Russia and Ukraine will completely terminate all air connections with each other as of October 25 following Ukraine’s decision to close its airspace to all Russian aircraft, including direct and transit flights. Astonishment and disbelief was the Kremlin’s first reaction. "Judging from experience of the past 20 months, we cannot exclude a hypothetical possibility of such acts of i...
The visa relaxation rules for Chinese tourists will bring in more tourists to Malaysia, said Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Huang Huikang. Commenting on the relationship between Malaysia and China, Dr Huang said both countries had historical, cultural, traditional and blood ties which have surpassed many centuries. "I am promoting Penang aggressively to Chinese businessmen and Chines...
American Airlines Group Inc. reiterated a vow to keep matching discount rivals' ticket prices, extending the domestic fare wars that are sapping revenue. "We know what we're doing and we're extremely comfortable in what we're doing," Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker said Friday on a conference call as analysts questioned the strategy. "We will need to comp...
United Continental Holdings Inc.'s acting Chief Executive Brett J. Hart will be paid an extra US$100,000 in cash a month while he holds the title, according to a regulatory filing. Mr. Hart took over as acting CEO last week, filling in for Oscar Munoz, who had a heart attack on Oct. 15. Mr. Munoz, whose condition is unknown, is on indefinite medical leave. United said earlier Friday that...
Providers of inflight entertainment solutions work hard to innovate and develop products that will enhance the passenger experience in every class. Even so, passengers often lament that the systems they encounter on board are outdated or that their seatback is missing IFE altogether. Part of the reason for this “tech disconnect” is simply that the path to market for new...
Last fall, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put out a call to all travel startups, alerting them that it had partnered with investment firm Travel Capitalist Ventures to create an ‘NDC Innovation Fund’ to accelerate use of the association's New Distribution Capability standard by investing in the best and brightest new entrants in the space. This week, at IAT...
LIAT, The Caribbean Airline, will reintroduce services between Antigua and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, effective 15 December 2015. LIATwill offer three flights a week, every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Flights depart Antigua at 1015 arriving into Santo Domingo at 1225. The service returns from Santo Domingo at 1320, arriving back into Antigua at 1530. This schedule remains i...
Fatima Beyina-Moussa, CEO of ECAir, Equatorial Congo Airlines (www.flyecair.com), the national airline of the Republic of the Congo, and president of AFRAA, the African Airlines Association, since November 2014 is coming to the end of her term in office. Two weeks before AFRAA’s 47th general assembly, which will be held November 8-10th at the sports complex of Kintele in Br...
China is considering combining some operations of the nation’s three biggest airlines as part of a broad reform of its state-owned enterprises, sources familiar with the plans said. A plan to merge the cargo operations of Air China Ltd., China Southern Airlines Co. and China Eastern Airlines Corp. has been circulated among regulators for their opinions, the sources said, who asked not to...
From October 25, 2015, Aeroflot will move to its winter flight schedule, which will be in place through March 26, 2016. Flights to 51 countries are planned for winter 2015-2016. Aeroflot will fly from 119 points of origin, among these 43 in Russia and eight in the CIS. In light of Ukraine’s introduction of a ban on Aeroflot flights from October 25, there will be no more flights to Kiev an...
Tibet will be better connected with inland China after Tibet Airlines launches two news routes on Sunday. The first, connecting the regional capital of Lhasa with Lanzhou in Gansu Province and Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, will be operated every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Currently, there are no flights between Tibet and Hebei. The second is a daily service linking Qamdo in...
Progressive Aerodyne, Inc. has received an aircraft production certificate (PC) for the Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey from the CAAC East China Regional Administration, an important step for the SeaRey in serving the Chinese market. It is the first PC granted to a U.S. aircraft manufacturer by the Chinese aviation regulator. Progressive Aerodyne has received the type design approval (TDA) for t...
China Eastern Airlines (MU) flight MU5182 aborted takeoff at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) this morning after a loud bang was detected from the engine, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Beijing-bound flight was performed by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, Registration B-6085. It was scheduled to take off from Guangzhou at 11:40 a.m. and land at Beijing Ca...
Following the recent decision by the Greenville-Spartanburg (S.C.) International Airport (GSP) Commission to take over control of the lone FBO on the field when incumbent operator Stevens Aviation’s lease expires at the end of next year, the aviation services provider announced that it plans to move its MRO business from GSP as well. That would signal an en...
In a final report released on October 23, UK AAIB investigators were puzzled by the pilot's reaction—or rather the lack of it—after he acknowledged low fuel warnings in his Airbus Helicopters EC135 T2+, which eventually crashed and killed 10 in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2013. Without flight recorders, investigators cannot understand why the police...
Boeing predicts considerable African demand for new aircraft over the next 20 years. Keith Mwanalushi talks to the aircraft manufacturer about the opportunities and challenges. Africa is a unique market, and one that Boeing knows well. During the Aviation Festival Africa in Johannesburg recently, the manufacturer revealed that the region could generate orders of up to $160 billion within the...
Five years after receiving its first Airbus A380 aircraft, Lufthansa has completed refitting its entire fleet with fully flat business class seats, premium economy and inflight connectivity. During a summertime tour of D-AIMN in Lufthansa Technik’s Frankfurt hangar, RGN took a fine-toothed comb to the passenger experience improvements (and what could be considered a few&n...
While the CEO of IAG, British Airways’ parent, Willie Walsh was circumspect answering questions from reporters in Dublin this week about the next airline buy-out for the IAG group, Skift found strong evidence, at the CAPA Summit in Helsinki, that IAG’s next smart buy could be Finnair. In fact, statements made by Finnair’s CCO, Juha Järvinen, during a panel discussion...
The Russian Ministry of Transport has begun reallocating Transaero Airlines (UN, Moskow Vnukovo) route permissions as the airline's impending termination of operations on October 26 looms. In a statement to the TASS news agency, the ministry said it had granted the Aeroflot Group access to fifty-six out of the Transaero's 156 international routes for the period October 2...
Airlines want to keep their passengers better informed from the moment they leave home, going beyond simple flight delay information to try to ease travel stresses and ensure customer loyalty. The industry must offer a more seamless journey for travellers, especially with the number of people flying expected to double from an annual level of 3.5 billion in 20 years, delegates at this week&...
A woman deported to her homeland Taiwan after giving birth on a flight to the U.S. in an apparent attempt to give her baby American citizenship may have to pay hefty compensation for forcing the plane to divert. The China Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Alaska en route from Taipei to Los Angeles on Oct. 8. Airline spokeswoman Weni Lee says the airline's insur...
