A woman attacked two flight attendants on a Spirit Airlines flight to Nashville on Saturday night, was restrained by a fellow passenger, and then yelled at police officers to "shoot me" when they arrested her. Airport police arrested a 42-year old female for public intoxication after the flight crew contacted officers on the ground at Nashville International Airport around 7 p.m., an arrest affidavit said. The flight took off from Fort Lauderdale at about 6 p.m., according to Spirit Airlines spokesperson Nicole Aguiar and FlightAware, a flight tracking website. When the plane arrived, members of the crew told officers that she attacked two flight attendants, punching one and pulling the other's hair. Aguiar did not comment on details in the affidavit but said law enforcement officers removed "a passenger for unruly behavior." "We do not tolerate aggressive behavior of any kind, and this passenger is no longer welcome on any of our flights," Aguiar said. When the passenger deplaned, another passenger was restraining her feet with zip ties, the affidavit said. She smelled of alcohol, spoke in a slurred manner, and her eyes were bloodshot. She told officers she drank "a lot," the affidavit said.After police arrested her, she yelled at the officers on several occasions, using expletives and saying "I didn't do anything wrong" and "shoot me," according to the affidavit. The passenger also resisted getting into the police cruiser, including by stiffening her legs to prevent officers from closing the door. Davidson County Sheriff's Office jail logs show that she was admitted into jail on Saturday night at 8:40 p.m., but that she was released 6 a.m., Sunday. <br/>
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EasyJet is set to reveal losses hit more than GBP1b last year as Covid wreaked havoc on the travel industry. The airline group has suffered a turbulent 12 months on the back of fluctuating travel restrictions across Europe which caused the business to cut flight numbers heavily as holidaymakers stayed in the UK. Bosses will be looking to reassure investors on Tuesday that plans to ramp up flights will go ahead as it enters the first restriction-free Christmas period in two years. In a trading update last month the group said pre-tax losses for the 12 months to September are expected to be between GBP1.13b and GBP1.17b, slightly lower than analyst predictions. CE Johan Lundgren said a surge in demand across Europe and a return of bookings to winter sun destinations like Egypt and Turkey had allowed it to ramp up flight capacity to nearly 60% of pre-pandemic levels. He said: “October half-term bookings have been strong, particularly to the Canary Islands where we have increased our capacity to around 140% of full-year 2019 levels.” But investors will be eager to hear whether plans to increase capacity to 70% of pre-pandemic levels will go ahead as fears rise over a new Covid variant and a return in travel restrictions in the UK. Russ Mould investment director at AJ Bell, said the new variant was “the worst possible news for airline operators” as they were starting to see a rebound in demand. He said: “These companies have been under significant financial stress and will want to avoid having to go back to shareholders yet again to ask for more money to help see them through bad times, should we get new widespread travel restrictions.”<br/>
Ukrainian carrier Air Ocean Airlines has commenced commercial services, operating an initial network of domestic routes using Antonov An-148 twinjets. The airline, which secured an air operator’s certificate on 23 October, has opened sales for scheduled services to Lviv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Chernivtsi. It carried out its first flight – on the Kiev-Zaporizhia route – on 21 November, and has since conducted services on other sectors. “When choosing the aircraft, we analysed the air transportation market, the capabilities of aircraft and focused on the An-148,” says Air Ocean director Nikolai Melnichenko. The airline has two of the type – registered UR-CTC and UR-CTF – and plans to operate up to 10, according to Antonov. “This will not only make regional flights more accessible, but also increase the market attractiveness of these aircraft,” the manufacturer adds.<br/>
Dubai airline Emirates has postponed the Dec. 6 launch of flights to Tel Aviv until further notice, a company spokesperson said on Sunday, after Israel announced it would ban foreigners from entering in to combat the latest coronavirus variant. "The postponement comes as a result of recent changes in entry protocols issued by the Israeli government. The airline is committed to launching services to Tel Aviv as soon as the situation allows," the spokesperson said. Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennet on Saturday said the country would ban all foreigners from entering for 14 days as it awaits more information on how effective COVID-19 vaccines are against the Omicron variant first detected in South Africa. Emirates was set to be the third United Arab Emirates airline, after flydubai and Etihad Airways, to start direct flights to Tel Aviv since the two countries established diplomatic relations last year.<br/>
Nigeria has lifted restrictions on Emirates airline flights, the aviation minister said on Friday. In March, Nigeria suspended Emirates from flying into or out of its territory after the carrier imposed additional COVID-19 test requirements on passengers from Nigeria. "Today we received communications from Emirates removing some of the conditions for travelling for which we had concerns," the minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika, said on Friday. "Having done that it is necessary to lift the ban on Emirates. This subsequent lifting of ban is a product of lengthy negotiations between us and them."<br/>
Cham Wings Airlines, a private Syrian airline, has resumed its flights from Damascus to United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, Syrian state media reported on Saturday. The United Arab Emirates foreign minister met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus early this month, a sign of improving ties between Assad and a US-allied Arab state that once supported rebels trying to overthrow him.<br/>