Norway's anti-discrimination tribunal found Air France's policy against seating men next to unaccompanied children to prevent any possibility of predatory behaviour to be discriminatory, a passenger said Tuesday. The cabin crew of an Oslo to Paris flight in October 2022 asked a man to swap seats with a woman before takeoff, saying he could not be seated next to two children travelling alone. The man, Dominique Sellier, filed a complaint with the Norway's anti-discrimination tribunal Diskimineringsnemnda. In proceedings, a lawyer for Air France argued that the crew was merely following company policy, which was based on the argument that men account for 97.93% of all suspected sex crimes. "It was not a very nice situation," Sellier told AFP on Tuesday. "The passengers around me were looking at me, they were waiting for me to change seats so we could take off," he said. "Maybe some of it was me projecting, but I interpreted some of the looks like 'this guy is shady'," he said. According to Diskimineringsnemnda's ruling late last year, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Air France's policy stipulates that if a flight is fully booked, a woman should "preferably" be seated next to unaccompanied minors. Contacted by AFP, Air France's lawyer said he had no comment.<br/>
oneworld
A big bet on transatlantic flying has paid off for long-suffering investors in British Airways owner IAG, as a year-long rally lifts the airline group’s shares to their highest level since the start of the pandemic. Shares in IAG, the owner of five carriers including BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus, last week closed at just under 316p, the highest level since February 2020. The stock was down on Monday, but it more than doubled last year to make it the top performer on London’s FTSE 100. The turnaround in the company’s fortunes came as investors cheered a second consecutive summer of record profits built on lucrative transatlantic flying, which has seen particularly strong demand since the end of the pandemic. “They have focused on where they can fly to win,” said Andrew Lobbenberg, head of European transport equity research at Barclays. This allowed IAG to pay off its outstanding pandemic debt and reinstate its dividend. It also announced E350mn of shareholder buybacks late last year, the first since the pandemic. “Demand remains strong across the Atlantic and within Europe,” said Nicholas Cadbury, IAG’s CFO, adding that the group’s shares were supported by “significant cash flow and increasingly strong balance sheet”, which increased investor returns. One of the biggest questions now hanging over IAG is whether a £7b investment plan in British Airways can improve service and reduce delays and other operational problems at its main profit generator.<br/>
A British Airways plane had to be taken out of service after a crew member accidentally set off the emergency slide. The incident occurred at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday (Tuesday NZT) as the Airbus A321 was on the ground being readied for service. No passengers had boarded the flight to Belgium, but while they were at the gate, a crew member accidentally set off the slide. The Sun newspaper claims the error cost up to £100,000 (NZ$218,000) and delayed passengers by three hours as a replacement plane was found. In a statement, the airline apologised for the delay as “teams worked hard to arrange a replacement aircraft so customers were able to travel with us as planned”. The airline has quite a lot of history in accidentally deploying the emergency slide. Aviation site Simply Flying counted up to five similar instances in just a year. In February 2004, a British Airways captain at London Heathrow allegedly accidentally activated the slide moments before take-off. The doors had been closed and armed when the crew wanted to move some excess carry-on bags into the hold. The captain opened the doors but failed to disarm them causing the slide to automatically deploy.<br/>
Finnair has announced an expanded codeshare arrangement with American Airlines covering flights from the US to Mexico. The two Oneworld carriers have agreed to add Finnair’s code on American’s flights from its Dallas-Fort Worth hub to 12 cities in Mexico, including Mexico City, Monterrey, Cancun, Guadalajara, Mérida, Oaxaca and Puerto Vallarta. Finnair flies from Helsinki to Dallas-Fort Worth up to seven times per week during the current winter schedule, with frequency on the route rising to 11 flights per week this summer. Fredrik Wildtgrube, Finnair’s SVP of alliances and airline partnerships, said: “The co-operation opens up a comprehensive choice of destinations for our customers to Mexico, which is a popular travel destination from Finland and elsewhere in Northern Europe, especially during the winter.” The two carriers are part of the longstanding Atlantic Joint Business network, which also includes IAG-owned airlines British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and LEVEL.<br/>
State-owned SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) has developed a new five-year corporate plan after the government abandoned ambitions last year to sell a majority stake in the flag carrier. SriLankan's chairman, Sarath Ganegoda, told reporters that the plan, which follows on from a five-year plan released in 2019, emphasises operational efficiency, financial sustainability, and customer satisfaction. It also foregrounds an expanding fleet. Ganegoda said the carrier will soon add three new aircraft to its fleet and that it needs 27 aircraft to meet its operational requirements. According to ch-aviation fleets data, SriLankan Airlines operates 22 aircraft, including seven A320-200s, two A320-200Ns, four A321-200Ns (three are inactive), two A330-200s, and seven A330-300s. ch-aviation contacted SriLankan Airlines for more information about the new aircraft. The Sri Lankan government appointed Ganegoda to the chair's role in October 2024 after it decided to refresh the airline's board. He replaced Ashok Pathirage, who had served as chairman since 2019. Ganegoda has also served as an executive director at Hayleys Group, a local publicly-listed cross-sector conglomerate.<br/>