Competition between the world's major airlines has moved beyond who has the best product, to who has the hottest celebrity endorsement. Hot on the heels of Qantas's new partnership with the "Boy from Oz" Hugh Jackman, Emirates has unveiled an advertisement starring American darling Jennifer Aniston. The commercial, which focuses on Emirates' First Class offeri...
Aiming to address the problem of pilot shortage in the country, a Chinese airline has intensified its efforts to recruit high school students for pilot training, the media reported on Friday. The Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines plans to recruit 100 high school students for enrollment in 10-year programmes at aviation colleges, China.org reported. "We are recruiting more...
Jet fuel crisis at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) due to the "unofficial trade blockade" imposed by India has hit yet another China-based airline. China Eastern Airlines on Friday announced temporary suspension of its Kunming-Kathmandu flights, starting from Oct. 15 till 26. The airline has informed the travel agencies here that if the jet fuel situation did not i...
A Chinese passenger was arrested by police after trying to board a plane with a bombshell - but was heard asking what all the fuss was about. Chen Liang, 39, had purchased an empty artillery shell from a souvenir shop while enjoying a recent week-long public holiday. Security guards checking luggage at Xiamen Airport raised the alarm when they spotted what they believed was a bomb...
An Titan Airways Airbus A320-200 on behalf of Easyjet, registration G-POWI performing flight U2-5461 from London Gatwick, EN (UK) to Heraklion (Greece) with 170 people on board, was enroute at FL350 about 50 nm eastsoutheast of Venice (Italy) when the captain became unconscious prompting the first officer to don his oxygen mask and to divert the aircraft to Venice, where the aircraft lan...
Heathrow Airport is the UK's most dangerous for laser strikes, figures released from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have revealed. In the first quarter this year there were 34 incidents involving a laser being shined at aircraft at the west London airport. London City recorded the second highest number of incidents with 21. In third spot was Birmingham with 18 incidents...
1. Not all of us are so glamorous Contrary to the popular belief, not every flight attendant is a 6 feet tall Venus with blond hair and perfect proportions. Flight attendant should look beautiful, well mannered and decent, but they don’t have to be supermodels. What makes a flight attendant a flight attendant is not so much the look but the ability to cope with different situations (at ti...
Canada's Bombardier Inc said on Friday it is in advanced discussions to sell its new CSeries jet to airlines in North America, without identifying the prospective buyers. Montreal-based Bombardier has redoubled efforts to win a landmark order for the CSeries after failing to sell the program to rival Airbus, and is pitching the jets hard to airlines in North America, said two sources famili...
A new airline was launched in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, a bid to revolutionise air transport within the vast country where flights are currently operated only by the UN and small carriers blacklisted by the EU. Two Airbus A320 jets belonging to Congo Airways left the capital Kinshasa's Ndjili international airport on the inaugural flights carrying invited guests,...
China's flag carrier Air China (CA) plans to resume its Beijing-Kuala Lumpur service from Oct. 26 this year. After Air China's suspension on this route from 2012, currently this service is operated by two foreign airlines, namely AirAsia (AK) and Malaysia Airlines (MH). Yet flight MH370, which carried 227 passengers and 12 crew members en route from Kuala Lumpur to Bei...
A Hong Kong-bound Dragonair (KA) flight from Fuzhou was diverted in Xiamen on Wednesday night 30 minutes after takeoff, due a suspected problem with air conditioner, local media reported. Flight KA663, performed by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 259 passengers and 14 crews, took off from Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FOC) at 8:26 p.m. on Monday. The pilo...
Another CAAC officer was taken away for investigation by the Communist Party's discipline inspection department, yicai.com reported on Saturday. Wei Hong, director of the International Air Transport Division of the Transport Department, CAAC, was taken away Friday by the Communist Party's discipline inspection department for anti-corruption. Officials have intensified efforts t...
An easyJet aircraft flying from Gatwick airport was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot fell unconscious mid-flight. Flight 5461, which was carrying 164 passengers, was diverted at around midday UK time after taking off at 7:25 a.m. for the Greek island of Crete. The co-pilot then took over the controls and landed the plane safety at Marco Polo airport in Venice, It...
Egypt's aviation minister says airlines have begun applying a tax increase on all flights out of the country. The tax increase, which went into effect on Friday, is part of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's plan to shore up public finances after years of unrest following the 2011 uprising. Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal says in a statement that the tax on business class tic...
A helicopter loaded with 17 Marines and eight Norfolk-based sailors approached the amphibious ship Mesa Verde in the Gulf of Aden a year ago. A few of the sailors were brand new to the service, eagerly watching out hatches as they came in for their first landing aboard their first ship in the Navy. The afternoon flight from a base in nearby Djibouti was more routine for the Marines on board;...
Following a completion period that lasted more than two years, Lufthansa Technik's Completion Center in Hamburg has returned the first of three Boeing 747-8s currently being converted by the company back to an undisclosed customer. This project was one of the most complex undertaken by Lufthansa Technik in its long history of completions owing to a cabin size of some 440 square meters and the...
Big cabin, great short-runway performance and long legs. This has been the winning formula for Dassault’s Falcon 900 series for nearly 30 years through multiple upgraded iterations, the latest of which is the $43.3 million 900LX. The Falcon 900’s trijet design lets you get into and out of airports you wouldn’t dare try to use in a comparable twinjet, especially on hot days. Its i...
Icelandair, having tripled its route network and more than doubled its passenger numbers since 2009, is adding Boeing 767-300ER and Bombardier Dash-8 aircraft in order to maximise high-demand routes and open up new destinations. The 767 aircraft will be outfitted in a similar three-class format to Icelandair’s existing Boeing 757-200 and -300 fleet, Gudmundur Oskarsson, the airline&...
With 330 active mobile connectivity installs and a backlog of 1,239 in the books, Panasonic Avionics is sitting on the quiet giant that is AeroMobile. If you mostly fly US-based airlines, you’ve probably never heard of AeroMobile before. Outside of the US, according to AeroMobile CEO Kevin Rogers, use of mobile connectivity on board aircraft also equipped with wireless Internet is ready...
In 2008, air passenger demand was dipping, Gulf countries were building up their national fleets, and easyJet set up shop in Paris. Other European airlines cut routes and jobs in response. Air France did not. It has not made a profit since. The timing of its attempt to catch up seven years later plays into the hands of aggressive competitors, former airline executives, analysts and union offici...
Rolls-Royce has signed a TotalCare Flex agreement, with bmi regional, for 17 Embraer 145 aircraft powered by AE 3007 engines. The agreement marks a new milestone for TotalCare Flex, designed for owners and operators of mature engines, as it is the first deal signed with a regional aircraft operator. The new service builds on the success of Rolls-Royce TotalCare, where the business models of the...
