unaligned

A passenger jet with 126 people on board burst into flames when its landing gear collapsed after touchdown at Miami International Airport on Tuesday evening. Three people suffered minor injuries. The accident, involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft operating as Red Air Flight 203 from the Dominican Republic, occurred around 6pm local time, the FAA said. The fire has since been extinguished, and three people were transported to area hospitals for treatment, according to a Twitter post from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Photos and video on social media showed flames and black smoke rising from the jet as it skidded to a halt. The United States NTSB said on Twitter that it was sending a team of investigators to the scene following a "gear collapse and runway excursion". Red Air, based in the Dominican Republic, only started flying last year. The carrier has four MD-80 family jets - including the one that crashed - and employs more than 50 people, according to its website. The plane involved in the accident was almost 32 years old, according to Planespotters.net website. It spent up until 2015 flying for American Airlines Group, Planespotters data show.<br/>

JetBlue Airways raised its offer to purchase Spirit Airlines Inc., the latest move in a multi-billion dollar takeover contest with rival Frontier Group Holdings, with both would-be suitors battling to secure a swift track to expansion as domestic travel demand surges. New York-based JetBlue is now offering $33.50 per share, up from $31.50 on June 6, according to a statement Monday. The company revised the terms at Spirit’s request. The new iteration continues to include commitments from previous proposals, including a reverse break-up fee of $350 million and an accelerated prepayment of $1.50 per share. JetBlue’s offer values Spirit at about $3.7 billion and followed Spirit’s decision to delay a shareholder vote on its pending deal with Frontier until June 30, giving directors time to hold further talks with both airlines and its own investors. Spirit said its board will review the proposal and provide an update to investors before the June 30 vote. At stake for JetBlue is possibly its best bet for a fast track to growth that would position it as a more formidable competitor to the four major carriers that dominate about 80% of the US market. “After discussions with the Spirit team last week and further due diligence review, we are more convinced than ever that a JetBlue-Spirit transaction would create a true national competitor to the Big Four and deliver value to all of our stakeholders,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said. The new offer also includes a stronger commitment to divest certain JetBlue and Spirit assets, though it excludes those in a JetBlue alliance with American Airlines Group Inc. in the US Northeast. <br/>

Hundreds of uniformed Southwest Airlines pilots stood in perfect lines in the scorching Texas sun at Dallas Love Field on Tuesday, holding signs that blamed Southwest management for delays and cancellations that have upset passengers. Every once in a while, a motorist would honk or yell encouragement. Most passengers made a beeline for the security checkpoint inside the terminal. The protest, which the union said drew up to 1,300 pilots, was the latest example of airline workers trying to put pressure on companies by taking their demands for higher pay directly to the flying public. Federal law makes it nearly impossible for airline unions to conduct legal strikes. Contract negotiations tend to drag out — often for years. Southwest’s flight attendants have been working under an old contract since 2018. That slow pace causes unions to look for creative ways to put pressure on management. Sometimes they vote to authorize a strike — Alaska Airlines pilots did that last month — even though there is little chance that they will walk off the job. Last week, the Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA, posted an open letter to Delta Air Lines customers, saying its members empathized with travelers whose flights were delayed or canceled, and blaming Delta management. The union said Delta has scheduled more flights than it has pilots to fly, and pilots were working record overtime hours. Earlier this month, American Airlines pilots picketed near the New York Stock Exchange, and before that, at major airports. Some held signs such as, “Frustrated with AA? So are we.”<br/>

ExpressJet Airlines, a regional airline that has resumed operations after losing a key contract during the pandemic in 2020, has hired Moore Colson, an accounting and financial advisory firm, to help it fix its financial and labor problems. The carrier is looking to cut its debt load and renegotiate contracts with pilots, according to people with knowledge of the situation. ExpressJet suspended operations in 2020 when it lost a contract to fly for United Airlines Holdings Inc. United had owned almost half of the regional carrier, but was looking to cut costs and improve profits in its business serving smaller cities. In the second half of 2021, ExpressJet launched Aha!, a low-cost brand focused on luring leisure travelers to the Reno-Lake Tahoe area for weekend trips. Earlier this year, United divested its 49.9% stake in ManaAir LLC, the parent company of ExpressJet. ExpressJet returned 130 aircraft to United as part of a wind-down of its operations.<br/>

