• The NAACP is suing US Airways, representing a former employee in Philadelphia who said she and other employees were discriminated against. Among them is a claim that employee areas typically occupied by African Americans being referred to as “Compton” or “The Ghetto”. [Philly.com]
• Embraer delivered its first Lineage 1000, the bizjet version of the Embrear 190 airliner, to Al Jaber Aviation in United Arab Emirates. The first of their order of five, they expect to put the aircraft into charter work this coming March.
• March 28th will be the first day of airline service for the Sukhoi Superjet 100-95, flown by Aeroflot with flights from Moscow to both Chelyabinsk and Volgograd. [AirlinerRoute]
• Fighter pilots are getting a lot of exercise from “unruly passengers”, with the most recent installment being for AirTran Airways Flight 39 was escorted while it diverted Colorado Spring by two F-16s after a man tossed back a few too many drinks and locked himself in the bathroom. [The Gazette]
• Boston’s Logan Airport was closed for half an hour today after a Delta Air Lines flight aborted its takeoff roll because of what was thought to be smoke in the cockpit. flight 6049, an ERJ-145, returned to the gate where it was then suspected that the smell was deicing fluid.
• The Canadian Transportation Board is forcing Air Canada to be ready to create a nut-free section on their aircraft at the request of passengers with peanut and nut allergies. Even though Air Canada stopped serving sacks of peanuts years ago, they do still serve cashews and other snacks that do contain nuts. Implementation will be hairy, as the airline only has 30 days to meet this guideline, but they expect to leave all passengers satisfied. That’s what she said.
• Two employees from Qantas are being unofficially held in Vietnam while a financial dispute is cleared up regarding budget airline JetStar Pacific. The two men, the Jetstar Pacific COO and CFO have been held for two weeks at this point, while dealing with an investigating involving a $31 million loss following fuel hedge challenges.
Speaking of needing to be dragged away in cuffs…