Jordan’s state carrier Royal Jordanian will suspend its flights to Erbil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq from Friday following a request from Iraqi authorities, the company said Wednesday. The airline, which operates 10 weekly flights to Erbil and three weekly flights to Sulaymaniyah, said the suspension of flights would start at 6 pm local Amman time on Friday. The government in Baghdad is at loggerheads with the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq after they held a referendum on independence. <br/>
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Malaysia Airlines plans to buy 35 wide-bodied planes over the next year as part of a fleet restructuring to rebuild its premium business as it seeks to return to profitability by 2018, its CEO said Wednesday. Peter Bellew said there is a mismatch at the moment, with 70% of the airline's current fleet of 69 planes comprising single-aisle, narrow-bodied aircraft for short- and medium-haul routes, making it appear more like a low-cost carrier. He said the airline expects to increase its fleet size to 80 planes by 2022, of which 45% will be wide-bodied aircraft. Bellew said wide-bodied planes are cost efficient for busy regional routes, provide higher revenue opportunity in terms of cargo and seats, and allow flexibility for the carrier to return to long-haul routes. The airline axed all long-haul routes except to London under a $1.5b restructuring in 2014 that included axing 6,000 jobs. Malaysia Airlines earlier this month inked a deal to buy eight Boeing wide-bodied 787-9 Dreamliners and eight single-aisle 737 MAX jets. Some critics however, said the loss-making carrier shouldn't be purchasing new big planes at a time when it is still in the red. Bellew defended the plane purchases. He said no new funding would be required because the wide-bodied planes will mostly replace narrow-bodied ones that will retire over the next few years. He said the airline plans to arrange for a sale and lease back arrangement for new planes that will cut cost and make it financially more competitive.<br/>
A lawyer says a Turkish man accused of causing a flight disturbance that prompted fighter jets to escort the plane to Honolulu is planning to plead guilty to interfering with a flight crew. Defense attorney Richard Sing says Anil Uskanli is expected to enter the plea in federal court in Honolulu on Tuesday. Court documents say Uskanli tried to get to the front of the plane during the American Airlines flight from Los Angeles. Crew members feared his laptop contained explosives. A magistrate judge last week ruled that Uskanli is mentally competent to stand trial and must be held without bail because he poses a danger to the community. Because Uskanli's student visa has been revoked, he faces deportation to Turkey.<br/>