A Southwest flight attendant says two pilots live streamed video from a hidden camera in a commercial airliner's lavatory to an iPad in the cockpit, a lawsuit says. The alleged incident happened February 27, 2017, while Renee Steinaker was working on Flight 1088 from Pittsburgh to Phoenix, according to the complaint that Steinaker and her husband, David Steinaker, filed against the airline and the pilots. About two and a half hours into the flight, Capt. Terry Graham asked for a flight attendant to come to the cockpit so that he could leave to use the restroom, the complaint says. Airline policy requires that two crew members are in the cockpit at all times, the complaint says.<br/>After Steinaker arrived and Graham left, Steinaker spotted an iPad in the plane's cockpit that appeared to be streaming live video of the pilot inside an airplane lavatory, the lawsuit said. When the flight attendant asked the co-pilot, Ryan Russell, if the iPad was streaming video from the lavatory, he said the camera was part of a "new security and top secret security measure that had been installed in the lavatories of all Southwest Airlines' 737-800 planes," the document alleges. Russell asked her not to tell anyone about the cameras because they were on the "downlow," the suit says. In their written response to the complaint, Graham and Russell admit Graham's iPad was located in the cockpit and that Steinaker asked if it was live streaming from the bathroom. But the pilots deny the other allegations or say they don't have sufficient knowledge to respond. Story has more details.<br/>
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Hong Kong’s airline licensing body on Friday warned it would take “appropriate action” in the business affairs of Hong Kong Airlines as it publicly criticised the carrier’s slumping financial performance. The Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) – a statutory body with the power to shut down carriers and approve new ones – said it told the city’s third-largest airline to take “immediate and concrete” steps to “effectively improve its financial situation” after a meeting on Friday with airlines officials. Hong Kong Airlines has been under government scrutiny since December and the company has been the target of regular public statements urging it to repair its financial situation. “Having considered the information recently submitted by [Hong Kong Airlines], the ATLA is of the view that HKA’s financial situation has shown no sign of improvement,” the independent licensing body said. The carrier, backed by the debt-laden Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, saw its financial condition worsen as Hong Kong’s protest crisis intensified. By late August, the airline warned of a severe cash-flow problem after thousands of customers cancelled trips and fewer made advance bookings. Since that time, senior executives have taken a 20% pay cut, employees have been placed on no-pay leave and the company has slashed its flight schedules. Hong Kong Airlines responded by saying it had implemented cost-saving methods to minimise its cash-flow woes. <br/>
Tanzania’s state carrier plans to double the size of its fleet to 14 aircraft by 2022 and is exploring new routes and code-sharing agreements with other airlines, a senior government official said on Saturday. The plans were announced by Tanzanian transport ministry permanent secretary Leonard Chamuriho at a ceremony in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam marking the delivery of the airline’s second Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The arrival of the plane brought the number of new aircraft purchased by the government to seven. Air Tanzania currently holds just over 70% of the country’s domestic air travel market, Chamuriho said. “We aim to introduce flights to Guangzhou, China, by the end of this year as well as new routes to Nairobi, Lubumbashi and Kinshasa by June next year,” he said. The government hopes that a more efficient national airline will help boost tourism, the main foreign exchange earner in the East African nation’s economy.<br/>