Category Archives: Air transport

Jeju Air crash: all but two presumed dead in South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster

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Footage appears to show Boeing 737-800 skidding along runway at Muan airport before hitting wall and catching fire

All but two of 181 people onboard a plane that crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea are presumed to have died, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.

Officials said they had confirmed that 177 people died in the crash on Sunday at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west, while two crew members – a man and a woman – had been rescued. Two people remained missing nine hours after the incident.

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Thick fog expected to continue causing disruption at UK airports on Sunday

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Many flights at Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled or delayed on Saturday as murky conditions persist

Disruption caused by thick fog is expected to continue until Sunday at some of the UK’s busiest airports.

Flights at Stansted airport were affected by the weather conditions on Saturday, while live departure boards showed delays at Heathrow, Luton and Manchester airports.

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Greenland split over benefits of tourism as territory opens to the world

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Direct flights from the US to Nuuk expected to double next year but there are concerns about the expected influx

The capital’s new airport has been opened, two more are in the making, and expectations are high: the Americans are coming to Greenland.

On Thursday, the first ever international flight into Nuuk, the most populous settlement on the autonomous Danish territory, landed to cheers on the ground and in the cabin of Air Greenland flight GL781 where passengers were served miniature bottles of Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.

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Man charged after allegedly trying to smuggle meth-soaked cow onesie on flight to Australia

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US authorities allege Californian man Raj Matharu tried to conceal more than 1kg of drugs soaked into items of clothing

An alleged would-be drug smuggler soaked a cow onesie in methamphetamine, part of a whole suitcase full of clothes he tried to sneak aboard a plane, US justice officials have said.

Raj Matharu allegedly checked in two bags at Los Angeles international airport on a flight to Sydney, Australia, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

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DHL plane crash in Lithuania may be result of sabotage, says German minister

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Baerbock raises possibility of accident or ‘hybrid incident’ after Vilnius cargo plane crash kills one and injures three

The fatal crash of a DHL cargo plane as it approached Vilnius airport could have been the result of sabotage or an accident, Germany’s foreign minister has said.

A Spanish crew member was killed and three others injured when the German plane crashed into a house near the Lithuanian capital on Monday.

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Gatwick airport reopens terminal after bomb scare evacuation

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Security cordon lifted and train services resume as travel plans are disrupted for thousands of people

Gatwick’s south terminal has reopened for passengers after a security alert caused disruption for thousands of people.

Sussex police said they had released two people after concluding their investigation into reports of a suspect package at the airport. A bomb disposal team made the package safe, the force added in a statement on X.

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Minister pledges better protection for UK airline passengers

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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”.

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US bans Haiti flights for 30 days after Spirit jet hit by hail of gunfire

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Move by US authorities comes after plane was shot at on Monday, injuring attendant and forcing airport shutdown

The US Federal Aviation Administration has banned civilian flights into Haiti for 30 days after a jetliner was shot at on approach to Port-au-Prince.

Bullets hit the Spirit Airlines plane when it was about to land on Monday, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to shut down.

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Airlines halt flights to Haiti after plane hit by gunfire

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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.

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Tanni Grey-Thompson to lead taskforce on air travel for disabled passengers

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Team led by Paralympic champion will work with aviation industry to ‘break down barriers’, says transport secretary

The Paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson is to lead a new taskforce created to improve air travel for disabled passengers, the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, has announced.

The taskforce will spend nine months speaking to disabled passengers to establish what are the biggest barriers to air travel, and working with the aviation industry to find short- and long-term solutions.

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Two men plead guilty to contract killing of Sikh man in Canada but don’t say who hired them

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Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez trade blows in court after confessing to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik

Two men have pleaded guilty to the contract killing of a Sikh man who was acquitted in the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight from Montreal to Mumbai.

According to an agreed statement of facts released by a British Columbia court on Monday, Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez confessed to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022. But they remained silent over who hired and paid them for the murder.

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India’s airline industry in chaos after 90 hoax bomb threats in a week

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Authorities yet to uncover source and motive of surge in fake bomb threats, as dozens of planes forced to reroute

A reported 90 hoax bomb threats have been made against Indian airlines in the past week, provoking international travel chaos as planes were grounded, diverted and flown to safety by fighter jet escorts.

The unprecedented surge in fake bomb threats against multiple Indian and international airlines has caused severe disruption to India’s aviation industry and created a growing sense of panic among air passengers.

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Air India flight escorted by Singapore fighter jets after latest hoax bomb threat

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The Air India flight landed at Changi Airport after being escorted by air force F-15SG jets, in what was the third threat to the national carrier in recent days

Singapore’s air force mobilised two fighter jets late on Tuesday in response to a bomb threat on an Air India Express flight bound for the city-state, its defence minister said.

Two Singapore air force F-15SG jets scrambled and escorted Air India flight AXB684 away from populated areas after the airline received an email that there was a bomb on board its plane, Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post.

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Delta pauses flights between New York City and Tel Aviv due to regional conflict

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Airline says postponement will last until at least 31 March and is providing travel waivers to some customers

Delta Airlines has postponed all flights between New York’s John F Kennedy airport and Tel Aviv until at least 31 March because of the conflict in the Middle East, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Delta is continuously monitoring the evolving security environment and assessing our operations based on security guidance and intelligence reports and will communicate any updates as needed,” the airline said.

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Pilot who died when helicopter crashed into Cairns hotel was ‘affected by alcohol’, ATSB finds

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Blake Wilson was killed when aircraft on ‘unauthorised flight’ struck roof of DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in August

A pilot who died when the helicopter he was flying crashed into a Cairns hotel was “affected by a significant amount of alcohol” at the time, the country’s air safety investigator has found.

Investigators on Thursday said Blake Wilson, 23, took the helicopter from a far north Queensland airport hangar for an “unnecessary and unauthorised” flight after a night of drinking in August.

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Controversial Sydney airport slot system faces government crackdown

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Carriers that cancel flights to block competition could face civil penalties in move against Qantas-Virgin duopoly

Airlines that strategically cancel flights to block competition at Sydney airport could face civil penalties as the Albanese government moves to crack down on the Qantas-Virgin duopoly.

A new bill, to be introduced on Wednesday, will focus on Sydney airport’s controversial slot allocation system, which restricts the airport to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour – known as slots. An overnight curfew to minimise noise further limits flight numbers.

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Qantas apologises after R-rated movie played to passengers on Sydney to Tokyo flight

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Technical issues meant the film, starring Dakota Johnson, was played on all screens before it was swapped for a family-friendly movie

Qantas has apologised to passengers on a flight from Sydney to Japan after an R-rated film was played to the entire plane.

Passengers on the flight to Haneda were shown the start of Daddio, a 2023 R-rated film starring Dakota Johnson.

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Milan appeals against ‘grotesque’ move to rename airport after Berlusconi

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City authorities take case to Lombardy regional court in effort to block initiative by Matteo Salvini

Milan council has appealed against a “grotesque” move to rename the city’s main airport after the scandal-tainted late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The council approved a resolution to take the case to the Lombardy region’s administrative court after the initiative to rename Malpensa was accelerated by Matteo Salvini, the transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government.

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Airlines suspend more Lebanon flights amid Israeli airstrikes

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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.

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Mouse crawling out of meal forces plane to make early landing

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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.

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