Category Archives: Airline industry

Military police remove climate protesters from Schiphol airport

Posted on by

Hundreds of demonstrators call for international hub in Amsterdam to curb emissions

Dutch military police have begun forcibly removing a group of climate protesters at Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam, after they refused to leave during a demonstration organised by Greenpeace.

Hundreds of protesters attended the demonstration on Saturday calling on the international air hub to adopt a plan to curb greenhouse emissions. The group had been allowed to protest outside the building only, but they broke that restriction, arguing that citizens’ rights to peaceful protest should not be restricted.

Continue reading...

FAA let Boeing 737 Max continue to fly even as review found serious crash risk

Posted on by

Analysis from US regulators found plane could have averaged a fatal crash about every two to three years without design changes

US regulators allowed Boeing’s 737 Max to keep flying even after their own analysis found the plane could have averaged one fatal crash about every two or three years without intervention.

According to a report dated a month after a Lion Air 737 Max crashed in October 2018, killing 189 people, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded the plane could become involved in more fatal crashes without design changes.

Continue reading...

‘We saw a double sunrise’: London-Sydney flight touches down after 19 hours

Posted on by

Qantas Dreamliner lands as part of trial for what would be the longest commercial route

A Qantas flight from London to Sydney has touched down safely after 19 hours and 19 minutes, as part of a trial for what would be the world’s longest-ever commercial route.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off on Thursday morning UK time and landed in Sydney at lunchtime on Friday. “We saw a double sunrise,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said after stepping off the flight. Qantas named the effort “Project Sunrise” after the airline’s endurance flights during the second world war.

Continue reading...

Burberry and Cathay Pacific profits dented by Hong Kong protests

Posted on by

Retailer and airline report disappointing figures as anti-government rallies take toll

Two companies with substantial interests in Hong Kong have announced figures that underline the damage being inflicted on the economy by the continuing anti-government protests.

Burberry said its sales were down more than 10% and it had slashed £14m off the value of its 12 stores in the territory.

Continue reading...

Boeing 737 Max jets could fly again by January with safety checks under way

Posted on by

World’s biggest planemaker hopes aviation authorities will soon approve plane’s flight control software

Boeing said on Monday it could have its fleet of 737 Max jets flying again by January as safety checks on the aircraft’s troubled flight software reach completion. The planes were grounded in March in the wake of two fatal crashes in the space of five months that killed 346 people.

The world’s biggest planemaker said it hoped the Federal Aviation Administration would approve certification of the plane’s flight control software before the end of the year. A fault with the plane’s anti-stall mechanism is believed to have caused the Lionair crash in Indonesia last October and then the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March.

Continue reading...

Delta airline will restore LGBTQ scenes to Booksmart and Rocketman

Posted on by

Actor Olivia Wilde, who directed Booksmart, called out the airline on Twitter for showing edited versions of her film

The airline Delta has said it will start showing fuller versions of the films Booksmart and Rocketman that were controversially edited to remove scenes involving LGBTQ love and sexuality.

Related: 'No scissor emoji?!' Olivia Wilde criticises airline censorship of Booksmart

Continue reading...

Qantas 737 cracks: airline pulls three Boeing planes from service

Posted on by

Aircraft grounded after hairline cracks found between wing and fuselage

Qantas has pulled three of its Boeing 737 planes from service after finding hairline cracks but have said they will not ground all 737s they fly.

Three planes have now been affected by cracks in the “pickle fork” structure between the wing and the fuselage. On Thursday, the aircraft engineers union said the airline should ground the entire 737 fleet.

Continue reading...

Super-rich fuelling growing demand for private jets, report finds

Posted on by

Growth centred in US and China, with slowdown in Sweden attributed to Greta Thunberg

Almost 8,000 new private jets are expected to be bought by multinational companies and the super-rich over the next decade, each of which will burn 40 times as much carbon per passenger as regular commercial flights, according to a report by aviation firm Honeywell Aerospace.

About 690 new business jets are expected to take to the skies in 2019, a 9% increase on 2018, as businesses and the wealthy refresh their fleets with fancy new models released by three of the world’s biggest private jet manufacturers.

Continue reading...

Richard Branson: ‘Aviation can be carbon neutral sooner than we realise’

Posted on by
The relentlessly upbeat entrepreneur believes efficiency and electricity could stop airlines worsening the climate crisis

Life has been quite a trip for Sir Richard Branson so far, and this weekend will be no exception as he flies to the US from Tel Aviv via London with space rockets on his mind.

He is heading to Wall Street to ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange as his spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, becomes a listed company tomorrow.

Continue reading...

Lion Air crash report ‘criticises design, maintenance and pilot error’

Posted on by

Advance copy of report says several factors were to blame for crash that killed 189 in Indonesia

The final report by Indonesian investigators into the crash of a Boeing 737 Max plane flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air that left 189 people dead has found that problems with Boeing’s design, the airline’s maintenance of the jet and pilot errors contributed to the disaster.

