American Airlines passengers were left stuck in Boston after their flight was forced to land just 250 miles into its journey after a crack was discovered in the windshield. The flight, which was on its way to Spain, was 250 miles from the coast of Massachusetts over the Atlantic Ocean when it was forced to divert. Massachusetts State Police said flight 94, a Boeing 777, was less than two hours into the journey after taking off from New York City‘s JFK Airport at 7:28pm, when an Alert 2 emergency was declared due to a crack in the windshield in the cockpit. An Alert 2 is declared when the flight is experiencing “major difficulties” or when a “difficult or crash landing may be expected”, according to the FAA. The flight landed safely at 10:14pm at Logan International Airport, according to the airline, who said in a statement that the diversion was down to a “maintenance issue”. The aircraft was taken for an inspection by American Airlines crew. No one was hurt in the incident. The airline said passengers will be taken to Madrid on a replacement jet on Thursday afternoon. The carrier said in a statement: “The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Customers will re-depart for [Madrid] tomorrow on a replacement aircraft. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”<br/>
oneworld
Smoke was reported inside the cabin of an American Airlines plane that arrived at New York City's LaGuardia Airport from Chicago Thursday morning. The Fire Department of New York said it received a "report of smoke in [a] cabin airbus" shortly after 9:30 a.m. Thursday from LaGuardia's main terminal. American Airlines said "possible odor" was reported in the cabin of Flight 2084 as it was taxiing to the gate. "Customers deplaned normally and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team," said the airline. "Safety is our top priority and we appreciate our team members for their professionalism.” Fire teams and EMS personnel responded to the incident, which was "controlled," said the fire department. No injuries were reported, said FDNY, and the matter will be handled by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Port Authority said "Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) arrived on scene to assess the situation, and the FAA to investigate."<br/>
British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) has revealed record annual profits after cashing in on resurgent travel demand, including from leisure travellers booking premium economy, and business class seats. Underlying operating profits at the group, which also includes Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, more than doubled to GBP3b for 2023, higher than its previous pre-pandemic peak in 2019. CE Luis Gallego shrugged off the impact of the recession in the UK on demand, saying it “continues to be very strong, particularly in leisure”. “We don’t see any weakness in the market,” he added. However, the group admitted poor performance from BA at its London Heathrow hub, where only 60% of flights departed or arrived within 15 minutes of schedule during 2023. “As a result, significant resources have been invested to drive better performance and some early initiatives are now starting to deliver improvement,” IAG said in its results presentation. Business travel has been slow to bounce back, but has been offset by leisure travellers booking premium seats, it said. Capacity for the final three months of 2023 was at 98.6% of the levels seen before the pandemic struck in 2019, with full-year capacity at 95.7% of those levels. It expects to grow overall capacity by around 7% in 2024. Gallego said: “In 2023, IAG more than doubled its operating margin and profits compared to 2022… recovering capacity to close to pre-Covid 19 levels in most of its core markets.”<br/>
British Airways owner IAG is likely to be hit with an EU antitrust warning over its E400m bid to buy out Air Europa, suggesting regulators want IAG to beef up its offer of remedies, people familiar with the matter said.<br/>IAG, which also owns Spanish carrier Iberia, submitted proposed concessions on Feb. 23 in a bid to address competition concerns but did not provide details. The European Commission in January said the deal may reduce competition on Spanish domestic routes to the Balearic and Canary islands, and on short-haul routes between Madrid and the main cities in Europe, Israel, Morocco, Britain and Switzerland. The EU competition enforcer also cited concerns over long-haul routes between Madrid and North and South America. Both the Commission and IAG declined to comment. The company can still avoid the watchdog's so-called statement of objections, or charge sheet, by adding more remedies in the coming days. IAG's remedies are similar to those in the Korean Air-Asiana deal, where the South Korean carriers ceded slots and traffic rights as well as access to planes, bowing to a demand from the EU enforcer, one of the sources said. IAG and Air Europa scrapped a previous deal in 2021 after EU regulators indicated their remedies were insufficient to alleviate the competition concerns.<br/>
