Alaska Airlines was ordered this week to pay $3.2m to the family of a 75-year-old woman who died after falling down an escalator in an electric wheelchair at Portland International Airport in 2017. The family of the woman, Bernice Kekona, alleged that Alaska failed to ensure she received the gate-to-gate escort the family requested multiple times. After a trial in King County Superior Court this month, a jury found Alaska violated the Air Carrier Access Act, which requires airlines to provide certain assistance for passengers with disabilities. According to the family’s court filings, Kekona and her family members had requested multiple times that she receive a gate-to-gate escort because she was elderly, hard of hearing and sometimes became confused in unfamiliar places, among other reasons. The family alleged that Alaska failed to communicate those requests to a contractor that would have provided the escort. Robert Gellatly, an attorney for the family, said Kekona’s death was “a tragic failure of communication.”<br/>
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Airbus and Boeing are bracing for hefty jet order cancellations from troubled Norwegian Air amid restructuring proceedings, industry sources said. Norwegian last year won protection from bankruptcy in both Norway and Ireland, where most of its assets are registered, and is aiming to emerge with fewer aircraft and less debt. The Irish High Court this week is hearing arguments concerning the repudiation of some of Norwegian’s liabilities including aircraft leases. “There is a hearing ongoing and we can’t comment until that is over,” a Norwegian spokesman said. Airbus declined to comment. Boeing was not immediately available for comment. Norwegian has 88 A320neo-family narrow-body jets on order from Airbus, according to the manufacturer.<br/>
Inconsistencies in the Iran government’s explanation of the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane last year raise questions over whether it was intentional, an independent UN investigator said Tuesday, but she had found no concrete evidence that it was. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane on Jan. 8, 2020, in error shortly after takeoff, mistaking it for a missile at a time when tensions with Washington were high over the US assassination five days earlier of Guards General Qassem Soleimani. All 176 people on board were killed, 138 of whom had ties to Canada. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said she had found no concrete evidence that the targeting of the plane was premeditated and intentional. But she added that “inconsistencies in the official explanation and the reckless nature of the mistakes have led many, including myself, to question whether the downing of flight PS752 was intentional.” Iran’s mission to the UN in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>
Lessors are discussing new rent-deferral arrangements with Air Europa as the Spanish carrier navigates towards fresh state-backed financial support, sources have told Cirium. One lessor says it is negotiating a second deferral agreement with the airline, having had a first one in operation until December 2020. “We are looking to get at least the debt serviced, and [Air Europa parent] Globalia is looking to pay less,” the source says. Another lessor says that it is likewise in talks with Air Europa having received payments until December. Europa Press on 11 February reported Valentin Largo’s appointment as chief executive of Air Europa, saying it had been mutually agreed by SEPI – a state agency set up to support companies impacted by the pandemic – and Globalia. Largo has previously worked for Air Nostrum as well as IAG carriers Iberia Express and Vueling. A source says the appointment of a CE agreeable to SEPI was a condition for the agency to release a further E100m of funding to Air Europa, as part of a E475m state-backed loan agreed in November 2020.<br/>
Gulf Air is to launch a weekly service from Bahrain to Singapore in April, reviving a route it last operated more than a decade ago. The Bahraini carrier will deploy a Boeing 787-9 on the service to Singapore, which it describes as a ”boutique destination”. Gulf Air began flights to the island nation in the 1990s, though Cirium schedules data shows the airline last operated direct services to Singapore in 2008. No other scheduled operators serve the route. <br/>
El Al has begun the process of summoning for hearings the first of 1,600 employees who are due to be laid off as part of the company's streamlining plan. El Al is in talks for a $300m loan from Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank and other financial institutions with an 82.5% state guarantee, as part of the government's rescue plan. One of the conditions of the rescue plan is the reduction in the work force. The 1,600 employees to be laid off include both temporary and permanent staff although the agreements between management and the workers committees stipulates that the layoffs will only begin once the loan agreements go into effect. El Al Workers Committee chairman Sharon Ben-Yitzhak said that the employees who will be laid off will be given beneficial retirement terms according to age and seniority.<br/>
Volotea could add four further Airbus narrowbodies to its fleet this summer to take to 19 the number it will operate after completing the withdrawal of its Boeing 717 fleet. Volotea has operated 717s since launching flights in 2012, but began bringing in Airbus A319s in 2016 after opting to replace the Boeing jets with used narrowbodies from the European manufacturer. The company says it had originally been aiming to complete the renewal by 2023. Under accelerated plans the carrier has completed the withdrawal of 14 717s and replaced them with 15 A320-family aircraft. It says it has flexibility to add four more of the type if demand warrants them. While traffic has been hit by the pandemic, Volotea passenger numbers and capacity were down by less than half in 2020 driven by a strong performance in the third quarter. The Barcelona-headquartered carrier, which handled 3.8m passengers last year, operates largely across French, Italian and Spanish markets. Volotea president Carlos Munoz says: ”We are very proud to be moving to a 100% Airbus fleet. As a European airline, we are very excited to be able to count on Airbus as a long-term partner to our fleet."<br/>
Irish-based lessor Genesis is supporting the establishment of a new Lithuanian charter and wet-lease carrier, Heston Airlines, in co-operation with consolidated aircraft trading and maintenance firm Heston Aviation. Heston Airlines is applying for a European air operator’s certificate and has obtained an initial Airbus A320, configured with 180 seats. CE Jonas Rinkauskas says the tie-up with Genesis, which is located in Dublin, will assist the new carrier with controlling costs. “The possibility to leverage Genesis’s global portfolio of aircraft and unparalleled expertise will contribute both to our growth as a company, and to our ability to offer significantly better, faster, more flexible and cost-efficient services,” he adds.<br/>