A seismic international drug-smuggling scandal that led to the arrest, imprisonment and detention of 12 Canadians in the Dominican Republic for eight months began with a seemingly innocuous inquiry.<br/>"I am looking for some charter services with your company. We have a couple of our client groups coming in from USA and Dubai next week… to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic," the company wrote in a January email to Pivot Airlines, a charter company based in Toronto. The email was sent by John Strudwick, the CFO of purported real estate investment firm Trust Capital. There were no immediate red flags -- there was a company logo, working phone number and even a downtown Toronto office address. Pivot Airlines CEO Eric Edmondson was told the company bought apartment buildings and turned them into condos. "Nothing out of the ordinary," said Edmondson. "We were led to believe that they were potential investors into one of the projects that they were looking at doing in Alberta." Edmondson said they did "initial diligence" on the company — ensuring that the funds came from a Canadian bank — before giving the go-ahead. Over a roughly two-month span, Trust Capital paid for two charters to the Dominican Republic. But as W5 discovered, the trips were not real estate ventures and Trust Capital was not what it seemed. It was on that second trip in April when the Pivot Airlines crew discovered more than 200 kg of cocaine, worth approximately $25m, in the avionics bay of the plane as it was about to depart from Punta Cana International Airport to Toronto. Story has more.<br/>
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Norse Atlantic Airways has warned it may have to stop direct flights to Norway following a 45% air passenger tax hike being imposed in the Scandinavian country in 2023. In an announcement on the Oslo stock exchange, the startup specialising in direct intercontinental point-to-point routes between Europe and the United States said it was "deeply concerned" by the Norwegian government's planned hike of the "high rate band of [the] air passenger tax" against the backdrop of "a highly competitive and price-sensitive market". "This planned increase means that we may be forced to reassess our investment in direct routes to/from Norway to the detriment of Norwegian businesses and passengers," it cautioned. The low rate for air passenger tax was NOK80 krone (US$8) in 2022, while the high rate was NOK214 (US$21). In the proposal for the state budget for 2023, the low rate was increased to NOK82 (US$8.2) and the high rate to NOK220 (US$22). After a budget agreement with the Socialist Left Party, the low rate was kept at NOK82 per passenger, while the high rate was increased to NOK320 (US$32) per passenger for journeys outside of Europe, according to Norwegian news reports.<br/>
Aer Lingus will add three new summer holiday destinations next year while boosting the number of seats available to North America and Europe, the airline has said. The news came as Shannon confirmed that Ryanair planned a Liverpool service from the mid-western airport from March, bringing to 27 the number of routes that the carrier will fly from there next year. Aer Lingus said it would fly to 53 European destinations from the Republic next year, including three new sunspots – Kos in Greece, Olbia in Sardinia and Brindisi in Italy. The airline will have 2.25m seats on its North American routes next summer, its biggest schedule to date and 20% more than in 2019.<br/>
The boss of easyJet was paid almost £3m in 2022, in the year when the airline made a £208m loss and cancelled thousands of flights because of staffing and other problems. The easyJet chief executive, Johan Lundgren, received a GBP1.2m annual bonus and GBP925,000 in shares on top of his GBP833,000 fixed salary and benefits. The total package represented a pay rise of about 273% from 2021, when no bonus was paid during the Covid pandemic. A similar percentage rise was awarded to the easyJet CFO, Kenton Jarvis, whose total annual pay rose to GBP2.2m, after he joined midway through 2021. Lundgren’s bumper pay comes in a year when airlines are still recovering from the pandemic, with international travel restricted at the start of 2022 by the Omicron variant. EasyJet cancelled waves of flights in the spring and summer because of labour shortages, weather disruption and IT glitches but stabilised its schedules in the peak holiday period. The airline cut its losses from just over GBP1b in 2021 with high demand and lower capacity driving high revenues in the summer, although not enough to return it to profit. A spokesperson said 94% of easyJet employees had received a bonus, but not staff in France, where unions rejected such payouts in a deal to avoid job cuts.<br/>
