Category Archives: Air transport

Sonic boom: loud bang that shook London caused by supersonic fighter jets

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Typhoon jets scrambled in response to plane that was not answering air traffic control

A huge bang heard across London and in Hertfordshire just after 4am on Sunday was caused by RAF jets going supersonic, the Met and the MoD said.

“Two Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were scrambled at 0409 this morning, as part of the UK’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) procedures, after an aircraft lost communications in UK airspace,” said the Ministry of Defence. “The aircraft was intercepted and its communications were subsequently re-established. The Typhoons are returning to their base.”

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

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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.

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Aeroflot fails to see funny side of flier’s fat-cat swap

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Airline scratches out traveller’s air miles after he used feline double to flout cabin rules

The Russian airline Aeroflot has stripped a passenger of his air miles after he boasted online of sneaking his overweight cat onboard by switching him for a slimmer cat during check-in.

Mikhail Galin wrote in a Facebook post last week that his cat Viktor was judged too fat to be taken into the passenger cabin during a layover in Moscow on a trip from Latvia to his home in Vladivostok, in the far east of Russia.

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

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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.

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Qantas 737 cracks: airline pulls three Boeing planes from service

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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Zaha Hadid’s massive ‘starfish’ airport opens in Beijing

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Daxing international, said to be world’s largest single-building terminal, to handle 72m passengers

China has opened a vast, multibillion-dollar airport in the country’s capital, in the run-up to a major political anniversary.

Less than five years after construction began, the 450bn yuan (£50bn) Daxing international airport was officially opened on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.

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UK ministers accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate

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Offers from Spain and Turkey to save firm reportedly had no support from Westminster

The government has been accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate, as claims emerged that the Spanish and Turkish governments had offered to help save the stricken tour operator, only for the deal to disintegrate due to a lack of support in Westminster.

As recriminations flew, government-chartered aircraft began flying 150,000 stranded Thomas Cook customers back to the UK after the 178-year-old tour operator collapsed into liquidation in the early hours of Monday under the weight of its debts.

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Thomas Cook travel chaos: insolvency leaves 150,000 stranded on holidays – live updates

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A huge repatriation effort has begun after company ceases trading with immediate effect, causing flights to be cancelled

I’m going to hand over to my colleague Graeme Wearden now. Thanks for following along through the early hours.

A few reports have come through that Thomas Cook staff were not notified by the company of the trouble that the company was in. One said he found out the company had gone bust by reading media reports today. Another, whose family member worked for Thomas Cook, said the company had been telling staff up until yesterday that reports of financial distress had been inflated by the press.

If you know more, please get in touch: kate.lyons@theguardian.com

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Fighter pilot rescued from high-voltage power line after crash in France

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F-16 pilot’s parachute got caught in electricity line after he ejected from jet in Brittany

A Belgian F-16 fighter pilot has been rescued from a high-voltage electricity line after his jet crashed in Brittany, France.

The plane came down over the town of Pluvigner at about 10.30am local time on Thursday, narrowly missing a house. The two pilots were able to eject, with one safely picked up on the ground.

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Cockpit coffee spill caused transatlantic flight diversion – AAIB

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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.

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Passenger plane in near-miss with drone at Gatwick airport

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Pilot of Airbus A320 aircraft with up to 186 passengers was forced to take avoiding action

An airliner carrying up to 186 passengers was forced to take avoiding action after a drone was spotted, a near-miss report has revealed.

The incident involved an Airbus A320 approaching Gatwick airport and a dark-coloured drone, the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) said.

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Jet2 plane diverted to Porto after pilot falls ill at the controls

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Flight from Manchester to Madeira rerouted amid reports a passenger assisted landing

A pilot fell ill at the controls of an aeroplane flying from Manchester to the Atlantic island of Madeira, forcing the flight to be diverted to northern Portugal.

The airline, Jet2, confirmed that the aircraft had to land in Porto on Monday, adding that a replacement aircraft and crew had been dispatched to get passengers to their proper destination.

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Airline under fire for allegedly refusing to accommodate passenger with autism

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Man says crew of Delta connecting partner SkyWest did not allow his brother, who has nonverbal autism, to sit with a family member

Delta and their connection partner airline, SkyWest, are the latest airlines to come under fire for discrimination, over an incident involving a passenger with autism.

Ayo Isola said he was traveling from Detroit back home to Houston with his mother, sister and brother, Tayo, who has nonverbal autism and often experiences sensory overload. Upon boarding their flight, Isola realized his family was not seated together.

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US customs outage delays thousands of travelers in airports across country

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Social media posts show serious congestion as ‘temporary’ issue affects hubs including JFK and LAX

Thousands of travelers at major US airports faced congested terminals and long lines on Friday due to a temporary computer outage that affected the US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) processing systems.

Related: Passenger anger as tens of thousands hit by BA systems failure

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Kremlin lauds ‘heroes’ who landed plane in cornfield after gull strike

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Pilots to get state awards for safe landing outside Moscow having collided with flock of birds

The Kremlin has lauded two Russian pilots as heroes and said they would be given state awards after they landed a plane carrying 233 people in a cornfield outside Moscow having struck a flock of birds during takeoff.

The Ural Airlines Airbus 321 came down in a field south-east of Moscow with its landing gear up after colliding with a passing flock of gulls, which disrupted the plane’s engines.

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Passengers flee plane after emergency landing in Russian cornfield – video

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A passenger jet with 233 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing in a cornfield after striking a flock of birds as it took off. The pilot, Damir Yusupov, was hailed a hero by Russian media after landing the plane with its engines off and landing gear up. All onboard survived the incident, although the Russian health ministry said 23 people had been injured

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Hong Kong protests: airport suspends flights for second day

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Hundreds of demonstrators stage new rally a day after shutdown at key transport hub

Hong Kong’s airport authority has suspended flights for a second day as thousands of protesters staged another rally at the busy international travel hub.

Tuesday’s action marked the fifth consecutive day of protests at the airport, as pro-democracy demonstrations in the Chinese territory entered their 10th week, with both sides showing few signs of backing down.

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