Saudi Arabia's state carrier said Sunday it had been unable to send planes to transport Qatari pilgrims to the kingdom because it had been unable to get permission to land at Doha airport, amid a diplomatic dispute between the two countries. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, along with three other Arab states, have been locked in a political row which severed transport ties to Doha in June, but Riyadh said last week it would facilitate the travel of Qataris for the annual haj pilgrimage. Between 2 and 3m Muslims travel to Mecca each year for the pilgrimage. Along with reopening its land border with Qatar, Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that King Salman had ordered the dispatch of a Saudi Arabia Airlines plane to fly Qatari pilgrims to Jeddah at his own expense so that they could go on to Mecca, Islam's holiest city. But the first flight has not been able to take off from Saudi Arabia because it had not yet received landing permission in Doha, said Saleh al-Jasser, the general director of the airline, according to Saudi state news agency SPA. He said the airline had applied for landing permission several days ago. <br/>
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Austrian holiday airline Niki's 850 employees braced for a bumpy ride as insolvent parent Air Berlin began talks Friday to sell its assets before it runs out of cash. Lufthansa was scheduled to hold discussions about buying parts of Air Berlin ahead of other potential bidders, a senior labour union official said Thursday. Media said Lufthansa was interested in taking over major parts of Air Berlin as well as Niki. However, Niki labour bosses said on Friday that the brand's future was unclear and it was not known whether the Austrian carrier would be sold separately from Air Berlin's assets or as part of a package. Niki, founded by former Formula 1 race car driver Niki Lauda, is not part of the insolvency proceedings but depends on cash from Air Berlin to cover its costs. Union representative Peter Stattmann told journalists all bills had been paid so far but that the next "litmus test" would be August wages in the two-digit millions of euros, due at the end of the month. "We were promised (these wages). We will see if it will happen that way," he said after a staff meeting at Vienna Airport.<br/>
India's biggest airline IndiGo said Friday it had been forced to ground 12 Airbus jets because of delays in getting new Pratt and Whitney-made engines and uncertainty around a new Indian sales tax. In a statement following local media reports of new grounded planes, the carrier said eight of its A320neo aircraft had been grounded since April. Four A320ceo were also grounded last month because spare engines are stuck at customs, which the company linked to clarifications related to a new country-wide sales tax. IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, and rival GoAir have faced delays in receiving planes from Airbus due to ongoing problems with engines developed by Pratt and Whitney, owned by United Technologies. Local media on Friday had reported that 13 planes had been grounded, and that the airline was forced to cancel 84 flights. IndiGo, which has 95 aircraft in service, said it had previously flagged up the grounding of nine A320neos in June because of a lack of spare engines. The shortages have "led to unplanned flight cancellations. All passengers have been informed of the changes and accommodated accordingly," the airline said.<br/>
A father and daughter were booted from a Frontier Airlines flight last week after the crew reportedly felt threatened by a conversation the pair were having before the plane had taken off. The incident occurred Wednesday after Eric Miller, 70, and his daughter, Whitney Miller, 25, had boarded a flight from Orlando to St. Louis, according to News 6 Orlando. The Millers told the news station that they had already been delayed for eight hours and were talking privately about how “miserable” the Frontier crew and experience had been. Shortly afterward, flight attendants confronted them about their conversation, the pair added. “It was aggressive,” Miller told News 6. “They would lean over the back of the chair in front of us, get their face right up to here, and they would simply ask, ‘Do we have a problem?’ ” Whitney Miller agreed: “It was, ‘No, do you have a problem? Do you need to be removed from this aircraft?’ And we responded, ‘No, like, we don’t understand what’s going on. What’s happening? Please tell us what’s happening.’ ” A passenger seated behind the Millers began recording a video apparently after the pair was asked to leave the plane. In the video, a male flight attendant tells the Millers that they had “threatened us,” while another flight crew member suggests that the airline could call the police. Story has further details.<br/>