Ryanair has cancelled plans to start flying to Ukraine, saying on Monday that the main airport in Kiev had not honored terms agreed earlier this year. Ryanair had been in negotiations with Boryspil airport since announcing in March that it planned new routes to Kiev and the west Ukrainian city of Lviv. Earlier this month, Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA), which is part-owned by powerful tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, denied in a statement that it had been lobbying to prevent a deal between Ryanair and Boryspil. "Kiev airport has ... chosen to protect high-fare airlines and deprive Ukrainian consumers/visitors access to Europe's lowest air fares," Ryanair said Monday. "We regret also that Lviv Airport has fallen victim to Kiev Airport's decision." The carrier said it would transfer the capacity to other markets, such as Germany, Israel and Poland. A spokesman for Boryspil airport did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Ryanair's decision could deepen concerns about the continued power of vested interests in Ukraine, whose government has vowed to tackle endemic corruption in exchange for a $17.5 billion bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund.<br/>
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Emirates is letting go of dozens of employees as the Persian Gulf carrier continues a push to streamline after years of rapid growth, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The world’s biggest long-haul airline is scaling back senior cabin crew as well as the support department workforce including administration and IT, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The cuts at Emirates, which froze hiring last summer and hasn’t taken on new crew in months, began in the last few weeks and affect middle and upper-level managers, they said. Emirates said there is no company-wide program to reduce headcount and that “there is no change in staff turnover rates in the past weeks.” The carrier continues to hire for “critical roles,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed response to questions, noting that “recruitment has slowed down as we streamline our operations, introduce new technologies, and find ways to better deploy existing resources internally.” Emirates Group, which includes the airline and other travel and tourism entities, increased its workforce 11% in the fiscal year ended March 31 to more than 105,000 employees.<br/>
Emirates airline has scaled back its five weekly flights to the Angolan capital Luanda to three due to the difficulty of repatriating revenue earned in the country, the president of the Middle East's largest airline said. "As I have previously indicated, the viability of our operations in Luanda is being severely impacted by limitations on the repatriation of out sale proceeds being accumulated in Angola on a daily basis," Timothy Clark said in letter dated July 9 to Angola's transport minister Augusto da Silva Tomas. Hit by a collapse in the price of crude oil, Africa's second largest oil exporter has been depleting its reserves at a faster rate to fund imports and pay down government debt, and imposed capital restrictions including amounts travelers can take abroad. Clark said the limitation on flights, which came into effect on Sunday, would also come under review very quickly if significant progress on the moving its funds out of the country was not made in the coming days. The Gulf airline also terminated a deal with Angolan airline TAAG, under which Emirates took operational control of the airline for 10 years and the two cooperated on commercial opportunities on the continent. The agreement was signed in 2014.<br/>
Exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui is suspected of obtaining confidential client data of aviation-to-financial services conglomerate HNA from air traffic control and airline staff, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Chinese police. A senior official of the air traffic control department and an airline duty manager have been arrested in connection with the matter, Xinhua said. Chinese-born Guo, now based in New York, has unleashed a torrent of corruption allegations against high-level Communist Party officials and is facing multiple lawsuits in a number of different jurisdictions. Chinese authorities have retaliated with stepped up attempts over the past few months to discredit Guo. Following a request from Beijing, Interpol issued a "red notice" for Guo in April. A red notice is an international alert for a wanted person. Xinhua said Guo had, through a senior civil aviation official, Song Jun, obtained the private information on 146 clients of the HNA group, including flight times, destinations and flight numbers in order to spread and fabricate what it called "corruption" and "sexual" stories. Song, a senior staff member of the civil aviation air traffic control department, had now been arrested by authorities on alleged private data violations, along with an airline duty manager, Xinhua cited the police as saying. The HNA Group declined to comment.<br/>
Wataniya Airways is to resume flights on Tuesday for the first time since ceasing operations in 2011, according to state news agency KUNA. Wataniya halted operations after three years in business due to its financial situation and political instability in the Middle East. The Kuwaiti airline will restart with a scheduled service on July 11 to Tbilisi, Georgia, KUNA reported on Monday. Wataniya will also resume flights to Baku, Azerbaijan and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina this week. <br/>
An Oregon woman who licked, groped and verbally harassed a female passenger during a flight from Las Vegas to Portland was sentenced Monday to eight months of home detention. Heidi McKinney, 27, of Banks declined to make a statement during Monday's sentencing at the federal courthouse in Portland, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. McKinney, who wrote a letter of apology to the victim, pleaded guilty in March to assault with intent to commit a felony. In addition to home detention, McKinney was sentenced to three years on probation. She must also pay $3,000 restitution and abstain from alcohol. McKinney was arrested May 8, 2016, after the Alaska Airlines flight landed at Portland International Airport. The 19-year-old victim told authorities she had been touched without consent.<br/>
The chairman of Sun Country Airlines told employees he has fired the man who served as president and chief executive of the Minnesota-based carrier since 2015. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that chairman Marty Davis said in an email to Sun Country staffers that Zarir Erani is no longer leading the company. The move comes after the airline failed to meet monthly forecasts for more than a year. Davis would not elaborate on the decision, but told the newspaper it had nothing to do with the company's financial results. Davis said in the email that Erani will work on technology initiatives in other companies owned by the family. The Davis family owns a number of Minnesota companies, including Cambria and Davis Family Dairies. They bought the airline in 2011.<br/>
New Estonian national carrier Nordica is making satisfactory progress in winning passenger traffic, the airline said July 6, with record traffic figures for June. Passenger numbers rose above 60,000 for the first time, with the airline carrying 60,937 clients in June. Compared to the same month last year, this represented growth of 39.5% for Nordica, which serves the small Baltic nation and has a strategic alliance with Polish carrier LOT. It had the largest share of passengers originating from its Tallinn hub, carrying 27% of total traffic, with its nearest competitor having a market share in June of 17.8%, it said. June saw 99.67% of all Nordica’s scheduled flights operated, with 83.5% of those departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. The airline’s most popular destinations in June were Stockholm, Munich and Brussels.<br/>