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A top California state official said Wednesday he was a passenger on an Air Canada jet that nearly landed on a taxiway where four other planes were sitting rather than the designated runway at San Francisco International Airport. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones was on the flight from Toronto returning from a conference of insurance regulators when the pilot mistakenly made his approach toward the taxiway Friday night instead of the nearby runway. "It was just really strange because clearly something was wrong, but they didn't really give us any information afterward. So to see that we almost landed on four planes full of passengers is a little disturbing," said Jones. Federal officials are investigating the incident. Passengers were not told about the near-calamity after the plane landed safely, Jones said. Instead, he said the pilot told the 140 passengers on board that there was more traffic than usual and everything was fine, he said. But he said he knew something was wrong because as the plane descended, the engines revved, and then the plane climbed. "I've never experienced something like that for as low we were," said Jones. "You could tell something wasn't right." In audio posted on liveatc.net, which records flight communications, the pilot on the plane and the air traffic controller sounded calm as the close call unfolded. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor would not comment on how close Air Canada Flight 759 came to disaster, citing his agency's ongoing investigation. The NTSB also will review what happened.<br/>

This week, United Airlines is quietly unveiling a new technology platform that it will use to manage the problem of oversold flights—and, in the same breath, turn them into a profit opportunity. With the help of its new Flex-Schedule Program, the airline is piloting a way to buck the trend of involuntary bumping without necessarily offering four-figure payouts to passengers at the gate, or curbing their practice of overselling inventory. Instead, it’ll simply offer buyouts earlier—up to five days in advance. The upside for United? The chance to resell your ticket at a wider profit margin. In partnership with Volantio, a third-party aviation technology startup based in Atlanta, United will soon begin sending e-mail newsletters with subject lines such as “Are You Flexible with Your Travels to Los Angeles?” Inside, travelers will have the option to sign up for potential rewards—so long as they’re willing to budge a little on their flight itineraries. Only those who book on United.com and opt in to receive marketing messages will be eligible for the sign-up offer—and signing up doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be asked to change your flight. If it’s looking like your seat has turned into a hot commodity, though, you’ll be offered the chance to tweak your itinerary in exchange for a travel voucher up to $250. And tweak is the key word: You’ll never be asked to change dates or airports, and your seat preferences will carry over, with clear indicators if you’re taking a downgrade from Economy Plus to regular-old Economy. <br/>

The US Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday it has lifted a ban on state-owned EgyptAir passengers using laptops on US-bound flights, leaving just two Middle Eastern airlines still under restrictions first imposed in March. EgyptAir earlier Wednesday announced the lifting of the restrictions on its Cairo-to-New York flights in a Twitter post, but noted that they remain in effect for flights to London. Saudi Arabian Airlines, also known as Saudia, said in a statement that it expected the ban to be lifted on flights from Jeddah and Riyadh by July 19. Royal Air Maroc believes it could get off the ban for flights out of Casablanca's Mohammed V International Airport by July 19, a senior official of the airline said in a statement. A Homeland Security spokesman, David Lapan, said the July 19 date is a "realistic" timetable for a decision on the two airlines. The measures were imposed in March on nine airlines, most of which were Middle Eastern carriers, to address the potential threat of hidden explosives in laptops and other devices. The restrictions put an additional burden on airlines already hurting from the Trump administration's travel ban on six majority-Muslim countries.<br/>

The Swedish government is seeking buyers for its holding in airline SAS business magazine Affarsvarlden reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources. Nordic bank Nordea was trying to line up buyers and a consortium of private investors was eyeing the stake in the airline but had so far struggled to secure funding for a deal, the magazine reported. "At least two investors are on board, but they need an additional few partners to nail down the funding to take over the entire stake," the magazine quoted an unidentified source as saying. A government official at the enterprise ministry said in an emailed statement that the government had nothing to add beyond repeating that it did not consider itself a long-term owner of the Scandinavian airline. "We have no knowledge of the information regarding Nordea in the media," State Secretary Eva Lindstrom said. The Swedish government owns a 17% stake in SAS but has a parliamentary mandate to sell the shares in the airline which has struggled in recent years in the face of fierce competition and a high cost base. <br/>