An American Airlines flight bound for Boston was forced to abort takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday morning to avoid another plane that was landing. The FAA said it’s investigating what happened. It’s the second such incident at the Washington, DC, airport in the last six weeks. “An air traffic controller cancelled the takeoff clearance for American Airlines Flight 2134 because another aircraft was cleared to land on an intersecting runway,” the FAA said in a statement about Wednesday’s scare. Air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net captured the moment. “American 2134, cancel takeoff clearance,” an air traffic controller told the American Airlines pilot. “Rejecting the takeoff 2134,” the pilot responded. “The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we’re grateful to our crew for their professionalism. We will support the FAA in its investigation,” American Airlines said in a statement. The flight eventually made it to Boston, arriving four hours late, according to the plane tracking website FlightAware. In mid-April, the FAA launched an investigation after two jetliners were put on an apparent collision course as they were leaving Reagan National Airport, prompting air traffic controllers to urgently radio each plane to stop.<br/>
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Ryanair Holdings Plc lost a court challenge over a Covid-19 bailout for rival carrier Finnair Oyj after a European Union court said support for the airline didn’t break the bloc’s state-aid rules. The EU’s top court upheld a lower court’s ruling was right in finding that the E600m ($648m) Finnish aid wasn’t unfair treatment. Ryanair — Europe’s biggest discount airline — has filed more than two dozen challenges over the billions of state aid doled out by nations to carriers including Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM. The firm argued that the measures shouldn’t have been waved through by the EU because they distorted competition in the industry. “Ryanair has not put forward any argument capable of demonstrating that the General Court distorted the facts,” according to the European Court of Justice decision. Despite the loss against Finnair, the Irish carrier has had some success in its attempts to challenge the billions dolled out in financial support across the bloc. <br/>
Beijing has put pressure on Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways to expand its routes and direct flights to the Middle East and Asia to boost the city’s flagging economy and tourism, but the company is struggling to meet expectations due to a shortfall of pilots, the Post has learned. Analysts also warned that Hong Kong and the airline, the only local carrier able to provide long-haul flights, were lagging counterparts across the border, as Cathay could only launch a long-awaited direct service to Riyadh in October after a signing ceremony on June 6. In comparison, Guangzhou already has direct flight services to Kuwait and Riyadh while China Southern Airlines will fly directly from Shenzhen to the Saudi capital starting on June 3. A source close to the situation said Beijing had “demanded” Cathay run more routes and direct services to various destinations in the Middle East and Asia, in particular to locations in the Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative is the nation’s trade strategy to connect more than 70 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa via a “New Silk Road” of railways, highways and ports. “The authorities have pressed Cathay to open more routes with direct flights to the Middle East and Asia or else they may ask other mainland cities to offer the service,” the insider said. “But the airline privately admitted that it doesn’t have enough pilots for the service expansion. It all depends on whether the company has tried its best to recruit from overseas to address the shortage.”<br/>