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A bullet struck a Southwest Airlines jet as it was preparing to take off from Dallas Love Field on Friday night, the airline said. No injuries were reported, and the plane safely returned to the terminal. The plane was hit on the right side, near the cockpit, as the crew prepared to depart for Indianapolis on Flight 2494, Southwest said in a statement. The airline said the plane had been taken out of service and replaced for the flight. It departed two hours later, according to FlightStats, a tracking website. The FAA said in a statement that the plane hit by gunfire was a Boeing 737. Dallas Love Field airport said in a statement that the plane “encountered a security incident” and sustained damage about 9:50 p.m., and that the city’s police and fire departments arrived at the scene to investigate. That caused the runway to be closed temporarily. Dallas police officers arrived at the airport just before 10 p.m. in response to a call reporting a shooting, the Dallas Police Department said in a statement. A preliminary investigation determined that a Southwest Airlines aircraft was “hit by gunfire,” the department said. Neither the airline nor the airport provided further details. Southwest is the main carrier at Love Field, and the airline’s headquarters is there, too. The airport, ringed by residential neighborhoods, is eight miles from downtown. Love Field was the region’s main airport until Dallas Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974.<br/>

Travelers aboard a Southwest Airlines flight preparing to leave Denver Friday had to evacuate after a passenger’s cell phone battery caught on fire and caused an airplane seat to catch fire as well. The Boeing 737-700 was still parked at a gate with 108 passengers on board when the incident occurred at Denver International Airport, according to Southwest. Passengers in the back of the plane fled using the rear emergency slides, and passengers toward the front left through the front door via the jet bridge, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline. Preliminary reports show one passenger had a minor injury during the evacuation, and the passenger whose phone caught fire is currently being treated for burns, the Dallas-based airline said in a statement. Crew members were able to extinguish the seat fire, the statement said. “Southwest’s customer care team is working to accommodate the passengers on another aircraft to their original destination of Houston,” an airline spokesperson said. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees. The incident remains under investigation.” The flight arrived three hours later to its destination at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, according to data from FlightAware.<br/>

Fitch Ratings on Friday downgraded the long-term credit rating of Spirit Airlines to 'CC' from 'CCC', bringing it below the low-cost carrier's North America peers and warning that a near-term default appears probable. Earlier this week, the carrier said that it was in talks with creditors and was continuing to explore strategic alternatives to improve liquidity. The negotiations, with a supermajority of the noteholders, remained productive, advanced materially and would resume in the near term, it added. The Dania Beach, Florida-based airline has been losing money despite robust travel demand. It reported losses in five of the past six quarters, casting doubt on its capacity to address upcoming debt obligations. "Spirit now faces the risk that customers may increasingly opt to book away towards other carriers, fearing a potential bankruptcy, thus accelerating the company's cash burn," Fitch said in its report. The rating agency expects 2024 cash outflow to be around $600m, partly offset by proceeds from asset sales and compensation from Pratt & Whitney for being unable to use aircraft with engine issues. Fitch also called attention to Spirit's shrinking footprint after its decision to sell 23 of its older Airbus aircraft and furlough 330 pilots in January 2025. It is one of the airlines affected by issues with RTX's Pratt & Whitney engines, forcing the carrier to ground a portion of its aircraft in 2024 and 2025, leaving it with bloated costs.<br/>

Some travellers who checked baggage on certain WestJet flights between 2014 and 2019 may now claim their share of a class-action settlement approved by the British Columbia Supreme Court last month and valued at C$12.5m. A statement from Evolink Law Group says anyone in the world who paid a fee for their first checked bag on domestic and international flights during certain periods when they shouldn’t have been charged has until Feb. 10, 2025, to submit a claim. The law firm based in Burnaby, B.C., says the settlement will be distributed to class members in the form of WestJet travel credits, not cash. It says the distribution will come after the deduction of class lawyer fees representing 1/3 of the settlement’s value, additional legal disbursements and a $1,500 honorarium for the plaintiff, which WestJet was to pay in cash. The B.C. Court of Appeal had dismissed WestJet’s previous efforts to overturn the certification of the class-action lawsuit in 2022. The Calgary-based airline ultimately amended wording in its domestic tariff to remove mention that one checked bag would be free. The statement from Evolink says any travel credits distributed to class members must be redeemed toward WestJet flights within two years or they will expire. Anyone who paid for their first checked bag on Canadian domestic flights booked directly with WestJet for travel between Oct. 29, 2014 and July 29, 2017 is eligible to submit a claim, the law firm says in a statement issued Friday.<br/>

