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A BA flight from London to Valencia has landed at its destination in Spain after apparently suffering an onboard emergency. One passenger on the flight tweeted videos that appeared to show a smoke-filled cabin and claimed that a fire had broken out. The passenger, a Spanish sports journalist called Dani Meroño Bori, said he and others had been forced to leave the plane using the emergency slides. “PANIC!!! FEAR – have never been through anything like that before,” he tweeted. “What a miracle. The plane we were on from London to Valencia caught fire. We’ve just landed.” In a later tweet, he said: “We’re trying to get out but nothing’s working!!! We’re trapped but they’re going to open the door!!! We’ve landed in Manises aiport [in Valencia].” In two later tweets, written after he had managed to get off the plane, the journalist said a member of the flight crew had ordered passengers to jump down the emergency slides “like in the movies”. The journalist complained about a lack of information from staff and said some passengers had been left to reassure others. In a statement, British Airways said: “We can confirm that British Airways flight BA422 from Heathrow to Valencia has been involved in an incident today. “The aircraft, an A321, has landed and all customers and crew have disembarked. British Airways teams are assisting customers who are in the airport terminal.”<br/>

Cathay Pacific has revealed it is monitoring passengers via onboard cameras, re-opening an uncomfortable debate over surveillance on airplanes. The carrier, frequently named among the world's best, outlined its information gathering in an updated privacy policy published at the end of July 2019. Cathay confirmed it is collecting images of passengers while they're on board, monitoring their usage of the in-flight entertainment system (IFE) and how they spend time during the flight. The airline said these images are captured via CCTV cameras fixed around the airplane and not from embedded seat-back cameras. "In line with standard practice and to protect our customers and frontline staff, there are CCTV cameras installed in our airport lounges and onboard aircraft for security purposes," a spokesperson for Cathay Pacific said. "All images are handled sensitively with strict access controls. There are no CCTV cameras installed in the lavatories." Earlier in 2018, multiple airlines confirmed that cameras were installed in their entertainment systems, sparking widespread privacy concerns. Airlines including Singapore Airlines, Emirates and American said they had no plans to activate the cameras. Cathay's spokesperson said similar devices were not installed in its IFEs. "Our inflight entertainment systems do not have any cameras, microphones or sensors to monitor passengers, nor have they in the past." In its privacy policy, the airline says the data collection is designed to improve the flying experience with additional personalization. The airline also says data could be shared with third-party partners for marketing purposes.<br/>

American Airlines and Southwest are trumpeting new efforts to cater to lucrative business travellers. Southwest, which pioneered a discount strategy aimed at budget flyers, will give corporate travel managers greater control over bookings. American is wooing them with free preferred seats and priority access through security checkpoints. The moves, announced Monday at the Global Business Travel Association convention in Chicago, highlight the competition to lock in contracts with corporate buyers that can guarantee certain amounts of flying, often in upgraded cabins. In addition, business travellers are typically willing to pay more for tickets to have the added flexibility of booking just before travel. Southwest’s expanded capabilities should be in place by mid-2020. The increased business from the initiative will add as much as $20m to pretax earnings in H2 next year, “with significant improvements expected in 2021 and beyond,” the Dallas-based carrier said. The changes, enabled by new technology implemented over the past five years, provide increased access to Southwest’s fares and flight schedules to travel managers, who gain the ability to make, change and cancel reservations. That’s in addition to the carrier’s existing policies that appeal to business travellers, such as flight changes with no penalty, and no charge for as many as two checked bags. American is trying to entice business flyers with preferred seating -- window and aisle seats usually close to the front -- at no charge, along with priority check-in, security processing and boarding for those booked under corporate travel accounts. Such passengers also get help faster in re-booking when flights are cancelled. The complimentary preferred seating will be available on American’s website and mobile app.<br/>

Finnair will operate in August two transatlantic flights with a biofuel blend as part of its environmental "Push for change" initiative. The airline says that flights from San Francisco to Helsinki today and on 7 August will be powered by kerosene containing 12% biofuel, which has been refined from used cooking oil in California. Senior vice-president communication and corporate responsibility Arja Suominen states that the "Push for change" programme is an "important step for Finnair" to enable customers to reduce carbon emissions for their flights, and that the airline is "pleased with the early phases of the initiative". Passengers are able to offset carbon emissions or purchase biofuel for their flights through the programme. "We naturally hope that customers will be increasingly willing and interested in using the service in the future as well," Suominen says.<br/>

BOC Aviation has inked a purchase-and-leaseback deal with Qatar Airways, for three Airbus A350s that are expected to be delivered this quarter. These are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. “Our relationship with Qatar Airways dates back 20 years to 1999, and we are very pleased to partner with our largest customer once again to support their fleet and network expansion plans,” says Robert Martin, BOC Aviation MD and CE. “This addition to our portfolio of popular, in-demand aircraft on long-term leases to strong airline customers is in line with our strategy of growing our fleet through disciplined investment. We look forward to building on our long-standing relationship with Qatar Airways.” Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer shows the carrier operates 36 A350-900s and nine A350-1000s, with one and 33 aircraft on order, respectively.<br/>