An American Airlines flight attendant who authorities say tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September on Monday pleaded not guilty to two counts in federal court in Boston. Estes Carter Thompson III was indicted last month on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor. Police also allege Thompson, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had recordings of four other girls — ages 7, 9, 11 and 14 — using aircraft lavatories. Thompson was charged and arrested in January 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been in federal custody since. According to investigators, about midway through a Sept. 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied. Thompson told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. She told investigators that before she entered the bathroom, Thompson told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken. After he left, the teen entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, officials said. Beneath the stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video, investigators said. The girl used her phone to take a picture of the stickers and concealed iPhone before leaving. Prosecutors also allege hundreds of images of child sexual abuse generated through artificial intelligence were found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account, as well as the images of the other four girls captured on earlier flights.<br/>
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Iberia has named Boston and Washington DC as the likely inaugural destinations for the Airbus A321XLR when it becomes the first carrier in the world to launch flights with the long-range narrowbody later this year. The Spanish airline, rather than sister IAG carrier Aer Lingus, will be the first to deploy the twinjet when it receives its initial aircraft “by the end of the summer”. IAG ordered 14 A321XLRs in 2019 – the longer-range version of the A321neo – eight of which were for Iberia and six for Aer Lingus. IAG had previously indicated the Irish carrier, which had outlined its intention to introduce A321XLRs on its Minneapolis route this winter, would be the first to fly the type. However, amid delays in securing a new labour deal with pilots at Aer Lingus, IAG earlier this year said it was still to allocate the two XLRs set for delivery this year and that new aircraft for the Irish carrier this year were dependent on securing a “sustainable collective labour agreement”. Iberia says it will be the first to fly the long-range narrowbody and the aircraft is initially likely to operate on flights from Madrid to Boston and Washington DC on the US east coast. The aircraft will be equipped in a two-class 182-seat configuration, including 14 in business class featuring lie-flat seats. Airbus originally unveiled the A321XLR at the Paris air show in 2019, prior to the pandemic crisis, at which point it expected deliveries to begin in 2023. Earlier this year it said first delivery would be in the second half of this year. Around 550 A321XLRs are included in the broader A321neo backlog.<br/>
Qantas has again expanded its codeshare tie-up with Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo. Starting Tuesday, passengers on Qantas flights to Singapore are able to connect seamlessly to IndiGo services into Delhi and Mumbai. The move follows IndiGo being allowed to place its code on Qantas flights from Singapore to Australia last year. Qantas customers on these codeshare flights will also be able to add overnight stops in Singapore to their itineraries, the airline says. “Since we launched our codeshare agreement with IndiGo in 2022, we’ve continued to see the partnership go from strength to strength,” said Cam Wallace, CEO Qantas International. “We’re excited to be growing our partnership further, offering our customers more choice and convenience when flying between Australia and India. This will also give frequent flyers another way to earn and redeem points and status credits. We expect the new codeshare flights through Singapore will be popular with Qantas customers in Brisbane and Perth, who now have the option of a more direct route to India.” Qantas passengers on its services into Delhi and Bengaluru are already able to connect to 21 IndiGo routes across India, including Mumbai and Goa.<br/>