Latest Aviation News

WOW Air has gone bust leaving Brits among thousands of passengers stranded. Passengers flying to and from London Gatwick are among those to have  received texts and e-mails this morning telling them to check flights with other airlines . It had been scheduled to carry passengers between Iceland’s Reykjavik Airport and London Gatwick on four services today. Other destinations included Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Dublin. The airline used its Reykjavik base as a hub airport to connect Europe and North America – with UK services operating from Gatwick, Stansted, Bristol and Edinburgh. Denise Riordan has been left stranded in Baltimore, US, after her flight to Dublin was cancelled this morning. She  told the London Evening Standard : “The airline sent stock texts and emails offering a refund or rebooking but they aren’t in a position to do anything for passengers. “I am considering whether to pay a lot of money to go anyway – family is so import...

 An Emirates A380 is currently stranded in Munich following a series of lightning strikes. While the aircraft landed safely, it is now grounded as the aircraft is not deemed safe for flight. The incident took place as the flight was preparing to land on Monday. What happened? Flight EK51 departed from Dubai at 16:22. This was slightly late, as the aircraft was due to depart at 15:55. Despite this, the aircraft arrived early at the time of 19:17 although it was scheduled to land at 19:35. This meant that the total flight time for the aircraft was five hours and fifty-six minutes. It appears as though the aircraft entered a lightning storm shortly before landing at Munich. Reports suggest that the aircraft was struck several times in quick succession. Thankfully, this incident had no effect on the safety of the flight, and the aircraft was able to land without incident. The exact details of the damage sustained by the aircraft are not immediately clear. We do, howev...

Boeing says it has a software fix ready for its 737 Max airplanes that will be unveiled to airline officials, pilots and aviation authorities from around the world Wednesday, as the aircraft manufacturer works to rebuild trust among its customers and the flying public following two fatal crashes of the planes in recent months. Meanwhile, those crashes and the relationship between Boeing and the federal agency charged with regulating it will be discussed at a U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. Scheduled to testify are the heads of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, along with the Transportation Department's inspector general, who is investigating how the FAA went about certifying the 737 Max as airworthy, and whether regulators relied too heavily on Boeing's own safety assessments in their review. Those developments come as transportation authorities in Ethiopia prepare to release preliminary f...

Hong Kong’s aviation authority is investigating why Cathay Pacific Airways allowed a pilot with measles to fly seven times in four days, while the city grapples with a growing outbreak of the disease that has prompted health officials to step up vaccinations at the airport. The city has recorded a five-year high of 20 measles cases so far this year, five of which involve airport and airline staff, and a medical expert has warned of a possible second wave of infections. . The Civil Aviation Department said on Monday it was seeking answers from Cathay after it emerged that one of the carrier’s Hong Kong-based pilots had flown seven times from March 13 to 16, despite having symptoms of the highly contagious disease. The airline has so far resisted mounting pressure to provide a full explanation, after the 41-year-old pilot was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung to be treated for measles. It is against aviation law for anyone to be part of a fligh...

The Federal Cabinet Tuesday approved a new revolutionary civil aviation policy to pro-actively promote tourism and give boost to aviation industry in the country. Briefing media persons about the decisions made in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minster for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said traveling to the tourist resorts of Pakistan will be facilitated by reducing expenditures. Fawad said facilities, including reduction in traveling expenses and cuts in taxes, worth Rs 3.8 billion would be offered to promote tourism and aviation sector. He said that the cabinet also discussed to start helicopter and 40-seat plane service to the tourist sites in the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Swat. The minister announced that passenger airlines in Pakistan will be allowed to import airplanes which are 18-years-old compared to the previous limit of 12 years while cargo planes up to 30 years old, could be imported. New recommendations with...

Pobeda Airlines Boeing 737-800s feature "Max-like" split scimitar winglets from Aviation Partners Boeing. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov) The Kremlin appears to have begun taking practical steps to narrow local carriers's choices in new, expensive equipment made outside of the country, a move that high-ranking government officials heralded a couple of years ago. This month, the Kremlin denied an import license to Aeroflot low-fare subsidiary Pobeda for 30 additional Boeing 737 Max jetliners. Meanwhile, the Airbus A220-300 failed to acquire local certification, effectively stalling plans by Moscow-based Red Wings’ to take six of the narrowbodies from a local lessor. The turning point hinged on an export-import policy passed last year, when the Kremlin ruled that any airline with a large government stake should apply to the Commission for Import Substitution for permission to buy imported jetliners in any deal valued more than 1 billion rubles  ($15.6 million). However, u...

