Natalia Fileva, chairwoman and co-owner of Russia’s second largest airline S7, died when a private jet she was in crashed near Frankfurt on Sunday, the company said. Fileva, 55, was the major shareholder in S7, a member of global Oneworld airlines alliance, and one of the richest women in Russia, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at $600m. The Epic-Lt, a single-engined jet designed for private flights, crashed while landing at Egelsbach airport, S7, also known as Siberia Airlines, said in a statement. A police spokesman in the central German state of Hesse said a six-seater aircraft with two passengers and a pilot on board was en route from France when it came down near Egelsbach and caught fire. The private jet was flying from Cannes in France and disappeared from radars at 1322 GMT, according to data from a flight tracker Flighradar24. There was no immediate information on the other two people in the plane. Russian and international authorities would investigate the crash and there was no information yet on what caused it, according to the airline, which is the main competitor of Russia’s No.1 carrier Aeroflot.<br/>
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Employee unions at BA urged members to reject the airline’s latest pay proposal and said they will begin preparing for a potential industrial action. The biggest airline of International Consolidated Airlines Group has been facing a coordinated campaign for bigger salary increases from pilots, cabin crew and ground staff since November. The effort is challenging BA CEO Alex Cruz’s plan to beat down costs so the carrier can fend off competition from discounters including EasyJet in Europe and Norwegian Air Shuttle. “Each union is increasingly concerned at BA’s unrealistic and inflexible approach to these negotiations and the company’s refusal to share with its own loyal staff the rewards of the success they have helped bring to the airline,” the letter said. BA is continuing discussions with the unions, said Liza Ravenscroft, a spokeswoman. “Our pay proposal is fair, reasonable and reflects typical pay awards given by other companies in the UK,” she said. The company presented a revised proposal this week after its previous overture was rejected. The latest one-year offer included a 2.7% increase to basic pay as of January 1, 2019, subject to a GBP600 underpin plus a one-off payment equivalent to 0.5% of basic pay, or an alternative two-year offer with lower increases to basic pay. The British Airline Pilots Association, Unite and GMB unions sent a letter to members Friday “strongly” recommending rejection of both proposals. <br/>
A bird strike on an American Airlines flight from Boston's Logan International Airport to New York's LaGuardia forced the plane to return to the airport Sunday morning. The flight, carrying 99 passengers and a crew of four, took off at 10:08 a.m. ET and landed safely 11 minutes later, according to American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein. Travellers boarded a replacement aircraft, which took off at 11:52 a.m. ET. The Embraer E190 aircraft will be evaluated by a maintenance team in Boston, a standard procedure for a bird strike.<br/>