Tag: Aviation

Flight in US delayed by teens refusing to wear masks

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An American Airlines flight from North Carolina to the Bahamas was delayed by a day after around 30 teenagers refused to wear masks, local media said Tuesday. Flight 893 was scheduled for take-off from Charlotte Douglas airport late Monday but only left the tarmac on Tuesday morning, with the troublemakers still on board. An initial delay of several hours was caused by mechanical problems, but when the plane was finally […]

Contact lost with plane in Russia’s Far East, 28 on board: reports

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Contact has been lost with a passenger plane carrying 28 people in Russia’s Far East, news agencies cited emergency services as saying on Tuesday. The An-26 was flying from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana in the Kamchatka Peninsula when it did not make a scheduled call-in, the Interfax, RIA Novosti and TASS agencies quoted local officials as saying. The report said the 28 on board included six crew members and that there were […]

Saudi suspends UAE flights due to virus variant

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday. The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunized citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year. The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis. Flights to and from the […]

Hong Kong bans flights from UK over Delta Covid variant

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong is to ban all incoming flights from the United Kingdom from July 1 to curb the more infectious Delta strain of the coronavirus, the financial hub’s government said in a statement Monday. “All passenger flights from the UK will be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong,” the statement said. The UK would now be designated in the “extremely high-risk” category of countries, it added, the most severe rating […]

Tarzan actor Joe Lara among 7 presumed dead in US plane crash

    WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — All seven passengers aboard a plane, including Tarzan actor Joe Lara and his diet guru wife, are presumed dead after it crashed in a lake near the US city of Nashville, authorities said. The small business jet crashed at around 11:00 am local time on Saturday, shortly after taking off from the Smyrna, Tennessee airport for Palm Beach, Florida, Rutherford County Fire & Rescue (RCFR) said on Facebook. […]

Ryanair passenger jet makes emergency landing in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A Ryanair passenger plane made an emergency landing in Berlin before resuming its journey to Poland, German police said late Sunday without releasing further details. The flight from Dublin to Krakow made the unexpected diversion after a reported bomb threat, German newspaper Bild Zeitung said. With 160 people on board, the flight arrived at the Berlin-Brandenburg airport shortly after 8 pm (1800 GMT) Sunday, remaining on the tarmac into early Monday […]

‘Bomb threat’ sent after plane diverted to Minsk: email provider

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The alleged bomb threat cited by Belarus as the reason why it diverted a plane to Minsk before arresting a journalist on board was sent after the plane was redirected, the email provider said. Proton Technologies, which is headquartered in Geneva and says it is the world’s largest secure email provider, said the sent time confirmed it came after the Ryanair passenger plane was diverted to Belarus. The Athens-to-Vilnius flight carrying […]

Air India says data on 4.5 million passengers stolen

MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Hackers have stolen data on about 4.5 million Air India passengers around the world in the latest breach reported by a major airline. Names, credit card numbers and passport information were among the data stolen, Air India said in a statement released late Friday. The state-owned giant said it was “securing the compromised servers” and using “external specialists” on data security as well as working with credit card companies. “We deeply […]

Scores test positive for Covid-19 on India flight to Hong Kong

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — At least 49 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong have tested positive for coronavirus, authorities said, as the financial hub introduced an emergency ban on all flights from India in a crackdown over a new wave of cases. All of the passengers who tested positive flew into Hong Kong on a flight run by Indian operator Vistara on April 4. The positive tests are significant as […]

Indonesia retrieves crashed Boeing jet’s cockpit voice recorder

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — The cockpit voice recorder from a crashed Indonesian jet has been retrieved in “good condition”, officials said Wednesday, more than two months after the airliner plunged into the sea killing all 62 passengers and crew. The CVR records flight crew conversations and could offer critical clues about why the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 dived around 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) into waters off Jakarta just minutes after takeoff on January 9. […]

Cathay Pacific posts record loss, warns of long recovery

by Jerome TAYLOR HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific said Wednesday it suffered a record $2.8 billion loss last year as the coronavirus pandemic wiped out demand for travel — and the airline warned of a long road to recovery ahead. Chairman Patrick Healy described 2020 as the “most challenging” in the airline’s 70-year history and said much will now depend on how effective and widespread global vaccination programmes are. “It […]

British Airways eyes greener jet fuel from 2022

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Airways on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with US startup LanzaJet to produce jet fuel aimed at cutting carbon emissions from 2022. The announcement comes  as the global aviation industry is looking to bounce back from a collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic grounding planes. “Despite the crisis in global aviation, it is vital for our future that we continue to address climate change and we remain focused […]