unaligned

If you’re one of the many Canadians who’ve reportedly cancelled a flight to the U.S. amid the now-ongoing trade war, Flair Airlines has ‘tariffic flight deals’ to rebook and skirt Canada’s southern neighbour. The Canadian low-cost carrier is offering 25% off one-way and round-trip flights to any of its destinations in Canada and getaways to and from multiple hot spots in both Mexico and the Caribbean. “Nothing can trump this deal,” the airline writes on its socials promoting the sale. The travel period isn’t huge — March 11 through June 12 with no blackout dates — and the two-day flash ends Wednesday night at 11:59 p.m. Within Canada, fly one-way from Vancouver to Edmonton for $36 or book a round-trip from Toronto to Halifax for a maritime adventure for $128 round-trip. Prices don’t include all the added expenses that come with booking — bag and seat fees and other optional charges. Meanwhile, Calgarians can skip down to Cancun and back for $280. Flair competitor AirTransat has an offer promoting domestic flights, but the discount rate is not indicated. Most of Canada’s other major airlines have various ongoing offers, but not themed around tariffs or travel destinations outside the U.S. Air Canada’s and WestJet’s end Wednesday night, Porter Airlines’ ends Friday.<br/>

Ryanair made headlines Wednesday with plans for a "100% paperless" system for boarding passes. The Irish low-cost carrier will adopt an app-only policy from November 3. It says all passengers will have to use the digital boarding pass generated in the airline’s ‘myRyanair’ app. Physical boarding passes — including those currently printed at home — will no longer be an option. However, Skift has learned that there will be exceptions to the seemingly strict new rule. Put simply, Ryanair’s paperless push will ultimately be outside its control. As the airline itself acknowledges, not all airports in its network accept digital boarding passes. The carrier’s website says none of its Turkish airports, except Dalaman, offer mobile options. All Moroccan airports also require traditional paper passes, as well as routes to the UK from the Albanian capital, Tirana. Ryanair's website currently advises: “Customers traveling from these airports must check-in online and print out a paper boarding pass for their flight(s).” A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed to Skift that exceptions will be made for "operational reasons" at airports that do not recognize digital boarding passes. The airline said it will notify passengers flying on affected routes ahead of departure. While Ryanair's exposure to the Turkish market is limited, it is a much bigger player in Morocco where it flies from 13 airports. This includes the key leisure markets of Marrakech and Agadir. Skift analysis of Cirium Diio data suggests Ryanair will offer more than 110,000 seats a week from Morocco in November onboard more than 580 weekly flights. This means almost half a million passengers each month could still be using paper boarding passes.<br/>

Dubai-based carrier Emirates will spend around $5b on refitting 220 of its aircraft in order to sustain its network, President Tim Clark said on Wednesday, as the industry struggles with delivery delays for newer jets. "We have no choice," Clark told reporters. "This one is the only way we could sustain the network, grow the network." Other airlines are also upgrading their airplanes, including Air India, which is working on refitting its existing fleet in an effort to maintain routes and upgrade the quality of the customer experience. Clark said Emirates always looks to be at the lead of product development but has had to compromise and take matters into its own hands given delays from plane manufacturers. "The engineering groups are working at a pace to get these aircraft turned around as quickly as possible. We have most of the parts now that we need to do it," Clark told reporters. Clark, who has been an outspoken critic of Boeing since door blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight last year, said he had yet to meet Boeing's new CEO Kelly Ortberg and that he wasn't certain of changes in the delivery schedule. He added that the airline is not optimistic about Boeing 777X deliveries in October of 2025 and that it's not sure when it'll meet production ramp-up requirements.<br/>

Korean investigators have disclosed that the fire which destroyed an Air Busan Airbus A321 originated in a rear overhead luggage bin, as the aircraft awaited a delayed pushback from Gimhae airport. Investigation authority ARAIB’s preliminary findings have not specified the source of the 28 January blaze. Passenger boarding had been completed and the exit doors closed prior to the outbreak of fire. The aircraft had been due to depart for Hong Kong at 21:55 but was delayed by en route congestion, so pushback was rescheduled to 22:33. Passengers were given a safety briefing before being informed of the delay. Some 10min after the doors were closed a ‘lavatory smoke’ warning was issued in the cockpit. “Shortly after, a cabin crew [member] reported to the captain a fire in the rear of the cabin, and the captain ordered the cabin manager to proceed with emergency evacuation,” says ARAIB. It states that the evacuation involved deploying seven slides, one for each exit apart from the forward right-hand door. The crew notified air traffic control of the situation before evacuating, with the captain the last to leave after checking all the passengers had gone. Of the 170 passengers, three were seriously injured and another 28 receive minor injuries. None of the six crew members was injured.<br/>

One of Thailand’s main airlines is suspending flights between Bangkok and a northern province for more than a month because of poor visibility caused by air pollution, the carrier confirmed on March 5. Air pollution spikes in Thailand, especially in the north, between December and April as farmers burn stubble to prepare land for the next crop season. Domestic carrier Bangkok Airways is halting flights from Bangkok to the north-western town of Mae Hong Son because smog was expected to make visibility too poor to land, an airline official said. “We experienced the same problem (in 2024), when smog levels were extremely high,” the Bangkok Airways official at Mae Hong Son airport said. The airport authority in Mae Hong Son, a popular stop on the backpacker trail in northern Thailand, announced on Facebook last week that flights would be suspended from March 15 to April 20. “Smog affects vision and safety of the airlines,” the post said. The air quality index for Mae Hong Son was 7.9 times greater than World Health Organisation guidelines, according to IQ Air data, which measures global air pollution.<br/>