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Civil-rights activists are praising American Airlines' plan to train employees to counteract bias in treating passengers, but the NAACP is still warning African-Americans about flying on the airline. The NAACP has not lifted the October "travel advisory" it issued after what it called a pattern of disturbing incidents involving African-American passengers on American. NAACP President Derrick Johnson says the group wants to ensure American follows through on promises. CEO Doug Parker has defended the airline, but after a meeting last week with officials from the NAACP and other groups, American outlined a four-part plan including "implicit-bias" training for all 120,000 employees next year. Ajmel Quereshi, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a separate group from the NAACP, said Monday he wants to see whether the training is effective. An American Airlines spokeswoman responded that the airline is focused on carrying out its plan and setting a new standard in corporate diversity and inclusion.<br/>

A prominent airline analyst says American Airlines will pay about $10m to fix the pilot-scheduling mix-up that left thousands of unstaffed flights around Christmas. J.P. Morgan Chase analyst Jamie Baker issued the estimate Monday. American didn't comment immediately. American reached a deal late last week to pay pilots double wages for working some flights that were short-staffed after an error in the crew-scheduling system let pilots drop assignments even if no backups were available. Baker says the settlement will deflect bad publicity and passenger concern over possible flight cancelations. He's even slightly raising his estimate of American's Q4 earnings per share based on strong ticket demand. Other analysts are downplaying impact of the mistake too. Helen Becker of Cowen is criticizing the pilots' union for publicizing the scheduling error.<br/>

The American Airlines Boeing 767-300 that experienced an uncontained engine failure during a takeoff roll Oct. 28, 2016 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport was “substantially damaged,” according to the US NTSB. “The aircraft will not be flying again,” an American spokesperson told ATW. The incident marked the first-ever failure of a second-stage high-pressure turbine stage on a GE Aviation CF6-80C2 engine. NTSB has a set a Jan. 23, 2018 hearing to determine the probable cause of the incident, which caused a fire. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier’s 767-300 was operating as American flight 383 bound for Miami. According to NTSB, the aircraft’s right CF6-80C2 engine failed about 6,550 ft. from the O’Hare runway 28R threshold. The pilots aborted takeoff and the aircraft came to a full stop, but a fuel leak led to a fire breaking out. During the ensuing emergency evacuation, one passenger suffered “serious injuries,” according a media advisory issued by NTSB Dec. 4. “The airplane was substantially damaged as a result of the fire,” NTSB stated. American has been participating in the NTSB investigation. “We are confident that once the investigation is complete, any safety recommendations issued by the NTSB will enhance aviation safety worldwide,” the American spokesperson said.<br/>

Cathay Pacific Airways has confirmed crew on a Hong Kong-bound flight from San Francisco reported a suspected sighting of the latest North Korean missile test on Wednesday – but the airline added it had no plans to alter routes in the region. Other aircraft were also in the area at the time of the missile launch, according to radar information. Taiwanese carrier China Airlines’ flight from Vancouver and Eva Air from Seattle, both headed to Taipei, and Japan’s All Nippon Airways’ Frankfurt flight from Tokyo, were over the area where the rogue state’s missile terminated. Hugging Japan’s east coast over the Pacific Ocean is one of the prime air routes used by hundreds of flights every day criss-crossing Asia and North America. One of the other prime air routes directs planes over northern China and into Russia<br/>An airline spokeswoman said on Sunday that the crew on flight CX893 reported a sighting of what was suspected to be the re-entry of the missile at 2.18am Hong Kong time on November 29. According to online trackers, the flight was over Japan when the missile was launched. “Though the flight was far from the event location, the crew advised Japan [air traffic control] according to procedure,” she said, adding that flight operations had remained normal and were not affected. The airline was not changing any routes or operating parameters, the spokeswoman said, adding the company would remain alert and review the situation as it evolved.<br/>

London Gatwick airport slots purchased by IAG from the administrators of Monarch Airlines will not be used for Level flights and will instead be used to expand British Airways operations at the gateway, group CE Willie Walsh has disclosed. "I have been quite open that at this point Level is not going to operate out of the UK," Walsh told FlightGlobal at the Aviation Carbon conference in London today. "It may at some stage in the future, but we are not looking at Gatwick for Level at this point." IAG launched operations with its new long-haul, low-cost brand Level from Barcelona in the summer and has just unveiled plans for it to launch services out of Paris Orly in 2018. Walsh says IAG's move for the Gatwick slots was part of a broader interest at the airport. "It is a good airport for us, it works well, and we have been looking to increase our presence there," he says. He adds that BA will be adding new international routes from Gatwick as a result of the purchase.<br/>