Iran will send the black boxes from a downed Ukrainian airliner to France for analysis, the countries said on Monday. Iran shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight on Jan. 8 with a ground-to-air missile, killing 176 people, in what Tehran later acknowledged as a “disastrous mistake” by forces on high alert during a confrontation with the United States. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will send the black box of the Ukrainian airplane to France in the coming few days in order to read its information,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, according to the official IRNA news agency. France’s BEA air accident investigation agency is known as one of the world’s leading agencies for reading flight recorders. Zarif made the comments in a phone call with Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. Canada had 57 citizens on board. Champagne said in a statement that Zarif had committed to sending the flight recorders to France without further delay.<br/>
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The bidding for Virgin Australia is entering its final stage with both Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners submitting their final and binding offers for the airline. Deloitte said the administrators handling Virgin’s affairs will now assess the bids with a view to selecting a preferred bidder by Tuesday 30 June. “On the basis of their public statements, both bidders are committed to seeing a strong, competitive and sustainable Virgin Australia operating into the future, employing many thousands of Australians, and supporting the tourism industry and state and national economies,” Deloitte said. Details of their bids were not disclosed, although Deloitte said both bidders have already received Foreign Investment Review Board approval. Both bidders have previously flagged operating a smaller, single-branded domestic and short-haul international airline that also has growth potential, Deloitte added. Reuters reported on Monday that Virgin Australia’s bondholders were working on a debt-to-equity swap if they weren’t satisfied with the sale offer, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. The airline owes about $2n total to 6,500 unsecured bondholders, the second-most numerous creditor group behind employees that will vote on a deal at a meeting in August. The bondholders are preparing the backup plan to help avoid liquidation if the administrator’s preferred offer is not acceptable, the person with knowledge of the matter said. The threat of a rival plan could also make the bidders and the administrator, Deloitte, more attuned to their interests.<br/>
Ryanair has flown its first passenger flight in more than three months from Dublin to Milan in northern Italy. It’s understood the flight, which departed from Dublin airport at 6pm on Monday, was the first Italian-bound flight since the airline suspended all international flights in and out of Italy in mid-March. While the flight’s destination is described as Milan, the airport used by Ryanair is in the city of Bergamo, about 50km northeast of Milan and one of the worst affected areas in Italy during the coronavirus pandemic. The Milan flight was scheduled to return on Monday night, arriving into Dublin airport at 11.30pm. Ryanair, which has continued to operate a small number of flights between Ireland and the UK throughout the health crisis, will start re-opening more routes in the coming days. Live flight departure information on the Dublin Airport website shows the airline has scheduled flights to Malaga, Rome, Faro, Copenhagen, Birmingham, London, Glasgow and Manchester for Tuesday, June 23rd. Aer Lingus, which has also continued to operate a reduced schedule of flights to European and north American destinations, is scheduled to fly to Amsterdam, London, Chicago and New York on Tuesday.<br/>
Emirates said it’s seeing a positive trend of traffic building up across its network as it adds flights to more destinations and Dubai eases travel restrictions. The world’s largest long-haul carrier, which currently connects Dubai to 40 cities, plans to offer more destinations in the coming days, according to a statement. “The next few weeks will be a big test for the whole aviation industry in many ways,” Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said. Dubai said Sunday it will begin allowing tourists into the Middle East business hub from July 7 for the first time since the United Arab Emirates imposed travel restrictions because of the coronavirus.<br/>