The US Transportation Department said on Tuesday it is forwarding thousands of consumer complaints stemming from Southwest massive December flight cancellations as part of its ongoing investigation. The Transportation Department said it is directing Southwest to provide substantive responses to all consumer complaints within 60 days, as required by federal regulations. The agency has repeatedly vowed to hold Southwest accountable if it fails to adhere to the promises made to reimburse passengers affected by the more than 16,000 flights canceled due to a severe winter storm and the company's dated technology. Southwest said on Tuesday it is "making every effort" to refund and reimburse customers, and is now processing flight refund requests within an average of about three days. "We appreciate our customers' patience as we continue this all-hands effort to assist those affected by the recent travel disruption," the company said. Southwest on Tuesday also launched a seasonal sale for fares as low as $49 for some one-way routes. Southwest offered a similar sale last January, with fares as low as $39 one-way. Some analysts were expecting the fare sale as part of the airline's efforts to mollify customers and deflect attention away from the recent meltdown. Southwest is under pressure from some investors to win over customers after it warned it would take a quarterly profit hit of as much as $825m.<br/>
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Southwest is selling tickets for as little as $49 through Thursday for travel beginning later this month and into the spring. The deal comes in the wake of the airline's holiday travel meltdown, which saw thousands of flights canceled and passengers and bags left stranded for days. Southwest has promised to compensate passengers and take steps to prevent a similar operational catastrophe from happening again. Southwest's latest deals are available through 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday. Fares as low as $49 one-way are available for flights between Jan. 31 and May 17. Blackout dates are Feb. 16 and 20, with international travel and flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, also excluded from March 9 through April 10 and travel from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii blacked out March 16 through April 10. The deals are available only on certain days for some routes, most of them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. <br/>
A recent softening in demand for Ryanair (RYA.I) flights out of Britain may be due to a weakening economy or the impact of a "particularly trying month" of strikes, but it is too early to say if this will continue, a senior executive told Reuters on Tuesday. Ryanair last week sharply raised its forecast for full-year after-tax profit following stronger than expected holiday travel and fares. But the company also said softer traffic and pricing for flights out of Britain would be a drag in the first three months of the year. Eddie Wilson, the head of Ryanair DAC, the largest airline in the group, said the dip in December - which also affected traffic between provincial Irish and UK airports - may well be an aberration. "There's no doubt that the UK economy by any stretch of the imagination, in terms of going into recession or whatever, is different than the other European economies," Wilson told Reuters in an interview. "It may be reflected in that or it may be short term stuff to do with just a general bad feeling in the UK. If you can't get to the airport (due to rail strikes), the NHS (National Health Service) are on strike, border force are on strike, that may have been reflected in some unwillingness to travel... It's too early to say if that is going to continue."<br/>
A budget airline is ending all flights in and out of Cardiff Airport. Wizz Air suspended its winter flights in August, over running costs and has now cited the economic climate as the reason for this decision. The Welsh government, which owns the airport, described the move as "surprising". Wizz Air said affected customers could have either a 120% refund in airline credit, a 100% cash refund or another flight from one of its other bases. The airline's two remaining winter routes to Milan and Bucharest will cease to operate from 25 January. Customers who have booked with the airline have been encouraged by Cardiff Airport to rebook with an alternative operator at the airport - TUI, Vueling, Ryanair or KLM. All Cardiff-based employees will be offered redeployment opportunities at Wizz Air's two other UK bases, London Gatwick and London Luton.<br/>
Icelandic low-cost carrier Play will serve its first Canadian destination from June, when it begins flights to one of Toronto’s secondary airports. Hamilton International airport – a small facility at which Canadian low-cost carrier Swoop currently dominates operations – will be served by five flights per week from Keflavík airport, Play said on 10 January. Launching on 22 June, Toronto will be Play’s fifth North American destination, after Baltimore, Boston, New York and Washington DC. “I have been eagerly anticipating the launch of ticket sales for flights to Canada, as it will be a major market for us at Play,” says chief executive Birgir Jonsson. Play will be in competition with Icelandair on services to Toronto, with the latter serving the city through its main Toronto Pearson International airport. Cirium schedules data also shows that Wow Air served Toronto Pearson from Keflavík, before it ceased operations in 2019. Attracted by the lower cost of serving a secondary facility, Play’s decision to fly to Hamilton International airport is in line with its move to serve New York through Stewart International airport – another secondary facility that is popular with low-cost operators. Jonsson said in March last year that his vision was to turn Play into “a profitable airline operating a hub-and-spoke transatlantic network”, having stressed that the business will not repeat the missteps that led to the demise of predecessor Wow. Connecting passengers accounted for 40% of its total throughput in December, Play notes. Alongside its North American flights, Play currently serves around 30 airports in Europe from Iceland, using a fleet of eight Airbus A320neo-family jets.<br/>
Russia’s Khabarovsk airport was closed temporarily on Tuesday after an aircraft of Khabarovsk Airlines suffered a tyre burst on landing, the carrier said. Preparations to evacuate passengers of the aircraft were underway, the airline said on the Telegram messaging app. Later it said one runway at the airport had reopened.<br/>
India's aviation regulator has pulled up an airline for leaving behind passengers on the tarmac in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. A flight by Go First, previously known as Go Air, took off from the airport in Bengaluru city, leaving more than 50 passengers forgotten in a bus. Reports said the travellers had checked in their baggage and had boarding passes in hand. The airline said it was investigating the incident. Go First apologised to passengers who complained on Twitter but has yet to explain what caused the confusion. The Bengaluru-Delhi flight took off at 06:20 on Monday even as several passengers were still on one of its buses on the tarmac. "The ground staff was checking whether the flight took off," Sumit Kumar, one of the passengers, told news channel NDTV. "Initially, they said the flight will return." After the flight left, angry passengers tweeted about their experience, criticising Go First for its "negligence".<br/>
Two passengers onboard a Scoot flight from Taipei to Singapore were injured Tuesday after a power bank reportedly caught fire. The airline told reporters today that the TR993 flight had to return to the Taoyuan International Airport gate after a passenger’s rechargeable power bank overheated and erupted in flames before take-off. “Scoot sincerely apologises for the incident. The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority,” the airline said. The flight was supposed to depart at 7:35pm last night but reports said that Taiwan airport authorities were alerted to a fire five minutes later. A photo circulating online showed thick smoke filling up the cabin while some passengers were standing along the aisle. A video showed panicked passengers standing up from their seats upon noticing a fire blazing at the end of the cabin.<br/>