The bodies of seven victims of Sunday's air crash in Iran were brought down from the mountainous crash site Wednesday, according to Mizan, the official news site of the Iranian judiciary. There were no survivors among the 65 passengers and crew on the plane that plowed into a mountaintop in southwest Iran. The bodies of 32 passengers have so far been found and many of the remaining bodies are buried under ice and snow, state media reported. “The first team that went to the crash site was able to bring back a few of the bodies of those who lost their lives and deliver them to the medical authorities at the bottom of the mountain a few minutes ago,” Mohsen Momeni, the director of the Isfahan branch of the Red Crescent told the semi-official Mehr news agency Wednesday. The black box of the airplane has still not been found local officials told state TV. Glacial temperatures and the mountainous terrain hampered search efforts in recent days, adding to the grief and anger felt by families of the victims in a society plagued by risky air travel where officials blame decades of sanctions for the poor state of national fleet. More than 100 people demonstrated on Monday outside a local government office in nearby Dena Kooh county, demanding officials step down for their handling of the disaster after announcements that wreckage had been found on Monday were then denied. Any individuals whose actions may have led to the crash will be confronted, Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of Iran’s presidency office, said Wednesday, according to Mehr.<br/>
unaligned
Ryanair expects staff to strike during Easter week in either Ireland or Portugal, CE Michael O‘Leary said on Wednesday, as talks with some unions over formal recognition and improved conditions falter. O‘Leary earlier this month warned of possible disruption at Easter or the summer but did not specify what markets were likely to be hit. He said at the time the airline would rather see bookings damaged by the uncertainty around a strike than give in to “laughable” union demands. Ryanair averted widespread strikes ahead of Christmas by announcing plans to recognise pilots’ unions for the first time in its 32-year history. But talks with pilot unions to formalise union recognition and improved terms have stalled in recent weeks. While Ryanair says talks are ongoing in seven countries, only British union BALPA has signed a recognition agreement. “We expect some adverse publicity ... and some disruptions,” O‘Leary told a news conference in Lisbon. “We had a strike in Germany on Dec. 22... we expect the next one will be in Ireland - or maybe it will be in Portugal - during Easter week.” Irish pilot union FORSA/IALPA has not announced plans to strike, but it has said pilots had rejected an offered raise and that Ryanair was refusing the union’s demand to be recognised as the exclusive body for collective bargaining. Portuguese cabin crew union, SNPVAC, have said they will decide this week when to strike, with a maximum of three days in late March and three days in early April, union official Fernando Gandra said Wednesday.<br/>
Flydubai said Wednesday its earnings and profits have increased, with revenue reaching 5.5b dirhams ($1.5b) in 2017 compared to 5b dirhams in 2016. Profits for the Dubai-based airline reached 37.3m dirhams last year, up from 31.6m dirhams the year before. However, flydubai's profits are still less than half the 100.7m dirham-mark recorded in 2015. The company said fuel costs represented a quarter of total operating costs in 2017. "The oil price continues to shape the businsess landscape and it remains a fine balance between fares, yields and passenger growth," said flydubai CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith. In its statement Wednesday, the airline said: "Although the operational climate has remained challenging, flydubai is cautiously optimistic about 2018." The company said it will launch 10 new routes in H1 2018 and take delivery of seven new aircraft this year.<br/>
Sun Country Airlines is cutting 350 workers from its ground service operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Eagan-based company told employees Tuesday it will contract those jobs out to Global Aviation Services. Executives say the move will make Sun County more efficient. Layoffs begin immediately, with workers able to reapply for positions with Global Aviation as soon as Wednesday. Affected workers include nonunion positions inside the terminal, such as ticket counter agents, sky caps and those who provide wheelchair services. The decision will trim nearly 20% of Sun Country's workforce of about 1,830.<br/>
Boeing has reportedly convinced Hawaiian Airlines to cancel an existing order with overseas rival Airbus in favour of an unspecified number of the Chicago-based aerospace giant's 787-9 Dreamliners. Scott Hamilton, editor of aerospace website Leeham News & Comment, was the first to report that the Honolulu-based carrier will cancel its order for six A330-800 wide-bodies built by Airbus and flip its order to Boeing. An official announcement could come by the end of this week. The cancellation would leave Airbus without any orders for the A330-800 and just over 200 orders for the larger A330-900. Boeing sees both models as potential threats to a new middle-of-the-market plane, dubbed the 797, which still hasn't officially been announced. Hamilton said Boeing "was determined to win at any cost" and offered its Dreamliners at a lower cost than the Airbus planes. The Dreamliner order would be the first for Hawaiian Airlines.<br/>
Emirates airline said on Wednesday it will deploy its A380 aircraft on its service between Houston and Dubai, increasing capacity on the route currently served by 777 aircraft. The carrier in December 2014 upgraded the route to an Airbus A380 service, but later, in July 2016 stopped deploying the A380s and used Boeing 777-300ER aircraft instead. Emirates said the decision to resume A380 services was in line with commercial demand, with the energy sector recovering and playing a large role in Houston’s resurgence. Deploying the A380 would increase capacity per flight by more than 160 passengers compared to the Boeing 777, with a total of 516 seats on the three-class A380. The move by Emirates to resume the A380 service also follows other decisions by the Dubai-based airline to return to increasing its capacity on routes to the US, having cut some in 2017 because of weaker demand following the electronics ban and visa restrictions imposed by the US.<br/>