Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham AFC scored a major sponsorship agreement with United Airlines Holdings Inc., following their glitzy promotion to the English Football League. Reynolds bought the struggling Welsh football club with fellow celebrity and actor Rob McElhenney in a shock Hollywood takeover that completed in early 2021. The injection of cash and media know-how helped propel Wrexham into the global spotlight, aided by a documentary series shown on Walt Disney Co.’s FX platform. The sponsor agreement was announced in a video posted to Wrexham’s Twitter account on Thursday. Under the agreement, United’s logo will appear on the front of both the men’s and women’s sides shirts of Wrexham AFC. The club will play in England’s fourth-tier competition next season. <br/>
star
What happened when a US lawyer used ChatGPT to prepare a court filing? The artificial intelligence program invented fake cases and rulings, leaving the attorney rather red-faced. New York-based lawyer Steven Schwartz apologized to a judge this week for submitting a brief full of falsehoods generated by the OpenAI chatbot. "I simply had no idea that ChatGPT was capable of fabricating entire case citations or judicial opinions, especially in a manner that appeared authentic," Schwartz wrote in a court filing. The blunder occurred in a civil case being heard by Manhattan federal court involving a man who is suing the Colombian airline Avianca. Roberto Mata claims he was injured when a metal serving plate hit his leg during a flight in August 2019 from El Salvador to New York. After the airline's lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case, Schwartz filed a response that claimed to cite more than half a dozen decisions to support why the litigation should proceed. They included Petersen v. Iran Air, Varghese v. China Southern Airlines and Shaboon v. Egyptair. The Varghese case even included dated internal citations and quotes. There was one major problem, however: neither Avianca's attorneys nor the presiding judge, P. Kevin Castel could find the cases. Schwartz was forced to admit that ChatGPT had made up everything. "The court is presented with an unprecedented circumstance," judge Castel wrote last month. "Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations," he added.<br/>
Scandinavian airline SAS said on Thursday it would demand compensation for disruptions caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers at Copenhagen Airport, the carrier's biggest hub. "Over the past couple of months, air traffic control capacity issues in Copenhagen have caused considerable problems for airlines, airports and, not the least, our passengers," SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement. "We will seek compensation for the irregularity costs caused by the situation," he said without elaborating. Naviair, the company controlling air traffic in Danish airspace, shed 46 air traffic controllers in voluntary layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving remaining staff to take additional paid shifts as travel later recovered. But Naviair controllers in late April began turning down the extra work in a conflict over work hours, leading to delays and cancellations. Norwegian Air, a rival to SAS, last month also voiced concerns over the situation in Copenhagen, adding that this could disrupt busy summer traffic.<br/>
Turkish Airlines has announced passenger and cargo traffic results for May with an increase in passenger capacity by 13% compared to that of 2022, and total load factor of 81.8% carrying 7.4m passengers. According to May 2023 traffic results, the number of carried passengers increased by 16% compared to the same period of 2022 and reached 7.4m. International load factor was 82% while domestic load factor was 80.7%. The number of international to international passengers carried increased by 22.2% from 1.9m in 2022 to 2.3m in this period. Available seat kilometres increased by 13% to 19.9b during the period of May 2023 from 17.6b for the same period of 2022. Cargo/Mail carried during the period of May 2023 decreased by 6.6% to 134.5 thousand tons from 144 thousand tons in the same period of 2022.<br/>
Cairo International Airport received the first EgyptAir flight coming from Newark Airport, New Jersey on Sunday. The plane was received by water salute to welcome the operation of this line, on board EgyptAir’s latest Boeing B787-9, which has 309 seats equipped with personal screens, divided to 30 seats in business class and 279 seats in economy class. The launch of these new flights comes in accordance with the expansion and development strategy that the company is currently pursuing under the umbrella of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This includes updating the company’s fleet with the latest aircraft models, and expanding its airline network to many vital and important markets around the world, which will contribute to strengthening tourism, cultural and commercial relations.<br/>
Revamped South African Airways expects to embark on a wider fleet expansion once its strategic investor is on board, as it prepares to resume international widebody flights by year-end. SAA resumed flights in September 2021 after an 18-month grounding amid its business restructuring and the Covid crisis blocks on travel. Its initial route network has focused on regional services within Africa and it had initially been hoping to resume intercontinental flights this summer. ”The plan was to start in July, but because of the aircraft availability issues we had to push that a few months out,” SAA CE John Lamola tells FlightGlobal during an interview at the IATA AGM in Istanbul, noting the aim is to have two intercontinental routes by the end of the calendar year. SAA plans to start by relaunching flights to Perth and Sao Paulo – both destinations it served prior to the pandemic. SAA in May confirmed it had been given the green light by the South African public enterprises ministry, the airline’s owner, to lease six more Airbus aircraft. That includes an A330 widebody, which it has already secured from a lessor. “It’s been difficult for us to acquire aircraft during this time – of course in the northern hemisphere it is high season and all our lessors and aircraft providers are in the northern hemisphere,” says Lamola. ”We are now in the market for six aircraft on dry-lease… and we are battling to get them. But fortunately during this time [at the IATA AGM] we have had discussions with our alliance partners who are going to help us with the aircraft on dry-lease.” The airline has near-term plans to more than double its fleet to 26, including four widebodies, and Lamola hints it is looking at restoring its London Heathrow route once it has more long-haul capacity. <br/>
An Air India plane carrying passengers and crew who had been diverted to Russia due to an emergency on a previous flight has landed in San Francisco, bringing a 56-hour journey from New Delhi to a close. The relief flight, AI173D, landed at San Francisco International Airport at 12:07 a.m. local time, according to aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24. It was carrying 16 crew and 216 passengers, who had originally set off from India’s capital on Tuesday morning. The original flight from Delhi to San Francisco diverted to the far east of Russia after experiencing trouble with one of its General Electric Co. engines. After landing in the port town of Magadan, passengers and crew were moved to makeshift accommodation for the night, “given the infrastructural limitations around the remote airport,” Air India said in a statement Wednesday. A relief flight was sent from Mumbai to pick up the passengers and crew and take them on to the US. Images on social media showed passengers in a facility in Magadan with mattresses, blankets and luggage strewn on the floor. It isn’t clear what will happen to the stricken Boeing aircraft. While Russian airspace is off limits to carriers from countries such as the US due to sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, Indian airlines have unrestricted access. That likely makes AI137D the first direct commercial passenger flight from Russia to the US since the airspace ban was imposed. It was one of the most tracked aircraft on FlightRadar. US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said fewer than 50 American citizens were on the plane and the department wasn’t aware of any of them reaching out to the US Embassy in Russia or other diplomatic posts, the AP reported.<br/>
Pilots on the Air India plane that was stranded in Russia had received an indication of low oil pressure in one engine, forcing them to land at a nearby airport, the airline said on Thursday. Air India's replacement flight to ferry passengers to the original destination of San Francisco landed on Thursday, with the airline mobilising additional support to carry out clearance formalities for passengers upon arrival, it said. The original stranded aircraft's 216 passengers and 16 crew had been housed in makeshift accommodation at Russia's remote Magadan airport. Facilities at Magadan "may not have met the standard" Air India normally aims to provide, the airline said in a letter apologising to passengers for the delay in reaching San Francisco. Angry passengers had complained on Wednesday about inadequate food at their accommodation, which they said looked like a school.<br/>