Ryanair is to offer compensation to passengers affected by a pilot strike four years ago, after dropping plans to take a rejected appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The budget airline, having chosen to recognise trade unions for pilots and cabin crew, suffered a series of industrial actions in 2018, leading to flight cancellations – including some services in the UK. Ryanair rejected passenger claims for compensation under European Union law, citing “extraordinary circumstances”, and this led to enforcement action from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The airline lost its case, after the UK High Court ruled that it could not use the defence of extraordinary circumstances to refuse compensation payments, but appealed the ruling. Ryanair also lost the appeal earlier this year. Although the UK had left the European Union, through the ‘Brexit’ withdrawal, the appeals court said the meaning or effect of any retained EU laws would still be decided in accordance with pre-Brexit decisions by the European Court of Justice. This was crucial because the appeals judges referred to three European Court cases which had involved compensation following airline strikes. Two of these were not decided until last year, after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. But the appeals judges pointed out in the hearing that, while not being bound by the rulings, “we are entitled to have regard to those decisions”.<br/>
US businessman and El Al controlling shareholder Kenny Rozenberg is looking to strengthen his hold on the carrier - an investment on which he has already lost 50% of his money. Rozenberg recently approached El Al's board of directors with the offer of converting the owner's loan, which he has given the company, into equity. Following the offer, the board has set up an independent committee to examine the proposal. According to El Al, no agreements have yet been formed between the parties. El Al is currently traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) with a market cap of NIS 640m. Rozenberg holds a 39.1% stake worth NIS 250m. The owners loan to El Al amounts to $70m (NIS 240m), which if full converted at El Al's current market cap would increase Rozenberg's stake to 55.6%. Rosenberg became El Al's controlling shareholders two years ago after investing NIS 360m as part of a TASE offering conducted to save the airline from collapsing during the Covid pandemic. Subsequently Rozenberg injected a further NIS 166m into El Al for additional shares and extended the $70m owner's loan. To date, Rozenberg has lost hundreds of millions of shekels on the investment.<br/>
Formula 1 has announced Gulf Air will continue as the Title Partner of the Bahrain Grand Prix, following a renewal of the successful partnership that has been running since the event started in 2004. The Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 will open next year’s F1 calendar as the season gets underway from March 3 to 5 at the Bahrain International Circuit, as it has done for the past two years. The partnership between Formula 1, Gulf Air and the promoter in Bahrain is one of the longest running of its kind and will continue to deliver huge awareness and value for the brand and provide exciting opportunities for customer engagement. Brandon Snow, Managing Director – Commercial at Formula 1, said: “While we have only just wrapped up on a fantastic F1 campaign this year, it is exciting to think about what’s to come in 2023 and it’s great that we have Gulf Air on board to help us kick-off the season in Bahrain in March. They have been a crucial part of the event that the team in Bahrain put on every year since it began almost two decades ago.”<br/>
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the ultra-low-fare national airline of the UAE, is ramping up operations and meeting the airline’s ambitious growth plans by expanding its fleet with a new Aribus A321neo. The additional aircraft will enable Wizz Air Abu Dhabi to enhance frequencies and offer tourists and residents hassle-free, affordable travel in both the UAE and throughout the region to the very best destinations, the airline said. Michael Berlouis, Managing Director of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new state-of-the-art aircraft and reaffirm our commitment to expanding safe and efficient travel for all customers. Our new aircraft enable us to enhance our incredible leisure, historic and cultural experiences and add an eclectic mix of new destinations to our ever growing network. Our recent exciting expansion into Central Asia, the Maldives and throughout the Gulf showcases the strength of regional connectivity and we are committed to providing travel options that are more convenient and affordable for everyone across the region. We are excited for future growth in 2023 and we look forward to seeing you on-board our new aircraft soon.”<br/>
Both leading Indian low-cost carriers announced plans to launch extensive operations at the new Goa Mopa airport as soon as it opens for commercial traffic in January 2023, although neither will base aircraft out of the airport just yet. IndiGo Airlines said its initial schedule for Goa Mopa was its "largest ever new station launch". The carrier will operate 84 weekly scheduled departures from the new airport, serving Delhi Int'l (3x daily), Mumbai Int'l (daily), Bangalore Int'l (15x weekly), Chennai (6x weekly), Pune (daily), Ahmedabad (6x weekly), Jaipur (daily), and Hyderabad Int'l (15x weekly). In turn, Go First plans to operate a more limited network of 21 weekly departures, comprising daily services to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. Both LCCs will retain their existing networks at Goa Dabolim airport.<br/>