About 40 passengers taken to hospitals after flight from Madrid to Montevideo forced to make emergency landing
An Air Europa flight from Madrid to Montevideo has been forced to make an emergency landing at a Brazilian airport due to “severe turbulence”, the airline said.
About 40 passengers, mostly with minor injuries, were taken to hospitals in Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte state after the plane was diverted early on Monday.
Continue reading...NTSB sanctions plane maker for ‘blatantly’ breaching rules as it investigates January Alaska Airlines incident
Boeing has been sanctioned by the top US accident investigator for having “blatantly violated” regulations by revealing private information to the media and speculating about what caused January’s cabin panel blowout on a brand-new airplane operated by Alaska Airlines.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is cooperating with the Department of Justice, which is deciding whether to prosecute Boeing after declaring it had breached a settlement over two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Continue reading...News comes as US regulators investigate separate incident after Boeing 737 Max 8 plane did a ‘Dutch roll’ in May
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines flight reportedly plunged to “within 400ft” of the Pacific Ocean during a flight.
A memo distributed to Southwest pilots, obtained by Bloomberg, said that the Boeing 737 Max 8 plunged at a rate of 4,000ft a minute off the coast of Hawaii, coming within hundreds of feet of the ocean before climbing to safety.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Last-minute decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is ‘engaging’ with airline on concerns rostering is leaving pilots fatigued
Virgin Australia has made a last-minute decision to delay putting a controversial pilots’ enterprise deal to vote, after outcry about its plan to cut days off and concerns that pilot rostering was nearing unsafe limits.
The decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) officials flagged they were aware of fatigue concerns over Virgin Australia’s pilot rostering after the Guardian revealed internal disquiet on the issue among senior pilots and frustration at what they felt was an inadequate response from management.
Continue reading...Results show increase in symptoms such as wheeziness in presence of high aviation-related ultrafine particles
As the public hearings for London Gatwick airport’s northern runway resume, researchers from the Netherlands have found greater inhaler use in children living near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
Stand close to a large airport and, if the wind is in the wrong direction, each cubic centimetre of air that you breathe will contain tens of thousands of ultrafine particles (UFP).
Continue reading...The airline has said that anyone who sustained serious injuries on SQ321 last month could be entitled to a larger payment
Singapore Airlines has offered US$10,000 compensation payments to passengers who suffered minor injuries during a flight last month that hit sudden, extreme turbulence.
On Tuesday, the airline announced that it had sent compensation offers to passengers who were on board flight SQ321 from London to Singapore on 20 May, which dropped 54 metres in altitude in less than five seconds while flying over Myanmar.
Continue reading...Employees voiced frustrations at how the administration process had been conducted, sources say
Bonza appears almost certain to be wound up after the administrators determining the troubled airline’s future terminated its staff.
Guardian Australia understands administrators from the firm Hall Chadwick told staff during a meeting on Tuesday they had been sacked.
Continue reading...Carriers including easyJet and Ryanair face being banned from charging for carry-on luggage
Budget airlines including easyJet and Ryanair have been hit with fines totalling €150m (£128m) by the Spanish government for policies that include charging passengers extra for cabin luggage.
In the biggest sanction issued by the Spanish government’s ministry of social rights and consumer affairs, the carriers easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Volotea have been penalised after an investigation launched last summer.
Continue reading...Airline adopts ‘more cautious approach’ after incident that left one person dead and more than 100 injured
Singapore Airlines has tightened seatbelt rules on its flights after one passenger died and more than 100 were injured when one of its planes hit severe turbulence.
Passengers and crew onboard flight SQ321 suffered skull, brain and spine injuries when they were thrown violently around the cabin during Tuesday’s terrifying high-altitude ordeal. Some passengers said the turbulence happened so fast there was no time to fasten their seatbelts.
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Taiwan interested in critical-minerals trade with Australia
Taiwan’s representative to Australia, Douglas Hsu, spoke to ABC RN just earlier about China’s military drills around Taiwan and trading with Australia.
We will continue to show our interest in engaging with Australia on the trade front. I think in the past few months, especially on critical minerals, I had a few opportunities to travel to West Australia and Northern Territory to talk with the businessman in the critical minerals industries.
I found that well, first of all, I was very surprised or impressed by the scale of Australia’s mining industry, and we’ll definitely look forward to bringing more Taiwanese business to work even more closely with Australian partners.
It’s really about ensuring services can do early work that can stop children from experiencing harm, helping kids before they get to crisis point and intervening early to break that cycle of violence and abuse.
Continue reading...Kerry Davis was flung to ceiling when flight SQ321 hit turbulence before falling motionless to floor of plane
An Australian woman suffered a spinal injury and has no sensation from her waist down after her flight to Singapore hit extreme turbulence earlier this week, as others onboard are treated for skull and brain injuries.
