Emmergency Landing for Virgin 747 at London Gatwick

Drama over the skies of the south east of England today as a stricken Virgin Atlantic 747 had to repeated circle to burn fuel before returning to London's Gatwick Airport after discovering a problem with part of its main landing gear.

The Virgin flight VS43 with 447 passengers and 15 crew had just departed Gatwick at the start of is flight to Las Vegas when it had to return to the airport, causing major disruption and the closure of Gatwick's only runway. The Virgin aircraft touched down at around 1600 but Gatwick's runway only reopened at 19:03.

Gatwick Airport said in a statement: "The airport is now facilitating inbound and outbound flights but it will take some time for normal service to resume. We advise passengers to check with their airlines on the status of their flight. Updates will also be posted on the Gatwick website and on Twitter."

The statement also explained that the airport was working with its airline partners to provide food, drink and welfare facilities to those affected by the delays and cancellations and volunteers were helping provide advice. Dozens of arriving flights had been diverted to other London and south east airports.

The Virgin 747 is 13-year-old aircraft and had departed Gatwick 11:30 GMT on Monday 29th, when a problem with the main landing gear and hydraulics became apparent. The pilot then had to burn and jettison fuel to in order to be light enough to land. During the incident Virgin announced the plane would be carrying out a "non-standard landing procedure" at Gatwick airport.

Passenger Nick Hughes, on board the jet, said the crew made several attempts to try to free the landing gear.  "They put the thrust on quite heavily and then dipped down, I think, to try and loosen the gears but obviously nothing kind of worked. They gave it every opportunity before they tried the emergency landing. All credit due to the crew and the staff and of course the pilots because the landing was probably one of the softest landings I've ever had."

Eyewitnesses on the ground reported the jet flying at relatively low altitude with the pilot appearing to be trying to "shake" the landing gear down.

Another passenger, Hardeek Desai, said: "The staff were trying to keep everyone calm but a few passengers were a bit panicky. One of the crew came out to the seating area to reassure everyone everything was going to be OK. The staff were giving out thing like drinks and water to everyone to make sure everyone's OK. Generally, the mood was pretty good at this point until we hit the brace position."

Describing the mood on the plane as it was circling, passenger Dan Crane, 24, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, said it was "anxious, a lot were worried, some crying. The mood was quiet, just waiting for the captain's next announcement."  Mr Crane, who is with family and friends, said the crew kept everyone informed, adding: "They said it was an emergency landing and we had to brace on impact."

Another passenger, Mike Kaufman, said: "This was one of the greatest emergency landings in history. It was very smooth." He praised the pilots and the cabin crew, saying the landing had been "textbook".

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger said: "I am very pleased to confirm that all customers and crew have now disembarked the VS43 flight to Las Vegas, which returned to Gatwick airport this afternoon following a problem with one of the landing gear.  I understand that this will have been a very upsetting situation for the customers involved, and for their friends and family, and will have significantly disrupted people's holiday plans.

"We will make sure they are well looked after this evening, and will be operating a special flight tomorrow for everyone who would like to continue their journey."

Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson tweeted: "Well done @VirginAtlantic pilots & team for safe & skilful landing of #VS43. Thoughts with passengers & crew, thanks for support & patience."

An investigation is underway.

LATAM Upgrades.

According to resent releases from the LATAM Airlines Group, they will spend up to $100 million on new technology projects to improve passenger service.

 

The South American group has already unveiled a new smartphone app to facilitate passengers ability to manage all aspects of their travel arrangement from electronic boarding pass, flight status reports and adding ancillary products. 

 

LAN and TAM have struck up an agreement with Google's YouTube that will allow passengers access to some content from the video sharing site on their inflight entertainment offering.  Continuing with in-flight entertainment, LAN and TAM Entertainment launches,  a new wireless inflight entertainment system for personal devices allowing passengers to watch movies, TV shows and videos via their own mobile devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Bye Bye Air Tran Airways

Southwest Airlines will officially complete its integration of AirTran Airways tonight, just a little more than four years since announcing plans to acquire AirTran –

The last AirTran flight 001 lands at Tampa International Airport just before midnight tonight and this will be the last ever AirTran arrival.

There are some that will be glad, for many however it is a sad sad day. Scores of customer are not so happy to see the vaulted AirTran brand swallowed whole by Southwest.

In the two and a bit decades of existence, AirTran built up a significant presence within the U.S. aviation industry.

You can read about the backstory of AirTran and ValueJet on the new Airways magazine website, just click this link.

AirAsia Missing Aircraft

A major search operation into the missing AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that lost contact with ground control has been suspended for the night.

The search operation for the plane, which is believed to have gone missing while flying over the Java sea, was halted as darkness fell and will resume in the morning at 6am local time. 

The Singapore-bound plane had taken off from the provincial city of Surabaya in Indonesia, and lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24am Singaporean local time, nearly two hours after take-off.
Both countries are now conducting a major search and rescue operation for flight QZ8501, and South Korea has said it will help also.