It has been a while since British Airways boasted it was the “world’s favourite airline”. Even before the pandemic, the carrier, owned by IAG, battled reputational problems following years of cost cuts, plus other issues such as a big data breach. A recent survey by the consumer group Which? ranked the UK’s flag carrier among the worst airlines for customer satisfaction. Yet full-year results on Thursday from its parent company, where BA accounts for about half of revenues, point to something of a comeback. IAG more than doubled operating profits in 2023 to a record E3.5b. The post-pandemic travel boom continues. Notably, wealthier holidaymakers who are willing to pay higher prices to fly in premium cabins helped to push IAG’s passenger unit revenue up 8.2% year on year, even though corporate travel is yet to recover. Why then does IAG have such a lowly valuation? It trades on a forward price earnings multiple of just over 4 times, lagging pre-pandemic levels and well below European budget rivals such as easyJet on 8.3 times. The weakness reflects continued suspicion of legacy airlines. Markets are anticipating a “substantial” earnings drop, notes Liberum’s Gerald Khoo. There are several good reasons, though, to suggest some of that scepticism is overdone. For a start, there is evidence across a number of flag carriers that “premium leisure travel” could be a sustaining trend. IAG is investing in BA’s offering to take advantage. At rival Air France-KLM, the load factor in premium cabins was higher in every quarter of 2023 than in 2019. IAG’s bookings, at 92% for Q1 and 62% for the first half of 2024, are also ahead compared with the same time last year. It is not awaiting big aircraft deliveries that will constrain capacity growth this year — something raised by European short-haul rivals, such as Ryanair. True, non-fuel costs will rise as IAG invests in upgrading lounges, improving its BA call centre and better food. Capital expenditure between 2024 and 2026 is expected to average E4.5b versus E3.5b in 2023, as the group also expects new aircraft deliveries in 2025 and 2026. <br/>
Japan Airlines Co. has kicked off an unmanned drone service to deliver goods and medical supplies in a remote part of Japan that’s prone to heavy rains and landslides. The carrier is working with local authorities in Setouchi town, a tiny inlet in Japan’s southwest that’s home to 8,000 residents. A FAZER R G2 drone will be deployed by Amami Island Drones Co. for the work, JAL said Thursday. People living in the area normally rely on ships for their daily logistic needs. But those vessels are often stranded by rough waves and have to cancel their scheduled runs. The average age of residents in Setouchi town is 53. While JAL has been conducting various drone experiments at different locations, this is its first commercial service for disaster relief and prescient for a nation that’s prone to weather-related catastrophes. “There used to be a lag in grasping the situation when a natural calamity hit the town but with this service, local authorities will know sooner,” a JAL spokesperson said. Similar initiatives are underway elsewhere in Asia. Cross-border drone delivery services between Malaysia and Singapore, for example, may start for critical deliveries such as medical supplies and perishable food, local media reported earlier this month.<br/>
The Dutch government has spent more than E166m dealing with the aftermath of the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014, from repatriating victims’ bodies to investigating and prosecuting some of those involved in the downing, according to an official report Thursday. The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens. A Dutch court convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian in 2022 of involvement in the downing of MH17 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They were tried in absentia and have not been detained to serve their sentences. The court ruled that the missile and its launcher were driven into Ukraine from a military base in Russia and the launcher returned to Russia afterward. The trial and the massive investigation that preceded it cost a total of more than E87m, according to the Netherlands Court of Audit, which calculated costs through the end of 2022. The total does not include about E16.5m that the Dutch government paid to next of kin last year as an advance on compensation that the Dutch court ordered the three men convicted in the downing of MH17 to pay. “This compensation should ultimately be paid by the perpetrators, but it is open to question whether they will,” the report said.<br/>