American Tom Stuker isn’t your typical frequent flyer. The 69-year-old man from New Jersey bought a lifetime pass from United Airlines three decades ago and has flown more than 23m miles and visited more than 100 countries since then. Stuker had paid US$290,000 (S$391,000) for the pass in 1990, according to the Washington Post, a decision he said was the “best investment of my life”. He has flown about 22m miles more than the 953,000 miles Apollo 11 spacecraft clocked in 1969 to take Neil Armstrong to the moon. In 2019 alone, Stuker’s mileage from 373 flights covered more than six trips to the moon. Had he paid cash for those flights, it would have cost US$2.4m. On top of the great value he gets for flights, Stuker has been able to “live like a sultan” from the frequent flyer miles he has accrued. He passed the 5m-mile mark in 2009, according to aviation news site Simple Flying, and passed the 10m mile mark in 2019. According to Washington Post, he has enjoyed lavish hotel suites all around the world, week-long cruises and gourmet meals from Perth to Paris. He also had used miles to “redo his brother’s house” and in the process once cashed US$50,000 worth of Walmart gift cards in a single day. Stuker also won a charity auction to make a cameo appearance in an episode of the hit sitcom Seinfeld by bidding 451,000 air miles. United Airlines has embraced their loss leader. They asked for his input in crafting the menu of their new Polaris clubs and have a Mercedes ready on the airport tarmac if he needs to make a quick connection.<br/>
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One of the pilots flying an Air Canada jet airliner became incapacitated during a domestic flight but the plane landed safely after an off-duty pilot stepped in to help, authorities said on Friday. The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said the incident occurred on June 7 during a 2,115 km (1,300 mile) flight to St John's in the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador from Toronto. "The first officer became incapacitated during the flight. A deadheading captain assumed the crew member's duties and landed the aircraft without further incident," the TSB said in an emailed statement. "Emergency medical services met the aircraft at the gate." A deadheading pilot is one who is flying commercially on their way to a new assignment. Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment. The TSB did not identify the plane. According to Air Canada's website, the carrier generally operates the flight with an Airbus A-220 twin-engine airliner, which can carry around 140 passengers.<br/>
South Korean airlines have decided to downsize the number of routes between Korea and China during the summer peak season, following less-than-expected passenger demand for traveling between the two countries, according to industry sources on Sunday. National carrier Korean Air said it will stop the operation of routes between Gimpo International Airport and Beijing from Aug. 1 to Oct. 28, while its routes connecting Incheon Airport and Xian will also be suspended from Aug. 9 to Oct. 28. The nation’s second-largest carrier, Asiana Airlines, also said it has suspended flights on the Incheon-Xian route since Tuesday. The airline is considering reducing flights between Gimpo and Beijing from July 6. The Incheon-Shenzhen route also will be suspended starting July 8. All three routes are set to resume operations on Oct. 28. The suspension of major flight routes comes as the number of Chinese passengers flying into Korea decreased over the past few years, and demand from Koreans to travel to China has also plunged, amid worsening relations between the two countries. According to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of passengers flying into Korea from China in the January-May period stood at 1.2m, which was 60% of the number logged during the same period in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, at 1.99m. The number of Koreans flying to China also decreased, with the proportion of Korean passengers on flights to China falling from 15.5% to 5% over the past three years. The dwindling number of Chinese passengers flying into Korea is majorly attributed to China's continued ban on group tourism to Korea.<br/>
Thai Airways aims to finalise a deal to buy at least 30 new aircraft by the end of the year and could double its fleet of narrow-body jets over the next decade, its CE said on Friday. The airline will issue a 'request for proposal' to Airbus and Boeing to buy 30 wide-body and an undisclosed number of narrow-body aircraft next week, Chai Eamsiri said in an interview with Reuters at the airline's headquarters in Bangkok. The Southeast Asian carrier is looking to cash in on a post-pandemic travel boom by bolstering regional routes, but there have been concerns whether planemakers Airbus and Boeing will be able to ramp up output to meet delivery targets. Thai Airways, which began bankruptcy protected restructuring of debt worth 400b baht ($11.17b) in 2021, currently has a fleet of 20 Airbus A320 aircraft and has secured a dozen new A321neo on lease for delivery in 2025 and 2026, Chai said. "The long-term narrow-body composition of our fleet should be 30-40 aircraft," he said. These aircraft would be deployed to serve destinations in Southeast Asia, India, southern China and southern Japan - key medium-haul routes that Thai Airways wants to reinforce. "We have to concentrate and focus more on the regional routes, which is our, I can say, weak point," Chai said. The carrier's wide-body fleet will also increase from 45 currently to 56 aircraft by the first quarter of next year, with the additional jets coming on dry lease contracts, which typically do not include crew, he said.<br/>