BA Exec Club Hacked

Unknown hackers have gained access to British Airways frequent flier accounts, the airline comnfrirmed today. "British Airways has become aware of some unauthorised activity in relation to a small number of frequent flyer executive club accounts. This appears to have been the result of a third party using information obtained elsewhere on the internet," an airline's message read. The British Airways apologized to its customers and said the hackers did not get access to passengers' names, bank details, flight history and other personal information. The airline said it had frozen the accounts untill it solves the issue.

Air Canada Plane Hits Power Lines

An Air Canada Airbus A320 came off the runway during its landing early on Sunday at an airport in the eastern city of Halifax in Canada. The aircratf was damaged during the landing excursion and it is believed that the aircraft hit electricity pylons.

Air Canada have Confirmed flight AC624, from Toronto YYZ to Halifax exited runway upon landing at Halifax. The flight had 133 passengers and 5 crew on board and all are reported to have exited the aircraft, with only minor injuries reported. Heavy snow was reported at the time of the landing, yet at this stage it remains unclear if that had played a role in the accident. Air Canada said it would cooperate fully with authorities' investigation into what happened. The airport also lost its electricity supply for part of the night.

Suicide or mass murder? Germanwings Flight 9525

Suicide or mass murder?   Germanwings Flight 9525

 

It now appears beyond all reasonable doubt that first officer Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the Airbus A320 into the side of a mountain in the French Alps killing all 149 other souls on board.

 Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin, in charge of the investigation, confirmed reports that the captain left the cabin minutes before the crash and was unable to get back in, during a special press conference yesterday.

Robin told the assembled journalists that pounding could be heard on the door during the final minutes of the flight as alarms sounded to signal that the aircraft was too close to land.

The black box recording showed that the captain and co-pilot talked normally and "courteously" for the first 20 minutes of the flight after it took off from Barcelona. Already that morning that had flown the aircraft together, with no incidents reported or mentioned.

"Then we hear the pilot ask the co-pilot to take the controls and a seat being pulled back and a door closing. We can assume he left to answer nature's call," said Robin. "The co-pilot is left alone at the controls. We hear several calls from the pilot asking for entry into the cockpit. There is no response from the co-pilot."

“The co-pilot did not say a word once the captain left the cockpit and his breathing was normal throughout the final minutes of the flight.” Robin said. Hauntingly he confirmed that screams of passengers could be heard in the last final moments of the recording before the aircraft hit the ground.

More focus is now being spent on the mental state of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who lived with his parents in the small western German town of Montabour. He had qualified as a pilot at the Lufthansa training centre in Bremen, he then started flying for low-cost subsidiary, Germanwings, shortly after completing the course in 2013.  At the time of this final flight, Lubitz had accumulated just over 630 hours of flight experience, according to a Lufthansa spokeswoman.

Lubitz was an avid runner who often took part in local races and was a member of a private flying club in Montabour, where he was described as upbeat - "He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well. He was very happy. He gave off a good feeling.”

German investigators have confirmed that evidence retrieved from Lubitz’s Dusseldorf flat indicate the young pilot was suffering from an unspecified mental illness. Lubitz. German media is reporting that the pilot took a six-month break from flight training in 2009 due to ‘burnout-syndrome’ and that he had continued to have “specific and regular medical treatment” ever since that bout of depression.

Carsten Spohr, CEO of Germanwings’ parent company Lufthansa, had already told the media that Lubitz took a "several-month gap" six years ago. However, he said: "I am not able to state the reasons why he took the break." Lubitz later resumed training and passed all his tests, including psychological and medical exams, Spohr said, adding that the co-pilot was deemed “100 percent fit to fly without any restrictions”.

“We can only speculate what might have been the motivation of the co-pilot," Spohr added. "In our worst nightmares we could not have imagined that this kind of tragedy could happen to us".

According to German media reports, the Germen investigators have found a torn up ‘sick note’ excusing Lubitz from work on the day of the crash.  

 

 

Schiphol Reopens

A major power cut has hit Amsterdam and surrounding towns, causing all flights to and from the city's Schiphol airport to be temporarily cancelled.

 

Dutch electricity network administrator TenneT said a significant part of North Holland province, home to some 2.7 million people, had been affected.  The operator later said power had been restored to some parts of the region.

