Louise Haigh says she hopes to ensure a repeat of the air traffic control failure of August 2023 never happens again
Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.
She said she wants to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.
Continue reading...Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin flights in and out of Australia were cancelled after Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted
Three Australian airlines have cancelled flights to and from Bali after a volcanic eruption near the Indonesian holiday spot created a dangerous ash cloud.
The groundings affected Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded.
Continue reading...Spirit Airlines flight heading from Florida to Port-au-Prince diverted to Dominican Republic after flight attendant was grazed by bullet, amid broader violence in Haiti’s capital
Haiti’s international airport shut down on Monday after gangs opened fire at a commercial flight landing in Port-Au-Prince, prompting some airlines to suspend operations as the country swore in a new interim prime minister who promised to restore peace.
The Spirit Airlines flight headed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-Au-Prince was just hundreds of feet from landing in Haiti’s capital when gangs shot at the plane, striking a flight attendant who suffered minor injuries, according to the airline, the US embassy and flight tracking data.
Continue reading...Problems with delivery of 737 aircraft left airline ‘over-crewed and over-costed’, says CEO Michael O’Leary
Ryanair’s profits have dropped by nearly a fifth, as lower peak-season fares met higher costs that the airline blamed partly on problems at Boeing.
Summer fares were down by an average 7% as Ryanair cut prices to keep its planes full, carrying 9% more passengers from April to September this year than last.
Continue reading...More than 30,000 workers have been on strike since September and rejected two earlier offers from company
Striking Boeing workers will vote on an improved contract offer on Monday, which includes a 38% pay rise over four years and a bigger signing bonus, their union said on Thursday.
More than 30,000 factory workers who produce Boeing’s strongest-selling 737 Max commercial jet and other planes have been on strike since 13 September and have rejected two earlier offers from Boeing.
Continue reading...Prime minister issues statement saying ‘all travel has been appropriately declared’ after allegations made in new book over politicians’ travel
Anthony Albanese has denied ever calling Alan Joyce for free Qantas flight upgrades during his time as transport minister and opposition leader.
The rebuke comes days after the claims were made in a new book by former Nine newspaper columnist Joe Aston, alleging a number of federal politicians had regularly received free business or first-class upgrades as part of their membership to the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge, described as the “speakeasy for Australia’s ruling class”.
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Continue reading...Prime minister’s office says opposition leader is making a ‘pathetic attempt at creating a headline’ over flight upgrades from 2009 to 2019
Peter Dutton says Anthony Albanese should refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) after questioning whether the prime minister’s ties to Qantas influenced his government’s decision not to allow more Qatar Airways flights into the country.
It follows allegations in a book that Albanese had personally liaised with the former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce about obtaining free flight upgrades during his time as transport minister and opposition leader.
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Continue reading...Judge rebukes airline for ‘vast legal costs’ expended to defend claims of illegally firing baggage handlers
A federal court judge has rebuked Qantas for the “vast legal costs” expended to defend claims it illegally sacked almost 1,700 baggage handlers in 2020, as former workers move a step closer towards a compensation payout.
Justice Michael Lee ruled on Monday that three test cases should receive $30,000, $40,000 and $100,000. They suffered varying amounts of “non-economic loss”, the court ruled.
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Continue reading...Three-month audit by FAA was not triggered by a specific event but is part of its oversight of safety culture
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it will open a three-month review of Boeing’s compliance with safety regulations, continuing the agency’s closer oversight of the company since a panel blew off a Boeing jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
The FAA said its review will examine key areas of safety processes at Boeing to make sure that they “result in timely, accurate safety-related information for FAA use”.
Continue reading...A spokesperson for the airline says it is doing ‘what we can with what’s available now’ after Environmental Defenders Office singles out ‘carbon neutral’ claim
Climate campaigners have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate whether “fly carbon neutral” and other sustainability claims by Qantas are misleading or deceptive.
The greenwashing complaint, filed by the Environmental Defenders Office on behalf of research and advocacy organisation Climate Integrity, urged the competition watchdog to investigate the airline’s marketing materials and the credibility of the company’s transition to net zero.
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Continue reading...This blog is now closed
National weather forecasts
Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:
Continue reading...But the national carrier says contingencies are in place to prevent traveller chaos in capital cities on Monday morning
More than 1,000 Qantas engineers across Australia will walk off the job in industrial action they claim could kick the week off with peak-hour travel chaos, but the airline says it has contingencies in place and is not expecting any disruptions to travel.
Flights between 7am and 9am across three timezones on Monday morning are set to be affected in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
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Continue reading...Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air France and Lufthansa among carriers pausing services to and from Beirut
International airlines have suspended more flights to Lebanon amid an Israeli bombardment that authorities said had killed almost 560 people since Monday.
The United Arab Emirates-based airline Emirates announced the temporary suspension of its flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday. Its sister airline flydubai also cancelled flights to Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Continue reading...Rodent posed risk to electrical wiring on Scandinavian Airlines flight from Oslo to Málaga
Airline meals hardly carry high expectations but this week a passenger faced more than just a disappointing supper after a mouse crawled out of their meal, forcing their flight to make an unscheduled landing.
The incident occurred during a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Málaga on Wednesday, forcing the plane to land in Copenhagen, the company said on Friday.
Continue reading...Union members ‘frustrated’ that company was allegedly unwilling to discuss wages and pensions in negotiations
Union officials have accused Boeing of being “unprepared” after talks resumed to end the US’s largest strike.
Boeing workers will be joined on picket lines by the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Brian Bryant on Thursday a day after the company announced plans to furlough “large numbers” of employees.
Continue reading...Lobbyists are increasingly confident about expansion plans as concerns for the economy start to deepen
The younger, tormented minister mulling his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow’s third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground.
But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet which, many in aviation hope, may usher in bigger airports and more flights – as well as enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms.
Continue reading...US Pacific north-west region workers voted 96% in favor of the strike and walked off the job early on Friday
Tens of thousands of Boeing workers walked off the job early on Friday after voting overwhelmingly to strike for higher pay, halting production of the planemaker’s strongest-selling jet as it wrestles with chronic output delays and mounting debt.
The company said on Friday it was ready to talk and “get back to the table to reach a new agreement” as striking workers picketed.
Continue reading...Just hours after opinion appears in AFR, shadow minister clarifies divestiture as ‘one of the various tools the treasurer needs to look at’ but not Coalition policy
The shadow transport minister, Bridget McKenzie, was forced to clarify the Coalition does not support breaking up Qantas just hours after floating the possibility of forced divestiture powers in the aviation sector.
McKenzie warned the competition watchdog’s review of the aviation sector “will be a failure if it does not address the role of divestiture” in an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review on Monday.
Continue reading...Nasa’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who flew Starliner amid technical failures, will remain at ISS until February
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landed in a New Mexico desert late on Friday, months after its original departure date and without the two astronauts it carried when it launched in early June.
Starliner returned to Earth seemingly without a hitch, a Nasa live stream showed, nailing the critical final phase of its mission.
Continue reading...British manufacturer’s share price slumped 6.5% after engines failed on Cathay Pacific flight on Monday
• Cathay Pacific says 15 jets need new part after Rolls-Royce engine problem
An engine failure on a Cathay Pacific flight on Monday has put the spotlight on the British manufacturer Rolls-Royce, which makes and maintains the power plant on the Airbus A350.
As airlines that operate the twin-aisle plane inspect their fleets, investors are trying to establish whether there will be broader implications for Rolls-Royce. The A350, which carries up to 410 passengers, is used mainly on lon-haul routes.
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