The founders of troubled Mexican airline Interjet are negotiating a settlement with tax authorities in an effort to avoid potential criminal fraud charges that could be filed as soon as next month, said an official familiar with the matter. Miguel Aleman Magnani, Interjet’s CEO, and his father, Chairman Miguel Aleman Velasco, could face fraud charges, as could the company itself, said the tax official, who asked not to be named because tax cases are protected by privacy laws. Negotiations may still lead to a settlement, the person said. The potential charges against the company and its top executives, which could be filed by the end of the year or early next year without a deal, stem from whether the company collected taxes from customers and employees but failed to forward the money to the government, said the official. Interjet’s alleged tax debts have complicated an effort to draw in $150m pledged by a group of outside investors as a lifeline to the carrier, which is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and financial woes that predate Covid-19. <br/>
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Aer Lingus has applied for slots at Manchester Airport as it continues to consider launching transatlantic services from Britain next year. The Irish carrier, part of International Airlines’ Group (IAG), hopes to operate a full summer schedule from the Republic in 2021, assuming air travel begins recovering from tough Covid-19 restrictions. It emerged on Thursday that Aer Lingus has applied to Manchester Airport for slots – that is take off and landing times – to allow it launch flights from there to North America next summer. Aer Lingus is considering flying transatlantic routes from Britain next year while there is continued uncertainty over the Republic’s likely approach to air travel. Consequently it is seeking the slots from Manchester as a contingency and may not take them up. If it does take them up, the airline has new planes due that it can allocate to services from the UK airport.<br/>
Emirates has disclosed that it is doubling its Airbus A380 frequencies to London Heathrow and increasing capacity on three other UK routes, in response to the UK government’s recent decision to add the UAE to its travel-corridor list. The carrier says that from 27 November its London Heathrow route, which is currently served twice-daily with an A380 and daily with a Boeing 777, will be operated four times a day using an A380. Emirates’ Manchester service will increase from eight flights a week to 10 from 1 December. Six of the flights will be operated using an A380 and the remaining four will be 777-300ER services. The airline’s Birmingham and Glasgow routes will be served daily from 27 November and 1 December, respectively. Both of these services are currently operated four times a week. Emirates says its “significant expansion” in the UK is in response to “increased demand” as a result of the recent establishment of a UK-UAE air travel corridor. Earlier this month, the UK government said that arrivals from the UAE would no longer have to quarantine for two weeks upon entering the country.<br/>
Vistara, an Indian full-service airline owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, is considering starting direct flights to the US as the COVID-19 pandemic increases demand for non-stop travel, a senior executive said on Friday. While the specific timeframe and aircraft requirements are yet to be finalised, Vistara is studying various scenarios for direct flights, said Vinod Kannan, CCO. COVID-19 brought air travel to a grinding halt earlier this year as nations imposed travel bans. Vistara has seen a rise in demand for non-stop flights, as passengers try to avoid stopovers to reduce the risk of getting infected - a trend it expects will continue in the future. Air India is the only Indian airline currently offering direct flights to the US. “This means there is definitely an opportunity...to fly direct to the US, and it is an opportunity we are looking at,” Kannan said. The airline, which started international flights last year, currently operates two Boeing widebody planes and has four more on order but Kannan said the specifications and layout were not suited for direct flights to the US. Whether Vistara would look at ordering new planes or leasing them is under discussion. “In today’s situation it is much easier to lease a widebody compared to one year ago. Those opportunities and scenarios are being worked on,” Kannan said.<br/>