British Airways has started transferring aircraft to its new BA Euroflyer division after securing an air operator’s certificate for the carrier, set up to conduct short-haul operations from London Gatwick. BA Euroflyer was unveiled last year as the UK flag-carrier sought to establish an arm with a lower cost base to offer competitive services on particular routes. Operation of short-haul services from Gatwick had been suspended for two years as a result of the pandemic, and BA started restoring flights this year under its own air operator’s certificate while BA Euroflyer was still going through the regulatory process with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. With BA Euroflyer holding its own AOC, as well as an operating licence, it will be able to accept its own aircraft, pilots and cabin crew, which will be transferred from British Airways. The airline has already introduced an Airbus A320 (G-GATL) to Euroflyer, and is intending to move nine A321s and 10 A320s to the operator over the next six months. Pilots and cabin crew will undergo an operator’s conversion course to join the division. British Airways started operating the Euroflyer routes at the end of March, and served over 30 destinations this summer. <br/>
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A man requiring a wheelchair claims he was booted from his Qatar Airways flight after boarding the plane and left stranded at Melbourne airport because of his disability. The story of Craig Nolan, an Australian man with spina bifida whose plan to return to his home in Finland via Doha was disrupted, comes after the disability royal commission heard evidence in recent weeks that airlines are “dehumanising” Australians with disabilities, who they treat as an “afterthought”. On Monday, Nolan arrived at Tullamarine airport for his flight to Doha, having already alerted the airline to his disability and the fact he would be travelling solo – something the well-travelled 43-year-old has grown used to doing. Nolan had been in Australia for several months, having returned in September for a family funeral. Nolan said he was made to check in his wheelchair and transferred to an aisle seat – a narrow chair that requires another person to push it that some airlines use to take passengers to their seat on a plane. This involved ground staff lifting him up over a roughly large step from the airbridge onto the plane. However, before the flight took off, Nolan said he told one of the cabin crew he would need assistance to reach the in-cabin bathroom, because he needed someone to push his aisle chair there. Soon after, he said another member of the cabin crew told Nolan he had to leave the flight. Nolan was stranded at the airport, with Melbourne airport putting him up in a hotel initially. Story has further details.<br/>