LOT Polish Airlines has also suspended flights from Poland and Hungary for 10 days
Jet2 planes heading to Spain turned back in mid-air on Saturday as the airline cancelled all flights to the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision follows a sharp increase in infections in Spain and a rise in the death toll to 120. The government has declared a two-week state of emergency and placed 60,000 people in four towns under mandatory lockdown on Friday.
Continue reading...Coronavirus memo says British Airways will be ‘parking aircraft in a way we never have before’
British Airways has warned staff it is in a fight for survival and expects to make job cuts and ground an unprecedented number of planes, as it said the coronavirus pandemic has caused a crisis “worse than 9/11” for the airline industry.
BA’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, said in a message to 45,000 employees entitled “The Survival of British Airways” that the airline would be “parking aircraft in a way we never have before” after the drop in demand was compounded by the shock US travel ban from Europe announced on Wednesday night. It came as the German media reported that the country’s flagship carrier, Lufthansa, might ground most of its fleet and ask for state aid in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise move.
Continue reading...Airline has so far paid back 638 head-office staff, Fair Work Ombudsman says, and agreed to give every affected worker an additional $1,000
The Fair Work Ombudsman has said Qantas is paying back millions of dollars to hundreds of workers it underpaid for up to eight years.
The airline had so far paid back $7.1m to 638 staff at head office who were underpaid between June 2011 and June 2019, the ombudsman said on Friday.
Continue reading...Preliminary findings conclude Boeing ‘jeopardized the safety of the flying public’ in its attempts to get Max approved by regulators
A “culture of concealment”, cost cutting and “grossly insufficient” oversight led to two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircraft that claimed 346 lives, a congressional report has concluded.
The preliminary findings, issued by Democrats on the House transportation committee, conclude that Boeing “jeopardized the safety of the flying public” in its attempts to get the Max approved by regulators.
Continue reading...IATA warns Covid-19 will cost airlines up to $113bn in revenue this year, as regional airline Flybe collapses, and experts fear others will follow
HSBC has confirmed that an employee has tested positive for the coronavirus, and that some colleagues from its research department have been sent home while the office is deep-cleaned.
A spokesperson says:
We have been informed that one of our employees at 8 Canada Square has been diagnosed with COVID-19. This colleague is under medical supervision and has self-isolated. We are working closely with the health authorities.
We are deep-cleaning the floor where our colleague worked and shared areas of the building. Colleagues on that floor, and others who came into contact with him, have been advised to work at home. Based on medical and official advice the building remains open and operates as normal.
Back at the British Chambers of Commerce annual meeting today, health secretary Matt Hancock said he was working with the Department for Work and Pensions on a way to extend sickness benefit to all workers.
That could including contract workers and the self employed, my colleague Phillip Inman reports.
“It is vital that the same approach applies to all workers,”
Related: PM: workers with coronavirus will get sick pay from day one
Continue reading...Appeal court says decision to give go-ahead not consistent with Paris agreement
Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal by the court of appeal because ministers did not adequately take into account the government’s commitments to tackle the climate crisis.
The ruling is a major blow to the project at a time when public concern about the climate emergency is rising fast and the government has set a target in law of net zero emissions by 2050. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, could use the ruling to abandon the project, or the government could draw up a new policy document to approve the runway.
Continue reading...Airline offers unpaid leave, beverage firm fears £200m hit and Danone also voices concern
Lufthansa has announced a hiring freeze and is offering employees unpaid leave as part of a range of cost-saving measures to attempt to limit the financial impact of the spread of the coronavirus.
The German airline, which has already cancelled all flights to China until the end of March, also said it will expand part-time work options and cancel flight attendant and other personnel training courses from April onwards. Those that are already on courses will not be hired. The company said it aimed to offer affected trainees “employment contracts in the long term”.
Continue reading...‘Absolutely unacceptable’ discovery a new setback for US firm, which orders inspection
Boeing has ordered inspections of its entire fleet of grounded 737 Max planes after it found debris in the fuel tanks of some of the aircraft, in the latest setback for the US plane-maker.
The specialist aviation blog Leeham News, which first reported the discovery of the “foreign object debris” (FOD), said it was unlikely that the inspections would delay the recertification of the jets. However, it will take up to three days to inspect each plane because fuel must be drained and vapours dissipated before the fuel tanks can be opened.
