Aer Lingus will not cut flights from Dublin Airport next summer, according to CE Lynne Embleton, reacting on Friday to this week’s key court ruling on passenger caps at the gateway. The High Court suspended a decision by regulators to limit airlines at Dublin Airport to 25.2m between March and October 2025, air travel’s busy summer season, pending the outcome of a full hearing on the issue next month. Embleton said that the ruling meant “we do not have to reduce our capacity by 5%” at Ireland’s biggest airport next summer. Aer Lingus, rival Ryanair and several US carriers would have had to slash one million seats from their Dublin schedules had the court allowed regulators to impose the limit. This would have reduced flights at the airport, driving up air fares for holidaymakers next year. Aer Lingus told the court the limit would cost it E84m. “We have not put growth on our schedule and we have not taken capacity out,” Embleton said of the airline’s existing plans for next summer.<br/>
unaligned
Cypriot carrier Tus Airways’ newest investor will have an option to acquire the entire outstanding capital of the airline from its other shareholders. The investor – a company owned by entrepreneurs Ami Cohen and Arnon Englander – completed a transaction giving it a 75% stake in Tus on 6 November. This was achieved through the acquisition of 20.8% shareholdings from both Global Knafaim Leasing and US businessman Kenneth Woolley, leaving them each with a 12.5% interest. Cyprus’s competition protection commission stated in mid-October that it had been notified of a proposed acquisition of shares by an Israeli special-purpose vehicle, called Logo Jet, which was owned by two individuals in the holiday and air transport sector. Global Knafaim confirms the change in ownership, and says the new investor has an option to “purchase the remaining holdings” which runs until March 2028. It adds that it was paid $2.2m – and Woolley a similar sum – during the transaction. Tus Airways operates a fleet of Airbus A320s on leisure routes, and also conducts wet-lease services.<br/>
The authorities in Amsterdam on Friday were investigating what they called antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans that took place amid a charged atmosphere surrounding a soccer match involving a visiting Israeli team. The police in Amsterdam said that at least 62 people had been arrested in connection with attacks in the city, which unfolded over two tense days that saw people gather in support of the Israeli team while others protested its presence. The Dutch police said the violence included assaults on Israeli fans by people, some riding scooters, who kicked and beat them in “hit and runs.” Most of those arrested were later released, the police in Amsterdam said, though 10 people remained in custody as of Friday afternoon. Five Israelis who had been hospitalized with injuries were discharged, the police said, and between 20 and 30 others sustained light injuries. Concerned about the safety of its citizens, Israel’s government warned fans in Amsterdam to stay off the streets and helped arrange at least three flights to bring Israeli citizens home — an unusual move since the national airline, El Al, normally does not operate on the Sabbath. Street disturbances in Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, had been building since Wednesday night, a day before the match between an Israeli club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the Dutch team Ajax. Some people angered by the war in Gaza were upset that the Israeli team and their supporters had come to the city, and a protest had been planned for Thursday.<br/>
Hainan Airlines resumed direct flights between Beijing and Canada's Toronto on Sunday, as Chinese mainland and Canadian airlines start to intensively increase and resume direct flights between the two countries following Canada's removal of restrictions. On Sunday, HU7975 departed from Beijing Capital International Airport at 2:20 pm and will arrive in Toronto at 2:10 pm local time, according to a press release Hainan Airlines sent to the Global Times. The airline plans to operate one round-trip flight on the route each week. Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines will also expand and resume direct flights between China and Canada, China Central Television reported on Sunday. Direct flights will connect four Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province - with the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver, according to the report. Starting on Sunday, Air Canada began to operate seven weekly round-trip flights between Vancouver and Shanghai, it said.<br/>
The right engine of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operated by Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines has caught fire shortly after take-off from Rome's Fiumicino airport, an Italian airport official and the coast guard say. The plane, bound for the Chinese city of Shenzhen with 249 passengers and 16 crew members, turned back and landed safely after dumping fuel over the sea. The aircraft was apparently struck by a bird, the Italian coast guard said in a statement. Bird strikes are common and can be a significant threat to aircraft safety. There were no delays to air traffic at Fiumicino, the airport official said.<br/>
India’s Supreme Court has ordered the liquidation of the beleaguered Jet Airways, officially ending any hopes of a revival more than five years after the airline went bankrupt. In a ruling issued 7 November, the apex court found that airline owners Jalan-Kalrock Consortium had failed to implement the airline’s resolution plan, which was approved by the courts in 2021. The consortium, which comprises tycoon Murari Lal Jalan and UK-based Kalrock Capital, took control of Jet Airways - once the country’s largest privately-owned carrier - after it collapsed in 2019 amid mounting debts. While the revival plan was greenlit in 2021, the consortium faced a long-drawn legal battle with airline creditors, one which delayed a revival of operations. The court also found that an order from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in March this year was “perverse and unsustainable in law”. The country’s top tribunal had allowed a full transfer of ownership to the consortium without payment to creditors, and upheld the original resolution plan. Jet’s creditors then took the case to the Supreme Court, appealing against the NCLAT’s decision. In its grounds for the decision, the court states: “In the peculiar and alarming circumstances…and also keeping in mind the fact that almost five years have elapsed since the resolution Plan was duly approved by the NCLAT and there being no progress worth the name, we are left with no other option but to…direct that the corporate debtor be taken in liquidation.” <br/>