A Frontier Airlines passenger was removed from a flight and arrested following a confrontation with a flight attendant after she complained about vomit in her daughter's seat. The incident took place Saturday on the flight from Las Vegas to North Carolina. The woman said she told the flight attendant about it but her requests were ignored following which she had a confrontation with the crew. Following the confrontation, the airline called authorities who handcuffed the woman. The airline said a flight attendant offered to re-seat at either end of the plane while the seat was cleaned. “The mother was unsatisfied with the response and became disruptive,” Frontier said. “As a result, the flight attendants determined that the mother and daughter should be deplaned and accommodated on another flight." <br/>
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Norwegian expects to incur costs of NKR300-500m (US$35-58m) over the coming 6 months as a consequence of the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max jets. Briefing investors Thursday, the carrier's CFO Geir Karlsen said the estimate was based on an assumption that the Max jets would not be back in service before August. Karlsen declined to give a breakdown of the costs, for what he describes as "obvious reasons". He says the carrier is in discussions with Boeing over the financial impact of the grounding. CE Bjorn Kjos says Norwegian expects to operate its schedule as planned this summer. He says the carrier is experiencing less disruption from the Max grounding than it did when a number of its 787s were taken out of service last year amid issues with their Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. <br/>
For air passengers, the nice thing about booking a ticket with your credit card is knowing you can probably get your money back if the carrier goes bust before you travel. For cash-strapped airlines, the arrangement has a downside. If card providers are worried about a particular carrier’s finances, they can withhold more money on ticket sales from the company, potentially making its liquidity problem worse. These so-called “credit card hold-backs” contributed to Flybe’s cash troubles earlier this year, as well as Frontier Airlines’ Chapter 11 filing a decade ago. They’ve been a big headache too for Norwegian Air Shuttle. Norwegian was forced to raise US$350m in capital in February to head off a liquidity and capital crunch that was made worse by cautious credit card companies. <br/>
Southwest Airlines does not expect its pilots to undergo simulator training as part of a process to return the Boeing 737 Max to service, as the carrier stresses its aviators are well-equipped to handle a problem that has emerged as a common link between 2 fatal crashes of the aircraft type. "We are not hearing that will be a requirement," CE Gary Kelly said Thursday, in response to questions on whether pilots will have to undergo simulator training ahead of the aircraft's return to service. Kelly says these indications were drawn from discussions the airline has had with several parties, including its pilots union, the FAA and Boeing. He stresses that the pilots of Southwest, the largest 737 operator in the world, are "extensively trained". "Managing the aircraft in a runaway stabiliser scenario is something that we've already covered," says Kelly. <br/>
Southwest Airlines forecast better-than-expected Q2 revenue growth Thursday, citing demand from leisure and business customers, even as the carrier is forced to cancel flights due to the grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX jets. Southwest, which currently uses only Boeing 737 narrowbody aircraft, suggested Thursday that it may consider mixing up its fleet in the future. "We're an all-Boeing 737 carrier," Southwest CE Gary Kelly said. "That doesn't mean that we’ll be an all-737 carrier into perpetuity." It is not the first time Southwest has hinted about fleet changes, which could benefit Airbus, but such a decision would mean abandoning Southwest's long-held practice of flying only one type of jet, which reduces maintenance and pilot training costs. Another option would be to add a different Boeing model. <br/>
Alaska Air Group, parent company of Alaska Airlines and regional carrier Horizon Air, posted steady quarterly financial results Thursday, despite the February snowstorms that caused about 1,100 canceled flights as well as weak transcontinental fares between California and New York. The full integration of Virgin America and its fleet of Airbus jets into Alaska Airlines is within sight, executives said. And the new flights out of Paine Field in Everett have yielded very positive results. The airline group reported a Q1 net profit of US$4m, identical to the result a year earlier. Alaska CE Brad Tilden said revenues were set back by “a series of winter storms in February that significantly disrupted our operations”. He called the snowstorms “the most significant winter weather the Pacific Northwest has seen in 50 years.” <br/>
Hong Kong Airlines is offering pilots the option of transferring to alternative airlines as the company faces a surplus of pilots as a result of the delayed delivery of the Airbus A330 and A350. These airlines include Tianjin Airlines, HK Express, Hainan Airlines and Emirates Airline. According to the report, 57 pilots have taken the offer and the surplus is around 62 pilots, or 10% of the airline’s pilot strength. Hong Kong Airlines says the transfer offer is mainly because of the delayed introduction of the Airbus A350 and A330 aircraft, although the company stopped short of providing the exact number of affected pilots. The airline has 5 A330-300s and 4 A350-900s pending delivery. "Our aim is to provide [the pilots] with opportunities to work in different operating environments while maintaining their seniority with Hong Kong Airlines." <br/>
Fastjet expects to post a US$41.2m operating loss for 2018, nearly 4 times its $11.2m prior-year loss, deepened by $23.9m in one-off impairments from its Dec 2018 capital increase. Fastjet said its full-year loss from continuing operations, excluding the exceptional items, would have been $17.3m. However, the company said it is on track to deliver “a marginal underlying operating profit” for 2019. “Despite the impact of cyclones in Mozambique at the start of the current year and continued fuel protests and currency volatility in Zimbabwe, Fastjet is making progress and expects to generate a marginal underlying operating profit for 2019, with further route expansion planned for Zimbabwe in the second half of the coming year, as well as a brand entry into South Africa in 2020,” the carrier said. <br/>