unaligned

Federal safety officials are investigating a Southwest pilot who was recorded making a cuss-filled rant about Northern California liberals as his plane readied for takeoff in San Jose, California. A spokesman for the FAA said Friday that the agency also reported the incident to the airline. Southwest said it was handling the matter internally. The incident, first reported by SFGate.com, happened earlier this month at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. “(Expletive) this place, Goddamn liberal (expletive),” the unidentified pilot says on the recording. “(Expletive) weirdos, probably driving around in (expletive) Hyundais ... go slow as (expletive).” The pilot also worked in an admiring reference to “coal rolling,” which is modifying a truck to spew out more exhaust. A few seconds later, he can be heard telling air traffic controllers, “Southwest 531 is ready to go.” The plane was cleared for takeoff. It wasn’t clear what, if anything, set off the pilot. “FAA regulations prohibit airline pilots from talking about subjects that are unrelated to safely conducting their flight while taxiing and while flying below 10,000 feet altitude,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. Southwest declined to identify the pilot. A spokesman said his comments “are inconsistent with professional behavior and overall respect that we require of our employees.”<br/>

Ireland’s High Court cleared the way on Friday for Norwegian Air to raise new capital and emerge from bankruptcy protection in Ireland and Norway in May by approving the airline’s restructuring scheme. Norwegian’s survival plan, announced last year, puts a definitive end to its long-haul business, leaving a slimmed-down airline focusing on Nordic and European routes. “We can now go forward with the reconstruction in Norway and initiate a capital raise,” CE Jacob Schram said in a statement following the ruling. The Irish court made the ruling, a key milestone in the airline’s battle to survive the coronavirus pandemic which has decimated air travel, after none of its creditors challenged the proposed restructuring during a two-day hearing. A key condition of the scheme is that Norwegian raises at least 4.5b crowns ($524m) from new shares and hybrid capital, of which Norway’s government has said it is willing to contribute 1.5b crowns. Justice Michael Quinn told the court that there was “sufficient confidence” that the investment could be secured. The court-appointed official who drew up the restructuring scheme indicated on Thursday that he believed Norwegian was at an advanced stage in talks with investors and was likely to secure the required funding. “This is a demanding and ongoing process, however, the result of the court rulings today enforces our beliefs of a positive final outcome. We are looking forward to and are preparing for a post-pandemic world, without travel restrictions and open borders,” Norwegian’s Schram said.<br/>

Long-haul start up Norse Atlantic Airways is closing in on its first lease agreements, CE Bjorn Tore Larsen has disclosed. Larsen says the Norway-based carrier expects to seal the deals “very soon”. He does not identify the lessors involved but says the lease rates that Norse Atlantic has been able to secure so far are “competitive”. Norse Atlantic is seeking more long-haul aircraft, and Larsen encourages lessors with aircraft available to contact him. Lease terms of approximately 12 years are envisioned, he adds. The start-up airline plans to fill the gap left by Norwegian by operating long-haul services between Europe and the USA from December 2021 using a fleet of Boeing 787s. <br/>

Smartwings has signed a Kc2b ($90m) loan agreement with a syndicate of banks under the the Czech Government’s Covid Plus support programme helping it to come out of a moratorium with creditors it has been in since the pandemic hit. The Kc2b loan with four banks is secured by the state-owned Export Guarantee and Insurance Company (EGAP), under the Covid Plus programme. The Czech airline notes that the Kc2b loan adds to around Kc5b from restructuring measures, including support from aircraft lessors. As that is more than then the dues payable, it says this creates ”a sufficient financial reserve” for a full restoration of air traffic and enables it to end the creditor moratorium<br/>

UK-based carrier Virgin Atlantic said it had started digital health pass trials in a bid to show governments around the world that apps displaying COVID-19 test results and vaccine certificates can launch a travel recovery. Virgin Atlantic said it would trial the IATA Travel Pass on its London to Barbados route from April 16. Barbados has said it will accept the pass at its border, one of the first countries to accept a digital pass instead of paper checks. Britain’s strict ban on all but essential travel is due to lift on May 17, although renewed lockdowns and slow vaccine rollouts have raised the spectre of another weak summer that could further batter airline balance sheets. Virgin raised an extra GBP160m in new financing earlier this month. Airlines are hoping that the UK and other countries will approve the use of digital passes on apps, allowing travel to resume at scale. Without them airport checks on multiple paper forms will cause huge queues and could limit traveller numbers. “Right now these border checks are fully paper-based, very lengthy. With a digital solution, the borders can flow better,” Virgin’s chief customer and operating officer Corneel Koster said.<br/>

Malawi Airlines says it has suspended all flights for the period March 26 to 31 citing unspecified operational reasons. Affected passengers have been offered alternate travel arrangements including transit via Addis Ababa through 49% shareholder, Ethiopian Airlines. The airline's only active aircraft, B737-700 ET-ARB, was ferried from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa on March 22 presumably for maintenance. Pre-COVID, it had also operated a single Dash 8-400, ET-AQB. Malawi Airlines is a 51/49 venture between the Malawian government and Ethiopian. Its network includes flights between the central African state's two largest cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe, as well as to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo and Dar es Salaam. In February, it warned that despite the reopening of airports across southern Africa late last year, it had yet to see a resurgence in demand. “For sure, passenger numbers are very low and there are no indications that passenger numbers will grow in the short term,” the carrier's public relations officer, Joseph Josiah, said at the time.<br/>