Mexico should be able to recover its US category 1 air safety rating in less than six months following a downgrade by the Federal Aviation Administration, the CE of Mexican airline Volaris said Tuesday. Enrique Beltranena, CEO of Volaris, Mexico’s biggest carrier by passenger traffic, told Reuters in an interview he believed the country had already begun making improvements to its safety oversight before Tuesday’s downgrade was formally announced. Asked whether he thought Mexico could recover its top category rating within six months, he said: “I would hope it would be less than that” and argued the country was in a better position than when it suffered a downgrade in 2010. On that occasion the downgrade lasted about four months. “I would expect it to be a much faster process, much more effective,” he said. While the downgrade was not helpful, Volaris’s business would be virtually unaffected, and it would add more flights in Mexico and Central America in the coming months, even as the decision put the brakes on US expansion, he said.<br/>
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San Diego authorities charged a 28-year-old woman with felony battery after an attack on a Southwest Airlines plane in which a flight attendant lost two teeth and suffered other injuries to her face. The incident marked an escalation in unruly behavior by airline passengers and led the president of the flight attendants’ union to ask for more federal air marshals on planes. “Unfortunately, this is just one of many occurrences,” said the union president, Lyn Montgomery. She said there were 477 incidents of “misconduct” by passengers on Southwest planes between April 8 and May 15. The incident happened during a flight from Sacramento to San Diego on Sunday morning. San Diego Harbor Police said Tuesday that they arrested Vyvianna Quinonez, and charged her with battery causing serious bodily injury. <br/>
Brazilian airline Azul said late Monday it has hired advisers to look at consolidation opportunities within the region and that it was in a strong position to drive that consolidation. Azul also said Chile's LATAM Airlines Group had ended a codeshare agreement for domestic flights in Brazil that was launched last year after the pandemic upended air travel - a move that Azul believes was a reaction to its exploration of consolidation opportunities. "Azul is emerging from this crisis in a leadership position in terms of liquidity, network recovery and competitive advantages. Our plans are unchanged and I am confident that we are in the best position to pursue strategic alternatives at this point in time," CEO John Rodgerson said.<br/>
Nigerian start-up carrier Green Africa Airways is aiming to increase its fleet of ATR turboprops to as many as 15 aircraft by the end of next year. The airline says it is “set to become one of the largest operators” of the ATR 72-600, the type selected for its initial operations. It has already acquired three aircraft with which to commence services but says it has plans to deploy 12-15 on routes by December 2022. Lagos-based Green Africa has opened its online reservations system. The airline says it intends to commence flights on 24 June and states that it has “pre-sales approval” from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. “We are thrilled that our customers can now book their trips with us,” says CE Babawande Afolabi. “We are building a value carrier that will connect customers to their opportunities and be a catalyst for positive change across the region.”<br/>
Budget airline flydubai is flying at 65% of its pre-COVID-19 capacity prior to the closure of crucial source markets India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, according to the CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith. “We were doing very well because we were achieving a load factor of 73% (last year),” said Al Ghaith. “We did not operate any flight without covering our costs - because that would be murder.” The airline chief said he was optimistic about summer - “The biggest question would be: which country will be open?” Flydubai said all its employees on unpaid leave have been asked to join back from June onwards. The carrier had given its employees the option to go on unpaid leave or take a redundancy scheme. “And 97% of the people (who were approached) chose to take the unpaid leave – it was a commitment from the people that they wanted to stick with the airline,” said Al Ghaith. To chart the airline industry’s path forward, UAE’s regulators worked closely with the country’s airlines. “We were involved in the decision making from day one,” said Al Ghaith. “No decision was made without consulting, without going through a process. We have a process… where there are three different stages, and we are represented in each of these levels.”<br/>
A flight by an Israeli airline has failed to get a permit to travel through Saudi Arabia’s airspace and has been waiting in Tel Aviv for nearly five hours, the carrier said. Israir Airlines & Tourism Ltd.’s flight 661 was to depart at 9 a.m. local time, and it isn’t known why the permits haven’t been given, a spokeswoman for the airline said in a text message. The Foreign Ministry is dealing with the issue, she said. Israel’s Channel 13 reported earlier that Saudi Arabia had closed its airspace to Israeli flights. The kingdom allowed flights from Israel to go through its airspace after the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed last year to establish ties.<br/>
Indian civil aviation regulators have begun an investigation after a video went viral on social media that appeared to show a couple getting married midflight surrounded by family and friends. In the video on social media, guests and photographers could be seen crowded around the bride and groom on an aircraft, and most were not wearing masks. India is in the midst of a deadly second wave of coronavirus infections. In Tamil Nadu state, where the inflight wedding took place, temples and meeting halls are shut and weddings and other social events have a maximum attendance limit of 50 people. An official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said SpiceJet had been asked to file a complaint against those who violated the safety guidelines while the crew has been rostered off. “We will conduct a detailed enquiry and based on the outcome shall take further action,” the official said. A spokesman for SpiceJet said the aircraft was chartered by a travel agent in Madurai on May 23 for a flight after a wedding. He said the airline was taking action against those who violated the COVID safety rules.<br/>