United Airlines said on Wednesday that it has received a final approval from the FAA to return its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 9's to service and scheduled service would start beginning Sunday.<br/>
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A string of recent airplane incidents in both Canada and the United States have put aviation safety in focus, with one expert saying that airlines should start getting “serious” when faced with unruly passengers. As the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing continues to face multiple probes following a mid-air blowout incident on an Alaska Airlines plane earlier this month, a couple of unrelated and bizarre instances in the last two weeks on Air Canada flights involved passengers attempting to open cabin doors. On Sunday, a passenger on an Air Canada flight from London, U.K. to Toronto allegedly tried to open the aircraft doors mid-flight, according to the airline and police. No criminal charges were laid. On Jan. 8, another passenger aboard an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Dubai opened a cabin door and fell to the tarmac before takeoff, injuring themselves and causing lengthy delays. Air Canada says it is continuing to investigate the incident. Such instances, which are an offence under Canadian law, are “very rare,” said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer at McGill University in the aviation management program. He said cabin doors should only be operated by flight attendants unless assistance is required by those passengers seated in the emergency exit row. Air Canada told Global News on Tuesday that the two events that took place this month were “very different and unrelated.” “In both cases, our approved safety and handling processes were correctly followed,” the airline said, adding that it constantly reviews its measures, including after incidents, as part of a continuous improvement approach.<br/>
Scandinavian airline SAS will cancel and redeem all of its common shares and commercial hybrid bonds when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US around June. “SAS reiterates its expectation that there will be only a modest recovery for general unsecured creditors, no recovery for subordinated creditors and no value for SAS AB’s existing shareholders,” the carrier said in a statement released at 11 p.m. Stockholm time on Tuesday. The airline also set out financial targets for the year having secured a $1.2b restructuring last fall with a consortium including Air France-KLM and private equity firm Castlelake LP taking a stake in the ailing company. The debt-burdened carrier had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, high fuel prices and a pilot strike. <br/>
Croatia Airlines’ order for six Airbus A220-300s has been transferred to Irish-based lessor Griffin Global Asset Management, the leasing company has confirmed. The carrier’s order for the six jets had been removed from end-of-year backlog figures released by the airframer on 11 January, while six A220-300s had been listed for Griffin at the same time. Croatia Airlines chief Jasmin Bajic says the agreement will “assist us in our transition to a single fleet type”. It had originally placed the order for the six Pratt & Whitney PW1500G-powered aircraft in November 2022. They were part of a fleet-renewal programme under which it plans to introduce up to 12 A220s, and potentially take the number up to 15.<br/>
Japan’s All Nippon Airways expects the impact from technical issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine to ease by end-July, allowing it to ramp up domestic flying. The Tokyo-based carrier disclosed the timeline as part of scheduled plans for the coming financial year, which begins 1 April. ANA is carrying out inspections on the PW1100G to check for defective high-pressure turbine and compressor discs. The engine powers its fleet of Airbus A320neo and A321neos, which mainly operate domestic flights. Cirium fleets data shows the airline to have 11 A320neos and 17 A321neos in service. It previously stated that these inspections – lasting through March – will force it to cut about 30 flights a day, amounting to a capacity reduction of about 3.6%. ANA is expected to disclose the full operational impact of these inspections by late-January. In its latest statement, the carrier says the impact of the inspections will “be gradually resolved” by the end of July.<br/>
India's civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has imposed a penalty of 11m Indian rupees (around US$132,340) on private airline Air India over safety-related issues. The monetary fine was imposed for alleged safety violations on certain "long-range terrain critical routes" on which the airline flew its planes. The airline company has denied the DGCA's accusations, saying that a thorough examination by external experts had found "no safety concerns" about its flights. The DGCA said that based on a safety complaint by an Air India employee, it had initiated an inquiry and found enough evidence about the airline not following the safety guidelines on specific long routes. After the investigation, the DGCA reportedly sent a notice to the airline company alleging that it had not complied with the safety rules. The safety concerns were related to planes that Air India had leased which did not operate within the limits set by regulations and the original equipment manufacturer, said an online report by The Hindu. The complaint was raised by a former pilot of Air India, who highlighted concerns about the Boeing 777 aircraft's chemically generated oxygen system lasting only 12 minutes. In his complaint, the pilot had contended that these aircraft should not be utilized for direct flights to and from San Francisco. Three months after he had raised the complaint, the pilot was terminated.<br/>