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A United Airlines flight from New Jersey to Tel Aviv, Israel, turned around just hours into its trip because of an unruly traveler over the weekend. United flight 90 diverted back to Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday soon after taking off "due to a disruptive passenger," according to the airline. "Law enforcement met the aircraft and removed the passenger," United told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. "We rebooked our customers onto a new flight that departed Sunday evening." The flight reversed course less than three hours after departure, according to the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24. The passenger reportedly sat in a seat assigned to crew members after finding no bathroom available, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet. United did not share specifics with USA TODAY about what kind of incident occurred. Another United flight to Tel Aviv turned around after takeoff last year due to disruptive passengers. The rate of unruly passenger incidents has dropped more than 80% after hitting record highs in 2021, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency received 2,455 reports of unruly passengers in 2022, down from 5,973 the previous year.<br/>

Lufthansa is hopeful of finalising the partial takeover of Italy's state-owned ITA Airways within days, an executive at the German carrier said on Thursday, describing talks with the Italian government as "very good." The two airlines agree on how to work together to win market share, Harry Hohmeister, head of global markets and network, Lufthansa Group Airlines, said at a New Delhi press conference to announce new flights to India. "We will start with most probably some minority share and all the rest is still under negotiation," he said, declining to give details but adding there was hope of a decision over the next few days. ITA has worked out the main elements of the deal and hopes to announce it soon, the Italian airline's chairman said last week. Sources have previously said the German carrier is negotiating with Rome over buying a 40% stake in ITA, worth around E200m, with the idea of buying the rest later. "A successful partnership with an airline always comes from good cooperation on sales, capacity management, designing the right network, having the right prices in the market," Hohmeister said. "I think ultimately we will win market share." The deal with ITA is expected to help Lufthansa win more fliers from India, the world's fastest-growing aviation market where the German carrier is expanding as air travel rebounds strongly. Italy is a popular destination for Indian tourists and ITA already operates some nonstop Italy-India flights. Lufthansa said earlier on Thursday it would soon launch flights between Germany and the southern Indian cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Lufthansa is adding service to India as Tata Group-owned Air India plans aggressive growth with non-stop flights to Europe and the U.S., and budget carrier IndiGo widens its global network through codeshare partner Turkish Airlines.<br/>

Lufthansa is to begin services this winter to Bangalore in India, part of an expansion of its operations from Munich which will also see it deploy its returned Airbus A380s on flights to Bangkok and Los Angeles from the German city. The Star Alliance carrier will begin thrice-weekly flights from Munich to Bangalore this winter using A350 widebodies. It will mark a third Indian destination for the German carrier from its Bavarian hub, adding to existing A350 services to Delhi and Mumbai. Lufthansa also flies to Bangalore from Frankfurt, alongside services to Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai from the German city. The carrier also plans to restore a fifth Indian route, Hyderabad, from Frankfurt this winter. Cirium schedules data shows Lufthansa last served Hyderabad from Frankfurt in 2011. The Star Alliance carrier has also identified Thai capital Bangkok and Los Angeles as routes on which it will deploy its returning A380 super-jumbos. Lufthansa withdrew the ultra-large aircraft from service when the pandemic hit and its return had seemed unlikely until capacity challenges hit. Lufthansa is looking to bring back up to six of A380s, the first of which are being are deployed on its Munich services to Boston from the start of June, and New York JFK from 4 July. The carrier today says it will from 5 October redeploy A380s on its daily Munich-Los Angeles flights. Lufthansa will follow this from the start of the winter season on 28 October, operating double-deckers on its Munich-Bangkok service for the first time. This will increase seat capacity by 75% over the A350s currently used and include eights seats in first class, 78 in business class and 52 in premium economy.<br/>

Portugal's government has mandated state holding company Parpublica to pick two independent assessors to value airline TAP ahead of its privatisation, which could be launched in July, the finance minister said on Thursday. The state owns 100% of TAP, which is currently restructuring under a Brussels-approved E3.2b rescue plan, and the government is considering an outright or partial sale. "These two independent assessments are mandatory before launching the privatisation. Our expectation is that we can approve the privatisation before the summer, around July," Fernando Medina told reporters. He said the government sought to preserve TAP's "intrinsic value, as a company that generates value from its hub in Lisbon", highlighting also that the airline swung to a profit in 2022, earlier than expected in its restructuring plan. Reuters reported two weeks ago that Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG were laying the groundwork for potential bids for TAP, sounding out local communications agencies and legal advisers.<br/>

ANA Holdings reported operating income of Y120b ($897) for the full year through March, its first annual profit since the 12 months that ended in March 2020 thanks to a rebound in travel demand. Japan’s biggest airline also gave a better-than-expected forecast for the coming year, saying operating profit should rise to Y140b, compared with analysts’ estimates of Y136b. Travel demand from North America, Oceania and most of Asia has improved since Japan started easing COVID-related restrictions in September, but the recovery from Europe and China still lags, CEO Koji Shibata said at a briefing in Tokyo on Thursday. Demand from Chinese tourists in the summer will “have further effect on our earnings,” he said. ANA has announced plans to increase weekly flights between Japan and China by around 50% by June. Separately, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines said Thursday that international passenger numbers in the region jumped 495% from a year earlier to almost 20 million in March, back to 61% of pre-pandemic levels.<br/>