Brazilian carrier Azul believes it has secured enough additional aircraft to support its target of increasing capacity by 10% next year. The low-cost carrier will increase capacity by around 6% this year – slightly below the 7% growth originally planned. It cites reduced domestic capacity as a result of the temporary closure of Porto Alegre airport due to floods earlier this year, a temporary reduction in its international capacity in the first half of the year, and new aircraft delivery delays. ”In terms of capacity growth we are looking at about 10% next year,” said Azul chief revenue officer Abih Shah during a third-quarter earnings call on 14 November. “It is going to be lower than that on the domestic side and its going to be higher than that on the international side, because of the four widebodies we received this year. We actually got widebodies from the secondary market,” he adds. “So we received two [A330]neos from the used market and two [A330]ceos from the used market, ex-Condor. Those are currently flying. We were looking at two other Neos as well, that were used, to enter maybe Q1 of next year. But we think we are better off not taking those now and going directly to our order with Airbus, which is going to be [delivering] in the December timeframe of next year.” Azul CE Rodgerson adds that the carrier acted to secure capacity because of the “challenge for engines” worldwide. “That’s not exclusive to narrowbodies, but is also a challenge we are seeing on the widebodies as well,” he says. “So that’s why its important for us to lock down these used aircraft this year.”<br/>

Ryanair cancelled flights to and from airports across Europe overnight and alerted passengers of the changes via email before sending them follow-up emails announcing their flights were not actually cancelled at all. The airline’s error has left some passengers who made alternative arrangements with other airlines frustrated and fearing they would be left out of pocket. Flights to Tenerife, Morocco and Birmingham in February were among those mistakenly cancelled and subsequently reinstated by the airline. One passenger who contacted The Irish Times woke up on Friday morning to an email from the airline sent shortly after midnight telling her that her flight from Dublin to Birmingham on February 7th had been cancelled for “commercial reasons”. “You can avail of rerouting to your destination and reasonable care, or a full refund of the cost of your ticket. You can change to alternative flights online, free of charge,” it said. The Ryanair customer logged into her booking and saw she was no longer set to depart. She was then due to fly with a different airline to Edinburgh for Ireland’s Six Nations rugby match. “I went on and booked an Aer Lingus flight, it was an earlier departure but that couldn’t be helped,” she told The Irish Times. She put off applying for the refund she was legally entitled to until she could get to her laptop. However, at 10:42am she received a text from Ryanair which said: “Your flight is not cancelled and will operate as scheduled. Please check your email for further information”. When she logged back into her booking she found that “sure enough the flight [was] back." Story has more.<br/>

