A Japanese pilot, who was arrested at London Heathrow as he prepared to fly an aircraft while more than 9 times over the aviation alcohol limit, was jailed for 10 months Thursday. First officer Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, 42, failed a breath test less than an hour after he was due to have taken off in the cockpit of a Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo in October, police said. He was arrested last month and had earlier pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in London to performing an aviation function with alcohol in his blood exceeding the prescribed legal limit. "Clearly, the consequences could potentially have been catastrophic had security staff and police not intervened and he had continued to perform his role on the aircraft in the state he was," said London's Aviation Policing. <br/>
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American Airlines Group pilots want the carrier to offer more training on Boeing’s 737 Max to better understand new anti-stall software, after a preliminary report on an Indonesia plane crash suggested that aircraft malfunctions left aviators overwhelmed. The Allied Pilots Association made the request after what the union said was an unprecedented meeting with Boeing officials this week. The manufacturer also met with Southwest Airlines' pilots union. Both carriers fly the Max, Boeing’s latest iteration of the popular 737 jetliner. The new model replaced an older version called the next generation, or NG. The APA is asking American “to consider additional days of training for these significant differences in the NG and the Max,” said a spokesman for the union and a 737 captain at the airline. <br/>
American Airlines Thursday unveiled the first part of a US$5.1b project at one of its major hubs. The carrier has opened a new concourse at LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B that now includes “world-class technology, innovation, best-in-class amenities and services,” it said. New retail and restaurant offerings include names like FAO Schwarz, Shake Shack and MAC. American will begin operating flights out of the concourse starting Dec 1. The concourse is the first phase of “in the reimagining of Terminal B,” American said. The airline has operated exclusively out of the terminal since Dec 2017. Scheduled for completion in 2022, the rest of the project will include the construction of another concourse. Both concourses will be connected to the main terminal by two pedestrian bridges spanning a taxiway. <br/>