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Air Canada did the right thing in apologizing to a British lawmaker named Mohammad Yasin who was recently singled out for additional questioning while flying to and from Canada, the country's transport minister said on Wednesday. Canadian Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said "we called Air Canada" after hearing about the incident where British Labour Member of Parliament Mohammad Yasin was peppered with questions while traveling with a British parliamentary committee to Canada last week. "Air Canada apologized and apologizing was the right thing to do," Rodriguez told reporters in Ottawa. Air Canada said in a statement that additional screening procedures when checking in any customer may be prompted by any authorized government agency and airlines are required to comply. "After receiving such a prompt, we followed the prescribed procedures for this customer and, although this resulted in some discomfort for him, for which we have apologized, the customer was cleared and able to board and stay on his travel schedule," the country's largest carrier said. Labour MP Clive Betts told the U.K. House of Commons on Monday that Yasin was asked whether he was carrying a knife or other weapon and where he was born. "He was told it was because his name was Mohammad," Betts said. "The questioning was undertaken by officials from Air Canada and we believe the Canadian government." The challenges of a "racist and islamophobic" nature were raised both at airports in London, England, and in Montreal, Betts said. Yasin was again challenged in Toronto.<br/>

Lufthansa Group has confirmed that new short- and medium-haul carrier City Airlines will begin flights in the summer of 2024, operating out of its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. The carrier was established in 2022 and received its AOC in June this year. It will operate alongside regional unit Lufthansa CityLine, which also flies from those hubs. City Airlines will initially operate Airbus A319 twinjets, but Lufthansa says it is also evaluating “the possibility of using” Airbus A220s or Embraer jets. On the rationale for setting up a new subsidiary, the group says “the competitive strengthening” of its short-haul network is “essential” to build its market position and to facilitate Lufthansa mainline’s planned long-haul growth in Germany. Lufthansa Group CE Carsten Spohr has previously noted that City Airlines offers an alternative to CityLine, which will not be permitted, under a union agreement, to operate aircraft with more than 75 seats from 2026. All of CityLine’s current fleet – A320-family jets, Embraer 190s and Bombardier CRJ900s – exceed that seat limit. Notably, Lufthansa’s announcement on 25 October says that for group employees interested in switching to City Airlines, “offers with voluntary switching conditions can be negotiated”, adding: “This includes Lufthansa CityLine staff in particular.”<br/>

EgyptAir has announced that Shanghai Pudong will be served. Unbelievably, the first flight will take off in mid-November, less than a month away. This is extraordinarily little lead in time for any new service, let alone long-haul, which usually needs six months' notice. EgyptAir is in expansion mode. Among other developments, it recently launched Delhi, Dhaka, Manchester, Newark, and Port Sudan, together with charter flights to São Paulo. It is also keen to fly to Los Angeles. Not previously served on a passenger basis, Egypt's flag carrier will take off to the enormous Chinese city on November 16th. Running thrice weekly, analysis of schedules shows that the 5,210-mile (8,384 km) route will be its third-longest to Asia this winter after Tokyo Narita and Jakarta. Shanghai will use the 346-seat Boeing 777-300ER, by far the airline's highest-capacity equipment that is also brilliant for freight. It is EgyptAir's second most-used long-haul type by winter flights after the 787-9. <br/>

Air New Zealand passengers flying internationally will be able to check in more quickly with the reopening of an exclusive check-in space at Auckland Airport. The premium check-in space that was closed following major flooding of the international terminal during the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods reopened on Wednesday, taking load off the other check-in areas. While it is set to reduce waiting time for all passengers, only the airline’s frequent flyers, Koru members, business and premium economy cabin customers will be able to use the space, that comes with self-check-in kiosks and touch-screen bag-drop facilities. Auckland Airport saw major disruptions when the international terminal was flooded after record rainfall fell in January. Passengers have experienced long queues due to the closure of some facilities. Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said the reopened check-in would take pressure off their team at other check-in areas. “We have taken the opportunity to do a full refurbishment over the last couple of months.”<br/>