The boss of IAG has said he is “optimistic” over a legal challenge to end crippling strikes, but warned over long-term disruptions for fliers if it does not succeed. CE Willie Walsh said that France’s air traffic control strikes risk damaging passenger confidence and bookings if they do not end soon. He said last week’s co-ordinated action by IAG, EasyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air to complain to the EC against France’s industrial action showed the level of concern among carriers. “This is an example of where fierce rivals come together on a matter of common concern and the interests of our industry,” he said. He added he was “optimistic” the complaint will effect change, and said “the fact we are prepared to make a formal complaint and pursue legal channels demonstrates the concern”. <br/>
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American Airlines suffered another technical glitch Sunday that halted flights for about 40 minutes, but the airline said no flights were canceled as a result. The airline’s main operating system and dispatch went down about 2:05 pm and the carrier temporarily suspended flights, the FAA said. Flights resumed about 2:45 pm, according to FAA. An American spokeswoman, said the problem stemmed from “a connectivity issue with one of our data centres.” American wasn't along with tech problems Sunday. SkyWest Airlines, which flies regional flights for America, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines also had a system outage that delayed flights. But the FAA said Sunday afternoon that a temporary suspension of flights was over. <br/>
Finnair has launched a new high-speed internet service on its European Airbus A320 family flights in a partnership with California-based communications provider Viasat. So far, the new service has been installed on 6 A320 family aircraft, and Finnair expects the number to rise to about 20 aircraft by the end of the summer. By summer 2019, the entire Airbus fleet (8 A319s, 10 A320s and 18 A321s) is expected to be internet connected. Internet connectivity will be complimentary on European flights during the testing period, which lasts for 2 months. This fall, Finnair will release the pricing model. Once the installations are complete, the inflight internet connection will be available on most of Finnair’s European flights. Finnair already provides internet connection on all its long-haul flights. <br/>