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WestJet Airlines’ check-in services have been restored, after a temporary system outage caused flight delays and snarled travel across Canada Thursday morning. WestJet spokeswoman Morgan Bell said travellers are still being encouraged to arrive early and check their flight status before heading to the airport. She said the airline is still experiencing issues with its self-serve baggage drop at Calgary, Ottawa, Saskatoon and Halifax airports. System outages affected both WestJet Airlines and air traffic control agency NAV Canada on Thursday, with travellers on social media reporting long lines and confusion at airports. NAV Canada, the not-for-profit corporation responsible for air traffic control in Canadian airspace, said it was experiencing disruptions in western locations Thursday due to a service outage with its third-party telecommunications provider, Zayo. Zayo spokesperson Karen Modlin said the outage amounted to a disruption of two key fibre lines managed by one of the company’s underlying fibre providers in Canada and was caused by a train derailment Wednesday evening. “We have rerouted a significant volume of traffic via other routes so that our customers can begin resuming normal operations,” Modlin said, in an e-mail to The Canadian Press. “We regret the inconvenience this has caused for our customers and air passengers, and our top priority is the safety of everyone involved.” NAV Canada spokesman Brian Boudreau said air traffic control reduced the flow of departures and arrivals temporarily in some locations as a result. He later added that services are “returning to normal.”<br/>

The first flight of Edmonton's newest low-cost airline took off early Thursday morning. Starting Thursday, Calgary-based Lynx Air will offer five flights per week from Edmonton to Toronto, which will continue onto St. John's, N.L. The schedule will be expanded July 20 to daily flights from Edmonton to Toronto, with additional flights to Halifax, N.S. Lynx Air and Edmonton International Airport officials celebrated Thursday's 7a.m. flight to Toronto with a pre-boarding ribbon cutting ceremony. "We see there is a huge opportunity here in Canada to transform the aviation landscape. Air fares have been too high for too long, and that means that there are people who can't afford to travel as much as they like and in some cases not at all," said Lynx Air CEO Merren McArthur, explaining the company's name was inspired by the predator found in Canada and is a play on words. "We want to be the airline that links Canadians to their favourite people and places." McArthur, the former CEO of three different Australian airlines, promised Lynx Air can keep its prices low by flying the more fuel-efficient Boeing 737s and offering a pricing model that allows customers to select which flight options they want to pay for. She said a current seat sale is meant to attract customers, but that the airline will seek to bring them back because of its customer service, which will prioritize clear communication and minimal cancellations.<br/>

Ministers have issued an ultimatum to the chief executive of Heathrow, calling on him to provide a plan to resolve the airport’s staffing problems, it has been reported. John Holland-Kaye has until midday on Friday to assure ministers that the airport has sufficient workers for security screening and to assist disabled passengers, according to a letter from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) director general for aviation, maritime and security and the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) seen by the Daily Telegraph. The airport boss has also been asked to report back with a “credible and resilient capacity recovery plan for the next six months”. Rannia Leontaridi, a civil servant in the DfT, and Richard Moriarty, the CE of the CAA, wrote: “Heathrow and the airlines that use your airport must be assured, and be able to assure us, that you have in place a plan that can deliver a positive passenger experience through allowing as many people as possible to travel, without too much disruption and queues, and in particular to avoid significant numbers of short-notice and on-the-day cancellations. The Government and the CAA are concerned that current resourcing plans are not delivering this outcome.” The ultimatum comes as Emirates defied Heathrow’s demand that airlines cut summer flights, saying it would continue to operate its planned schedule and accusing the London airport of fomenting “airmageddon”. <br/>

Emirates rejected demands by London Heathrow airport to cut capacity and said it will operate its flights as planned, days after the hub said it would ask airlines to stop selling tickets for the busy summer season and limit daily passenger numbers. The carrier, which operates six daily Airbus A380 superjumbo jets to Heathrow from its base in Dubai, said the airport operator gave it just 36 hours notice to limit passenger capacity and it was impossible to rebook travelers onto other flights as its services were full for the next weeks. Heathrow imposed an unprecedented two-month cap on passenger traffic to contain flight chaos, asking carriers to limit departing people to 100,000 through Sept. 11. The hub said the curbs were needed because new recruits were not “up to full speed” while some key functions, like ground handlers for baggage, remain significantly under-resourced. The pushback by Emirates sets up a clash between Heathrow and one of its most important and loyal customers. The A380s landing daily in London constitute more than 3,000 passengers at full capacity. Emirates dismissed the argument, saying its ground handling and catering operations are run by one of its group companies and therefore not affected by the shortages. Heathrow “chose not to act, not to plan, not to invest,” Emirates said. “Now faced with an “airmageddon” situation due to their incompetence and non-action, they are pushing the entire burden -- of costs and the scramble to sort the mess - to airlines and travelers.”<br/>

Nok Air is raising 4.88b baht in funding under a rehabilitation process to prepare for recovery while eyeing the opportunity to operate a new hub at Suvarnabhumi airport. "The airline plans to add six more Boeing 737-800 aircraft to the current fleet of 17 planes this year and next. However, this will depend on demand, particularly from China and neighbouring countries," said Nok Air CE Wutthiphum Jurangkool. Nok Air received approval from the Central Bankruptcy Court on Nov 29, 2021 to continue with its rehabilitation plan, which the airline outlined to help it post a profit by 2024 as part of a recovery. Under the five-year rehabilitation plan, the airline will start raising funds from shareholders worth 280m baht, followed by a 600m baht increase in capital next year to support cash flow, said Tai Chong Yih, deputy CE at Nok Air.<br/>

Australian carrier Regional Express said Friday its unit would buy aviation operator Cobham's fly-in fly-out (FIFO) business National Jet Express for A$48m ($32.41m), marking its entry into the charter servicing sector. The deal comes at a time when regional heavyweight Qantas is looking to expand its footprint in the charter business, with the proposed acquisition of Alliance Aviation Services in an A$610.8m deal. Rex's bigger peers Qantas, Virgin Australia and Alliance Aviation are the dominant players in the Australian FIFO sector, where service providers ferry workers and miners to remote mining sites instead of total relocation. The acquisition of NJE, which provides freight services from Sydney to other neighbouring states, as well as air charter services in Papua New Guinea, gives Rex additional eight Bombardier Q400 turboprops and six Embraer E190 jets, it said. NJE generated a revenue of A$142m in 2021, Rex added. The carrier will fund about 50% of the deal through its joint venture partners who agreed to convert debt funding into newly issued shares in NJE to ease the carrier's "debt burden". "The joint venture will invest in modern aircraft and technology to enable NJE to expand from its traditional bases of WA (Western Australia) and SA (South Australia) and bring our unique brand of FIFO services also to Queensland and Northern Territory," Rex Executive Chairman Lim Kim Hai said.<br/>