Continue reading...UK court sanctions fines after firm admits using agents across world to bribe officials to land high-value contracts
Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational, is to pay a record £3bn in penalties after admitting it had paid huge bribes on an “endemic” basis to land contracts in 20 countries.
Anti-corruption investigators hailed the result as the largest ever corporate fine for bribery in the world after judges declared that the corruption was “grave, pervasive and pernicious”.
Continue reading...Sars-like virus has infected nearly 50 people in China, killing two, with cases also detected in Japan and Thailand
Australia’s top health official says there is “no current need” to enhance existing airport screening measures to target an unknown Sars-like virus that has infected nearly 50 people in China and killed two since it was reported on New Year’s Eve.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, said authorities in Australia were “watching developments very closely” but had not issued a travel warning.
Continue reading...Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has promised justice for victims of the Ukraine Airlines flight shot down in Iran. Memorials were held across Canada for the 57 Canadians killed in the crash - including one interrupted by a protester in Toronto
Boeing’s chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, ousted amid the worst crisis in the company’s history, will depart with stock and pension awards worth more than $60m, the company announced on Friday.
Related: Boeing: internal emails reveal chaos and incompetence at 737 Max factory
Continue reading...Communications from April 2017 show employees saying plane ‘designed by clowns who are supervised by monkeys’
Boeing on Thursday released hundreds of internal messages that raise serious questions about its development of simulators and the 737 Max that was grounded in March after two fatal crashes, prompting outrage from US lawmakers.
In an April 2017 exchange of instant messages, two employees expressed complaints about the Max following references to issues with the plane’s flight management computer. “This airplane is designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” one unnamed employee wrote.
Continue reading...Experts say debris fragments and sudden loss of fail-safe systems point to missile
To civil aviation professionals, including pilots, engineers and former crash investigators, there was something immediately puzzling about the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet that fell burning out of the sky minutes after takeoff from Tehran.
Conversation on forums, and in a risk assessment that was rapidly produced by the organisations OpsGroup, pointed to the sudden and catastrophic nature of the event, including the loss of both communications and tracking systems.
Continue reading...Ukraine investigators also cite engine failure and Russian missile among possible causes
A senior Ukrainian security official has said his country’s investigators will explore a range of possible reasons why one of its passenger jets crashed in Iran, including a drone collision, a terrorist bomb and a missile attack, but did not rule out a technical fault was to blame.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, cited unconfirmed reports circulating on social media that debris from a Russian-made missile had been found at the site, on the outskirts of Tehran, where the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and staff onboard.
Continue reading...Leaders of Ukraine and Canada vow to find cause of crash that killed dozens of their citizens
Iran’s aviation authority has said it will not hand over flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed moments after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew onboard, either to the aircraft’s manufacturer or US aviation authorities.
The statement was issued on Wednesday as the leaders of Ukraine and Canada, from which dozens of citizens died, vowed to identify the cause of the crash amid contradictory statements and swirling speculation.
Continue reading...A passenger plane bound for Kyiv has crashed close to Tehran's main international airport, killing 176 people. Video circulated by Iranian news agencies appears to show the Boeing 737-800 bursting into flame minutes after takeoff and plummeting to earth. There was no early indication the crash was linked to Iran's Wednesday morning missile strikes on bases in Iraq hosting US and coalition troops
Continue reading...Footage released by Iran Press TV appears to show burning wreckage from moments after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed near Tehran.
The Ukrainian airliner, which had 176 people onboard, crashed soon after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport. Iran's Red Crescent said there was no chance of finding survivors
Iranians, Canadians, Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and three Britons killed in crash, reports say
A passenger plane carrying 176 people bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has crashed a few minutes after taking off from Tehran’s main international airport.
Iran’s Red Crescent has said there was no chance of finding survivors, and Pir Hossein Kulivand, an Iranian emergency official, later told state TV all those on board were killed in the crash.
Continue reading...Which? finds BA ranks badly for both long and short haul, but Ryanair still props up table
British Airways has taken a nosedive in UK passengers’ opinions and is now rated just above Ryanair at the bottom end of the airline rankings.
The flag carrier was among the worst rated for food, seat comfort and value for money on both short and long-haul services in the annual Which? poll.
Continue reading...