It is named after a city that’s off-limits to civilian aviation due to incoming rockets and drones. Its fleet is just two propeller planes. And you won’t find it on Google Flights. But Air Haifa, among the few Israeli startups emerging during a year-old regional war that’s far from won, still has high hopes. A cascade of foreign carriers has shunned Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international gateway, meaning many in the country must turn to a handful of local alternatives to make the first leg of an overseas journey. Tickets are scarce and prices have skyrocketed. That’s created a niche for two-month-old Air Haifa. Unlike counterparts El Al, Israir or Arkia, it offers just one destination - Larnaca, in Cyprus - albeit six times each day. Flights to Athens are in the works. For all their tourist allure, both cities have become de-facto hubs for travelers to and from Israel. Thousands who were stranded overseas by flight cancellations over the summer were instructed by Israel’s transport ministry to make their way to Larnaca or Athens, and from there to be ferried to Tel Aviv aboard short-hop planes. That layover is now a semi-formal fixture, which meant that Air Haifa could count on a bonus clientele - connections passengers - when it launched the Larnaca route on Oct. 14. “We are seeing a lot of customers who come, even from the United States, through Europe on a connecting flight, and head to Cyprus for our flights, and vice-versa,” said Michael Strassburger, Air Haifa co-founder and executive vice president. That wasn’t how Air Haifa was conceived a year and half ago, before the Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip which triggered the war. The company had planned to base its operations in Haifa and serve some 3m people - around a third of Israel’s population - for whom the northern port city’s small airport would be closer than Ben Gurion, which is outside Tel Aviv. But the spread of fighting to southern Lebanon, 40 km (25 miles) from Haifa, meant the airline had to relocate operations to Ben Gurion and defer its planned services to Athens as well as to Eilat, Israel’s southern Red Sea port.<br/>

At Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, more than a year of war has taken its toll. Global airlines have canceled flights, gates are empty and pictures of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip guide the few arriving passengers to baggage claim. But one check-in desk remains flush with travelers: the one serving flights to the United Arab Emirates, which have kept up a bridge for Israelis to the outside world throughout the war. The Emirati flights, in addition to bolstering the airlines’ bottom line, have shined a light on the countries’ burgeoning ties — which have survived the wars raging across the Middle East and could be further strengthened as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office. “It’s a political and economic statement,” said Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. “They are the main foreign airlines that continue to fly.” Since the wars began with Hamas’ initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, many international airlines have halted, restarted and halted again their flights into Israel’s main gateway to the rest of the world. The concern is real for the carriers, who remember the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine 10 years ago and Iran shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran in 2020. But FlyDubai, the sister airline to the long-haul carrier Emirates, has kept up multiple flights daily and kept Israel connected to the wider world even as its other low-cost competitors have stopped flights. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad has continued its flights as well. While maintaining the flight schedule remains politically important for the UAE after its 2020 diplomatic recognition of Israel, it also provided a further shot in the arm for revenues — particularly for FlyDubai.<br/>

Hainan Airlines group has adjusted its Comac aircraft order, with unit Urumqi Air to no longer take delivery of 30 C919s. In a stock exchange filing, Hainan says Urumqi Air will instead opt for the C909 – formerly known as the ARJ21 – which it signed for on 12 November. The 30 C919 orders forms part of a larger Hainan commitment of 100 Comac aircraft, comprising 60 C919s and 40 ARJ21s, for its Urumqi Air and Suparna Airlines units. The airline group first disclosed its commitment to order the Comac jets in 2023, and firmed up these commitments on 12 November, two days before the order rejig disclosure. According to Hainan, the 30 C919s originally meant for Urumqi Air will now be re-assigned to “other related parties in the company”. It is unclear if the C919s will go to Suparna, or if another Hainan unit will take delivery of them. Hainan says it has consulted with Comac and that the rejig “does not constitute a breach of contract”. <br/>

Bangkok Airways is to wet lease a pair of Airbus narrowbodies from French operator Amelia to provide capacity boost for its international operations. The deal will involve an A319 and an A320, both of which will be based in Bangkok. Bangkok Airways says the pair will be deployed on flights to Luang Prabang in Laos, as well as Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia. The decision to wet lease the aircraft is “to accommodate increased demand for international flights”, says Bangkok Airways, which operates two A320s and 11 A319s, along with 10 ATR 72-600s. According to its website, Amelia has four A320s in its fleet, as well as a pair of A319s. At the recent Association of Asia Pacific Airlines’ Assembly of Presidents in Brunei, Bangkok Airways chief Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth hinted at leasing additional aircraft as part of its fleet strategy. The airline is also planning to issue a request for proposals for a jet to replace its Airbus A320 family fleet – 11 A319s and two A320s – by the end of the year, said Prasarttong-Osoth.<br/>