A German court is likely to decide Thursday whether to reverse the insolvency filing of airline Niki, according to a statement from Berlin’s civil courts, which could derail the sale of the Air Berlin unit to Britain’s IAG. Niki filed for insolvency last month after Germany’s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) scrapped plans to buy the Austrian unit, grounding the airline’s fleet and stranding thousands of passengers. Following hurried talks to find a new owner for Niki before it loses its valuable runway slots, BA owner IAG agreed last Friday to buy the business and make it part of its low-cost unit Vueling. But Fairplane, a group representing airline passengers, said on Tuesday it had filed legal cases to have the insolvency proceedings for Niki shifted to Austria from Germany, which could unravel the sale. Fairplane argues that Niki, which is registered as a company in Austria, had been profitable but had lost access to bridge financing when insolvency proceedings were opened in Germany in December. A court in Berlin’s Charlottenburg must now decide whether to reverse its Dec. 13 decision opening insolvency proceedings for Niki or to pass on the case to a higher court, the Berlin court’s statement on Wednesday said. At the same time, an Austrian court has received a request to open insolvency proceedings for Niki in Austria, a spokesman for the Korneuburg court said on Wednesday, adding it would take the court until next week to assess the matter.<br/>
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Air Berlin said Wednesday it had sold its subsidiary Air Berlin Aviation GmbH to Thomas Cook Group Airlines, continuing the carve-up of its business. Thomas Cook said the acquisition would give its airline Condor further options for growth, consistent with its plans to grow capacity in the German market to meet increased demand experienced in recent months. Neither company said how much Thomas Cook was paying, but a person familiar with the deal said the purchase price was a medium single-digit E4m amount. Air Berlin, which filed for insolvency in August, has already sold major parts of its assets to Lufthansa and Britain’s easyJet.<br/>
A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men. Mike Timon, angry over his treatment by the airline, called the San Diego Union-Tribune and told the newspaper in a story published last week that he was banned for touching the female flight attendant on the buttocks as he sat in first class on a flight from Oregon to San Diego on Dec. 26. Timon said he touched the woman politely on her back to get her attention so he could order a drink. He said his gesture was misunderstood as sexual harassment, and he was met by police who escorted him off the plane. Police took statements from Timon and others but no further action. "For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. I'm blowing up," Timon said. "It's unnecessary. It's discrimination toward me." Alaska spokeswoman Ann Johnson confirmed that Timon cannot fly on the airline pending the outcome of an investigation but said she could not provide specifics about his case. "Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue," Johnson said.<br/>
El Al Israel Airlines said Wednesday it will begin nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and San Francisco in Q4, as it continues to expand into North America. Israel’s flag carrier, which is facing increased competition from low cost carriers, said it will fly the route three times a week using new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. It will compete with United, which launched flights between the two cities in 2016 to accommodate Israel’s flourishing high-tech sector. Passengers on business often fly between Silicon Valley and Israel, which is one of the largest global tech centers. “The acquisition of the Dreamliner enables us to expand our long-haul network,” said David Maimon, El Al’s CE. “San Francisco is an important strategic city for El Al. Our target is to take the business segment.” In November, El Al started nonstop flights to Miami from Tel Aviv, after starting flights to Boston in 2015. It also flies nonstop to New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. Maimon said El Al plans to add more long-haul routes but a decision would likely not be made until later in 2018.<br/>
Southwest has agreed to pay US$15m to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that the largest four US carriers colluded on capacity plans. The carrier will also provide "significant cooperation" to the plaintiffs in their claims against three other carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, according to a court filing. The class action suit, which was filed in 2015, accuses the four major US airlines of conspiring to fix prices through colluding on capacity plans. Southwest says the $15m settlement allows the airline to "forgo the considerable time, expense, and inconvenience that continued litigation would have involved". "We have always vigorously denied any unlawful conduct or agreements with other airlines. That is still very much our position," says the carrier. American says it plans to continue defending against the claims in the lawsuit, calling them "without merit". Delta declines to comment on the litigation. United did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In addition to the $15m settlement in the class action lawsuit, Southwest has agreed to provide further information to the plaintiffs and facilitate meetings between them and Southwest executives, according to court filings.<br/>
Southwest delayed orders for 23 of Boeing’s 737 Max 7 aircraft, casting doubt on the future of the smallest Max variant even as the discount carrier said it would buy more of a larger model of the upgraded single-aisle jet. Pushing most of its Max 7 deliveries out until 2023 and 2024 probably means that Southwest is trying to decide whether it wants to keep any of its pending orders for the plane, said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. The airline, Boeing’s largest 737 customer, will take only seven Max 7 jets in 2019 -- down from the 15 that had been expected as of October. “When your most important customer, and the one you probably built the airplane for, doesn’t want it anymore, it’s a bad day,” Ferguson said. “When they defer the 7 out that far, it means they are trying to figure out if they ever want the 7.” Southwest also converted options to firm orders for 40 Max 8 planes, a larger model, giving life to CEO Gary Kelly’s statements last month that the carrier would buy more planes because of the recent reduction in US corporate tax rates. Taking the additional Max 8 planes in 2019 and 2020 means Southwest will receive some of that model every year through 2025.<br/>
Ryanair’s passenger growth advanced at the slowest rate since 2014 last year after it cancelled thousands of flights to cope with a staffing crunch, sparking outrage among consumers and regulators. The 2017 customer tally was 129m, or 2m less than initially forecast, according to a statement from Ryanair Wednesday, with December’s performance the worst in close to four years. Ryanair scrapped 20,000 flights over Q1 2017 and the first months of this year following a botched rescheduling of pilot leave prompted by changes in labour laws. CEO Michael O’Leary has been forced to accept unionisation after the debacle gave crews increased bargaining power that led to the carrier’s first-ever strike.<br/>Ryanair’s annual passenger gain slipped to 10% from 15% in 2016, while the December advance was just 3%, the least since March 2014, putting the brakes on the carrier’s surge ahead of rivals. Wizz Air, Eastern Europe’s biggest discounter, reported a 24% jump in its 12-month count to 28.3m customers, up from a 19% jump in 2016. The Irish company still added more passengers at 12m, versus 5.5m at Wizz. Ryanair’s net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 suffered a rare decline as it shelled out E25m in refunds to more than 700,000 passengers hit by the cancellations, according to figures published Oct. 31.<br/>
An airline passenger was arrested after leaving a plane delayed on the tarmac at a Spanish airport via the emergency exit. Passenger Fernando Del Valle Villlobos captured the incident, which took place on Monday, in a video that showed the man walking along the wing with his bag in hand. Del Valle Villlobos said the Ryanair flight had left London an hour late and passengers were then held on the plane for a further thirty minutes after landing in Malaga, without explanation from the airline. Ryanair said: “Malaga airport police immediately arrested the passenger in question and since this was a breach of Spanish safety and security regulations, it is being dealt with by the Spanish authorities.”<br/>