The British professional boxer Amir Khan has said he felt his removal from an American Airlines flight in the US was racially motivated. Khan, who was born and raised in Bolton by his Pakistani parents, said he and his colleague were “picked on” because they were “two Asian boys” and it was a week after the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. The 34-year-old and his colleague were on their way to a training camp in Colorado on 18 September when they were removed from Flight 700 to Dallas-Fort Worth at Newark Liberty international airport in New Jersey. American Airlines has said Khan and his colleague were “deplaned” because they repeatedly refused to comply with crew member requests to stow luggage, place phones in airplane mode and adhere to face mask requirements. But Khan has insisted none of this is true, conceding only that he was asked to turn his phone off once, which he did immediately. Asked by Kay Burley on Sky News if he felt his removal was racially motivated, Khan said: “Definitely definitely. I’m going to stand by that. It was 9/11 a week before that, then having two Asian boys sat at the front … I hope I’m wrong. But I had done nothing wrong. I got kicked off a plane for no reason and it was embarrassing for us.”<br/>
oneworld
Qatar Airways Group on Monday reported a doubling of annual losses to 14.9b riyal ($4.1b), hit by the COVID-19 collapse in long-haul travel and aircraft impairment charges. The state-owned group, which includes the airline and other aviation assets, said it booked a one-off impairment of 8.4b riyal on its fleet 10 Airbus A380s and 16 A330s jets. Its operating loss shrank 7% to 1.1b riyal. CE Akbar Al Baker has cautioned that the A380s, the world's biggest passenger jet, may never return to the airline's operational fleet due to the impact of the pandemic. The financial result for the year to March 31 compares with a 7.3b riyal loss in the year prior, which was also hit by a airspace ban by Saudi Arabia and others that ended in January. Total revenue and other operating income fell 42.5% to 29.4b riyal. Passenger revenue fell nearly 80% to 7.9b riyal. The number of passengers carried dropped 82% to 5.8m. Qatar Airways also reconfirmed it had received $3b in state support since the onset of the pandemic, provided via equity injections from its sole shareholder, the State of Qatar. It said it did not receive any subsidies in the form of salary support, tax relief or grants, while employees took a 15% temporary pay cut and the workforce shrank 27% to 36,707.<br/>
The longest ever commercial Qantas flight is scheduled to take place next month as part of the federal government's repatriation flights for stranded Australians. A Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner will fly from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Darwin non-stop on October 5, exceeding the distance of Qantas' previous longest commercial flight, from Perth to London. The repatriation flight to bring stranded Australians home from South America will cover about 14,680 kilometres, slightly further than the non-stop Perth to London 14,498 kilometre route. It will take close to 18 hours. Passengers arriving from Buenos Aires on October 5 will be housed in the Howard Springs quarantine facility after arriving in Darwin. However, there are concerns as to whether Australians in other parts of South America will be able to access the flight, due to Argentina's current border restrictions, which only allow citizens and permanent residents to enter.<br/>