But incoming flights were still being diverted from Schiphol airport - one of Europe's busiest terminals.
The hub was forced to run on emergency power, as the cut caused widespread disruption.

It was triggered by a "technical fault" at a substation in the Amsterdam suburb of Diemen, TenneT said on Twitter.

St Helena names South African airline preferred bidder

St Helena names South African airline preferred bidder for when airport opens next year

A South African airline operator has been named the favorite to provide an air service for St Helena when its first airport opens early in 2016. But Comair, which also operates budget flights as kulula.com, will only offer flights to Johannesburg in South Africa, despite strong calls for a direct service to Europe.

Potential tourism operators, including SHELCO, the company behind a planned eco resort on the island, had warned that flights from the UK were vital to their plans.

Alderney Route Battles

According to a special report, released to the BBC in the Channel Island a new airline could be about to take on the Alderney to Guernsey route.

The leaked proposal given to the Alderney policy and finance committee, will guarantee exclusive rights to fly the route to Isle of Man based airline, Citywing for five years.

The airline proposes to operate two LET 410 aircraft on scheduled daily flights to Guernsey and Southampton.

Aurigny Airlines CEO, Mark Darby, complains he wasn't invited to discuss the CityWing proposal with the States.  "Letting the BBC have sight of a bid document to run an Alderney based passenger service is an unusual way to go public on this." he said.

Alderney's policy and finance committee commissioned the report in 2014 after a series of delays on flights into the island by Aurigny. Neil Harvey, chairman of the committee, said no decision had been made as it had not been discussed by the States as a whole. He also mentioned the island was also in talks with Aurigny, which is owned by the States of Guernsey, over securing a service agreement.

If the CityWings proposal was approved in Alderney there would still be other issues, according to Mr Harvey. "The role of the States of Alderney is fairly significant in the report as the States would suffer the costs of any flights delayed or cancelled due to weather conditions."

Iraqi - UK Services

Last week saw the start of a new Iraqi Airways services to Manchester, United Kingdom, from Sulaymaniyah. This new link to the UK is the carriers second flight to England as they already fly to London Gatwick.

The Sunday service to Manchester is operated by the Middle Eastern airline’s 737-800s, the 4,170-kilometre sector will face no direct competition. The airline has also launched a Wednesday service from Erbil to Manchester airport.

Japan's New LA Flight

Japan Airlines has resumed non-stop flights between Osaka Kansai Airport and Los Angeles last week. The new daily direct flight is flown on one of the carriers new 787-8 aircraft.

This is Japan Airline's second American service from Osaka, it currently operates flights to Honolulu in Hawaii. They also fly to LA from Tokyo Narita.

Yasuhiro Nakamura, Japan Airlines Senior Vice President for The Americas said, “Japan Airlines is pleased to further expand its trans-Pacific network. The increase in service also strengthens JAL’s presence in Los Angeles and offers our customers more choice and convenience when travelling to Japan and destinations throughout Asia.”

Germanwings Crew Refuse to Fly

Germanwings have confirmed today that some pilots and cabin crew have refused to fly on the airlines flights following the devastating crash yesterday. 

Germanwings confirmed there were "occasional flight disruptions" on its network due to "crew members who decided not to operate aircraft" following the crash of Flight 4U9525 with 150 people aboard en route to Dusseldorf, Germany.

Germanwings 9525 Crash

The aviation industry is in mourning today after the shock crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 yesterday morning. As the investigation in to the cause of the disaster is in its infancy more information emerged today of the flights final moments. 

The French environment and transport minister, Ségolène Royal,  said today that the flight crew of the Airbus A320 had stopped responding on radio at 10.30am yesterday when the aircraft was over the Mediterranean.

The aircraft crashing into the side of a mountain in the French Alps just after 10.48am, it lost altitude rapidly, descending from 28,000 feet to less than 2,000 feet without transmitting any form of distress signal, either by radio or electronically.

Ms Royal said that events in the cockpit of the plane “between 10.30am and 10.31am” were “crucial” and may hold the “key” to unearthing the mystery of what caused the crash which killed 150 people.

