American Airlines said Wednesday that customers with PreCheck can go through security checkpoints at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with a face scan and phone app instead of showing their driver’s license or passport. The airline said that it intends to expand the test, which started Wednesday, to airports in Miami, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere later this year. American is portraying the service as a convenience factor that will help passengers get through security checkpoints more quickly. Privacy experts have expressed concern about personal information that people volunteer for a convenience benefit, and how that information is used and stored. At DFW Airport, passengers will need PreCheck, the expedited-screening service sold by the Transportation Security Administration, and an American Airlines mobile app to use the facial-recognition technology. Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways have used biometric technology for boarding at other airports.<br/>
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Ryanair Wednesday lost its challenge against EU approval for millions of euros in state aid granted to rival Finnair after Europe's second-top court took the side of EU competition regulators. Europe's biggest budget airline has a mixed record in its more than 30 lawsuits against state funding given to its rivals across the 27-country bloc to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has won court backing against Dutch aid for KLM and Portuguese support for TAP, but lost its appeals against aid for Lufthansa's Austrian unit, SAS and Condor. The Luxembourg-based General Court threw out its Finnair lawsuit. Ryanair had argued that EU regulators should have opened an investigation before approving the state support. "The action seeking annulment of the decision by the Commission to approve aid granted by Finland to the airline Finnair is dismissed in its entirety," judges said. "The Commission was entitled to approve the recapitalisation of Finnair, carried out by its public and private owners on a pro rata basis in proportion to the previously existing ownership structure, without initiating the formal investigation procedure," they said. Ryanair, which last year lost its fight against a Finnish state loan guarantee for Finnair, can appeal on matters of law to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's highest. The case is T-657/20 Ryanair/Commission (Finnair II; Covid-19).<br/>
Qantas is gearing up for its landmark first flight between Perth and Rome on Wednesday night. The 787 service, which the airline says is now the only direct flight between Australia and mainland Europe, will depart as QF5 at 10:20pm local time. It comes weeks after Qantas launched the first non-stop flight between Perth and London. The popular UK route had been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic, with Qantas opting to shift the layover from eastern states headed to London from Perth to Darwin due to WA’s “conservative border policies”. Meanwhile, the airline’s QF1 route, which operates from Sydney-Singapore-London on the airline’s flagship A380 aircraft, resumed from 19 June — meaning Darwin will no longer operate as an entry or exit port for Qantas flights to London. Qantas also operates QF1 from Melbourne-Perth-London six times per week, with flights departing every day except Thursdays. The flight comes on the same day The West Australian reported Qantas was close to agreeing a new three-times weekly flight from Perth to Johannesburg. It’s thought the new route would see QF65 depart the WA capital at noon and land at 5.15pm, while the return, QF66, will depart Johannesburg at 7.20pm and land at 11.15am the next day. Qantas said in a statement that the route was one it has had its eye on for “some time”.<br/>