After the third flight cancellation over 3 mostly sleepless nights, after hours sitting on a plane going nowhere and waiting in long airport lines, the passengers on American Airlines Flight 988 had enough. Some sobbed uncontrollably. A few screamed at airline employees. Some broke down because after being stranded 3 days they were out of vital medicine and patience, or were losing thousands of dollars of work pay. Flight 988, a 7-hour trip from Lima to Dallas-Fort Worth on an 18-year-old Boeing 757, suffered 4 different mechanical problems that kept it grounded 3 days in a row starting Sept 9. Each day passengers boarded and taxied out, only to end up back in the terminal standing in lines to re-enter Peru, collect luggage and ride shuttles to hotels. <br/>
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A US citizen sued 2 airline companies in a US federal court under a newly revived provision that permits legal action by US citizens or entities against companies doing business on property that was confiscated by the Cuban govt. The suit, filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is the latest to come after the Trump administration lifted a suspension of a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act in May. The provision allows certain US nationals with claims to property confiscated by the Cuban govt to seek damages from companies operating on that property. Jose Ramon López Regueiro, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, said American Airlines and Latam Airlines have benefited from the Cuban airport his father once owned before it was seized by Fidel Castro’s govt. <br/>
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders says American Airlines' negotiating tactics with maintenance workers is "nothing more than corporate greed at its worst." Sanders had harsh words for airline in a letter to CE and chairman Doug Parker Wednesday, making him the latest politician to weigh into the ongoing contract dispute between the company and maintenance workers. "If American Airlines has enough money to buy back US$15b of its own stock, it certainly has enough money to pay its union workers a decent wage with good benefits," Sanders wrote in the letter posted to Twitter Wednesday. It's also not the first time Sanders has gone after Parker, criticising the airline leader at a union event in April. <br/>
Cathay Pacific Airways is looking to sell a rare US dollar bond as Hong Kong’s protests weigh on the company’s outlook. The carrier will have a roadshow in Hong Kong Wednesday after starting off in Singapore Tuesday. The potential bond offering is expected to be unrated. The deal size and coupon haven’t been made public. Cathay Pacific shares have tumbled 29% since this year’s peak in April, while the airline’s CE and chairman announced their resignations after China’s civil aviation authority began clamping down on the company because of employees joining the protests. The airline reported its biggest drop in passenger traffic in more than a decade in August. <br/>