Russian Military Jet's Too Close For Comfort

A diplomatic and aviation row has broken out between Russia and Sweden after claims that a Russian intelligence jet came close to colliding with a passenger aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

Swedish officials claim the Russian military plane had turned off its transponders in order to avoid commercial radar and that it had nearly hit another plane belonging to the Scandinavian airline SAS. However, the spokesperson for the Russian defence ministry, Major General. Igor Konashenkov,  said the two planes were never less than 42 miles apart.  Added that the military plane was flying in international airspace and operating in compliance with the rules at a safe distance from civilian air passenger routes.

He also claimed that a NATO warplane had been flying between the Russian jet and the commercial aircraft.  Micael Byden, of the Swedish Air force  described the incident as “pretty serious”,  advising that the commercial flight was immediately ordered to change course when the Russian plane was detected, he said.

Russian has a recent history of encroaching on passenger aircraft, a much more serious incident took place in March when a Russian plane, again with transponders turned off, come to within 100m of an SAS plane outside Copenhagen.

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Western countries say Russia has ramped up its military presence in the Baltic Sea after amid tensions with the West over the Ukraine conflict.  NATO also conducts air patrols over the Baltic. The Russian spokesperson said the number of flights by NATO warplanes along Russian borders has tripled in recent months.
 

Changes on Emirates A380's

Emirates, the world’s largest airline by international passenger traffic, is all set to scrap its award winning first class cabins from some of its Airbus A380’s! 

The Dubai based airline will switch to a two-class business and economy configuration from late next year on some of its superjumbos, a spokesperson confirmed on today. Emirates can fly between 489 and 519 passengers in its current thee class configuration. The two-class A380s will fly on select routes where the airline is more likely to fill economy and business class seats over its premium product.

Nuts! The Korean Row

The daughter of Korean Air's chairman has resigned from her posts at the airline after being heavily criticised over a first-class row - about nuts.

 

Cho Hyun-ah delayed a flight from New York to Incheon, South Korea, after forcing the captain to return to the gate so the most senior cabin crew member, the chief purser, could be removed from the plane. Ms Cho, who was vice president responsible for cabin service at the family-run airline, reportedly took exception to the arrival of some macadamia nuts served in a packet rather than a bowl. She called over the chief purser who, according to an earlier Korean Air statement, replied with "lies and excuses" when challenged over his crew's knowledge of inflight service procedures.

New Boss for Malaysian Airlines.

Troubled Malaysia Airlines have chosen Aer Lingus boss Christoph Mueller to be its chief executive-designate.

The Malaysian airline, which has seen its value and reputation savagely  hit by two disasters during 2014 announced a raft of senior leadership appointments during a restructuring to stave off collapse. Last month, MAS posted its worst quarterly loss since late 2011, as passenger numbers and average fare yields fell sharply.

Unusually, Mr Mueller is going to become the first ever non Malaysian native to take the head of the country's flagship carrier.  Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund and MAS's parent company, said discussions were ongoing for Mr Mueller to take up the post before 1 May 2015, but no earlier than 1 March 2015. Mr Mueller's Aer Lingus notice period ends on 1 May.

"The appointments announced today are part of efforts by the government and Khazanah to lay strong foundations for the future success of our national carrier," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said, Najib also chairs Khazanah's board of directors.

In August, MAS said it was to cut 6,000 staff as part of a recovery plan, with the airline becoming completely state-owned.

 

Air Fares Set to Fall in 2015

Stand by for a fare reduction revolution!  According to travel experts the average return fares for air passengers will be 5.1% lower next year compared with 2014!

 

Major airlines are expected to cut and reduce fares early next year thanks to higher profits as a result of cheaper fuel and faster global growth.  IATA - The International Air Transport Association, expects the global airline industry to report a record $25bn (£15.9bn) profit next year.

The Global aviation body also increased its profit forecast for 2014 to $19.9bn, up from its earlier prediction of $18bn - good news for all, including the travelling public. 

"The industry outlook is improving. The global economy continues to recover and the fall in oil prices should strengthen the upturn next year," said IATA director general Tony Tyler.

The last time the industry reported a profit margin close to IATA's prediction for next year was in 2010, when it reached 3.1%.

However, Mr Tyler said the 3.2% margin did not leave much room for deterioration before profits were hit, pointing out that political unrest, conflicts and some weak regional economies all posed a risk.

IATA - The industry body represents 250 airlines, accounting for 84% of global air traffic say the state of the global industry varies dramatically according to location. North American airlines expected to see profit margins of 6% next year, by far the strongest performance globally.

In contrast, European airlines are only expected to see profit margins of 1.8%, which the association blames on "high regulatory costs, infrastructure inefficiency and onerous taxation". The UK for example has the most heavily taxed airline industry than almost any other country in the world. 

