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American Airlines flight 3444 was diverted to Raleigh-Durham International Airport Wednesday due to a disruptive passenger, according to the North Carolina airport. “At approximately 3:41 p.m., flight AA 3444 departing Jacksonville to Washington, DC, diverted to RDU due to a disruptive passenger,” the airport said in a statement. “Upon landing, the plane was directed to gate C9 where law enforcement boarded the aircraft and took the suspect into custody.” The FAA said, “The Embraer E170 was flying from Jacksonville International Airport in Florida to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.” The airline said in a statement that the diversion was “due to a security concern involving an unruly customer.” According to the airport, the plane was cleared to resume its flight to Washington, DC, and RDU has returned to normal operations. The FAA said it will investigate the incident. The FBI said its Charlotte, North Carolina, office is investigating and “will consult with the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina to determine if federal charges will be filed.”<br/>

American Airlines has cut almost 50,000 flights from its summer schedule, with June and July being the most affected months. According to the airline, this is standard as it finalizes schedules closer to the upcoming season. As airlines worldwide prepare for a busy summer, many expecting to reach pre-pandemic levels, some must make cuts. Earlier this week, German carrier Lufthansa announced it was cutting more than 30,000 flights from its summer schedule. European airports are also placing daily passenger caps, like the ones imposed at London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol last year. According to schedule data from analytics firm Cirium, American Airlines has cut almost 50,000 flights this summer. Multiple American Airlines hubs are affected, but Chicago O'Hare International Airport has the most impacted schedule. In a statement to the Dallas Business Journal, Andrea Koos said, "We are now publishing our final schedule approximately 100 days in advance, which is in line with how we adjusted our schedule in 2019 prior to the pandemic. American is proud to offer customers the largest network of any US airline through the summer, with, on average, more than 5,500 daily departures."<br/>

A high school student confessed to sending a hoax bomb threat via AirDrop that resulted in an American Airlines flight being diverted from the tarmac at a Texas airport last week, authorities said. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that while the flight was taxiing on Friday at El Paso International Airport, passengers got a message on their Apple devices via AirDrop saying: “I have a bomb would like to share a photo.” In the statement released Monday, the agency said that because of that message, the aircraft taxied back to a gate. The Department of Public Safety said that an investigation resulted in the identification of the juvenile, who confessed to sending the AirDrop. The agency said evidence supporting the confession was found on the suspect’s cellphone. A bomb squad search of the aircraft, passengers and luggage did not find any explosives and the threat was deemed not credible, the agency said.<br/>

Qatar Airways will become the main airline sponsor of Formula One motor racing, the carrier said on Wednesday, replacing regional rival Emirates as the organisation's official airline. The sponsorship announcement comes ahead of the 2023 season, which kicks off next month and will also see Qatar begin a 10-year run as host of a Grand Prix, to be held in October. The state-owned carrier will become title sponsor of that race -- now known as the Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix -- along with Grands Prix in Hungary and Emilia Romagna in Italy. The airline's press release did not mention how much the sponsorship deal was worth or any other specifics. Qatar Airways adds Formula One to a list of global sports sponsorships, which include world soccer's governing body FIFA and soccer clubs Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain. Dubai-based Emirates was Formula One's main airline sponsor for the last decade.<br/>

Australian flagship airline Qantas swung to a record first-half profit as appetite for travel grew faster than it could sell seats, but warned sky-high fares would moderate as it and competitors added more flights, sending its shares down 6%. The so-called "flying kangaroo" also said it was buying back A$500m ($340.85m) of shares as it declared a turnaround from the shock of initial COVID-19 lockdowns when it had cash to survive for just 11 weeks if it had not parked planes and stood down most of its staff without pay. The update reflects the precipice that airlines around the world are facing: raging demand from a population shaking off years of pandemic restriction has jacked up fares and profits, just as increasing mortgage payments, grocery prices and fuel bills start to curb spending power. It also gives a taste of the market that U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital must navigate if it proceeds with an initial public offering of domestic rival Virgin Australia this year. Regional rival Air New Zealand also reported a swing to profit in the first half ended Dec. 31 on Thursday, along with a muted outlook. Qantas CE Alan Joyce said cost of living pressures would hit discretionary spending "at some point" but so far the airline expected robust demand into mid-2024 at least. Revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK), which captures a combination of airfares and the percentage of seats filled, was 46% higher than in the first half of 2019 before the pandemic hit, the airline said in an analyst presentation.<br/>

Qantas has unveiled first and business class cabin product concepts for its Airbus A350-1000s, which will operate the ultra-long-haul ‘Project Sunrise’ flights from Australia’s east coast to New York and London. The update, issued alongside its half-year earnings on 23 February, comes more than half a year since the airline locked in its orders for 12 A350s, with deliveries to commence in 2025. The first ‘Project Sunrise’ flight will take place in late-2025, the airline adds. The newly-designed first and business class seats are designed and developed by Australian industrial design studio Caon Design, scientists from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, as well as aviation specialists, says Qantas. The A350s will seat six first class and 52 business class passengers. The first class ‘suite’ product features a fixed bed with a separate recliner chair, as well as a personal wardrobe and a two-person dining table. The business class product features a 2m lie flat bed, a leather ottoman, a large dining table and a privacy sliding door. The aircraft will have 238 seats across four classes - the lowest seat count compared to other -1000 operators, which configured their aircraft to seat more than 300 passengers. Qantas previously said the A350s will feature a ‘wellbeing zone’ for all passengers. The airline says it will provide more details on the remaining cabin products “in the coming months”. Qantas first disclosed its ultra-long-haul ambitions in 2017, under the ambit of Project Sunrise. In 2019, it began operating three research flights, using its Boeing 787-9s to fly from London and New York to Sydney. Later that year, the airline announced its provision selection of the A350-1000 as its aircraft of choice for the Project Sunrise flights. It previously indicated plans to roll out ultra-long-haul flights from the first half of 2023, but had to pause these plans when the coronavirus pandemic struck. <br/>