Ryanair, the low-cost Irish airline struggling to deal with staff shortages that prompted the cancellation this month of 2,100 flights, said Wednesday that it would cut 18,000 more. The staffing issues, largely attributed to a failure to find replacements for vacationing pilots, also led the company to drop its bid to buy the troubled Italian flag carrier Alitalia, Ryanair said. The developments, interpreted as a sign that the airline is stabilizing its operations, bolstered its shares, which were up 4% in London Wednesday. By announcing the flight cancellations now, the airline will not have to pay any fines it might have had to pay had it waited, and many analysts had viewed the potential acquisition of Alitalia as a bad fit. The latest round of cancellations by the airline, known for low prices and limited service, will affect about 400,000 passengers flying on 34 routes from Nov. 17 to March 18, the airline said. Some of the destinations that will be affected most are Hamburg, Germany; Thessaloniki, Greece; and Trapani, Sicily. “We sincerely apologize to those customers who have been affected by last week’s flight cancellations, or these sensible schedule changes announced today,” O’Leary said Wednesday. “While over 99% of our 129 million customers will not have been affected by any cancellations or disruptions, we deeply regret any doubt we caused existing customers last week about Ryanair’s reliability, or the risk of further cancellations.”<br/>
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Britain’s aviation authority has accused Ryanair of persistently misleading passengers on their rights after cancelling thousands of flights over the past week. The Civil Aviation Authority said Wednesday it was expediting enforcement action against the low-cost carrier, the first step towards court action if breaches of consumer protection law persist. In a letter to Ryanair, the CAA said CE Michael O’Leary had wrongly claimed that the carrier was not obliged to find seats on alternative airlines for passengers on cancelled flights. Despite a request last week to correct that inaccurate statement publicly, Ryanair had so far not complied, the CAA said. Ryanair responded: “We are in correspondence with the CAA and have addressed their concerns.” The action comes as the Irish carrier axed flights for a further 400,000 passengers travelling between November and March, less than two weeks after it cancelled up to 2,100 flights affecting about 315,000 flyers. The CAA said information on the group’s website following the latest cancellations appeared to correct O’Leary’s misleading statement. Moreover, the regulator said, the carrier had failed to include information on the obligation to refund expenses incurred as a result of flight disruption.<br/>
Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his transport minister a public reprimand on Wednesday after airline VIM Avia said it needed state support to continue operating and carry thousands of passengers stranded abroad. Putin told Maxim Sokolov, the minister, and deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich that he held them responsible for the airline’s collapse, which has seen investigators launch fraud charges against its owner. The airline, Russia’s tenth largest, asked for Rbs840m in state support on Tuesday in order to operate flights to repatriate 39,000 stranded passengers. Sokolov said he saw no use in propping up the airline because it had essentially ceased all operations after failing to pay Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, its home base, for fuel. VIM Avia has between Rbs3bn and Rbs10bn in debt, affecting as many as 200,000 passengers who had bought tickets for upcoming flights, according to Russia’s tourism industry association. The head of Russia’s state tourism agency said on Wednesday that he believed VIM Avia’s owner, Rashid Mursekaev, had fled the country after he missed an emergency meeting and turned off his phone.<br/>
Police officers physically removed a woman from a Southwest plane before it took off from Baltimore, the latest passenger scuffle to be captured on video and magnified on social media. After saying she was severely allergic to animals — there were two dogs on board — the woman refused the crew's request to leave the plane. The crew then called on police to intervene. A film producer recorded the ensuing struggle between the woman and officers and posted it online. The scene from Tuesday night was reminiscent of an April incident in which security officers yanked a man out of his seat and dragged him off a United Express flight in Chicago. Southwest, perhaps learning from United's initial hesitant reaction, immediately apologized. "We are disheartened by the way this situation unfolded and the customer's removal by local law enforcement officers," a Southwest spokesman said Wednesday. Mainz said the woman had reported she had a life-threatening pet allergy but couldn't show a medical certificate that she needed to continue on the flight to Los Angeles.<br/>
