Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie said Friday that the budget airline isn’t considering a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and is “encouraged” by its plan after a failed takeover by JetBlue Airways. Spirit has been struggling with shifting travel demand, increased U.S. competition and a Pratt & Whitney engine recall that grounded dozens of its Airbus planes. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked JetBlue’s planned takeover of Spirit on antitrust grounds, raising concerns on Wall Street about the money-losing airline’s ability to address its debt. Spirit said in February it is seeking to refinance. “We are proudly executing to our plan as we’ve exited the merger agreement with JetBlue and are encouraged by the initial results of our stand-alone plan,” Christie said at an annual shareholder meeting on Friday. “We are not evaluating a Chapter 11 at this time.” S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday downgraded Spirit, raising questions about its ability to refinance. It pointed to a $1.1b loyalty bond due in September 2025 and a $500m convertible note due in 2026. “Given the constrained cash flow generation and operating performance, along with management’s public announcement of its decision to engage with lenders to assess options for addressing its upcoming maturities, we believe it’s likely the company will face a distressed exchange,” it said. The company’s finance chief is leaving to become CFO at Hertz, the companies said earlier this week.<br/>
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Elliott Investment Management has built an almost $2b stake in Southwest and plans to push for changes at the US carrier, the Wall Street Journal reported. The size of the holding makes the activist firm one of the largest investors in Dallas-based Southwest, the Journal reported Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Elliott plans to engage with management at Southwest, which has a market capitalization of $16.6b. Shares of Southwest, which closed Friday at $27.75, are down 45% over the past five years. That compares with an 8.4% decline at Delta and an 86% increase in the S&P 500 index. Representatives for Elliott and Southwest didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg on Sunday evening. Led by Paul Singer, Elliott is one of the world’s most active boardroom agitators. The firm had already launched campaigns at companies with a combined market value of about $100b this year — including at UK-listed miner Anglo American Plc and Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp.<br/>
A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that was forced to turn around after a tire failed just after takeoff recalled the panic on the plane as travelers prepared for an emergency landing. “When the flight attendants said we were going to have an emergency landing, we started to panic a little bit. People were definitely crying and screaming and trying to console one another,” Julianna Donadio recalled to Fox 31. Southwest Airlines flight No 225 had just taken off from Denver International Airport around 6:30 p.m. on June 3 and was heading to Phoenix, Arizona, when the tire “failed,” according to the airline. The crew on board the flight remained calm as they braced for impact. “When we landed, everyone was cheering and clapping,” the woman said. In a statement, Southwest confirmed the plane “landed without incident.” “Southwest Flight 225 returned safely to Denver on Monday, June 3, after a tire failed during takeoff. Following standard Safety procedures, the Pilots declared an emergency prior to landing. The flight landed without incident and taxied off the runway. A separate aircraft operated the scheduled flight to Phoenix,” the airline said.<br/>
An appeals court on Friday blocked a federal judge’s order that three attorneys for Southwest Airlines get religious liberty training from a conservative advocacy group, saying the judge likely exceeded his authority. Three judges with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans put the training order on hold while appeals are pursued. The order is an outgrowth of a case in which a Southwest flight attendant, Charlene Carter, sued the airline and her union after she was fired for sending graphic anti-abortion material and disparaging messages to a union leader and fellow employee. Carter won an $800,000 court award, also the subject of an appeal, after her attorneys argued that she was terminated for her religious beliefs. The religious-training requirement was part of a contempt order against the airline issued by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr. After Carter won a jury verdict, Starr ordered the airline to tell flight attendants that under federal law, it “may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.” Instead, the Dallas-based airline told employees that it “does not discriminate,” and told flight attendants to follow the airline policy it cited in firing Carter. In August, Starr found Southwest in contempt for the way it explained the case to flight attendants. He ordered Southwest to pay Carter’s most recent legal costs and dictated a statement for Southwest to relay to employees. He ordered the three lawyers to complete at least eight hours of religious liberty training from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which offers training on compliance with federal law prohibiting religious discrimination in the workplace.<br/>
When a Florida woman’s pink hard-shell roller bag didn’t show up at the baggage carousel after her flight was canceled, she panicked. Then she checked the location-tracking feature of the Apple Watch she had packed inside. It was pinging from an address about six miles north of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where she had checked her bag, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. The woman went to the address. And although she didn’t find her bag or anyone at the house, she took photos and videos of luggage scattered outside, the Sheriff’s Office said in an affidavit. That touched off an investigation that led to the arrest in March of a man who worked at the airport and lived at the address. He was charged with grand theft after the Sheriff’s Office said that surveillance video showed him rummaging through her bag at the airport. The office said he had stolen more than $5,000 worth of her belongings, including her Apple Watch, iPad, MacBook, jewelry, clothes and toiletries. The woman, Paola Garcia, was not identified in court documents, but she spoke this week to WPLG, a Florida television station, about her decision go to the man’s address after Spirit Airlines canceled her flight on March 3. Garcia, a college student, could not be reached for comment on Friday, but she said in the interview with WPLG that Spirit had told her it would deliver her bag to her home. When she saw the address, she wondered, “How can Spirit deliver my suitcase there?” By going to the home, Garcia told WPLG, she hoped in particular to get back her MacBook, which she needed for a test. When she saw other pieces of luggage outside the house, she called 911, she said. “The first thing the police told me was, like, ‘What are you doing here?’” Garcia said. “‘This is so dangerous for you to be here.’” The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said that it had searched an internal airport database of employees and matched the address with a man named Junior Geneus Bazile, who was working at the airport on the day the woman’s bag disappeared. Story has more.<br/>