The cockpit voice recorder was recovered yesterday and was taken to the laboratories of the French air investigation bureau, the BEA, at Le Bourget near Paris this morning. Although the recorder was damaged in the crash, preliminary examinations have been positive in the possibility of retrieving information. The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said whilst it had been damaged in the crash but was “usable”. 

According to radar logs, the aircraft was at a cruising altitude of 28,524 feet at 1029am, then at 1030 it had fallen to 26,453 and one minute later it had dropped to 24,380 feet. For the next 17 minutes, the A320 lost about 1,000 feet each a minute. This appears to be more a controlled rapid descent rather than an uncontrolled dive. The aircraft disappeared from radar soon after 10.48am and it is believed to have hit the mountain a few minutes later.

Ms Royal confirmed to media this morning that, soon after 10.30am, when the pilots had stopped responding by radio, the French military scrambled a Mirage jet fighter to intercept and investigate. According to local media, this French Forces jet was seen by eye-witnesses following the doomed airliner as it skimmed the Alpine ridges before crashing into a sheer mountain-side.  It's believed the Mirage pilot could have vital information on final moments of the stricken aircraft. 

More to follow

Not the first aicrash in the alps

The Germanwings A320 that crashed on Tuesday went down in the same part of the French Alps where a plane slammed into a mountain 62 years ago.

On Sept. 1, 1953, an Air France plane was coming in for a landing at Nice when it crashed into 10,000-foot-tall Mont Cimet, near the village of Barcelonette. All 33 passengers and all nine members of the crew were killed. According to news reports of the time the aircraft burned for over three hours. The aircraft was a Lockheed L-749A Constellation of Air France service from Paris to Saigon, with enroute stops in Nice, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan and India.

Thomas Cook Airlines Not For Sale?

Thomas Cook's airline business is not for sale according to bosses at the travel group, yet a full financial examination of the airline has been started by an 'outside' investment and consultancy firm according to a high ranking company employee.

 

Apparently this examination is almost 'forensic' in its approach and has full access to all company files and data. However the company insider couldn't say if the consultancy firm were working on behalf Thomas Cook or another firm.

Ups and downs for Virgin Australia

          Virgin Australia have reported a A$98.1 million ($87.6 million) full-year net loss.

 

The Australian airline blamed difficult economic conditions, strong competition and one-off costs related to its recently acquired Skywest business, in the announcement on Friday.

 

The highly thought of air carrier said major shareholders Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines had agreed to provide a loan worth A$90 million.

      

Virgin Australia is a highly respected airline and for the fourth consecutive month had been Australia's most punctual airline, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

First biofuel flight for Hainan

Hainan Airlines of China has completed the country's first flight powered by fuel made from waste cooking oil.

               

The Boeing 737 aircraft had been configured and modified slightly for the purpose of the flight, which took off from Shanghai on Saturday with 100 passengers aboard going to Beijing.

 

The cooking oil collected from restaurants was used by top Chinese oil company Sinopec to refine the oil and form the special the biofuel. Hainan Airlines vice president Pu Ming personally piloted the flight which used 50-50 mix of biofuel and conventional jet fuel.

Hong Kong-based airlines Dragonair announced a few days ago it had been planning to make China's first ever commercial flight using recycled oil, however, the airline was eventually forced to postpone the flight due permit problems. 

According to reports the biofuel used in the Hainan Airlines should emit 50 to 80 per cent less carbon dioxide than traditional aviation fuels, significantly reducing air traffic pollution. 

Brazil’s Gol Airline Beckons Foreign Buyers After Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s biggest airline is opening the door to a potential suitor with a stock restructuring that will allow greater foreign ownership.

Shareholders of Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA voted Monday to approve a measure that will reduce its dependence on the controlling Constantino family. Non-voting shareholders also gained the ability to hold board seats. That may increase Gol’s appeal to investors from abroad or even lead to an eventual takeover of the $830 million carrier, among the cheapest in the Americas.

Brazil’s airlines resemble U.S. carriers a decade ago, before a recession and high fuel prices forced consolidation and cost cuts, said Rob Pickels, an analyst and portfolio manager at Manning & Napier. Gol and the rest of the Brazilian industry will go through a similar process that will leave it more financially sound, he said.