Family members of the Iran plane disaster are demanding an investigation into Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Brenda Lucki over the RCMP’s refusal to open a criminal investigation into the crash that killed 57 Canadians on board. Three Canadian citizens who had family members on the flight — Shahin Moghaddam, who lost his wife, Shakiba, and their son, Rossitin; Mehrzad Zarei, who lost his 18-year-old son, Arad; and Ali Gorji, who lost his niece, Poureh, and husband, Arash — lodged the complaint against the commissioner, posting it onto a website dedicated to memorializing Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on Monday. “The Complainants request an investigation into the Conduct of the Commissioner as it relates to her decision on Flight PS752 and all the circumstances surrounding that decision,” the complaint reads. The complaint says the three families received a letter from Lucki on July 7 that said the RCMP would not open a criminal investigation into Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which admitted it “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian airliner mere minutes after takeoff from the Tehran airport on Jan. 8, 2020.<br/>
unaligned
Canadian aircraft lessor Chorus Aviation Capital has agreed to lease six ATR 72-600 turboprops to Irish regional start-up Emerald Airlines. The leasing deal follows the announcement earlier this month that Emerald will begin operating regional flights for Aer Lingus no later than January 2023, replacing the Irish flag carrier’s defunct former partner Stobart Air. Chorus repossessed the six ATRs from Virgin Australia and Flybe – three from each carrier – amid the pandemic. It intends to deliver the aircraft to Emerald during a one-year period starting this month, the Canadian company said on 23 August. Stobart Air had operated 12 ATRs for Aer Lingus prior to ceasing operations in June amid the pandemic. The carrier’s sudden closure led Air Lingus to scramble to find a new partner. Emerald arose amid the upheaval. The carrier is backed by CE Conor McCarthy, who also heads aircraft maintenance company Dublin Aerospace and is a former executive at Ryanair and AirAsia.<br/>
Icelandic budget startup Play Airlines plans to make its debut in the US next summer, three years after predecessor Wow Air closed its doors. Play plans to begin flights to destinations on the US East Coast from Iceland with onward connections to Europe in summer of 2022 — a period that for airlines begins on March 27, 2022 — according to its application for a US foreign air carrier permit on August 20. If it receives timely approvals, flights would begin nearly a year after Play launched in June and three years after it was formed by a number of former Wow executives as a “restoration” of the defunct budget carrier. US service is key to Play’s success. The carrier began flights to Europe in June but, in part due to the small size of Iceland’s market, needs to offer flights to North America to generate high volumes of flow traffic over its Reykjavík hub to make its ultra low-cost business model work. Its business is dependent on operating mostly full flights where more than 90% of seats are occupied.<br/>
A Ryanair flight between Tenerife and East Midlands Airport made an emergency landing on Thursday after one of its pilots fell seriously ill. Ryanair flight FR3153 was given priority to land at its destination and came to a stop on the runway after reports that one of the pilots onboard had become "incapacitated". Crews declared an emergency some time before landing while flying over the English Channel. Paramedics boarded the Boeing 737-8 aircraft once it had come to a stop on the runway to administer aid to a member of the crew. Other inbound flights were diverted to Manchester Airport. Earlier in the day, an autopilot problem was responsible for the emergency landing of another Ryanair flight, this time at London Stansted.<br/>
EasyJet has appointed Stephen Hester, one of the City of London’s most experienced chief executives, as chair as it attempts to emerge from a brutal period for the airline industry. Turnround specialist Hester, a former CE of RSA Insurance, Royal Bank of Scotland and British Land, will succeed John Barton, chair of the carrier for almost nine years, on December 1. He will join the board as a non-executive director from next month. Like the rest of the aviation industry, easyJet has struggled over the past 18 months as the coronavirus pandemic has plunged the sector into crisis with travel restrictions and reduced flights. The carrier, which has lost more than GBP2b during the pandemic including suffering its first annual loss in its 25-year history in 2020, still only expects to fly about 60% of its 2019 schedule between July and September. With the traditionally lean winter period approaching, chief financial officer Kenton Jarvis has signalled the carrier may need a second capital raise to bolster its finances by the end of the year. But management has also used the crisis to transform the business through cost-cutting and efficiencies, introducing new ways of raising revenue including charging to use overhead luggage lockers. Hester will also face the challenge of improving relations with founder and largest shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.<br/>
El Al has deferred delivery of its final Boeing 787 at least until the end of this year, as it holds discussions on financing the twinjet. Delivery of the 787-8 aircraft, which would take the Israeli airline’s 787 fleet to 16, had been scheduled for March 2020 – the point at which the pandemic began severely affecting air transport – but has been pushed back several times. El Al has 12 787-9s of which eight are leased and four owned, plus three owned 787-8s. The undelivered -8 would also be owned by the airline. It says that receipt of the final aircraft has been “postponed”, under an agreement with Boeing, until December 2021. El Al says it is negotiating with a financial institution over a $31m advance payment for the jet, and says it “continues to explore” long-term financing alternatives.<br/>
Emirates Airline has signed an interline agreement with South African carrier CemAir, which becomes the Middle Eastern carrier’s fourth partner in the country. The deal adds a number of domestic destinations to Emirates’ network from Johannesburg and Cape Town, including: Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Margate, Durban, Hoedspruit, Plettenberg Bay, George and Sishen. CemAir, which is based in Johannesburg, mainly uses a fleet of Bombardier CRJs, plus Dash 8 and Beech 1900 turboprops on a domestic-focused network. “As we continue our expansion during the post-Covid recovery period, we realise that now more than ever partnerships are key to our success,” says CemAir chief executive Miles van der Molen. “Working with market leaders like Emirates Airline is a further demonstration of our commitment to our customers to provide the best service and value.” With flag carrier South African Airways still grounded, Dubai-based Emirates has been adding partners in South Africa during the Covid-19 crisis, and recently boosted its operations to and from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to a total of 14 flights per week. The UAE carrier’s 20-year codeshare agreement with SAA has been on hold since the latter suspended operations amid a major financial restructuring last year.<br/>
Philippine Airlines swung to an operating loss of Ps4.7b ($93.7m) for the first six months of 2021, under the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Total revenue for the six months ended 30 June halved to Ps18b, with passenger revenue falling 60.4% Ps 11.6b, according to the airline’s interim results release. One area of improvement was cargo, with revenue rising 31% to Ps5.5b. Net losses for the first six months of 2021 came to Ps16.6b, compared with Ps20.7b a year earlier, as the PAL halved expenses to Ps13.8b. “The Group’s liquidity situation became more critical in 2020 and 2021 due to severely weak passenger sales and revenue as an adverse effect of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says PAL. “The Covid-19 outbreak and the measures taken by the Philippine and foreign governments have caused disruptions to PAL’s passenger operations, resulting to temporary suspension and limited operations of its flights both for domestic and international routes. Consequently, the decline in revenue and cash inflows has put significant strain on the Group’s liquidity position and on its compliance with certain loan covenants.”<br/>