A Utah man was charged with carrying a weapon on an airplane and assault with a deadly weapon after he held a razor near the throat of the passenger sitting next to him, federal prosecutors said this week. The encounter was the latest example of unruly behavior that law enforcement officials say has become more common in the skies as airline traffic has picked up after a major decline because of the coronavirus pandemic. The man, Merrill Darrell Fackrell, 41, of Syracuse, Utah, was on a JetBlue flight from Kennedy International Airport in New York to Salt Lake City on Monday when he put his hand in front of the video screen of the woman sitting next to him and told her to pause her movie, prosecutors said. The woman took off her headphones and realized that Fackrell was holding what appeared to be a knife — it was later identified as a wood-handled razor with a one- to two-inch blade — inches from her throat, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah. Fackrell, who was sitting in the window seat, then stood up and started yelling, “She’s going to be OK” and “No one needs to worry,” according to a complaint filed on Tuesday in US District Court in Utah. He also told the woman’s husband, who was sitting in the aisle seat, to “get out of there,” punctuating the demand with an expletive, charging documents state. The woman’s husband went to the front of the aircraft to find a flight attendant, and the woman “lunged” for the aisle to escape while Fackrell tried unsuccessfully to stop her by grabbing her shoulder, according to the complaint. Story has more details.<br/>
unaligned
Air France/KLM cargo ground handling staff at Frankfurt Airport are set to stage a one-day “warning” strike Friday over pay. German trade union ver.di said that the strike will begin at 06.00 and will end at 22.00, affecting around 150 ground employees across Germany, mainly in the carrier’s cargo division. The strike will not affect passenger traffic. In addition to Frankfurt, ver.di said in a statement on its website that locations in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Düsseldorf and Munich are also affected by the planned walk-out. In its German-language press release ver.di claimed that the Franco-Dutch carrier had made “a completely unacceptable offer” on November 7, which included two 2.5% salary increases in 2023, with a possible “inflation compensation premium” payment. This has yet to be confirmed by Air France/KLM which has been approached for comment. Ver.di said that its new tariff proposal is based on public sector pay level demands in Germany.<br/>
Icelandair is to add a summer service to Detroit next year using Boeing 737 Max jets, picking up a route previously served by now defunct Icelandic rival Wow Air. Icelandair will begin the four-times weekly service on 18 May, serving the route until the end of October. Icelandair CE Bogi Nils Bogason says: “These new flights will not only help meet the demands of a growing Detroit but also offer more options for Midwestern business and leisure travellers connecting from the Midwest region.” It marks another all-new US destination for Icelandair, having launched its first service to Raleigh Durham this summer. Initially a summer-only service, Icelandair extended operation of the route for the rest of this year and will resume flights earlier in the spring. Reykjavik was briefly connected to Detroit by Wow Air, which served the route in 2018 until its collapse in the spring of 2019. It will be a seventh European destination for Detroit, which is already connected to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino, Cirium schedules data shows. Earlier this month Icelandair announced plans to start its first flights to Prague next summer, together with restoring a connection to Barcelona.<br/>
Low-cost airline and tour operator Jet2 has swung back to profit despite spending more than GBP50m to compensate customers for summer travel disruption in UK airports. The travel group posted pre-tax profits of GBP505m in the six months to September 30, swinging back from a GBP195.1m loss a year earlier when Covid-19 restrictions were affecting the industry. Profits were 44% higher than for the same period in 2019. Philip Meeson, Jet2 chair, said winter bookings were “encouraging” but warned that the group’s margins “may come under pressure” from a jump in input costs associated with “fuel, carbon, a strengthened US dollar and wage increases”. The strong trading performance came despite “a difficult return to normal operations” and the company having to absorb “substantial associated disruption costs”, Meeson said. Jet2 avoided flight cancellations during the most severe disruption to UK airports in July and August, but paid out more than GBP50m in delay, compensation and customer reimbursement costs, which were “materially higher” than in summer 2019, the company said. The air travel industry was blighted by a wave of delays and flight cancellations over summer, in large part because of staffing shortages among airline staff, ground handlers and air traffic controllers. The budget operator said its in-flight sales were hit by supply chain problems. The average price for package holidays increased by 5% to GBP782 to offset inflationary cost pressure, the company added.<br/>
Central African carrier RwandAir has taken delivery of its first dedicated freighter as it seeks to expand its cargo operations. The Boeing 737-800SF will be based at the airline’s Kigali hub and will operate to destinations in Africa and the Middle East, including Johannesburg, Nairobi and the UAE, RwandAir said on 24 November. “The delivery of our dedicated cargo aircraft is a huge milestone in RwandAir’s fleet expansion plans,” says CE Yvonne Makolo. “Cargo is of ever-increasing importance for the aviation industry, and as a landlocked country, we recognise the importance and value of good cargo connections.” The airframe – 9XR-WW – is a former TUI passenger jet that is being to leased to RwandAir through Merx Aviation, Cirium fleets data suggests. The lessor acquired the jet in February, data shows, with the conversion being completed earlier this month. Makolo told FlightGlobal in 2020 that RwandAir was seeking to purchase a dedicated freighter “in the near future”.<br/>
A flydubai flight from Warsaw to Dubai made an emergency landing in Turkey on Thursday after a security threat that turned out to be false. Flight FZ1830 was diverted to Ankara Esenboga Airport, an airline representative said. “The aircraft safely landed at 3.17am local time and was met with the local authorities,” flydubai said. “Our highly trained crew followed standard operating procedures and the aircraft was cleared for departure at 6.47am local time.” Turkey's state-run Andolou news agency reported that the incident was a hoax bomb threat but did not provide further details. The agency said 161 passengers disembarked during the search before being allowed back on board. “We apologise to our passengers for any inconvenience caused to their travel plans,” the flydubai representative said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our number one priority.”<br/>
Eastar Jet has announced that Kim Moon-kwon will become the airline's next CEO. The appointment of the former Air Premia public affairs managing director followed a November 22 Eastar board meeting. The lack of clarity concerning the next Eastar CEO was one factor delaying the re-issuing of the airline's air operator's certificate (AOC). In addition to working at Air Premia, Kim has served as CEO of passenger charter operator NF-Air and in August 2022, stepped into the CEO's role at Seongjeong Co.,Ltd. Seongjeong acquired Eastar Jet in 2021. "I will focus on overcoming the crisis and normalizing the current situation while serving as CEO of Eastar Jet with Seongjeong," Kim told South Korean media via a statement. In October, ch-aviation reported that South Korea's civil aviation regulator, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, wanted clarity on the incoming CEO before re-issuing the AOC. In September, the then CEO Kim Yoo-sang, resigned after being summoned to the District Prosecutors’ Office in the city of Jeonju to answer questions over an employment fraud scandal at the airline dating back to the middle of last decade.<br/>