Ryanair has faced criticism after a video posted online apparently showed the airline's crew failing to take action to remove a passenger who launched a racist tirade against a fellow traveller. The video, uploaded to social media by Briton David Lawrence, showed a man hurling racist insults at an elderly black woman sitting in the same row and demanding she move seats onboard a flight from Barcelona to London on Friday. It wasn't clear what had prompted the quarrel. Lawrence told ITV the man abused both the woman and her daughter, but flight attendants failed to eject him from the flight. The airline tweeted Sunday that it had seen the footage and reported the incident to police. <br/>
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The German government will propose legislation to guarantee airline cabin crew have the right to set up a works council, the labour minister said on Friday, in an action aimed at Ryanair. The carrier has struggled with labour relations since it bowed to pressure and recognised unions for the first time almost a year ago. The move contributed to a profit warning this month. German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil said that workers should be able to establish a works council even if there was no labour agreement with their employer, adding that this was so far impossible at Ryanair. "Anyone who behaves like that is messing with the whole government," Heil said, adding that German law on labour representation offered a legal loophole that should be closed by early next year. Ryanair said it fully complied with all EU employment laws and was making "considerable progress in concluding union agreements with our people in our major EU markets." Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs had said in September the carrier hoped to reach an agreement with German unions before Christmas. The head of German union Verdi praised Heil's proposals. "I really hope that normal industry standards can be established at Ryanair," Frank Bsirske said after a meeting Heil and Ryanair staff.<br/>
Norwegian Air will adopt new technologies from Sweden’s Avtech which will cut CO2 emissions by 16,000 tonnes per year - or a reduction of 5,000 tonnes of fuel, the budget airliner said Friday. One ton of jet fuel currently costs about $750 per tonnes. Story has no further details.<br/>
Philippine Airlines is deploying its Airbus A350-900s to upgrade key long-haul routes and might use 2019’s deliveries to open new international markets. The carrier has received four A350-900s from a total order for six. It will use the aircraft to start direct flights from Manila to New York Kennedy from Oct. 29, replacing a one-stop service via Vancouver. PAL has a high-gross-weight version of the aircraft, so will carry a full load of 295 passengers each way on this route, PAL president Jaime Bautista said. The initial four aircraft are sufficient to allow PAL to operate the 4X weekly New York flights and its flights from Manila to London Heathrow, plus some frequencies on another route such as San Francisco, Bautista said. PAL’s last two A350s from its current order are scheduled to arrive in Q1 2019. These will allow the carrier to consider adding another long-haul route to the US or Europe, Bautista said. Any such route launch would probably occur in the 2019 Q4.<br/>
Brazil's largest airline is trying a new tack to get passengers to pay more expensive fares: No middle seats. Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes is launching its first nonstop flights from Brazil to the US in early November. The airline will use its new Boeing 737 Max 8 jets on the routes from Fortaleza in northerneastern Brazil and from the capital Brasilia to Miami and Orlando. Gol operates an all-Boeing 737 fleet, like Southwest in the US, with three seats across on either side of the aisle. In order to make its premium economy section more attractive for travellers flying the longest routes around at nearly 8 hours, the airline will block off a middle seat using a table that stays on the seat for the duration of the flight, CFO Richard Lark said. Premium economy seats also feature 34 inches of legroom compared with 31 inches in regular economy. Gol, like other carriers, is relying on customers to opt for higher fares to help cover the cost of fuel, which is up by more than a third in the last year. Gol isn't ruling out further expansion in the US but for now it is focusing on Florida. Brazil is the state's third-biggest source of foreign visitors after Canada and the United Kingdom.<br/>
An aviation expert is confident Virgin Australia will launch its low cost airline Tigerair across the Tasman next year. Peter Harbison, executive chairman of CAPA – Centre for Aviation, says he is "99.5% certain" that Tiger will come into the market. "It's almost a no brainer that they should move on to the Tasman," Harbison said. Virgin's group executive Rob Sharp last week held open the possibility of the budget carrier flying here. "It is an option trans-Tasman. We are first focused on bedding down the relaunch and raising brand awareness (of Virgin Australia) as our first priority," he said. "Tiger is an option to bring across - it's a part of our armoury but we're not rushing at doing this." Virgin Australia is going its own way across the Tasman from next weekend following an acrimonious break up with Air NZ, with which it had a joint venture for more than six years. Virgin is restoring full service including meals and bags as part of the ticket price throughout the plane to an expanded network from next weekend. This gave it scope to bring in its budget arm, said Harbison.<br/>
Thai AirAsia plans to provide a facial recognition system at check-in for volunteer passengers on a trial basis at Krabi airport. According to Pichet Durongkaveroj, the digital economy and society minister, TAA recently asked the DE Ministry for an opinion on whether the company would have to get<br/>permission from the ministry and related agencies. Pichet said the ministry supports the idea of a facial recognition system for airlines as a check-in alternative for passengers, one that several airlines already provide. But he said Airports of Thailand and the Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police must grant permission to TAA to use facial recognition technology, as the DE Ministry lacks the authority to green-light the project.<br/>