Thousands of holiday flights without pilots

WASHINGTON: American Airlines was scrambling Wednesday to avoid thousands of cancelations over the busy holiday travel period after a scheduling glitch left many flights without pilots, the company said.

Some 15,000 flights scheduled between Dec 17 and 31 are without pilots after a COPENHAGEN: Iceland's opposition leader Katrin Jakobsdottir will become the country's new prime minister, after her Left-Green Movement on Wednesday agreed to form a coalition government, state broadcaster RUV reported.

Her party, which emerged as the second biggest party in snap parliamentary elections on Oct 28, entered coalition talks with the Independence Party, the scheduling system hiccup allowed too many pilots to take time off, the American Pilots Association said, according to news reports.

The airline said it will offer pilots 150 per cent of their hourly rate to cover affected flights and can also call on reserve pilots to prevent cancelations. — AFP

Opposition leader to become Iceland new PM

main partner in the current government coalition, and the Progressive Party two weeks ago.

Current Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the right-wing Independence Party called the snap election in September, after less than a year in government, as a scandal involving his father prompted a government ally to drop out of his ruling coalition. — Reuters