The report into the October 2018 crash criticised the US planemaker’s new anti-stall system, MCAS, that automatically pushed the plane’s nose down, leaving pilots fighting for control.

Continue reading...

Qantas hails ‘historic’ moment after Dreamliner completes 19-hour non-stop flight

Posted on by

Qantas plane lands after record New York-to-Sydney flight carrying 50 passengers and crew, plus a ‘comfortable’ 70 minutes of fuel

Qantas has completed a historic non-stop test flight from New York to Sydney, researching the potential impacts on pilots, crew and passengers of what would be the world’s longest commercial airplane journey.

Carrying 50 passengers and crew, QF7879 on a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Sydney on Sunday morning after a 16,200-kilometre (10,066-mile) journey lasting 19 hours and 16 minutes.

Continue reading...

Ethiopian Airlines crash: families to subpoena US operators of 737 Max

Posted on by

Subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines seek information about flight crew training and 737 Max software MCAS

Lawyers representing families of passengers killed in a Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March are set to issue subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, the two biggest US operators of the jet, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The subpoenas will be issued over the next couple of days, the lawyers separately told Reuters.

Continue reading...

Boeing removes CEO as chairman amid 737 Max crisis

Posted on by

Board reshuffle follows report saying planemaker failed to fully inform FAA about changes to flight control system

The Boeing chief executive officer, Dennis Muilenburg, has lost his other title as chairman of the planemaker, nearly a year after the first of two crashes of its 737 Max that together killed 346 people.

Boeing announced late on Friday that company directors decided to separate the two jobs and elected one of their own, David L Calhoun, to serve as non-executive chairman.

Continue reading...

Scotch whisky and French wine hit by $7.5bn US tariffs

Posted on by

The 25% levies also include British knitwear and EU cheese and aircraft as White House retaliates for subsidies given to Airbus

The US is set to impose $7.5bn (£6.1bn) of tariffs on exports from the EU including scotch whisky, French wine and cheese and aircraft in retaliation for subsidies given to the aerospace group Airbus after a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling..

Related: Airbus on course to overtake Boeing as biggest planemaker

Continue reading...

New Zealand’s airspace shuts down after fire alarm in radar centre

Posted on by

Planes briefly grounded across the country over ‘fault with main air traffic system’

A fire alarm in New Zealand’s radar centre effectively shut down the country’s airspace, halting planes from taking off for a short time on Monday afternoon.

Planes were stranded on the tarmac and landings were being “managed” by Airways NZ after the country’s navigation service provider confirmed “a fault with our main air traffic system”.

Continue reading...

Cockpit coffee spill caused transatlantic flight diversion – AAIB

Posted on by

Control panel was damaged during Condor flight after captain put cup on tray table

A pilot spilling coffee in the cockpit of a plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean forced it to turn back and land in Ireland.

The hot coffee damaged an audio control panel, which gave off an electrical burning smell and smoke, an accident report found. It created significant communication difficulty for the pilots flying the Airbus A330, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

Continue reading...

Māori anger as Air New Zealand seeks to trademark ‘Kia Ora’ logo

Posted on by

Airline accused of lack of respect for indigenous language by seeking to protect image of the greeting, also the name of its in-flight magazine

New Zealand’s national carrier, Air New Zealand, has offended the country’s Māori people by attempting to trademark an image of the words “kia ora”; the greeting for hello.

The airline applied in May to trademark the image showing the greeting, which is also the name of its in-flight magazine.

Continue reading...

BA pilots to strike from midnight in dispute about pay

Posted on by

Balpa union calls 48-hour walkout with further action planned for 27 September

The first-ever strike by British Airways pilots is set to start at midnight on Sunday night, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and travel disruption for thousands of passengers.

Members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) have said they will walk out for 48 hours in a long-running dispute over pay, with a further strike set for 27 September if the row remains unresolved.

Continue reading...

Boeing 777X test halted after reports of cargo door failure

Posted on by

Door of new model reportedly exploded outwards during ground-based stress testing

Boeing has suspended load testing of its new widebody 777X aircraft as media reports said a cargo door failed in a ground stress test.

“During final load testing on the 777X static test airplane, the team encountered an issue that required suspension of the test,” Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said in a statement on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Climate crisis may be increasing jet stream turbulence, study finds

Posted on by

Potential impacts of rise in vertical shear include longer, bumpier and dearer flights

The climate crisis could be making transatlantic flights more bumpy, according to research into the impact of global heating on the jet stream.

Jet streams are powerful currents of air at the altitudes which planes fly. . They result from the air temperature gradient between the poles and the tropics, and reach speeds of up to 250mph (400kmph). They also sometimes meander.

Continue reading...