Flag carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has reportedly ruled out cancellation of orders it had made to America-headquartered Boeing company to supply it with Boeing 737-800 Max jets. Kenya Airways chief executive officer Sebastian Mikosz (L), flanked by the board chairman Michael Joseph. REUTERS/Stringer This is despite the concerns that had been raised following fatal crashes of two Boeing 737 Max 8 jets; the crash of Indonesian airline Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 tragedy on March 10, 2019. Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph was quoted saying the airline would not cancel its order for Boeing 737 Max 8 jets. The carrier had ordered for 10 B737-800 Max jets. In an interview with Business Daily (BD), KQ’s chairman, Michael Joseph, disclosed the carrier had no intention to take off the table the deal it had with Boeing even as other airlines across the world revoked orders they had placed for B737-800 Max jets for safety reasons. “Th...

The carrier will be delivered within the life of this administration, this I can assure you. It is not forgotten by the government. It will continue and we are doing everything we can to deliver it." Nigeria's Minister of State for Aviation, says the government is making provisions to revisit the suspended national carrier. He said the plan to have a national carrier had not been "killed", stating that it was only suspended for strategic reasons. He said this on Monday while defending the ministry’s budget before the Senate Committee on Aviation in Abuja. He said the project, which was President Muhammadu Buhari’s brainchild, would not be allowed to die. He expressed concern that despite being a huge aviation market, Nigeria could not boast of a national carrier. He said: “We had to suspend the earlier plans for the national carrier for strategic reasons. The move was not killed. Provisions have to be made to continue to fund activities of...

Passengers on a British Airways flight from London's City Airport to Dusseldorf in Germany were met with a surprise Monday morning when their plane touched down -- in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The error was down to an incorrectly filed flight plan, leading both the pilot and cabin crew to believe the flight was bound for Edinburgh. The flight was operated by German leasing company WDL Aviation on behalf of the British Airways subsidiary airline BA CityFlyer. The incorrect flight plan was filed at WDL Aviation's offices in Germany. After landing in Edinburgh, the plane took off a second time for Dusseldorf. Piotr Pomienski, a student at Imperial College London, told CNN his girlfriend Zsófia Szabó was on the plane that landed in Edinburgh by mistake. "I saw on Flightradar that the flight was flying north instead of south, but I assumed it was a system error of some sort. That is until she wrote to me that they're in Edinburgh." Szabó told...

A Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) employee was killed after a landing Bombardier Challenger 300 struck his airport maintenance vehicle at Kuala Lumpur Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport last Monday. The twinjet, operated by Berjaya Air and registered as 9M-TST, was landing on Runway 15 on a charter flight from Jaipur, India. According to reports, the aircraft was decelerating when the left wing struck and sheered off the roof of the vehicle during repairs to airfield lighting. The man was taken to the hospital and died the following day. Muhammad Fauwaz, the captain of the Challenger, said he was given clearance to land on his second request to the tower after his first call went unanswered. In addition, he said the airport did not issue any Notams to indicate that work was being carried out, nor were there any beacon lights flashing on the vehicle. The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and Transport Ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) are...

Asia’s first 777X customer has begun preparations for the introduction of their Boeing 777-9X.  Cathay Pacific   CEO Rupert Hogg says the airline is ‘already in discussion’ with Boeing and others on every aspect of the 777-9X aircraft, which Cathay is planning to roll out as part of the airlines’ future long-haul fleet On December 20th, 2013, Cathay Pacific announced an order for 21 Boeing 777-9X aircraft as part of their future long-haul fleet strategy. The order is valued at more than $7 billion at current list prices. The 777-9X delivers Cathay Pacific with improved payload range capability and reduced operating costs, in addition to a significant reduction in carbon emissions. According to chief customer and commercial officer Paul Loo, Cathay is expected to receive its first 777-9X around June 2021. Deliveries will continue through 2024. Do we know what routes the 777-9X will fly on? With the capabilities that the 777X offers, it’s certain that Cathay woul...