US aviation regulators downgraded the safety ranking of Pakistan’s civilian airline system in the latest action following revelations that hundreds of commercial pilots received faked licenses. The FAA’s action on Monday adds another hurdle to PIA’s ability to operate into the US, effectively blocking any carrier from that country from adding flights. The US DoT earlier this month separately notified PIA it was halting all operations as a result of the scandal. The EU took a similar action last month. The FAA’s ranking system, known as the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program, audits countries to see whether they meet the minimum standard for aviation safety set by the United Nations’ ICAO. PIA had received special permission to fly to the US this spring after several years of not operating there.<br/>
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A Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a note warning explosives were on board was found in the toilets. RAF Typhoon fighter jets were sent to intercept the aircraft travelling from Krakow to Dublin after the alert was raised Monday evening. After landing safely on the runway at London Stansted Airport, police oversaw the evacuation of the plane in an isolated area. Essex Police described the incident only as a “security alert” and said officers were still investigating. However Ryanair said that the diversion of the Boeing 737-800 was prompted by the discovery of “a note in one of the toilets claiming that there were explosives on board”. “The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport where the plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely,” a spokesperson for the airline said.<br/>
El Al is facing a lawsuit over allegations that it failed to reimburse customers for cancelled flights, and did not inform the public about their right to receive a refund. The class-action suit has been brought before a district court by all passengers who were due to fly from 1 February but whose flights were cancelled, and who allegedly did not receive a refund – or information about refunds – within the required time period. It argues that El Al has violated aviation legislation and a number of other laws. The plaintiffs are seeking collective reimbursement of $400m, says the airline, as part of “various remedies” against the company. El Al says it will “study the application” before submitting a response. But it points out that new temporary legislation going through the Israeli Knesset is intended to amend the country’s aviation law in response to the coronavirus crisis. It will extend the period for airlines to compensate passengers to 90 days from the flight date, or 30 days from the directive’s approval following a third reading in the Knesset. This temporary law would apply retroactively to flights cancelled from 1 March, says El Al, although it says there is “no certainty” that the legislation will be implemented.<br/>
Southwest CE Gary Kelly told employees on Monday that he was concerned about the impact of a recent rise in COVID-19 cases and quarantines on already-weak travel demand and said passenger numbers would need to triple by the end of the year to prevent job cuts. "Although furloughs and layoffs remain our very last resort, we can’t rule them out as a possibility obviously in this very bad environment," Kelly said in a message to employees. He added that a spike in cases and travel restrictions "aren’t positive developments for our business, and we are concerned about the impact on already weak travel demand." Southwest has until Jul 15 to apply for early exits. No US airline can furlough staff before Oct 1, according to terms of a government bailout, and must give employees 60 days' notice of potential furloughs. Monday is the deadline for Delta employees to accept a voluntary exit deal. <br/>
Delta may be able to avoid involuntary furloughs in the fall after receiving interest from more than 15,000 employees for early buyout packages, one person with knowledge of the matter said, even as other US airlines are sounding the alarm on jobs. Delta is among large US airlines that have been trying to encourage workers to leave voluntarily before a government ban on forced job cuts expires on Sept. 30, when they warn they must shrink given depressed demand in the coronavirus pandemic. The deadline for most Delta employees to accept early departure or early retirement packages was Monday. Delta, which is due to present Q2 results on Tuesday, declined to comment. Because labour contracts require airlines to furlough in reverse order of seniority, those that can encourage more senior people to leave could have generally lower labour costs as they brace for a slow rebound. <br/>
Mexico’s Interjet said Monday it received a $150m capital injection to help the company through a major restructuring in a bid to offset the crisis in the airline sector as the coronavirus pandemic choked global travel. Interjet, one of Mexico’s three biggest airlines with a portfolio of more than 50 routes, announced restructure plans last month as local media speculated about the carrier’s financial health. The struggling Mexican airline said a group of investors, headed by businessmen Carlos Cabal and Alejandro del Valle, has injected capital to help shore up the company. “The new operations plan considers the return, in the coming days, of more Airbus 320 and 321 aircraft,” the company said.<br/>
Airlines are increasingly turning to air cargo as many passengers opt to forgo flights because of the coronavirus pandemic. Mesa Air Group, a regional carrier that flies short routes for American and United on Monday said it will start flying packages for Deutsche Post’s DHL Express. Mesa said that it has a five-year agreement to fly for the package delivery company and that service will start in October. The regional airline is planning to add Boeing 737 freighters, leased from DHL, and fly them from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Other carriers have taken similar steps as the pandemic continues to keep a lid on air travel demand, pushing passenger airlines to their first losses in years. Just more than 8m people passed through TSA checkpoints at US airports in the first 12 days of July, down nearly 73% from the same period a year ago, federal data shows. <br/>
A masked Alaska Airlines passenger threatened violence against everyone on a flight over the weekend, and that they should "die in the name of Jesus." Alaska Airlines flight 422 departed at 11:10 p.m. from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday and was headed for Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Soon after departure, the incident occurred. "The man became extremely belligerent and physically aggressive during ascent," Alaska Airlines spokesperson Ray Lane said. "The passenger was quickly subdued by the flight crew with the assistance of two able-bodied passengers and a law enforcement officer who happened to be flying on the aircraft." A video of the incident has him saying he will kill everyone on the plane and to "die in the name of Jesus." A crew member can be heard over the loudspeaker announcing they would be landing at the nearest possible airport and that "we have everything under control." "The flight returned safely to Sea-Tac, where additional law enforcement personnel were standing by to take the passenger into custody. The flight was canceled and the remaining guests were booked on the next available flights to Chicago," Lane added. <br/>
EasyJet’s new COO, Peter Bellew, will face a vote of confidence from pilots this week, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said Monday. BALPA, a union representing more than 90% of easyJet’s pilots, said it would carry out a secret ballot closing at midday (1100 GMT) on Friday, after the airline sent notification of a potential 727 pilot redundancies. The association criticised Bellew for misjudging the COVID-19 pandemic, trying to bypass unions and proposing pilot redundancies at a scale for which there was “no justification.” “This is an unusual if not unique step for BALPA to take as we prefer to do our business around the negotiating table but pilot morale in easyJet has collapsed and we’ve been inundated with calls for a vote of no confidence in Mr Bellew,” BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said. Bellew joined easyJet in January, after a failed court bid by former employer Ryanair to delay the move. BALPA also said that Bellew had gone against the best practice of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by reorganising reporting lines on safety to report to him rather than CE Johan Lundgren.<br/>