A US judge on Thursday ordered a psychiatric evaluation be conducted to determine if a man was mentally competent to face trial after prosecutors said he tried to open an emergency exit door on a recent Boston-bound United Airlines flight and then attacked a flight attendant. US Magistrate Judge Judith Dein in Boston granted a request by prosecutors for Francisco Severo Torres, 33, to be committed to a facility for a psychiatric evaluation, saying there was reason to believe he was mentally incompetent. Assistant US Attorney Elianna Nuzum said a review of Torres’ past involvement with police and the courts showed a history of “fantastical” statements and concerns about his mental health. She cited a passenger’s video from the Sunday flight to Boston from Los Angeles showing Torres saying he was “waiting for them to point the gun at me so I can show everybody that I won’t die” and that “they’re going to have to shoot me down today.” He later told law enforcement he would not die if stabbed in the heart or shot in the chest and could come back to life, Nuzum said. He has also attacked a jail guard, she said. Joshua Hanye, Nuzum’s court-appointed lawyer, said his client objected to any evaluation. As the hearing ended, Torres shouted as guards led him out of the courtroom: “I’ve been renamed Balthazar by God.” In the Christian religion, Balthazar is the name of one of the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus in the Bible. According to prosecutors, about 45 minutes before the flight landed in Boston, the flight crew received an alarm in the cockpit that a door between the first class and coach sections of the plane had been disarmed. After Torres was confronted about whether he tampered with it, he tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon. Passengers then tackled him and the flight crew restrained him. <br/>
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German cabin crew union UFO demanded a tax-free inflation bonus of E3,000 from Lufthansa on Thursday in view of good business at the airline and price pressures. Lufthansa last Friday delivered an "unprecedented" turnaround as it swung to a E1.51b profit in 2022 and said it expects a significant improvement in earnings this year. The airline must let employees share in the company's success and reward their efforts, UFO leader Daniel Kassa Mbuambi said. "The time has never been better: the crisis seems to be over, Lufthansa is making profits again," he added.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines will resume flights between Addis Ababa and Karachi in Pakistan from the start of May, almost 20 years after it axed the route for a second time. The Ethiopian flag carrier previously operated the Addis Ababa-Karachi route between 1966 and 1971, and again between 1993 and 2004. Its latest service linking the two cities will take off on 1 May. Ethiopian Airlines will operate the route four times a week. “As the only flight connecting Pakistan with Africa, the planned service to Karachi will have significant contribution in strengthening the diplomatic and economic relations between the two regions,” says Ethiopian Airlines CE Mesfin Tasew. “It will also offer convenient air connectivity to the growing number of Pakistani investors in Africa as well as tourists.” Karachi will be the airline’s 37th destination in Asia.<br/>
Japan's ANA Holdings is on track to launch low-cost flights to Southeast Asia in its new AirJapan carriers in February 2024. "We plan to first launch flights to Southeast Asia," AirJapan CEO Hideki Mineguchi told reporters on Thursday. He said the flights will serve routes "where there is strong demand" but declined to give concrete information, saying details are to be finalized by this summer. Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia were the top three countries in Southeast Asia to send travelers to Japan in 2019. "We are committed to yielding profit in fiscal 2025," Mineguchi said. The new flights will depart from Narita International Airport near Tokyo. In the long run, the company aims to expand routes and offer flights from Southeast Asia to Kansai International Airport in Japan's Osaka prefecture in the west. "We want to cater to inbound tourism demand ahead of the Expo 2025 Osaka," said Mineguchi. "Our brand targets inbound travelers," he said, adding that the company will focus its marketing activities overseas. The global tourism industry is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. While business travel recovery is still uncertain due to the worldwide shift to working from home, inbound tourism is expected to increase substantially under government initiatives to attract visitors. The Japan National Tourism Organization said around 1.5m tourists visited in January, up over 8,300% from a year earlier, although that figure was still 44% lower than the pre-pandemic level in January 2019. Challenges remain over how to compete with other budget airlines. One way it is differentiating itself is by offering 32-inch (81 centimeters) seat pitches, which is about 1-2 inches wider than usual.<br/>