An Argentine judicial chamber has allowed 12 of 19 crew members of a Venezuelan plane to leave Argentina, local media reported on Tuesday, after the plane was detained in June due to suspicions the aircraft of Iranian origin had terrorism ties. The Federal Court of Appeals of La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires authorized the 12 crew members' departure and ordered a judge to resolve the investigation into the crew within 10 days, news outlets La Nacion and Infobae reported. The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Emtrasur cargo plane was sold to Venezuela by Iran's Mahan Air a year ago, according to the Iranian airline. It arrived in Buenos Aires in early June, according to flight tracking data, with both Venezuelan and Iranian crew members. Its arrival caused a diplomatic issue for Argentina, which the United States accused of supporting US-sanctioned countries Iran and Venezuela. A US court asked Argentina to seize the aircraft in August, which it did the following week. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the court order was intended to "steal" the plane. Iran and Venezuela maintain close ties and signed a 20-year cooperation plan in June. Center-left Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has criticized US sanctions on Caracas. Argentine authorities detained the plane because of suspicions about its declared reason for entering the country, according to a National Directorate of Migration document that Reuters saw.<br/>
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Ryanair announced Tuesday that it will cancel several routes through Hungary and cut flights on several more following a months-long dispute with the country’s government over a special windfall tax placed on airlines. The Ireland-based company’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said at a press conference in Hungary’s capital that Ryanair had planned to launch 10 new routes through Budapest and base an additional airplane at its airport this winter. “Sadly, however, those plans have now fallen at the altar of the Hungarian government’s decision to impose a ludicrous and idiotic excess profits tax on the airline sector, which has reported record losses,” O’Leary said. Instead of expanding its presence in Hungary as planned to more than 5 million passengers next year, Ryanair will eliminate eight of its previously operating 53 routes through Budapest while imposing frequency cuts on seven more, he said. This will reduce the company’s yearly passenger load in Hungary from 4.5 million to under 4 million, he added. The decision came in response to Hungary’s government fining the low-cost airline more than 750,000 euros ($753,000) in August for alleged consumer protection violations. The fine came after the company raised ticket prices to cope with a tax on what the government calls “extra profits” of industries ranging from airlines to banks.<br/>
Israeli insurer Phoenix has exercised an option to buy roughly 20% of El Al Israel Airlines' frequent flier programme, the companies said in a Tel Aviv regulatory filing on Tuesday. El Al will receive $14m and own 80.1% of its frequent flier programme and it said it would post a gain of about $63m in its Q3 financial results. El Al noted that following the deal, it would no longer need to raise additional capital. In March, cash strapped El Al signed a non-binding deal for a $130 million loan from Phoenix and put up its Matmid frequent flier club as collateral for the loan. Phoenix received an option to buy 25% of Matmid by the end of 2027. On Sunday, El Al said it plans to repay a $45m loan that it took from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year amid improvement in the travel landscape.<br/>
AirAsia X plans to ramp up its cargo service to increase its revenue<br/>contribution to 20-25%, from single digits, in addition to synergising<br/>passenger routes with airlines in its group to improve efficiency as airfares rise. Tony Fernandes, acting group CE of AirAsia X, said cargo<br/>services will make up a bigger proportion of total revenue over the next<br/>few years. In addition to its current wide-body Airbus A330 fleet, AirAsia X might also use the narrow-body Airbus A321 for cargo flights. The company is planning to add 362 A321 jets from the second quarter of next year until 2035, and the plane could be more efficient for shorter routes than the A330. The IATA said global air cargo markets in July almost matched pre-pandemic levels, and were only 3.5% lower<br/>than the same period in 2019. Fernandes said cargo services will cover more destinations as the airline looks not only to Asia, but also key cities in Europe such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam. He said passenger flight plans for both long-haul AirAsia X and short-haul AirAsia will be more synergised. The potential routes they are planning will not overlap but should complement each other.<br/>
Virgin Australia has been unable to provide enough domestic capacity to meet demand, which is tracking above 2019 levels because of high illness rates among staff, its chief executive said on Wednesday. "It is people capacity, not aircraft capacity," Virgin CE Jayne Hrdlicka said of the problems at a CAPA Centre for Aviation conference. "Hopefully by Christmastime it is a bit more back to normal."Capacity constraints made it "inevitable" that ticket prices remain a bit higher than normal for a while, she said. Total Australian domestic capacity is running at about 86% of 2019 levels, according to data from CAPA and OAG, with Qantasand Virgin scaling back capacity in recent months to help cover higher fuel prices and improve reliability. Those moves have pushed up fares, Australia's competition regulator said in a report last week. It found average discount economy fares across the market rose 56% between April and August, reaching their highest point since late 2020. Virgin, like Qantas, has faced a rise in flight delays and cancellations amid high crew illness rates and a shortage of airport workers, though it has not come under as intense public scrutiny as the national carrier. "What none of us fully factored was the strain that puts on a business when you go so long partly dormant and you go to high mode and it is sustainably high," Hrdlicka said.<br/>