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Avianca Argentina has suspended operations, becoming the second airline owned by Avianca majority shareholder German Efromovich to cease service in recent weeks. The financially distressed airline requested to halt scheduled service for 90 days from 9 June, says Argentina's civil aviation authority ANAC. However, the airline's flights scheduled for Friday have been cancelled, according to Cirium flight tracking data. "The request is based on the start of a process of restructuring the company with the re-engineering of the regular route plan and the company's business model," says ANAC of the airline's request. The 90-day extension may be extended for another 90 days upon expiration, adds the regulator. The airline was not immediately contactable for comment, and its website appeared to be offline. Avianca Argentina was operating two ATR 72-600s on just two routes before it suspended service. The airline was offering service to Mar Del Plata and Santa Fe from Buenos Aires Aeroparque. The suspension of Avianca Argentina's flights is the latest in a long string of woes for Efromovich, whose wholly-owned Avianca Brazil was grounded by Brazilian regulators in late-May after it whittled down its fleet and network following a filing for bankruptcy protection in December 2018.<br/>

A 30-year-old Spirit Airlines passenger on a flight from Detroit to New Orleans recently got himself banned for life after deciding to take a smoke break in the plane's bathroom. An attendant on Flight NK 985 told a deputy on Tuesday that she saw him take a drag from an e-cigarette and exhale into a bag, said Jefferson Parish Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Jason Rivarde. She admonished him. The St. Petersburg, Florida, resident then got up and headed for the restroom, according to a report filed with the sheriff's office. While he was in the bathroom, the plane's smoke alarm went off. When a deputy met the plane at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the unidentified passenger denied smoking in the restroom, according to the report. He told a deputy he didn't know smoking was prohibited on flights.<br/>The passenger was not arrested but he may never again fly with Spirit: The deputy's report said the company banned him for life. "It's a private business that can ban customers at their own leisure," Rivarde said. "It's like telling you not to come back to the restaurant. Once he was on the ground, he was cooperative with our deputies so he didn't face any criminal charges."<br/>

Alaska Airlines is under fire for a video posted to social media that depicts a worker handling passengers' luggage without much regard for keeping contents safe. According to a June 5 Twitter post from user Raz Davidov, an Alaska Airlines worker at the Los Angeles International Airport was "carelessly throwing luggage out of the plane." "This is unacceptable!" he added. The video shows a worker pushing luggage off the plane and onto a cart below, though several bags bounced off the cart and onto the tarmac. Alaska Airlines responded to the tweet soon after, thanking Davidov for "bringing this to our attention" and asking him to send them a direct message to share more information. Some Twitter users responded, calling the situation "typical" and sharing their own airline luggage grievances. But others thought the video was indicative of a staffer who wasn't given the proper tools for success. "They don't get paid enough for the amount of work that they do," one user wrote. "Tell @AlaskaAir TO HIRE AND PAY THEIR STAFF PROPERLY."<br/>

Nigerian regional startup Ibom Air operated its first flight June 7, from Uyo to Lagos, after securing its air operator’s certificate from the Nigerian CAA. The airline confirmed the launch from Victor Attah International Airport, Akwa Ibom, on its website. Ibom Air plans to initially operate three Bombardier CRJ900s from its main base close to the city of Uyo to two domestic destinations within Nigeria: Abuja and Lagos. The airline’s management said it went through a “painstakingly thorough certification process,” which it completed within seven months. It added that the Nigerian CAA were “objective, professional, competent and thorough.”<br/>

Pilots say the struggling budget airline Tigerair will be able to focus on renewing its fleet and hiring new aircrew now that it has settled a long-running pay dispute. Marathon enterprise bargaining negotiations at the carrier have been running for over two years, with the impasse leading to a stop work in January that caused 15 flights to be either cancelled or rescheduled. But the deadlock was broken in March, when the airline and the two unions representing pilots reached an in-principal agreement. The Fair Work Commission approved the new agreement on May 28, and it took affect on June 4. Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) industrial officer Patrick Larkins said pay increases in the agreement bring Tigerair pilots' pay closer to that of pilots at other airlines, and that "a fair deal has been reached for both Tigerair pilots and the company". “This resolution frees up management to focus on getting Tigerair’s fleet transition to the B737 from the A320 organised properly and to recruit pilots using the competitive salaries and conditions now on offer," Larkins said. Tigerair is phasing out 11 A320s from its fleet and moving to an entirely Boeing 737 operation, which will come with simpler maintenance costs. Four 737s have been sourced from its parent airline, Virgin Australia. But the time-frame is expected to have been blown out by Virgin pushing back its own fleet renewal, by the delay to the delivery of its first 737 MAX aircraft from November to mid-2021. With 15 aircraft flying to 13 destinations, Tigerair is dwarfed by its direct low-cost competitor Jetstar, which has about 120 planes flying across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.<br/>

Scottish regional carrier Loganair is in discussions with Aer Lingus to come to an arrangement whereby both could publish and market each other’s flights. The arrangement, known as a codeshare, is a common one in the aviation industry which means that customers of Loganair, for example, could effectively start their journey on a Loganair flight and continue onto Aer Lingus’s transatlantic network. The move comes as the Scottish carrier gears up to launch flights from Carlisle Lake District Airport to Dublin from next month. It will also fly from the airport to Belfast and London Southend. A spokesman said that the carrier hopes to have a codeshare agreement with Aer Lingus active by Q4 2019. Carlisle Airport is owned and operated by the Stobart Group, which until recently competed directly with Loganair through its regional airline business. However, Stobart has effectively reduced its interest in the regional air business by selling a large portion of its stake to a consortium set up in 2018 to acquire British regional airline Flybe.<br/>