A man charged with attacking a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon and attempting to open an airliner’s emergency door on a cross-country flight in March is not currently competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein, basing her decision on a mental health evaluation of Francisco Severo Torres and her own observations in court, determined Wednesday that further treatment is warranted, according to court records. “The Court hereby finds ... that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense,” Dein wrote in her decision. She also wrote that she denied a request by Torres to be freed so he could “further investigate the conspiracy which eventually led to his actions on the plane.” Torres, of Leominster, Massachusetts, is charged with a felony related to using a dangerous weapon to interfere with flight crew members in the incident on United Airlines Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston on March 5. The evaluation was conducted at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, where he was sent after an initial court appearance days after the attack. He has not entered a plea. Torres’ attorney said in court Wednesday that he has no evidence in opposition to the evaluation’s findings, but told Dein that his client objects to the finding and asserts he is competent to stand trial, according to court records. The defense attorney requested that his client remain at FMC Devens.<br/>
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On July 9, an Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER, which was registered as C-FITL, was damaged due to a nearby ground vehicle catching fire. The incident occurred at gate 66 at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). The Boeing 777-300ER had arrived from Geneva International Airport (GVA) in Switzerland. The aircraft, which had operated as flight AC885, had finished taxiing and had pulled into its gate at Montreal Airport. At nearly 15:15 local time, a water truck was delivering fresh water to the aircraft's tanks and was located underneath the aircraft's tail cone and empennage. The ground vehicle unexpectedly caught fire and was quickly engulfed in flames. The resulting fire caused flames and plumes of black smoke to immerse the tail cone of the vehicle. Thick black smoke ended up entering the cabin from the intensity of the flames. An airline spokesperson stated that several passengers were aboard when the fire broke out, although the remaining passengers that were quickly deplaned. Emergency crews quickly reacted to the fire and completely contained the fire within 30 minutes.No injuries or casualties were reported. An Air Canada spokesperson released a statement regarding the incident. The statement read, "In accordance with our safety procedures, the crew responded professionally by ensuring the quick deplanement of remaining passengers from the aircraft, which had landed from Geneva. We are very proud of our employees’ actions in responding to this incident."<br/>
Air Canada has opened its brand-new Maple Leaf Lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the airline’s 28th lounge worldwide, and its third Maple Leaf Lounge in the US. The modern and exclusive respite, located in Terminal 2, features Air Canada’s first outdoor lounge terrace, together with a range of premium amenities, food and beverages, making the travel experience for eligible customers even more comfortable and convenient before their flights to Canada and beyond. “We’re thrilled to bring our Maple Leaf Lounge experience to San Francisco International Airport, giving our Bay Area customers a way to enjoy Air Canada’s award-winning product and glowing hearted hospitality from the moment they arrive,” said Jacqueline Harkness, Managing Director, Products and Services at Air Canada. “It’s one more way we’re investing to become San Francisco’s favourite way to travel internationally.”<br/>
Avianca has finished retrofitting its Airbus A320-family-based fleet, which allowed the company to increase the capacity of 104 aircraft by 20% and offer 180 seats per plane in a three-class configuration, which has been received with mixed reviews by travelers. Following Avianca’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in the United States, the Colombian airline shifted its business model from a legacy-oriented to a more low-cost-oriented one. To adapt to this new scenario, the company decided to retrofit its entire narrowbody Airbus A320 fleet, increasing the onboard capacity of each aircraft by 20%. The task was challenging: Avianca had to retrofit the cabins of 104 A320 planes, introducing new Recaro seats and giving each aircraft the capacity to carry 180 passengers in three different classes, Premium, Plus, and Economy.<br/>By adding these new seats, Avianca could offer extra capacity per flight and reduce by 15.35% the CO2 emissions of each carried passenger, the company said. The retrofitting process was undertaken in less than two years, a record time, while also facing unique challenges such as the COVID-19 restrictions and supply chain constraints around the world. The process was made in-house, employing over 1,500 trained technicians from the airline’s MRO. <br/>
Swiss International Air Lines is planning to hire 1,000 cabin crew members and 70 pilots this year to address disruptions in their schedules. The airline expects a 20% increase in passengers but is facing various challenges, including air traffic control bottlenecks, adverse weather conditions, personnel and infrastructure issues, and industrial action. Swissport, the company responsible for ground handling and hospitality at airports, is also ramping up hiring efforts to accommodate the expected passenger growth, aiming to employ 1,200 new staff members, with 600 of them based in Zurich. SWISS aims to achieve a departure delay of no more than 15 minutes for at least 80% of its flights, although so far this year, only 65% of flights have met this goal. Strikes in Germany, Italy, and Geneva airport have contributed to 21% of flights departing more than 30 minutes late in May and June. The airline is facing an unprecedented level of industrial action, according to SWISS Head of Operations Oliver Buchhofer.<br/>
Terrified passengers and crew on an Air China flight from Shanghai to Beijing have told how they were thrown about like rag dolls when their plane hit severe turbulence which left several people injured. The A330 aircraft took off at 3.24pm on July 10 from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and landed at the Beijing Capital International Airport as scheduled at 5.18pm. Turbulence hit about 40 minutes before landing, passengers told the People’s Daily. One of them, Xing Lida, a Beijing-based palaeobiologist, or scientist who studies fossils, said the first half of the flight was normal, but less than an hour before landing, while many passengers were out of their seats to go to the toilet, the plane experienced a sudden drop in altitude. The airline confirmed that the plane encountered a clear sky turbulence and said its pilots and crew members dealt with the situation according to safety rules. “During this process, a passenger and a flight attendant were injured. After the plane landed, we sent staff with them to hospital to receive medical treatment. We send our best wishes to the injured passenger and the employee,” the company said in a statement. Other passengers told the newspaper that pillows and water bottles were tossed into the air during the incident.<br/>
As its merger with Korean Air stalls, troubled Asiana Airlines is facing an intensified strike by its pilots’ labor union. The pilots’ labor union is demanding a 10% raise after a four-year wage freeze that started in 2019, but the management is sticking to a 2.5% increase, citing the lack of its business normalization. According to industry reports on July 12, the Asiana Airlines pilots’ labor union will give its members enhanced strike guidelines on July 13 and go on strike in earnest on July 14. The labor union’s strike focuses on increasing the real cost of flying, which is maximizing fuel usage by accelerating to full throttle during takeoffs and using lift devices earlier during landing. The labor union’s enhanced strike guidelines come as the labor union leadership has recognized the limited effectiveness of the flight delay strike it has been conducting since last month. The labor union has been delaying flights since June 6, including by strictly holding pre-flight crew briefings as required, but the management has remained adamant in its stance, so the labor union decided to step up its efforts. If this does not work, the labor union’s plan is to go on strike in late July. If it does happen, it will be the first strike in 18 years. Asiana’s labor and management have been negotiating over wage increases since October 2022, but the two sides have failed to iron out their differences. The labor union is asserting that a large increase is necessary this time because wages have been frozen since 2019, while the management’s position is that it is difficult to raise wages because the company still has a long way to go to get back to business as usual.<br/>