Qantas Airways is targeting annual spending of about A$2b (US$1.36b) and expects capacity growth to be little changed in the second half of fiscal 2020, the airline said Tuesday. Qantas in August forecast $2b of capital spending in the financial year ending June 30, 2020, up from $1.6b the prior year, as it pays for new Boeing 787-9 planes and refurbishes the cabins of its Airbus A380s. Qantas is also expected to place an order next year to replace its domestic fleet, which is dominated by 75 737 NGs but also includes 20 717s and 17 Fokker 100s. Under the annual $2n target, Qantas said its fleet can be replaced within 20 to 25 years. In the quarter ended Sept 30, Qantas reported a near 1% fall in unit revenue in its domestic business, which typically dominates profits, driven by a fall in demand for Jetstar. <br/>
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Qantas Airways has said it will support a flight attendant if she decides to sue the musician Will.i.am for defamation after he called her a racist on Twitter and posted her name and photograph. Will.i.am was on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney Saturday when, he said, the flight attendant became overly aggressive in asking him to stow his laptop before landing. After the dispute between the two, federal police officers were called to meet the musician at the gate. The flight attendant, Will.i.am wrote on Twitter, “clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour.” Qantas has publicly stood by the flight attendant, saying, “we completely reject the suggestion this had anything to do with race.” The company said there had been a “misunderstanding” made worse by the musician’s use of noise-cancelling headphones. <br/>
Qantas has asked Airbus and Boeing for a better deal on planes capable of non-stop Sydney-London flights before deciding whether to place an order. "We asked them to go back and re-look at that to sharpen their pencils because there still was a gap there," Qantas International CE Tino La Spina said Tuesday. The airline is considering launching the world's longest non-stop flights because it sees demand for time-poor travellers willing to pay a premium to cut out stop-overs. Qantas is looking to replace its aging fleet over the medium term and said it expected capacity growth in the domestic market to be near-flat in the current half. Citi analysts in July forecast non-stop flights from Sydney to London and New York could add A$180m annually to the carrier's profit before tax. <br/>
American Airlines now says a spilled cleaning product did not cause an odour that led to a flight being diverted when 2 cabin crew members passed out. The airline initially made the claim after a flight from London Heathrow was diverted to Dublin Oct 21. However, the aircraft's maintenance records and other evidence, obtained by BBC News, cast doubt on that theory. Now American Airlines says its maintenance team has established that a cleaning solution was not the cause. The odour was so serious that a passenger and both of the crew members who fell unconscious were taken to hospital when the plane landed in Dublin. BBC sources say it is likely the leak caused toxic fumes to enter the cabin. However, American Airlines denies that. <br/>