unaligned

A Southwest Airlines passenger has been charged with two counts of assault after he “demanded” a kiss from a flight attendant. The alleged incident happened during a one-hour flight from Palm Springs, California to Las Vegas in October last year. Twenty minutes before the plane landed, the male passenger allegedly got out of his seat and moved towards a flight attendant sitting in a jump seat and “demanded” a kiss. It is also alleged that the suspect proceeded to grab the female crew member and tried to get her to go into the toilet cubicle with him. As outlined in the complaint filed by an FBI agent with the US District Court of Nevada on Friday 23 June: “(The victim) got up from her jump seat, at which point (the suspect) put his arms on her shoulders and demanded a kiss again before stating that he was going to have a panic attack if (the crew member) did not go into the bathroom with him.” The flight attendant was then able to push the passenger away and used the phone in the cabin to call for help from a fellow crew member. The court papers state that the flight attendant “felt her life was in serious danger.” When another flight attendant came to assist, she saw the passenger had his hands on her colleague’s shoulders. After approaching the man and trying to calm him down, the passenger then “grabbed” the second flight attendant’s shoulders and said he needed her colleague to “kiss him to calm down”. The complaint states that the second flight attendant was “scared for her life” and “concerned for other passengers.”<br/>

LATAM Airlines is considering issuing a so-called "green bond" as part of its sustainability strategy, the carrier's Mexico country head said in an interview on Wednesday, a move that would bolster its finances after emerging from bankruptcy. "We're feeling really strong after Chapter 11 (bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S.). We came out of that really secure," said Diana Olivares, the airline's top executive in Mexico. LATAM declared bankruptcy in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic battered travel demand. Last November, the carrier completed its restructuring process and has posted profits since. LATAM Airlines is reviewing "different types of bonds," Olivares said, "but we're looking to make sure they meet the proper requirements." She did not provide more detail into the potential bond issue, such as how much it would seek to raise. A green bond issue would put LATAM among the few airlines to have taken such a step. Mexican airline Volaris became the first, and only, carrier in the region to put out a sustainability-linked bond in 2021. Olivares, who is also the head of the country's air transportation industry group, added that Mexican airlines were looking to develop the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the country. "We're practically still in diapers, and we're working against the clock," Olivares said. SAF is expected to have the largest impact on lowering airlines' carbon emissions, but still remains in scarce supply and is much costlier than traditional jet fuel. "We're looking to create a roadmap to present to the energy ministry, the transportation ministry," Olivares said. "We believe incentivizing (the use of SAF) is the best option."<br/>

Brazilian airline Azul said on Wednesday that a group accounting for roughly 86% of holders of bonds expiring in 2024 and 2026 have agreed with an exchange offer proposed by the company to delay their maturities to 2029 and 2030. The offer had been announced by the company earlier this month as part of a broader restructuring plan that also included deals with aircraft lessors for lower payments, with initially 65.5% of the bondholders having agreed with it. Now, with the early participation phase of the offer concluded, the carrier celebrated what it described as a high level of acceptance. “It’s a very positive figure,” Azul CFO Alex Malfitani said. “That leaves us in a very solid financial position, with no more doubts on whether we would be able to roll over that debt.” Azul expects the exchange offer for bonds totaling $1b to remove an overhang on its stock as it deals with high short-term indebtedness, even though it had to increase interest paid on those notes against a backdrop of high borrowing costs. “It’s part of the game,” Malfitani said, adding the coupon Azul managed to negotiate with creditors was “palatable and fitting well within our business model and cash flow.”<br/>

Pilots at Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier Lynx Air have sent a notice to the airline’s management requesting to open negotiations on their first collective agreement. The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), which represents the airline’s 110 flight deck professionals, said on 28 June that its negotiating committee is ”ready to present reasonable proposals consistent with contracts of similar ALPA-represented pilot groups”. “We are thrilled to utilise the expertise and resources that ALPA has to offer as we begin negotiations for our first collective agreement,” says Lynx’s acting master executive council chair Randall Hulkenberg. “Our pilots have been clear they want to support management’s plans for the future, as our airline continues to grow.” Lynx, which launched flight operations in April 2022, is privately-owned, and currently operates seven Boeing 737 Max 8s, with 10 more set to join from Singapore-based lessor BOC Aviation. The discount airline flies to destinations in Canada and the USA. “Our goal is to reach a fair contract that recognises our pilots’ important role in growing the company successfully,” Hulkenberg says. “As management works to make our airline a choice for passengers, we need a contract that provides improvements to job security, work-life balance and compensation to make Lynx Air a choice for pilots, too.” In early May, an “overwhelming majority” of Lynx pilots filed membership cards requesting to join ALPA. Later that month, ALPA negotiated a new contract with Canada’s second-largest airline WestJet, just hours before that carrier’s ALPA-represented cockpit crews were planning to strike. WestJet had already begun cancelling flights in anticipation of disruptive labour action, which was then called off when the agreement was announced. <br/>

The Pakistani government has approved a supplementary grant of PKR4b rupee (US$14m) to PIA - Pakistan International Airlines to help pay interest on legacy loans and overcome cash flow problems at the heavily-indebted state-controlled carrier. The announcement was made by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mohammad Ishaq Dar, who chaired a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on June 26. According to the airline financial report for the three months ending March 31, 2023, PIA continues to face liquidity problems resulting in increased borrowings pushing finance costs up by 72% in interest rates. The devaluation of the Pakistani rupee during the period also contributed to the airline's increased loss before tax of PKR36.3b (US$81.9m) for the three months ending March 31, 2023.<br/>