the selective targeting of the ban, saying if there’s a risk that laptops can be used during flights for terrorist activity, then the restriction “should be applied to the airline industry universally,” he said.<br/>

A Boeing jet operated by Peruvian Airlines caught fire on Tuesday while landing at an airport near the Andean town of Jauja in central Peru after it swerved on the runway, but there were no serious injuries, a government minister said. Peruvian Airlines said that the Boeing 737-300 jet drove off the runway for unspecified reasons during the scheduled landing, after swerving to the right. It said that all 141 people on board the flight, which originated in Lima, were evacuated safely. Authorities are investigating the incident, which occurred about 4:30 p.m., involving the Boeing 737-300 jet at the high-altitude airport in an agricultural valley some 265 kilometers from Lima, the capital. The fire likely started when the wing scraped the runway, Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said. "The plane couldn't stop on the runway and they made a maneuver to stop it with the wing and that appears to have caused the fire," Basombrio said. Television images showed a large cloud of black smoke streaming from an airliner in flames.<br/>

With a promise to fly US passengers to Europe for as little as $65, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA is poised to transform transatlantic travel. While terrific news for consumers, its low-cost long-haul strategy might be a little more turbulent for shareholders and lenders. Having built Norwegian from a handful of aircraft into Europe’s third-largest budget carrier, founder and CEO Bjorn Kjos, a former fighter pilot, likes proving doubters wrong. He won a big victory in December when the U.S. approved his plan to add more long-haul routes via an Irish subsidiary. Yet Norwegian’s breakneck debt-funded expansion — it’s lifting seat capacity by about 30 percent this year — is risky and there’s no guarantee that its heavy long-haul spending will generate ample returns, especially if competitors fight back. In 2012, Norwegian placed Europe’s biggest ever passenger jet order for more than 200 narrow-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The $21.5 billion list price was almost 50 times Norwegian’s market capitalization at the time. Now, as it tries to shake up the long-haul market, Norwegian also plans to almost treble its number of wide-body Boeing 787 jets by 2018. Norwegian’s capex will double this year to about $1.8b and analysts expect negative free cash flow until at least 2019. Story has further details.<br/>

North Korea’s national airline has started a new flight service to Dandong in China, bringing the total of its regularly scheduled international destinations to five. The first Air Koryo flight for the new service, a 73-seat Antonov AN148 carrying a group of around 50 Chinese tourists, touched down at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport on Tuesday. The flight time between Dandong, right on China’s border with North Korea, and Pyongyang is less than an hour. The flights are currently scheduled to operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Air Koryo’s other current regularly scheduled international flights are to Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, and Vladivostok. The North Korean flag carrier also used to make occasional flights to other destinations, but sanctions have led some countries such as Kuwait and Malaysia to stop Air Koryo flights. Air China, long the only foreign airline with regular service to North Korea’s capital, is also expected to end its flights in and out of Pyongyang after an international marathon next month.<br/>

Frontier Airlines is aiming to go public as soon as Q2, people with knowledge of the matter said. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc. and Evercore Partners Inc. are the leading underwriters on the deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Barclays Plc, once poised to lead the IPO, will now have a more passive role after the departure of its airline analyst, the people said. Frontier, owned by private equity firm Indigo Partners, first began talks with banks about going public in December 2015. Spokesmen for Frontier, Indigo Partners and Evercore didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives of JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Barclays declined to comment. Airline IPOs in the US are rare. Virgin America Inc. was the last to go public, raising $353m in November 2014, including an overallotment. <br/>