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Air Canada was forced to ground its flights Thursday after suffering an internal technical issue. Flights were delayed at several airports as a result of a "temporary technical issue" with flight communications. "Air Canada experienced a temporary technical issue with its communicator system, one of the systems that we use to communicate with aircraft and monitor operational performance," a spokesperson said in an email to CTV News. "There have been some limited delays as a result, however, the system is now returning to normal and the precautionary ground stop has been lifted." The US FAA issued a ground stop for Air Canada and Rouge flights to all destinations just before noon EDT. Air Canada flights out Toronto Pearson International Airport were delayed for a short time but appeared to be resuming around 1 p.m. following the lifting of the ground stop.<br/>

Air Canada plans to significantly expand its winter flying and expects an 11% capacity increase compared with its 2022-2023 winter leisure market activity. The Montreal-based carrier said on 25 May that it will add four new warm-weather destinations from Toronto and Montreal and increase capacity from its hub in Vancouver “in response to pent up demand”. Air Canada will begin flying from Toronto to Monterrey, Mexico four times weekly at the end of October, adding a weekly flight from Toronto to Fort-de-France, Martinique, in the middle of December. Also starting in mid-December, the airline will fly once weekly between Montreal and Los Cabos, and once weekly from Montreal to La Romana, Dominican Republic. Additionally, the airline will double its frequencies from Vancouver to Las Vegas and Phoenix, each to 14 weekly flights. It plans to step up operations from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Miami, Los Cabos and San Diego, and increase “snowbird” routes from eastern Canada, as well. “We are seeing strong, ongoing interest for winter leisure travel, and as the leading carrier from Canada to popular sun destinations…. we are thrilled to add exciting new services from Toronto and Montreal to the Caribbean and Mexico and significant increases from our Vancouver hub,” says Mark Galardo, executive vice-president, revenue and network planning for Air Canada. The southerly destinations are popular with Canadians who long to escape that country’s cold, wet and dark months. In the context of Air Canada’s global network, the planned winter expansion also allows its customers connecting from ”Spain, France, Italy, the UK and Denmark to enjoy one-stop travel to sought-after North American vacation destinations this winter”, he adds. <br/>

Lufthansa is to take a 41% stake in Italy’s ITA Airways, the successor company to Alitalia, the now-insolvent flag-carrier. The German group said it would pay E325m for the stake and that Italy’s economics ministry would put a further E250m into the Italian airline. Lufthansa will integrate ITA with the other carriers in the broader group, including Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines, as well as the core German flag-carrier. “As a network airline, ITA will closely co-operate with Lufthansa Group to benefit from group synergies,” the airline said. A joint statement by Lufthansa and Italy’s economics ministry said ITA would hire a further 1,200 employees this year, bringing its total number of staff to 5,500. The German company will be appointing ITA’s CE as well as one of the Italian company’s five board members. Lufthansa holds an option to take a majority stake in the future based on a negotiated price. The deal concludes a nearly three-year-long search by the Italian government for a private buyer for the Italian flag-carrier. At the beginning, the process included bidders such as Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and the Swiss-Italian container shipping and cruise company MSC. Thursday’s agreement marks Lufthansa’s second attempt to take over the ailing Italian airline. In early 2022 it submitted a joint offer with MSC for a controlling stake in ITA Airways that was overtaken in late August by a bid from US-based private equity group Certares. Former prime minister Mario Draghi’s government said at the time the private equity-led offer better suited the Italian airline’s needs. Certares was offering to buy the airline’s controlling stake and it had struck a commercial partnership with Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM. The talks were scrapped by Italy’s new rightwing government following October’s general election. According to several Italian officials, the new government wanted the carrier to be taken over by a larger competitor as opposed to a private equity concern.<br/>

Singapore Airlines will bring back appetisers for its economy class meals on medium, long-haul and ultra long-haul flights from June 1. These items have not been available because of supply issues during the pandemic, among other reasons. In addition to an appetiser, meals on economy class flights that are 3½ hours and longer will be served with a bread roll, a main course, cheese and crackers and a dessert, an SIA spokesman said on Wednesday. Bread rolls will also be added back to economy class meals on short-haul flights between 1½ and 3½ hours, complete with a main course and dessert. The return of appetisers and bread rolls, first reported by travel website The MileLion on Wednesday, comes after SIA drew flak in recent months over its economy class meals. Some passengers dubbed its March trial of paper serviceware as a cost-cutting measure, while netizens in April questioned the food quality in economy class on online forum Reddit. In response to queries, the SIA spokesman said the airline had removed items from the economy class meal tray due to various operational and supply chain reasons during the pandemic, as well as to reduce food waste. “Some of these items have since been reintroduced and we are working closely with our suppliers to bring back other items to the economy class meal tray soon,” she said.<br/>

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is set to ramp up its Australian operations over the end-of-year peak period, with increased services across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth airports. SIA will put on a fifth daily flight to Sydney from December, extend its A380 service to Melbourne for an extra month before adding a fifth daily flight from November, and bring four additional flights per week to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, subject to regulatory approval. These new and expanded services will add at least 7,000 seats per week between Australia and Singapore over the December/January period, with Singapore Airlines’ Regional Vice President South West Pacific, Louis Arul, saying the move is in response to anticipated high demand. “The appetite for travel has been robust over the current mid-year holiday period and signs are that demand will remain elevated as we head into the traditionally strong year-end peak,” he said. Starting 2 December, SIA will add a fifth daily flight between Singapore and Sydney using an A350-900 aircraft, departing Changi Airport at 7:05pm local time and arriving in Sydney at 5:55am the following morning as SQ261 before returning to Singapore at 9:05am as SQ212. The service will continue until 14 January, 2024. “Adding a fifth daily service to Sydney will take our operations past pre-Covid capacity levels and provide more options for customers to connect onto our global network of more than 110 destinations across the globe,” said Arul. “The addition of the fifth service will ensure customers have a selection of departure and arrival times that will suit their needs, whether travelling for business or leisure.”<br/>