Russian investigators have reached a preliminary determination that ice buildup in the pitot tubes led to a difference in speed reading between the primary and standby air parameter modules in the Saratov Airlines Antonov An-148 that crashed Feb 11 outside Moscow, killing 65 passengers and six crewmembers. Following retrieval of both the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, Russia’s International Aviation Committee determined a “dangerous situation” began to unfold two and a half minutes after liftoff. The committee said a malfunction of the pitot tubes’ heating system or failure by the crew to turn on the device caused the ice buildup, thereby feeding the wrong speed reading to the aircraft’s digital flight control system. <br/>
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Southwest canceled all of its 220 flights from Chicago Midway Sunday due to a shortage of de-icing fluid. While Southwest accounted for the majority of cancellations at Midway Sunday, the airport said over 250 total flights were canceled due to "winter operational issues." Chicago has seen nine consecutive days of snowfall, which matches a record for the city since 1885. Southwest faced similar problems in December when it canceled around 90 flights due to difficulties de-icing its planes. <br/>
Southwest was sued Tuesday by an American citizen who came to the US as an Iraqi refugee, and said he was removed from a California flight after another passenger became unnerved upon hearing him speak in Arabic. Khairuldeen Makhzoomi said he is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for civil rights violations, discrimination and emotional distress stemming from the "Islamophobia" underlying the April 2016 incident, which began as he awaited takeoff to Oakland from Los Angeles. Southwest had no immediate comment. Makhzoomi said he had been seated and talking with his uncle by phone, after attending a dinner featuring United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, when two police officers and a Southwest employee removed him from the plane. <br/>
Passengers and crew were forced to exit a Southwest plane at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA, after a report of a "possible fire near the rear exterior of the aircraft," the carrier said Monday night. "Upon push back of the aircraft, the captain in command of Flight 2123 with scheduled service from Orange County to San Jose received an indication by ground personnel of a possible fire near the rear exterior of aircraft," a Southwest spokesperson said. "Standard protocol was initiated and evacuation slides were deployed. Local fire and rescue met the aircraft and the 139 passengers and five crew members departed the aircraft via the slides." The airline said paramedics were on site, but no serious injuries were reported. <br/>
Norwegian Air plans to serve new destinations in South America from London, prompted by strong demand for flights to Buenos Aires which begin this week as it ramps up its budget operation on long-haul routes. Norwegian's South American expansion plans could open up a new front in the transatlantic travel battle between budget carriers and traditional long-haul players. "I can assure you that the UK will get more routes into South America than Buenos Aires," CEO Bjorn Kjos said Tuesday. Norwegian also announced that from 2020 it would use eight new single-aisle Airbus A321neoLRs, currently undergoing test flights including across the Atlantic, to fly from Britain to cities on the US east coast and in the mid-west, keeping up the pressure on established airlines. <br/>
Ryanair has been cutting fares by up to 30% to fill flights to Barcelona and other cities in Catalonia as holiday-makers are nervous of political upheaval in the Spanish region, CE Michael O‘Leary said Tuesday. Tourist numbers in Barcelona dipped after an attack in August left 16 people dead and an illegal independence vote prompted scenes of police violence and mass protests, but have since rebounded. Ryanair still plans to increase capacity in Spain as a whole sharply in the coming year, adding 9% more flights in the year to March 2019. “The fares are significantly lower as we approach the summer than they were last year,” O’Leary said, though demand for travel to Madrid remained strong. <br/>
Emirates faces calls from its cabin crew to improve conditions and benefits as airline workers show increasing confidence in demanding more from the booming global industry. Emirates cabin crew raised the issues at meetings last week with the airline. Labour disputes are rare in Dubai and unions and industrial action, common elsewhere in the industry, are banned. But in an indication of the strength of feeling among its staff, management at Emirates, whose chief operations officer Adel al-Redha led the talks, have asked for time to consider the requests, employees said. Employees said cabin crew were pursuing changes including to rest periods on long flights and rosters. <br/>