A Washington state man pleaded guilty on Thursday to groping a woman during an Alaska Airlines flight from San Diego to Seattle last year. Desmond Bostick, 25, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to assault, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in a news release. While seated in the last row of the plane during the flight on June 20, 2023, Bostick repeatedly touched the thigh of a woman in the middle seat next to him, prosecutors said. He also grabbed her buttocks twice when she stood up to let a passenger in the window seat exit and reenter the row. After the plane landed, the woman reported his actions to the flight crew and law enforcement began investigating. Bostick, by that time, had left the airport and prosecutors said his location was unknown. A federal grand jury returned an indictment in the case last September and Bostick was located and arrested by the FBI on Feb. 9. Bostick admitted as part of the plea agreement that he touched the woman with sexual motivation, prosecutors said. Attorneys will recommend a 9-month prison term when he is sentenced in July.<br/>
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The government of Fiji has approved a recommendation to adopt an open skies policy. Approval was granted during an April 9 cabinet meeting in Suva and resulted from a review of the country's National Aviation Policy, it said in a statement. Approvals will be granted on a case-by-case basis and will consider economic, strategic, and operational factors. Minutes of the meeting viewed by ch-aviation reveal that Fiji Airways CEO Andre Viljoen gave a presentation during the meeting. ch-aviation has contacted Fiji Airways for comment. The cabinet meeting also agreed that negotiations could start with the United States for an open skies framework that would allow Fiji Airways to operate direct services between Fiji and new US destinations as well as via the US to a third country. ch-aviation schedules data shows that the airline currently offers scheduled flights between Nadi and Honolulu, Los Angeles International, and San Francisco. It is the only scheduled passenger operator on the country pair.<br/>