general

Dense fog in the Chicago area caused delays and cancellations on Sunday morning at Midway Airport amid the busy travel rush. The FAA issued a ground stop at Chicago’s Midway Airport for most of Sunday morning due to low visibility in the area, but it has since been lifted. There is now a residual FAA ground delay, which is averaging around 2 hours for inbound flights, the FAA reports. “Dense fog continues across the area this morning, but is expected to gradually improve going into this afternoon,” US National Weather Service Chicago Illinois said in a Facebook post. “Exercise caution if traveling over the next few hours. For those traveling via sleigh, utilizing your reindeers’ nose lights is advised.” Chicago Midway is the fourth-busiest hub for Southwest Airlines. A spokesperson told CNN they adopted “an all-hands on deck” posture to help customers work through Sunday’s weather issues including accommodating customers on alternative flights. “We continue to experience some delays and diversions as fog remains a factor,” the airline said, “We apologize for the inconvenience to our Customers as we work to get them to their destination safely.” Southwest had 200 departures a day scheduled at Midway during the holiday weekend and at least 58 flights were canceled Sunday, the airline said in the statement. Nationwide, delays and cancellations have remained low for Southwest and the rest of the nation’s airlines this holiday weekend.<br/>

The Nicaragua-bound Airbus A340 and its Indian passengers was held at Vatry airport, 150 kilometres (95 miles) east of Paris, when it arrived Thursday from Dubai for refuelling, after an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human trafficking. After questioning the passengers for two days, French prosecutors on Sunday gave the go-ahead for the plane to leave, and full approval for its departure is expected Monday, the local prefecture said. Although the statement did not mention a destination, the head of the local bar association, Francois Procureur, told a press conference the passengers would be flown to India. A source close to the inquiry told AFP that the Indians were likely workers in the United Arab Emirates who had been bound for Nicaragua as a jumping off spot for the United States or Canada. The passengers of the flight, operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines, were put up at the airport during the investigation. Beds, toilets and showers were installed, the local prefecture said, while police have prevented press and outsiders from entering the airport. The passengers included 11 unaccompanied minors, according to Paris prosecutors. Two passengers have been detained since Friday "to verify" whether their role "may have been different than the others in this transport, and under what conditions and with what objectives". Twelve of the passengers have requested asylum, a source close to the case said. The Indian embassy in Paris Saturday posted on X that "embassy consular staff" were on site to working with French authorities "for the welfare" of detained passengers for an "early resolution of the situation". The 30 crew members were not detained. Some handled the Dubai-Vatry leg and others were to take over for the flight to Managua. According to Flightradar24, Legend Airlines has just four planes.<br/>

A deal has been reached to end an hours-long strike by ground staff at Geneva airport, which had caused numerous flight delays and cancellations during the holiday rush. "Victory!", the SSP public sector union said on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before midday. The workers began their strike about eight hours earlier, at 4 am (0300 GMT), demanding "dignified working conditions and decent wages" from their employer, the Dubai National Air Travel Agency (dnata). The employees "have succeeded in repelling attacks on their retirement fund and in obtaining improved salaries, indemnities and overtime compensation", SSP said. Dnata, an Emirati airport service provider, confirmed in a statement "the resolution of the industrial action", adding that its employees had returned to work at noon. Around 80 strikers had gathered in front of the airport before dawn, wearing bright yellow safety vests and brandishing union flags and posters with messages like: "Dnata is killing me" and "Precarious work means grounded flights". Geneva airport stressed Sunday that it had not been involved in the dispute between dnata and its employees, and said it regretted that the strike had gone ahead while negotiations were ongoing. The airport said six flights had been cancelled as a result, while some others had been delayed by more than an hour. In addition, "a number of flights were operated without loading or offloading luggage", the statement said. Prior to the deal, airport spokesman Ignace Jeannerat told AFP that only flights assisted by dnata personnel had faced problems.<br/>

Russia has bought out another 92 planes from foreign leasing companies, airlines and aircraft leasing company AerCap said. The planes have been bought out using money from Russia's National Welfare Fund, 190b roubles ($2.06b) of which has been allocated for the purpose. Ownership will now pass to Russia's state insurance company NLK-Finance, which will transfer them to the airlines. Airline S7 said 45 of its formerly foreign-owned planes had been bought out, while national flag carrier Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) said deals had been completed for 28 of its aircraft, with another 19 for Ural Airlines. After Western countries sanctioned Russian airlines over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia re-registered foreign aircraft in its fleet without the owners' consent, before beginning negotiations on buying them out. Once foreign-owned planes are bought out, Russian airlines are able to use them to service overseas routes without risk of them being seized.<br/>

Air Lease said on Friday it had received about $64.9m in cash as part of an insurance claim settlement for four Airbus jets it had leased to a Russian carrier, which were blocked from leaving the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The settlement amount, received from the Russian insurance firm NSK, covers three A320-200 and one A321-200 aircraft that were leased to S7 Airlines. It does not include the five A321-200neo aircraft previously leased to S7. Before the invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia was a major market for aircraft lessors, which bought jets from Boeing and Airbus and leased them to airlines in the country. These aircraft are now grounded in Russia, as Moscow has refused to release the jets after lessors canceled lease agreements in compliance with Western sanctions.<br/>

At least 23 flights in and out of Australia’s busiest airport have been cancelled on Christmas Day. By 7am on Monday, the arrivals and departures board on Sydney Airport’s website showed 23 flights had already been cancelled for the day. It follows delays and cancellations on Christmas Eve caused by heavy rain and thunderstorms. Air traffic control imposed a ground-stop on all flights into Sydney just after 5pm for about an hour. News.com.au understands the disruptions on Monday are likely a knock-on effect, with Sydney Airport confirming there were no operational issues at the airport on Monday. Cancelled Christmas Day flights arriving and departing Sydney include seven Virgin Australia flights, six Qantas flights, and three Jetstar flights, as well as some operated by small regional airlines. About 20 Qantas flights had been delayed or diverted to Melbourne or Canberra on Sunday evening, where they were refuelled or passengers re-accommodated on another service that night. The national carrier confirmed the impact to its network on Sunday had caused a small number of cancellations on Monday, but all passengers had been put on new flights within a few hours of their original departure time. Virgin Australia has warned there may be further disruptions as thunderstorms are expected in Sydney on Monday afternoon and encouraged passengers to check the status of their flight ahead of time.<br/>

Travellers had to be evacuated from Nelson Airport on one of the busiest days of the year after airport staff received a threatening mail on Monday morning. Airport operations manager Jesse Woods said the terminal was evacuated as a precaution. “Nelson Airport customer service staff received an email about 8.30am with concerning contents,” she said in an emailed statement. Woods said police were informed and responded. “After consultation with police and the Civil Aviation Authority, normal airport operations have resumed,” she said around 11.20am. The airport had to be evacuated last week for similar reasons.<br/>