An Ontario court has awarded more than $107m to families of six victims of the Iranian military's downing of a passenger jet two years ago. The decision made public Monday follows a May ruling that the missile strikes amounted to an intentional act of terrorism, paving the way for relatives of those killed to seek compensation from Iran. In the 2021 decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba found on a balance of probabilities that the missiles that shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8, 2020, were fired deliberately at a time when there was no armed conflict in the area. As a result, he found it constituted an act of terrorism that would invalidate Iran's immunity against civil litigation. While the State Immunity Act protects foreign states from legal claims, the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act provides an exception in cases where the losses are caused by terrorist activity. More than 100 of the 176 people killed in the plane crash had ties to Canada, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. "This court well understands that damage awards are a poor substitute for the lives that were lost," Belobaba said in the latest ruling, dated Dec. 31. "But a monetary award is the only remedy that a civil court can provide." Belobaba awarded $7m in compensatory damages and $100m in punitive damages, plus interest, to the family members who went to court. It was not immediately clear how the money might be collected from Iran.<br/>
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More than 1,300 staff at Italian carrier Air Italy, which went bust in 2020, on Monday began receiving letters terminating their employment, trade unions said. Pilots and cabin crew had been protected by a furlough scheme since the February 2020 bankruptcy of the airline, which had been held 51% by the Aga Khan and 49 percent by Qatar Airways. However, this has not been extended. The transport divisions of the Cgil and Cisl unions, in a joint statement with Uiltrasporti and Ugl Trasporto Aereo, called for "urgent government action to stop the process and avert this real social tragedy". By contrast, around 8,000 employees of Alitalia, which ceased operating in October, have seen their furlough scheme extended into 2022. The successor of Alitalia, ITA Airways, had in December taken on 2,141 staff, less than the 2,800 initially announced for 2021, but has promised to hire at least 1,000 more in 2022. Launched with great fanfare in February 2018, Air Italy -- formerly called Meridiana -- had hoped to benefit from ongoing problems at Alitalia, but ended up losing hundreds of millions of euros. Based in Sardinia, but with a hub in Milan, it operated mainly domestic flights in Italy but also routes to the United States, Canada and Africa.<br/>
Airport staff in Mauritius have found a newborn baby boy abandoned in the rubbish bin of a plane's toilet. A 20-year-old woman from Madagascar, suspected of having given birth on the flight, was arrested. The Air Mauritius plane, which arrived from Madagascar, landed at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport on 1 January. Airport officers made the discovery when they screened the plane for a routine customs check. They rushed the baby to a public hospital for treatment. The woman suspected of being the child's mother, who initially denied the boy was hers, was made to undergo a medical examination which confirmed that she had just given birth. She was placed under police surveillance at the hospital. Both she and the baby are said to be doing well. The Malagasy woman, who arrived in Mauritius on a two-year work permit, will be questioned after her release from the hospital and charged with abandoning a newborn.<br/>
Ariana Afghan Airlines has issued a request for proposals to ACMI operators for the wet-lease of a single widebody aircraft starting February 1, 2022 and running for a period of three months. According to the tender, the state-owned airline is looking for either an A310-300 or a B767 capable of seating between 150 and 300 passengers for use in connecting Kabul with each of Kandahar, Mazar i Sharif, and Herat locally as well as Dubai Int'l, Tehran Imam Khomeini, Mashad, Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int'l, Delhi Int'l, Jeddah, Riyadh, Istanbul New, Ankara Esenboga, and Moscow Sheremetyevo internationally. Monthly flight hours have been set at a maximum of 130 hours. Eligible aircraft should not be older than 24 years of age.<br/>
South Korea's low-cost carriers are suspending or rolling back their plan to revive short to mid-haul flights after 2020-2021 hiatus due to dangers of Covid-19 variant Omicron. Air Seoul, a LCC and subsidiary of Asiana Airlines, had originally planned to resume its Incheon-Guam route on Jan. 29 but it is pushing back the date to March 27. Jeju Air, Korea’s largest LCC, will provide two flights a week on the Incheon-Guam route instead of the original plan of flying four times a week. Depending on virus developments, Jeju Air hopes to normalize to four flights per week starting Mar. 27. The Busan-Saipan route, which was resumed on Dec. 29, will be operated until Jan. 12 but future schedule is uncertain. T`way Air Co., another Korean low budget carrier, which has resumed two flights per week on the Incheon-Saipan route is planning to suspend flights until Jan. 28. Full-service carrier Korean Air however is expanding flights to Hawaii, Australia, and Cambodia.<br/>
Philippines AirAsia reopened its Clark hub on January 2 with thrice-weekly flights to Caticlan, the airline announced. This followed strong demand for travel following the Christmas holidays, which has seen the low-cost carrier laying on almost 41% more frequencies in January 2022 compared to before the pandemic. It also reported an average load factor of 91-95% during the holiday period. “A lot of our guests are still taking last-minute travel opportunities after being side-lined by the recent typhoon. We expect an uptake in flights as people return to their homes following their holiday trips. For this reason, we are adding flights to some key destinations to address increasing demand,” explained spokesperson Steve Dailisan. The AirAsia Group subsidiary, in a statement, said it had grown its domestic market share to 19%, climbing 3.5 points up from its 15.5% share in 2019. It also observed that domestic travel was gaining stronger momentum in the year-end quarter of 2021, mostly because of a low COVID-19 infection rate in the Philippines. "In 2022, Philippines AirAsia has three main priorities: Cash availability and cash management to support recovery strategies en-route to profitability; sustainable cost management and rationalisation to operate commercial flights e.g. fuel, repairs and maintenance, airport charges, ground services, staff and staff-related costs, marketing and other operating costs; expansion of its domestic presence from 14 destinations (2021) to 18 (2022) and to grow regional routes by exploring opportunities in the Middle East, United States, and Australia," the carrier said.<br/>
AirAsia Group Berhad has proposed changing its company name to Capital A Berhad, the operator of Malaysia’s flagship budget airline said in a stock exchange filing on Monday. The airline group said the proposed name was approved by the Companies Commission of Malaysia and is now subject to shareholders’ approval at a general meeting to be convened at a date to be announced. <br/>