The Boeing 777-300ER hit what an airline official described as “sudden extreme turbulence” over Myanmar, sending passengers and crew flying and slamming some into the ceiling. The flight, SQ321 from London to Singapore on Tuesday, made an emergency diversion to Bangkok.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Correspondence from pilots seen by Guardian Australia pleads for changes to the roster system to address fatigue
Senior pilots at Virgin Australia have alleged fatigue is widespread in their ranks and raised safety concerns about a roster system some claim is working them “to the limits”.
As Virgin Australia and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) remain in a standoff over a proposal to strip pilots of six days off a year in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement, Guardian Australia has obtained correspondence from senior pilots pleading for action to address worker fatigue.
Multiple senior pilots say the rostering system used by Virgin is adding to fatigue levels.
The system routinely schedules pilots to work maximum shift lengths – 11-12 hours and longer in the event of delays – on back-to-back days, while allowing for just the legal minimum rest period of 12 hours.
Pilots have raised concerns with management about the roster software and claim that the private equity owners of the airline, Bain Capital, have not followed through on a promise to replace it.
Frustration at what they claim is management’s failure to recognise these issues, or respond to staff warning of a resulting “clear, present and increasing safety risk”.
Continue reading...Twenty people remain in intensive care in Bangkok, where plane landed on Tuesday following mid-air emergency
Passengers and crew onboard a Singapore Airlines flight that hit extreme turbulence over Asia suffered skull, brain and spinal injuries, the head of a Bangkok hospital has said.
Twenty people remain in intensive care in the Thai capital, where flight SQ321 made an emergency landing on Tuesday after the terrifying high-altitude ordeal.
Continue reading...Retired insurance professional, 73, was en route to Australia with his wife for six-week holiday when plane hit by severe turbulence
The British passenger who died after a flight to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence has been named as a 73-year-old grandfather, Geoffrey Kitchen.
Kitchen, a retired insurance professional turned amateur dramatics performer, had travelled to Singapore on Monday on the 10pm flight from Heathrow.
Continue reading...CEO will be replaced by chief financial officer Kenton Jarvis, who like Lundgren joined from Tui
EasyJet’s chief executive, Johan Lundgren, will step down at the beginning of next year after seven years at the helm of the budget airline.
The carrier is promoting its chief financial officer, Kenton Jarvis, to take his place, with Lundgren set to hand over the reins on 1 January 2025. The outgoing boss will then stay with the business until mid-May as part of the airline’s “orderly succession plan”.
Continue reading...Administrators tell creditors meeting they are ‘moving heaven and earth’ to secure a future for grounded airline
The federal and Queensland governments have told the administrators determining the future of budget airline Bonza they’re unlikely to provide financial support to help save the carrier, as the search for aircraft and a new buyer continues.
During a first meeting of creditors on Friday administrators from the firm Hall Chadwick said “we’re moving heaven and earth” to secure a future for the grounded airline.
Continue reading...Troubled airline had earlier cancelled flights to Australia and New Zealand, citing ‘maintenance’ requirements
The Pacific Island country of Vanuatu has put its national carrier Air Vanuatu into voluntary liquidation, after it cancelled flights to Australia and New Zealand, leaving tourists stranded.
The airline had cited extended maintenance requirements for its aircraft when it cancelled its flights through to Sunday.
Continue reading...Santiago Paredes says he raised concerns over defects on fuselages leaving Spirit AeroSystems factory
A former employee of Boeing’s largest supplier has alleged that key aircraft parts regularly left the factory with serious defects.
Santiago Paredes, who worked for Spirit AeroSystems in Kansas between 2010 and 2022, said he was used to finding “anywhere from 50 to 100, 200” defects on fuselages – the main body of the plane – that were being shipped to Boeing, and he felt threatened for raising his concerns.
Continue reading...‘That would require a stadium,’ federal court hears as airline administrators try to organise online meeting for Friday that would allow everyone to vote
Administrators determining the future of the troubled airline Bonza are bracing for as many as 20,000 out-of-pocket customers to join a creditors meeting this week with the federal court hearing that online voting options are being considered.
On Tuesday lawyers representing Hall Chadwick, the administrators controlling Bonza after its planes were abruptly repossessed a week ago, appeared before the federal court justice Elizabeth Cheeseman seeking orders to streamline the process for the first creditors meeting on Friday. It will be held amid ongoing efforts to find a new owner for the budget carrier.
Continue reading...Countdown halted hours before liftoff in latest delay for long-planned flight, with no word on next attempt
Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on its rocket on Monday night.
Two Nasa test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner capsule when the countdown was halted, just two hours before the planned liftoff. A United Launch Alliance engineer, Dillon Rice, said the issue involved an oxygen relief valve on the upper stage of the company’s Atlas rocket.
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