JetBlue Airways has been sued for allegedly blocking online travel agencies from displaying its fares alongside other carriers’ fares, in an illegal bid to steer travelers to its website and charge more. Fareportal Holdings, which operates the CheapOair and OneTravel websites, is seeking unspecified damages in its antitrust lawsuit filed on Tuesday night in the federal court in Brooklyn. It said JetBlue’s refusal to let it display the carrier’s fares was meant to thwart comparison shopping and enable JetBlue to boost fares along its strongest routes, including to and from New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Florida and Puerto Rico. Fareportal said JetBlue’s more than $1.8b of taxpayer support and US Treasury loans to weather the COVID-19 pandemic has cushioned the Long Island City, New York-based carrier’s ability in the near term to lose travelers who book elsewhere. “JetBlue is using COVID-relief handouts from American taxpayers to take American consumers for a ride,” and “make it difficult if not impossible for travelers to determine the airline that offers the best combination of price and service,” the complaint said.<br/>
unaligned
Iranian investigators probing the downing of a passenger plane a year ago are deliberately dragging their feet, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) said on Wednesday. Tehran has admitted its anti-air missiles brought down the plane by mistake on January 8 last year during heightened tension with the US, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 55 Canadians. "We haven't got an answer to the main question: how could this happen and who is responsible," UIA chief Yevhenii Dykhne said, adding "the process isn't moving". "The tactic on the Iranian side is to sweep under the rug, to drag their feet," he said. "There needs to be more serious pressure from those countries whose citizens died." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month called on Iran to answer questions about the downed plane after an independent Canadian report complained that Iran was "investigating itself, largely in secret". Ukraine officials confirmed this week they had received on December 31 a preliminary "technical report" from Iran on the circumstances of the disaster. They now have two months to review the document and decide if they are satisfied.<br/>
WestJet will begin non-commercial test flights of its Boeing 737 Max aircraft during the coming weeks with the aim of having the aircraft type ready to resume revenue flights on 21 January pending approval from Transport Canada. The Calgary-based airline would take a phased approach to resume Max flights once Transport Canada allows the Boeing aircraft to re-enter Canadian airspace after it has been grounded for 20 months, WestJet chief executive Ed Sims states. “We will be forthcoming with our guests on where the Max aircraft are flying, and we will be flexible with our change and cancel policy to ensure our guests can make their travel plans confidently,” Sims says. Following regulatory approval, WestJet plans to operate 737 Max aircraft on three round-trip flights each week between Calgary and Toronto, which is one of its busiest routes. The airline would limit its Max rollout to that route for four weeks before deciding how best to resume operation of that aircraft type on other routes. “Regulatory bodies around the world have spent more than a year examining the Max aircraft to provide recommended changes to software, pilot training and maintenance requirements,” Sims says. “We are confident with the changes they have mandated. In particular, the deliberate, detailed and independent scrutiny applied by Transport Canada’s National Aircraft Certification team, which prescribed additional requirements to pilot procedures and training, provides further confidence in the aircraft and its safe return.”<br/>
EasyJet is paring back its operations to just “essential connectivity” between key UK cities and select international routes, as the low-cost carrier’s home country enters a further national lockdown. Existing operations will run up to and including 10 January, to enable passengers to return to the UK, after which the airline will enact a new schedule consisting of domestic services from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast and Scotland as well a “small number” of European destinations. “We urge customers needing to return to transfer onto these flights as soon as possible as options to travel after this date will be reduced,” the airline says. Cirium data shows that EasyJet’s network is already significantly reduced from its normal levels. On 5 January last year the carrier’s seven-day average was at 1,517 flights, whereas this year the figure was down to 390 at the same point. Of those, 278 were international services, the vast majority of which are set to be cancelled going forward. “Given the ongoing impact of the pandemic on travel, we continue to call for sector specific support such as has been provided to hospitality, where decisions have directly affected their ability to trade,” says EasyJet. “The same principle should be applied to aviation.”<br/>
Montenegro’s government has acted swiftly to start establishing a successor to the country’s defunct flag-carrier Montenegro Airlines. The carrier ceased operations on 26 December after the government refused to continue supporting the heavily-indebted company. But the government has formally registered a new company, depositing E4m in founding capital for an entity named ToMontenegro. Podgorica-based financial institution Erste Bank has issued a certificate of payment for the deposit which, it says, took place on 31 December. “This certificate is issued for the purposes of establishing the legal entity ToMontenegro,” it adds. Montenegro’s government says finance minister Milojko Spajic recently met with the German ambassador, who had shown particular interest in the airline situation. “The ambassador pointed out that tourism is a very important branch of the Montenegrin economy, and that it is therefore necessary to ensure good transport connections between Montenegro and the rest of Europe,“ the government says. It adds that the minister had responded that a new airline would need to be “economically sustainable” and established “as soon as possible”.<br/>
El Al has named Yitzhak Eliav as its new CFO, following the departure of Dganit Palti last year. He took up the post on 4 January, the airline states. Eliav was formerly the head of finance and vice-president of operations at Avgol Industries, a specialist manufacturer of non-woven fabrics for the hygiene market. He was also previously a senior finance executive at Israeli clothing and apparel retailer Fox-Wizel. Eliav’s appointment is the latest part of a top-level management overhaul at El Al, following the change of controlling shareholder last year. <br/>