A potential disaster was narrowly avoided when a packed passenger plane took off just seconds before it was about to run out of runway because of a software glitch. The Boeing aircraft, operated by TUI, departed from Bristol Airport for Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on 9 March with 163 passengers on board when it struggled to take off. The 737-800 plane cleared runway nine with just 260 metres (853ft) of tarmac to spare at a height of 10ft. It then flew over the nearby A38 road at a height of just 30 metres (100ft) travelling at the speed of around 150kts (about 173mph). The A38 is a major A-class busy road, connecting South West England with the Midlands and the north. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), part of the Department for Transport, said the incident was the result of insufficient thrust being used during take-off. “A Boeing 737-800 completed a takeoff from Runway 09 at Bristol Airport with insufficient thrust to meet regulated performance,” the AAIB report said. “The autothrottle (A/T) disengaged when the takeoff mode was selected, at the start of the takeoff roll, and subsequently the thrust manually set by the crew (84.5% N1 ) was less than the required takeoff thrust (92.8% N1 ). Neither pilot then noticed that the thrust was set incorrectly, and it was not picked up through the standard operating procedures (SOPs).”<br/>
Emirates is testing a robot to potentially clean aircraft seats, a move that could allow workers to focus their attention and resources on other tasks. The Dubai airline is working with Hivebotics, which manufactures autonomous bathroom cleaning robots, to develop aircraft-cleaning robots. Hivebotics harnesses hardware and software intelligence, and specialises in automating high-risk and specialised tasks. “Our initial product was actually an autonomous toilet-cleaning robot,” said Rishab Patwari, Hivebotics' CE and co-founder. “The airline reached out to us and said 'look, can you repurpose a toilet-cleaning robot for something we can use for our airline cleaning?'” The company's robot was displayed on the sidelines of ForsaTEK, Emirates Group's annual showcase of technology shaping aviation's future. Rishab said the robot was currently being tested as a prototype, and said that it would make cleaners' jobs more efficient, rather than obsolete. “We want humans to focus on the most significant tasks and robots to handle the most repetitive tasks,” he said. “So, the robot should do 80% of the baseline cleaning, but humans inspect.”<br/>
Oman Air and SalamAir have launched Omani airlines’ latest codeshare partnership, which offers passengers an expanded range of travel options within the sultanate and beyond. During a meeting of top officials, the airlines discussed their future prospects as national carriers and their common commitment to supporting the country’s tourism goals as part of Oman’s 2040 Vison, said a statement. Con Korfiatis, CEO of Oman Air, said: “We are excited about this expanded codeshare partnership between Oman Air and SalamAir and the strengthening of our collaboration. This latest development enables us to jointly offer even more choice and schedule options, which both benefits our customers and serves the broader tourism ambitions of the country.”<br/>
Air Arabia, a leading regional low-cost carrier, has announced the resumption of its first flight to Basra from Sharjah International Airport. Announcing the new flights, Air Arabia said Basra is its fourth direct route to Iraq from Sharjah, following Baghdad, Najaf, and Erbil. The new route connects the emirate and the Iraqi city with a frequency of four weekly flights, it stated. Upon arrival at Basra International Airport, Air Arabia aircraft was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute and a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by representatives from Air Arabia and Basra International Airport. "Air Arabia’s new flights to Basra mark a significant milestone in our commitment to providing affordable travel options within the region," remarked Adel Al Ali, the Group CEO of Air Arabia. "The new service offers our customers the opportunity to connect directly between both cities and benefit from our value-driven product and services while further contributing to strong travel and trade ties between both countries," he added.<br/>
South Korean low-cost operator T’way Air is looking to further expand its European operations, as it prepares to launch flights to Rome and Barcelona. The airline on 7 June says it has gotten approvals to operate to Frankfurt in October and is working to eventually launch flights to Paris, after “an agreement was reached between Korean and French aviation authorities”. “Both routes will be launched taking business schedules into consideration. We plan to start selling air tickets as soon as the date is confirmed,” T’way adds. It will operate thrice-weekly flights to Rome and Barcelona - its second and third European points - on 8 August and 11 September, respectively, with Airbus A330-200s that seat 246 passengers. According to Cirium fleets data, the airline currently has one A330-200 in its fleet (HL8211), which was formerly operated by Korean Air. The airline received approvals to operate to Europe as part of conditions for the approval of the merger between compatriots Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. European Union regulators cited concerns of reduced competition on European routes, and imposed the condition that another Korean operator be allowed to operate these routes. T’way marked its foray into European operations in May this year, when it began flying to Zagreb in Croatia. <br/>