Flydubai said Wednesday it was temporarily suspending its flights to Erbil, complying with an Iraqi government demand following an independence referendum in Kurdish-held northern Iraq. Flights would be suspended to that region's main city from Sept. 30, a spokesman said, following similar announcements from other airlines. <br/>
Bombardier, the Canadian planemaker facing US import duties on its C Series jet, is nearing a deal to sell at least 14 of the planes to Air Baltic Corp. in an order with a list value of about $1.25b. The carrier is set to buy CS300 models “definitely before the end of next year,” Air Baltic CEO Martin Gauss said Wednesday, fewer than 24 hours after the US imposed the preliminary restrictions. The airline will switch to an all-C Series fleet, having settled on an additional purchase of the Bombardier jets after also considering Embraer SA’s E2 aircraft family. “We have made the strategic decision to go to an all-jet fleet,” Gauss said. “It’s not clear when we will place the order, but we will replace our turboprops with C Series.” Air Baltic’s endorsement provides a boost to Bombardier after the US Commerce Department slapped duties on the C Series, citing unfair Canadian subsidies after a complaint by Boeing. The preliminary U.S. ruling on aircraft “doesn’t change our confidence in the C Series,” Gauss said. “This is a political issue. It has nothing to do with the aircraft.”<br/>
Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet will call its planned ultra low-cost offshoot Swoop, and it will base the unit in Calgary, WestJet announced Wednesday. The company has also revealed the unit's website address -- www.flyswoop.com -- and details about the logo and paint scheme on Swoop aircraft. The aircraft will have the name Swoop painted in large magenta letters over a white fuselage, with a magenta and white tail, according to materials supplied by WestJet. The airline says that the name Swoop reflects the plan to "swoop in to the Canadian market with a new business model that will provide lower fares and greater opportunity for more Canadians to travel". WestJet, which is based in Calgary, will also headquarter Swoop in Calgary to enable Swoop to share infrastructure and services with the parent company. Swoop will be able to hire employees that work for WestJet, it says. WestJet intends to begin selling seats on Swoop in early 2018, and it has targeted a mid-2018 launch, it has said. <br/>
EasyJet is backing plans to develop commercial passenger aircraft powered by electric batteries instead of conventional aero engines. The airline wants the proposed planes to fly passengers on its short-haul routes, possibly within 10-20 years. The prototype is going to be developed by a new US firm called Wright Electric, which has already built a two-seat battery-powered plane. The new, larger plane would have a range of 335 miles, the companies said. EasyJet said this meant it would be able to cover popular routes such as London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Glasgow and Edinburgh.<br/>EasyJet's possible involvement was first revealed in March 2017. Carolyn McCall, CE of EasyJet, said she was now confident that such a plane, possibly carrying 220 passengers, would eventually fly. "We share an ambition with Wright Electric for a more sustainable aviation industry," she said. "Just as we have seen with the automotive industry, the aviation industry will be looking to electric technology to reduce our impact on the environment."<br/>
Pilots for Thomas Cook Wednesday called off a strike planned for later this week following talks with the British tour operator over an ongoing pay dispute. The pilots went on strike earlier this month in what the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) said was the first walkout by British pilots in more than 40 years. Further strikes were called and pilots walked out again last weekend after talks brokered by the have been facilitated by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) failed. But Thomas Cook said a strike planned for Friday was now off. The company had previously said that industrial action had not caused flight cancellations.<br/>
Thai VietJet Air (TVJA) is pressing ahead with its network expansion plans, although its licence to operate commercial air service is still pending renewal. The Thai offshoot of Vietnam's low-cost carrier group, VietJet Air, aims to launch its fourth domestic route -- Bangkok-Chiang Rai -- with a twice-daily flight starting on Oct 29. The launch of the Bangkok-Chiang Rai route heralds TVJA's move to grow its offerings in and out of Thailand in the forthcoming winter season that typically starts at the end of October. TVJA has made known its plan to serve Krabi and Hat Yai, as well international destinations in China, Taiwan and Vietnam. But the launch of its international services is subject to having its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) recertified by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand<br/>(CAAT).<br/>