How do you calculate the cost of an accident? Beyond, that is, the simple, unquantifiable human tragedy of the event. But as more details emerge on the fatal April crash of an H225 helicopter on Norway’s west coast, some of those costs are also becoming clear. With the Super Puma fleet now grounded for safety reasons, operators are faced – again – with a potentially long-te...
President Michael D Higgins will travel to Euro 2016 in France at huge expense to the taxpayer after he was given clearance to use the Government jet for two separate trips to the games. The Sunday Independent has learned Mr Higgins will fly into Paris tomorrow on the Government's Lear jet ahead of Ireland's opening match against Sweden. The President and his entourage will then use...
Canada is willing to "find a solution" with Bombardier Inc as the parties consider the company's dual-class share structure during talks on a $1-billion government fund-infusion, the minister responsible said late on Saturday. The struggling Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier has asked for $1 billion from the federal government to support its new CSeries passenger jet, though sour...
AN AIR FRANCE flight from Dublin to France has been cancelled tomorrow, leaving some Irish football fans with no flight to get to Euro 2016. The cancellation is due to an internal conflict within the airline which has caused Air France pilots to go on strike. The Air France website states that flight AF 1617 leaving Dublin at 9.10am and arriving at Charles de Gaulle at 2.45pm has been cancel...
A man hurled a bottle containing home-made explosives inside the main international airport in China's commercial hub of Shanghai on Sunday, injuring four people before attempting to kill himself, authorities said. The unidentified man removed a beer bottle or bottles with explosive materials from a backpack before throwing one near a check-in counter in Terminal Two at Pudong International...
Boeing filed a patent application in recent weeks simply titled "Solar Powered Airplane," which proposes a wing-shaped drone with enormous winglets on either end completely covered in solar panels. The idea would be to make a drone capable of staying at high altitudes for long periods of time, similar to projects that are currently being undertaken at Facebook and Google. Why would Bo...
A British Airways passenger jet declared an emergency after taking off from Heathrow yesterday morning. Flight 1340 from London to Leeds, Yorkshire, was forced to turn around shortly after it had taken off at 8.23am. The captain is thought to have requested a priority landing at Heathrow after a "technical issue" arose. The BA flight is thought to have lan...
Gatwick Airport has closed its runway and an investigation is under way after claims the surface started to break up. Earlier, Gatwick tweeted an apology to anyone impacted by the closure. It said: "Our runway is temporarily closed while we carry out investigations. Apologies if you're impacted. We'll update you shortly." BBC London Travel tweeted&n...
Titan Airways has added a brand new Phenom 300 to its fleet. The executive jet, which seats 9 passengers in ultimate comfort, was delivered to our London Stansted base on 27th May direct from the manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, USA. The Phenom 300, the world’s most delivered business jet for the past three years, offers top-tier speed, climb and field performance, next-generat...
Iran’s state airline Iranair says it is talking with US plane maker Boeing about buying a large number of aircraft. Iranair’s chairman Farhad Parvaresh told Reuters the order could be close in size to the 118 Airbus jets it has agreed to buy. The Airbus deal however is conditional on the granting of US export licences because those planes contain so many US-built parts. In add...
The busy Dubai International Airport closed for over an hour after a drone flew into its airspace. The airport says the closure disrupted flights for 69 minutes on Saturday. The airport, the world's busiest for international travel, reopened at 12:45 p.m. (0845 GMT) This is not the first time a drone has disrupted flights into the airport, which is the base of the long-haul carrier Emira...
Around 200 passengers travelling to Bangkok on an Air India flight spent more than five hours inside the aircraft owing to a last minute snag that could not be corrected due to dearth of technicians. The flight was scheduled for take-off at 1:30 am on Saturday but the snag made it immobile till early morning. Around 5 am on Saturday when passengers became restless, the airline crew allowed t...