Sweden’s Braathens Regional Airlines said it operated what it understands to be the first flight of a commercial aircraft powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel. The carrier performed the test flight from Malmo to Bromma, near Stockholm, using a plane from turboprop manufacturer ATR, in collaboration with SAF maker Neste Oyj, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. Sustainable fuel is seen as the most realistic route to decarbonizing aviation as technologies including electric and hydrogen airliners remain years away. ATR and Braathens are working on certifying a 100% SAF-powered aircraft by 2025, the planemaker, owned Airbus SE and Leonardo SpA, said in the release. The project uses an ATR 72-600 prototype, with the historic flight marking the first time the aircraft has flown with SAF in both of its Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. When used in neat form Neste SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions over its lifecycle by up to 80% compared with kerosene, the companies said.<br/>

EasyJet’s Spain-based cabin crews are planning nine days of strikes in July, potentially piling on the pain for holidaymakers as European airports grapple with labor protests and shortages. Walkouts are planned for July 1-3, 15-17 and 29-31 with as many as 450 staff at Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca airports set to take part in the stoppages, USO union said Tuesday. EasyJet’s Spanish cabin-crew workers plan to strike because progress on talks on pay and terms with the airline has ground to a halt, the union said. USO wants pay for the carrier’s Spanish staff to match that of employees in countries such as France or Germany. Hubs in several European countries have been suffering from labor shortages and stoppages, forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of scheduled flights. The strikes by the airline’s Spanish crews comes after colleagues at Ryanair also announced six days of protests. Crews at the Irish carrier are also planning walk-outs in other European countries, including Italy, France and Portugal. EasyJet is “extremely disappointed with this action” because considerable progress toward sealing a labor accord had been made, the carrier said in a statement, saying it wanted “constructive dialogue” to continue. The airliner “plans to operate its full schedule and we would like to reassure customers that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption.” The planned Spanish protests may hamper efforts to restore summer tourism activity to levels seen in 2019 before the pandemic.<br/>

EasyJet will buy 56 Airbus A320neo aircraft and convert a previous order to 18 new A321neo aircraft, the British airline said on Tuesday, fulfilling options in a 2013 deal with the European planemaker.nThe British airline said the proposed order, which is subject to shareholder approval, firms up its order book with Airbus to 2028. Deliveries of the aircraft, which have a list price of $6.5b, will begin in easyJet's 2026 financial year to replace the carrier's older A319 and A320 aircraft, the company said. Air travel has rebounded strongly since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, with European carriers and airports struggling to meet demand. Airbus and Boeing are also facing challenges in increasing production, with supply chain pressures the biggest hurdle. EasyJet said its order ensures it will be able to replace older aircraft and use more efficient jets that produce lower emissions and less noise, paying substantially less than the list price thanks to concessions granted in the 2013 agreement.<br/>

South African airline FlySafair plans to add at least 10 new routes across sub-Saharan Africa to take advantage of a gap in the market left by the collapse of domestic rival Comair Ltd. The closely held carrier will fly to capital cities such as Nairobi, Lusaka and Maputo alongside holiday destinations including Victoria Falls, Zanzibar and Seychelles, according to a statement Tuesday. The company will add an initial five leased Boeing Co. 787-800 planes to the fleet by early 2023, it said, including four this year. Comair, the South African partner of British Airways and owner of low-cost carrier Kulula, applied for liquidation earlier this month after running out of funds. The group accounted for 40% of domestic air trips in South Africa and a number of international routes. “The market has lost about 9,000 seats a week,” Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair, said. Adding the new planes “will help to plug this gap.” South Africa’s aviation industry has suffered a number of knocks in recent years, including the lengthy bankruptcy proceedings and downsizing of South African Airways and loss of state-owned carrier Mango alongside coronavirus travel bans. Even so, the domestic market had recovered to about 60% to 70% of 2019 supply levels before Comair’s collapse, according to FlySafair.<br/>