An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, made a rapid emergency landing in Kansas City Sunday after an unruly passenger tried to break into the cockpit and then attempted to open an exit door, witnesses said. The passenger was subdued by crew members and other passengers. He was taken into custody after the flight landed. American Airlines said the flight, American Airlines Flight 1775, landed safely in Kansas City, where law enforcement officials met the plane. The crew members “handled the circumstances with the utmost skill and professionalism,” the carrier said. The airline did not respond to questions about the passenger’s actions. Stacy Day, a spokeswoman for the airline, said that the passenger was “ultimately subdued by our crew and with the help of other passengers.” Mouaz Moustafa, a passenger from Washington, described a chaotic scene as the plane started descending into Kansas City without warning after the struggle with the passenger. He said the man tried to get into the cockpit and then tried to exit via the main door before he was held down by several passengers. “A flight attendant ran to the back of the plane and got the coffee pot and continues to bash the guy on the head,” Mr. Moustafa said in an interview as the plane was being held on the tarmac. The man was “bleeding profusely,” he added. Story has more.<br/>
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Finnair will remain a stand-alone airline and stick to its Asia-focused strategy while adding new routes to the United States, CE Topi Manner said on Friday. Finland's national carrier has bet heavily on providing connections to Asia from its Helsinki hub so the recovery of Asian traffic from the slump caused by pandemic restrictions is particularly important. Finnair expects the business environment to return to close to normal in the second half of this year following the pandemic disruptions. "We are optimistic about summer," Manner said, adding the airline expected countries like Japan and South Korea to lift travel restrictions towards summer in the northern hemisphere. "We believe Asia will open up eventually. In the meantime, we are partially pivoting to North America," Manner said. Finnair's new summer destinations will include the US cities of Dallas and Seattle, he added. He was speaking after the airline announced a E200m investment in renewing the cabins of its long-haul fleet, including a new premium economy service and redesigned business cabin. "This is a trend that has been accelerated by the pandemic. People are willing to upgrade the experience," he said. Manner said the new cabin class was being added to address increasing demand in premium leisure travel, while also introducing a new business class seat called "the air lounge", a nest-like shell that offers more privacy. It does not recline but modifies to allow for horizontal sleeping. "We as a carrier of course need to differentiate and we have chosen to differentiate with quality," he said.<br/>
Qantas has quietly revealed that it will resume flights to six overseas destinations, as Australia’s international border restrictions finally fall, including a number of additional services from Brisbane. It comes after PM Scott Morrison announced that Australia’s borders are set to finally reopen to fully vaccinated tourists and visa holders from 21 February, marking the first time the country has fully eased its international border restrictions since these were introduced in March 2020. Beginning this week, from 16 February, the Flying Kangaroo will return to its Sydney-Dallas Fort Worth route as QF7, along with the return leg QF8, both operated by its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. According to Flightaware, the last time Qantas operated QF7 was 25 March 2020, while QF8 operated for the last time the following day. Then from 27 March, Qantas will reinstate its Brisbane-Singapore, Sydney-Manila and Sydney-Jakarta routes, and the following day resume Sydney-Denpasar (Bali) flights – as previously suggested. Qantas is also gearing up to restart daily flights connecting Brisbane and Los Angeles on its Airbus A330 aircraft from 1 April. The news comes as Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David revealed that bookings for inbound flights to Australia doubled within one day of the Prime Minister’s border announcement.<br/>