A man was taken into custody after he climbed onto the wing of an Alaska Airlines plane at the Las Vegas airport Saturday, an airport spokesman said. Flight 1367 from Las Vegas to Portland was preparing for takeoff from McCarran International Airport when the pilot noticed a person coming toward the aircraft and notified the control tower, Alaska Airlines said. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and airport officials took the man into custody, airport spokesman Joe Rajchel said. The man had hopped a perimeter fence and was observed by airport staff around 1:40 p.m. PST, according to Rajchel. Video shot by a passenger shows the man sitting and walking on the wing. He then removes his socks and shoes before trying to climb the Boeing 737's winglet, the upturned end of the plane's wing. As police officers approach the man, he slides down the winglet and falls to the tarmac below. Officers took the man into custody and he was taken to a medical facility, Rajchel said. The plane returned to the gate for a full inspection following the incident.<br/>
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Hong Kong Airlines will cut 250 flight attendants in the latest round of coronavirus-related redundancies to hit the carrier and the local aviation sector. As a member of the cash-strapped Chinese aviation conglomerate HNA Group, the city’s third largest carrier had already axed jobs at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, far earlier than other airlines, and made steep pay cuts to keep salary costs in check. Chris Birt, the airline’s director of service delivery, told staff in a memo on Friday that the company’s extended grounding of most planes and passenger flights had forced a rethink of its future staffing needs. “These ongoing adjustments have not only drastically affected our revenue but also reduce our operating crew and staffing requirements in the foreseeable future,” the memo said. “Following a review of our medium-term cabin crew requirements, we have made the very difficult decision to permanently reduce our cabin crew numbers.” Confirming the cuts, a Hong Kong Airlines spokeswoman said: “The compensation package offered to all affected cabin crew will be in full compliance with the employee’s conditions of service and local labour laws.” The number of flight attendants employed by the airline would shrink to 1,000 after a 20% reduction.<br/>