The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit to stop JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, saying that the planned merger "would put travel out of reach for many cost-conscious travelers". JetBlue prevailed in a months-long bidding war for Spirit Airlines after the ultra-low-cost carrier accepted its $3.8b merger offer in late July last year but the acquisition had been expected to face a tough antitrust review from the beginning. Story lists the key events of the takeover saga.<br/>
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About 50 people were treated by emergency medical workers on Monday after a Latam Airlines flight bound for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, experienced what the airline called “strong movement” caused by a “technical problem.” Twelve people, one of whom was in serious condition, were taken to three hospitals, Auckland’s ambulance service said. Latam, a Chilean airline, provided no specifics about the technical problem that it said had caused the disturbance. The plane made a “violent drop” for just a second or two, said Brian Jokat, who was on board Latam Airlines Flight 800. Aircraft tracking information from Flight Aware showed a gap of roughly an hour for which no data was available. “The plane just dropped,” Jokat, 61, said. “It felt like coming over the top of a roller coaster and heading down — and then it straightened up immediately.” A jolt roused Jokat, who was wearing his seatbelt, from a nap, and in the next instant the plane was in what felt like free-fall. He saw the passenger next to him being thrown up to the ceiling of the plane, and then come crashing back down. “Anyone who wasn’t in a seatbelt was thrown,” he said. “You could not have not been thrown.” He added that there were no prior announcements that passengers should fasten their seatbelts, as would normally precede turbulence on a flight. The plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, was met at Auckland International Airport by 14 emergency vehicles, including seven ambulances, according to the city’s ambulance service, Hato Hone St. John. Ambulance crews treated about 50 people at the scene, including the person in serious condition; the others were in “moderate to minor condition,” the service said. Six people had been taken to the emergency department at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland and four others were on their way, according to Rob Harley, a spokesman for the hospital. He said the six patients at the hospital had injuries including cuts, abrasions and lacerations, but that all were able to walk — “in other words, not life-threatening.”<br/>
Airline watchdogs were on Tuesday investigating why a Boeing-made LATAM plane bound for New Zealand suddenly lost altitude mid-flight, dropping violently and injuring dozens of terrified travellers. Passengers said the Boeing 787 Dreamliner plunged earthward while en route from Sydney to Auckland on Monday evening, slinging unrestrained travellers out of their seats and smashing some into the roof of the cabin. Chile-based LATAM Airlines said Tuesday it was working with authorities to pinpoint the unspecified "technical event" that caused flight LA800 to experience "a strong movement". It is the latest in a string of safety incidents to plague US airplane manufacturer Boeing. "It was just a split second," said Auckland-based chef Lucas Ellwood, who was one of 263 passengers and nine cabin crew aboard. "The crashing of people into the roof caused the tiling to be dislodged," he told AFP on Tuesday. "The guy behind me was in the toilet when it happened, the poor guy. He told me he went through the roof," he added. On the ground, emergency crews were notified shortly before the flight landed and a phalanx of more than a dozen ambulances and other medical vehicles rushed to the scene. The Chilean General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said New Zealand air safety investigators will lead the probe into the incident, with Chilean help. Air accident safety investigator Joe Hattley told AFP that technical problems were rare in modern aircraft. "That flight record will be key to understanding this event. It will tell investigators if it was an atmospheric event or a technical problem with the aircraft," said Hattley. "These kinds of events highlight the absolute need for passengers to keep their seatbelts fastened."<br/>
Batik Air, full-service carrier of Indonesia’s Lion Group, temporarily suspended two pilots after they fell asleep in the cockpit during a domestic flight in late January, the carrier said in a statement. Flight 6723 was on its way to Jakarta from Kendari in Sulawesi on Jan. 25 with 153 passengers on board when neither the pilot or co-pilot responded to communications from the air traffic controller and another plane, according to the National Transportation Safety Commission. They were trying to contact the Airbus A320 after it failed to follow the designated route and headed past Jakarta toward the Indian Ocean. Twenty-eight minutes after the last recorded transmission from the co-pilot, the captain woke up and became aware that the aircraft was not on the correct flight path. He then saw that his second-in-command, or SIC, was sleeping and woke him up, the NTSC wrote in the preliminary investigation report of what its described as a “serious incident.” In the previous leg from Jakarta to Kendari, the pilot suggested the second officer “take a rest as he was aware that the SIC did not have a proper rest. The SIC rested in the cockpit and slept for about 30 minutes.” Batik Air Saturday said it operates with an adequate rest policy for its crew, in accordance with regulations, to ensure they have optimal physical and mental condition when carrying out their duties.<br/>
A co-founder of India’s biggest airline IndiGo raised about $820m from selling part of his holding, in the largest block equity sale in the country since 2019. Rakesh Gangwal sold 22.5m shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the owner of Indigo, at 3,015.10 rupees per share, according to the terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. The number of shares on sale was increased from the 12.75m initially expected and the final price was above the floor indication of 2,925 rupees each. Gangwal is cashing in with the stock trading near a record high, as a rapidly growing retail investor base and strong corporate earnings drive demand for Indian equities. It’s the fourth time within two years that the co-founder has tapped investors through a block sale of IndiGo shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<br/>