An Israeli flight attendant died after contracting measles and falling into a coma, Israeli media reported Tuesday, the latest incident amid growing measles outbreaks in countries around the world. There were more reported cases of the virus in the first half of 2019 than in any other year since 2006, the World Health Organization announced Monday. “The United States has reported its highest measles case count in 25 years,” the WHO said in the announcement. The woman, a mother of three, was just the third measles fatality in Israel in the past 15 years, according to the Times of Israel: In 2018, an 18-month-old child and an 82-year-old woman also died of the virus. El Al, said “the company is bowing its head over the death of a member of El Al’s aircrew. The company will continue to act on the matter in accordance with the health ministry’s guidelines. Once the case became known, the company acted to vaccinate the company’s aircrews. The company shares the deep grief of the family and will continue to accompany the family.” The Post previously reported that the 43-year-old flight attendant had been flying on an El Al flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Israel in late March and was later admitted to the hospital after developing encephalitis, a complication of the illness in which the brain swells.<br/>
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Norwegian Air Shuttle is scaling back its transatlantic ambitions as the struggling low-cost airline ends its services between Ireland and the US. The carrier said on Tuesday that it would stop flying from Dublin, Cork and Shannon to the US and Canada from September 15. It blamed the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft after two fatal crashes for making the routes “no longer commercially viable”. It marks the first big retreat from Norwegian’s rapid and expensive push into the long-haul sector. The low-cost airline had hoped to shake up the industry by using new aircraft such as the 737 Max and Boeing’s Dreamliner to fly to lesser-known US destinations from regional airports in Europe. Under pressure from investors worried that its rapid expansion could spell financial collapse, Norwegian has reversed course in recent months, saying it would no longer prioritise growth but would aim for better profitability. It also raised fresh capital and replaced its chief executive and chairman, who together are also the airline’s biggest shareholder. “We take a strict approach to route management and constantly evaluate route performance to ensure we meet customer demand. Compounded by the global grounding of the 737 Max and the continued uncertainty of its return to service, this has led us to make the difficult decision to discontinue all six routes from Dublin, Cork and Shannon to the US and Canada,” said Matthew Wood, senior vice-president for long-haul commercial. Norwegian last year stopped transatlantic flights from Edinburgh and Belfast but kept them from its three other Irish airports to New York Stewart, Providence and Hamilton-Toronto. The low-cost airline said it was in negotiations with pilots and cabin crew in Dublin “to ensure that redundancies remain a last resort”. It will continue to fly to Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen from the Irish capital. <br/>
Ryanair’s directly employed pilots in Ireland agreed to attend mediated talks starting on Wednesday to avert a strike their trade union said would go ahead next week if the airline does not properly address a pay claim. Europe’s largest budget airline suffered a number of strikes a year ago after a rocky start to its move to recognize unions for the first time, and is under pressure again with pilots in its home market threatening to join cabin crew in Portugal and pilots in Britain on the picket line this month. Irish pilots who are members of the Forsa/IALPA trade union voted overwhelmingly in favor of industrial action on Friday after accusing Ryanair of stalling on talks since pay demands were submitted in late March. About a quarter of Ryanair’s 350 pilots in Ireland staged a series of one-day strikes this time last year before concerns on transfers and promotions were settled. The talks on Wednesday will be overseen by the same mediator who brokered that deal. “A substantive and meaningful counter-proposal from Ryanair management, which properly addresses all areas of the union’s claim, would need to be tabled tomorrow to prevent strike action next week,” Forsa/IALPA said Tuesday. Members of Ryanair’s British pilots union will stage the first of two multi-day strikes on Aug. 22, a day after Portuguese cabin crew are due to begin five days of action. Pilots in Spain are also considering a walk out.<br/>
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has given turboprop manufacturer ATR permission to supply Iran Air with spares to keep its fleet in the air. The Iranian flag carrier has 13 of the Franco-Italian ATR 72-600s in its fleet. They formed the bulk of the few new-build Western aircraft to be delivered to Iran in the two-year window when US-led sanctions against the Tehran regime were lifted by the Obama administration. They were reimposed in August 2018 by President Donald Trump. The US has made it clear it will take stringent measures against any Western companies supplying Iran with a wide range of goods and services without OFAC permission. The ATR development occurred earlier this year but has not previously been announced. “In April 2019, ATR was granted a license for the support of the Iran Air fleet (13 aircraft) from the OFAC,” an ATR spokesman said Tuesday. “This license authorizes ATR, in compliance with its terms, to export parts, components and tools, update software and provide technology necessary to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft. The license expires on the 30 April 2021.” Iran Air ordered 20 ATR 72-600s, plus 20 options, in February 2016. A batch of five was delivered in the 24 hours before the sanctions were reimposed last year and it is understood that a further three were ready for delivery if the deadline had been delayed by 24 hours.<br/>
Ryanair subsidiary LaudaMotion and its pilots have reached an agreement on two labor issues, avoiding the possibility of job cuts at the Vienna-based LCC, according to a local news report. Both sides agreed to “another wording” of the carrier’s policy of placing pilots on vacation when they reached the legal limit of 900 flight hours per year, Sandro Mayer, chairman of the works council representing employees, told the Austria Press Agency Tuesday. The airline and pilots also agreed to a change in a proposal to require pilots to accumulate at least 850 flight hours a year or face a reduction in monthly free days from 10 to seven, APA reported. The airline had no immediate statement on the agreement but would provide details soon, CEO Andreas Gruber said. In a July 31 letter to employees, Gruber said as many as 30 of its 125 flight crews could lose their jobs if they did not agree to changes he said were needed to improve efficiency.<br/>
UK long-haul specialist Virgin Atlantic has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000. The aircraft flew into London Heathrow Aug. 10 from Airbus’s Toulouse plant. The aircraft is the first of 12 that were ordered in 2016. Three more are scheduled to be delivered this year, with the balance over 2020-21. Virgin Atlantic will operate the first seven aircraft in a three-class layout: economy, premium economy and upper (or business) class. The A350s will be used to launch Virgin’s redesigned upper-class cabin and a new eight-seat lounge, called The Loft, replacing the existing upper-class bar area. The Loft is a lounge area that all passengers will pass through as they board but which is reserved for upper-class travelers during the flight. The final five aircraft will be in a leisure configuration and operate on services to Florida and the Caribbean from London Gatwick and Manchester. The final aircraft will come into service as the carrier’s remaining Boeing 747-400s are retired. The initial scheduled route is Heathrow-New York JFK on Sept. 10, although the airline has said it may begin earlier if circumstances allow.<br/>