Five countries whose citizens were killed when an airliner was shot down by Iran last week will meet in London on Thursday to discuss possible legal action, Ukraine's foreign minister said. Vadym Prystaiko said the five nations would also discuss compensation and the investigation into the incident. In Kiev, Ukraine's top security official said a senior Iranian investigator would visit the Ukrainian capital in the coming days to determine whether a Ukrainian laboratory is suitable to decode the plane's black box flight recorders. Prystaiko said suggestions from Iran that the plane was shot down as it flew near a sensitive military base during a time of heightened tensions were "nonsense". "We have created this group of foreign ministers from the grieving nations. On Jan 16, we will meet in person in London to discuss the ways, including legal, how we are following this up, how we are prosecuting them (Iran)," Prystaiko said. He said the five nations also included Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan and a fifth country which he did not name. Canada has previously said these four countries and Britain had established a coordination group to support victims' families. Many on board were Iranians with dual citizenship. After days of denials, Iran said on Saturday its military had shot down the plane in a "disastrous mistake".<br/>
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The government has been urged to do “whatever it takes” to ensure the survival of Flybe, Europe’s largest regional carrier, as trade unions and MPs demanded the rescue of an airline that operates almost two in five British domestic flights. The Exeter-based airline, which flies 8.5m passengers a year between 56 airports across the UK and mainland Europe, is seeking financial help from ministers to stave off a collapse that would put more than 2,000 jobs at risk. The airline and government declined to comment on reports of ongoing talks between the carrier and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Transport, about whether the government might provide or facilitate emergency financing. Sky News reported on Monday evening that Flybe had asked the government to defer a multi-million pound air passenger duty bill in order to see the airline through the rest of the winter. Mark Anderson, the CE of Connect, told Flybe staff in an email on Monday morning: “We continue to operate as normal … I do appreciate that the headlines are disturbing but I want you to know that we are determined to everything we can to make this work. What I now ask from all of us is that we all remain focused on our responsibilities and continue to work and support each other as a team to deliver what we know we can do.” Trade unions and MPs said that the airline provided crucial connectivity for the regions and demanded the government intervene. The pilots’ union, Balpa, said the government should do “whatever it takes” to save the carrier.<br/>
A former Martinair executive has been extradited to the US to face charges related to cargo price fixing after ten years on the run. Maria Ullings, a Dutch national, was originally indicted in 2010 by the US District Court in Atlanta for allegedly participating in a global conspiracy to fix air cargo prices, says the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Ullings formerly served as senior VP with the company. “A fugitive for almost 10 years, Ullings was apprehended by Italian authorities in July 2019 while visiting Sicily,” says the department. “Ullings initially contested extradition in the Italian courts, but after the Court of Appeals of Palermo ruled that she be extradited, she waived her appeal.” The indictment states that Ullings “conspired with others to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and coordinating certain surcharges, including fuel surcharges, charged to customers located in the United States and elsewhere for air cargo shipments.” The allegations state that she conspired in price fixing from January 2001 to February 2006.<br/>
Braathens Regional Airlines has axed a long-standing order for Airbus A220s, and plans to wet-lease Embraer 190s for regional jet operations. BRA evolved from the merger of Malmo Aviation with other carrier operations and inherited the order for 10 Bombardier CSeries jets originally placed by Malmo in 2011. Malmo Aviation, through an associated lessor, had been one of the first four customers to order the CSeries – signing for five CS300s and five CS100s – with plans to take them from 2014. It was initially aiming to be a launch operator for the CSeries but abandoned this plan in 2014, as it hinted at a postponement of the type’s introduction. After BRA absorbed Malmo Aviation, it expressed concerns over traffic projections, including the impact of additional aviation taxes, and pushed back deliveries of the aircraft. The jets remained deferred after Airbus acquired the CSeries in mid-2018 and rebranded it as the A220 – by which point the order had been modified to comprise 10 A220-100s. Airbus’s latest backlog revision shows that BRA’s order for the 10 aircraft has been struck from the customer list. BRA tells FlightGlobal that the decision not to pursue purchase of the A220 was taken as far back as a year ago. It says it had considered not only a weakening Swedish domestic market and local currency, but the effects of fuel prices as well as increased government taxes and aeronautical fees.<br/>
India’s aviation regulator has given IndiGo more time to replace the Pratt & Whitney engines on its fleet of Airbus A320neo planes which have been linked to in-flight engine shutdowns, a statement released by the watchdog said on Monday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in November said IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, must replace the engines by January 31, after four incidents of in-flight engine shutdowns within a week caused “serious concern”. The DGCA has now given IndiGo until May 31, saying that while the regulator was obliged to set up a tight deadline it was also intended to “spur frenetic action on the part of all stakeholders”. “The airline and the aircraft and the engine manufacturer have made significant efforts towards completion of the task,” it said in the statement, adding that they had submitted a detailed plan to the regulator for procuring the 135 replacement engines still required. IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation is the biggest customer of Airbus’ A320neo jets with more than 400 planes on order. IndiGo and Pratt & Whitney did not respond to a request for comment.<br/>