Lenders to Jet Airways India proposed a bailout of the beleaguered carrier, potentially paving the way for a revival of the airline that was on the verge of collapse. Jet Airways, which needs 85b rupees ($1.2b) to help it get back on its feet, will be revamped with banks becoming the biggest shareholders of the company, according to a filing Thursday. The restructuring would involve a mix of debt-to-equity swap, new capital infusion and asset sales, the company said, without elaborating. The proposal, reached after weeks of negotiations, may provide a respite to the carrier. Jet Airways still faces intense competition from low-cost rivals, high fuel costs and levies. It has more accumulated losses than any publicly-traded Asian airline apart from Pakistan International Airlines. The proposed bailout, advanced by State Bank of India, needs approvals from all lenders, a banking industry group, Jet Airways’ founder Naresh Goyal and the board of Etihad, according to the statement. Jet Airways has called for an extraordinary general meeting on Feb. 21 to seek shareholder consent for the deal and to name lenders’ nominees to the board.<br/>
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A small fire caused by an overheated vape pen battery delayed a Houston-bound flight from New York's LaGuardia airport. The incident occurred on Wednesday during the boarding of a SkyWest flight operating as a Delta Connection.<br/>Video posted online shows a flight attendant using a fire extinguisher on a flaming bag, which was in an overhead storage bin. A passenger, Rex Sakamoto of New York City, tells WCBS someone yelled "fire" and there was a smell "like a campfire." An airline statement says passengers "deplaned routinely" and continued on a different aircraft.<br/>
Ryanair does not expect strike action from staff this summer but air-traffic control problems are likely to cause significant disruption, the Irish low-cost carrier's marketing chief said on Thursday. Europe's largest budget airline suffered a number of strikes by pilots and cabin crew last year, grounding hundreds of flights across Europe, having agreed to recognise unions for the first time in 2017. While pilot unions in some countries have suspended talks over pay and conditions in protest at the threat of base closures, Kenny Jacobs said he still expects to reach agreement with all the airline's main unions by the end of March, the end of the company's financial year. "We don't see a horizon of unrest," Jacobs said, adding that the industrial relations environment at the airline had improved significantly in recent months. "We don't see a risk of strikes in the summer. That doesn't mean there won't be." The bigger risk to operations is air-traffic control delays, Jacobs suggested. Such delays last year were the worst in Europe for almost a decade. "Is it shaping up to be a better or worse summer than last year? I think worse," he said of delays attributable to industrial action by air-traffic controllers.<br/>