The recent fall in the oil price is set to provide a welcome boost to airline's profits through cheaper fuel prices. Brent crude oil has fallen more than 40% since June, and today slipped below $66 a barrel! 

However passengers will have to wait to see the benefit of the falling fuel prices as the vast majority of airlines buy fuel in bulk in advance for a set price - or hedging as it is known, so it could be a while before the fare come tumbling.

 

 

Rex Looks Positive

Picture by Jason Suters

Australian regional airline Rex - Regional Express says the worst appears to be over after its massive 45 per cent fall in profits last financial year.

 

"We believe that the Rex group is now well poised to take advantage of the upturn of the economy when that happens," deputy chairman John Sharp told the company's annual meeting.

 

"Our passenger numbers have stopped declining and fuel prices have remained low during the first part of this financial year."  Rex's net profit fell to $7.7 million in 2013/14 after passenger numbers dropped 3.4 per cent.

 

Shareholders missed out on a dividend last financial year as a result of the profit fall, but they were told on Wednesday Rex would be in a position to significantly increase its dividend payout ratio once the airline's recovery was well underway.

 

Rex expects to lift its full year profit in 2014/15 as passenger demand has stabilised.

Biggin Hill Crash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drama as private jet crashes on take off at Biggin Hill airport earlier this week.  Witnesses  report emergency vehicles surrounding the stricken Gulfstream G1159-A on the runway as smoke poured out of it at around 8.30pm last night.

The twin engine jet careered off the run way and its nose wheel collapsed,  an airport spokesman said two crew members and six passengers that were on-board were unhurt but were treated for shock at the scene and escorted from the aircraft by the airport's fire service. 

Passengers Push Aircraft

 

 

Passenger Pushback!  It sounds like something to come out of the mind of Ryanair Boss Michael O'Leary, getting passengers to push-back their aircraft. But not so, according to Russian media that's exactly what happened at a remote and frightfully cold Siberian airport. 

 

Passengers in Igarka, a small town in the far north of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, learned that their plane had become stuck on the ground as temperatures plunged to minus 52C (-59F).  

 

A video also shows them pushing the aircraft wings to get the plane moving along the ground after its breaks had frozen in the 'parked' position. The aircraft was a Tupolev 134 operated by Katekavia, a subsidiary of Utair, one of Russia’s biggest airlines.

 

Eventually the flight departed and the 74 passengers, landed safely in the regional centre of Krasnoyarsk. A spokesperson for Katekavia denied the plane had become stuck and claimed the pushback tractor sent to move the aircraft had become stuck. 

 

An investigation has already begun into the facts of the aircraft's predicament and how the passengers came to be pushing the aircraft and on the apron. 

Impressive 2015 Schedule for Aegean.

Aegean Airlines has launched its new flight schedule for 2015. 

The new schedule includes a network of 134 destinations, 34 of which are international and 100 domestic, in 42 countries. The Greek airline operates a 56 strong feet of Airbus A320 series aircraft which have an average age of just 6.3 years. 

Ten new countries (Armenia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Iran, Kuwait, Malta, Netherlands, Norway and Saudi Arabia) and 16 international destinations (Amsterdam, Deauville, Dubrovnik, Helsinki, Kuwait, Malta, Metz, Naples, Oslo, Paphos, Pisa, Riyadh, Tallinn, Tehran, Toulouse and Yerevan) are being added to the network for next year.

At a press conference, Vice-President Eftychios Vassilakis, announced "2015 is a milestone-year for Aegean. We invest in new fleet, in a network of 134 destinations and we offer 15 million seats. We proceed with the powerful enhancement of the hub of Athens, but we also support the regional development through increased flights from our regional bases. We continue and we enhance our policy of supporting small islands, a policy that brought impressive results in 2014 targeting to highlight the multiplicity of the Greek tourism product.”

Worlds Shortest Intercontinental Flight to Launch in 2015

Royal Air Maroc and Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar announced this week that a new service linking the northern city of Tangier and Gibraltar will launch on 29 March 2015.

This brand new service continues a long history of flights between the two cities that dates back to the 1930's. Although the last scheduled airlink ended in the 1990's. 

Tata / Singapore Airlines Venture Delayed.

The Tata-Singapore Airlines-promoted airline, Vistara, had applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for the permit in April and had planned to launch services by September. However a delay in the process means that the full-service carrier will now not be able to start flights until next year.

"We are in the final phase of securing the air operator's permit (AOP). We are working with the regulator to complete the remaining process expeditiously and look forward to launch our services soon after receiving the permission," a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement.

So far this start up has taken delivery of two planes on lease and was scheduled to take a third aircraft last month but has deferred this arrival because of the delay. The carriers long term plans are to lease 20 Airbus A320s, including seven fuel-efficient A320 Neo aircraft. 

The airline will, according to plans, operate from its base Delhi and connect Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Jammu and Patna in the first year.