Bumpy go-around for Iberia plane.

Photo: Nicolas Larenas

The crew of an Iberia Airbus A340-600 performing flight IB-6453 coming in fast to Quito International Airport had to abandon the landing attempt and instigate a go-around due to strong winds.

The aircraft, registration EC-LEU had come from Madrid on 11th August, was landing on the airport's runway 18 which was experiencing strong gusting winds of some 25knots. The high elevation of the Ecuadorian airport means that aircraft have to land at faster speeds than they would at other airports. The aircraft slams down and to the side and it is then that the crew perform a go-around.  

The aircraft had to hold for around 20 minutes before it repositioned for another approach to runway 18 where it landed some 30 minutes after the first attempt. 

Local media reports that at least one tyre of the main central gear burst during the first landing attempt as well as some other minor damage being sustained and the aircraft is still in Quito.  

 

Delta is hiring 1,000 flight attendants

The US carrier, Delta is seeking more than 1000 people to work as cabin crew across its vast network the airline announced recently.

The Trump supporting airline is seeking dedicated, service-oriented professionals who love to be on-the-go, help others and enjoy variety in their work.  "The best flight attendants in the world wear the wings of Delta and we'll be looking for top talent as we welcome 1,000 new members to the Delta family," said Allison Ausband, Delta's Senior Vice President, In-Flight Service. "Our people are known for their engaging personalities, ability to listen, composure and teamwork — if this sounds like you, apply to come fly with us."

Last year more than 270,000 applicants applied for roughly 1,700 coveted flight attendant jobs at Delta. Delta is seeking applicants with a high school degree or GED, the ability to work in the U.S., English fluency and be at least 21 years of age by Jan. 1, 2019. Plus an adaptable flexible attitude to cope with the 24/7 operational schedule that the global airline employs.

More details on Delta's website.

southwest changes support animal policy

A number of US airlines have recently changed their animal carriage policies,  Southwest Airlines is the latest to update its policies for trained service and emotional support animals. 

The changes are designed to provide clearer guidance to its customers travelling with service animals. "We welcome emotional support and trained service animals that provide needed assistance to our Customers," said Steve Goldberg, Senior Vice President of Operations and Hospitality. "However, we want to make sure our guidelines are clear and easy to understand while providing Customers and Employees a comfortable and safe experience."

Bombardier puts passion in the air

Bombardier is putting a little passion in the African air with the placement of three second-hand, pre-owned Bombardier Q400's with PassionAir from the Republic of Ghana. 

The Ghanaian airline has acquired the aircraft through a dry-lease with a third party, “Bombardier has sold about 3,500 new regional aircraft to date, and we continue to be very active on the used aircraft market.” said David Speirs, Vice President, Asset Management, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “Our recent momentum on the pre-owned aircraft market worldwide is a clear indication that our products are addressing a growing need for regional air transportation, especially in emerging markets.”

WestJet to introduce an Orlando flight from Saskatoon

Orlando, Florida will get a whole lot easier to get to from 7th December this year for the residents of Saskatoon when a leading Canadian airline will start a new weekly service.

The new service will link Skyxe Saskatoon Airport Saskatoon with Orlando International Airport every Friday. The schedule will see the flight depart at 1430, to arrive in Orlando at 1950, while the Orlando to Saskatoon flight leaves at 0900, arriving 1259 all times local. 

July 2018 - The busiest July on record for all London's main airports

The month of July has proved to be a busy month for London's main airports, breaking all previous records.  

London Stanstead airport in Essex saw passenger number rise up 7.4 percent on last years July figures to a whopping 2.8 million passengers.  The airports CEO, Ken O’Toole said, “As the main summer holiday season firmly gets underway, July is always a very busy month for us and this year we have welcomed a record number of passengers to the airport."

London Luton had the busiest July in its history with 1.67 million passengers passing through its doors, some 3.1 percent more than used the airport in July last year. “July was a milestone month for LLA, as we celebrated 80 years of growth and reached the next stage of our £160 million redevelopment." Nick Barton, chief executive of Luton said.

July 2018 was the busiest ever month for London City Airport, exceeding all existing records since it opened in 1987. In total, 471,519 passengers departed or arrived between 1st and 31st July– up 15.7% year-on-year compared to July 2017. It was also the third consecutive month that the airport has broken existing records, preceded by May (422,593 passengers) and June (441,519).

United rewarding top corporate customers with new programme

United Airlines has launched the travel industry's newest corporate travel programme that has been designed to offer top travel benefits to some of the airline's most loyal business customers. It is called United Corporate Preferred and the company introduced the new programme at the Global Business Traveler Association (GBTA) Convention in San Diego on Monday 13th August.

United Corporate Preferred offers new and exclusive benefits with some added perks for the airline's top corporate customers. It is a multi-level programme, with three different levels, including United Corporate Preferred, United Corporate Preferred Plus and United Corporate Preferred Elite.

Another new route from Calgary this winter from WestJet - plus frequency increases on other routes

Canadian airline WestJet is increasing a number of services from Calgary International Airport (YYC) this winter and from 3rd November the popular airline will be heading to another sunshine destination, guaranteed to put a smile on the face of anyone feeling the winter chills. The 2018 North America's Best Low-Cost Airline at the Skytrax awards is starting up a new non-stop twice-weekly service to Sangster International Airport, which if you're unsure where that is, the three-letter IATA code is MBJ.  Yep, WestJet are heading to Montego Bay, Jamaica this coming winter season.

The new route forms part of WestJet's seasonal schedule for winter 2018/2019, which includes more flights from Calgary to domestic, transborder, international and sun destinations including Maui, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orlando, Huatulco, Puerto Vallarta and Belize, among others.

MH370 was flown and crashed by a stowaway............new theory suggests

According to an international aviation 'expert,' the latest theory into the disappearance of Malaysian Flight MH370 is that it was flown by a stowaway who then crashed the plane.  

Philip Baum editor of Aviation Security International claims that someone evaded all airport security checks, managed to find a secret hiding place on the Boeing 777 and then somehow took over control of the aircraft and crashed it.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing in March 2014 while en route to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. Its disappearance has sparked the biggest marine search for a civil airliner in history and so far officials have drawn a blank in finding it or what happened to it. Indeed the Malaysian investigation team of some 19 or so people failed to find a conclusion The team found no evidence of malfunctions, no malicious or suspicious behaviour from the flight crew, there was no evidence of someone other than the pilots flew the plane, but at the end of their investigation they concluded: “The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370.”

Opps we've landed at the wrong airport. Wings Air ATR lands at closed airport in June 2018

The National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia released its preliminary report earlier this week into an incident that occurred on 19th June this year that saw a Wings Air ATR72 land at a closed airport.

The aircraft an ATR 72-600, registration PK-WHF of on Wings Air was performing a normal scheduled flight from Pontianak to Sintang, with thirty-two passengers, two cabin crew and two pilots onboard.

The aircraft flew a normal routing and subsequently landed at an airport that had been closed for almost three months. It should have been landing at Tebelian airport but instead went to Susilo airport, in Sintang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia  The National Transport Safety Committee report indicates that the flight crew contacted the Tebelian using the ‘Susilo Info’ callsign as they started their approach. They reported they were 84nm from Sintang and read through the planned arrival procedure.

Taking a plane for a joyride.....ground worker steals a passenger aircraft.

It's believed that a suicidal airline employee, a member of the ground crew, stole an empty passenger aircraft from Seattle Tacoma Airport, for an hour joyride on Friday evening before crashing into an island in Puget Sound. 

It's believed the man stole the aircraft,  made "an unauthorised take-off" late on Friday which forced the airport to halt operations for a period of time and the air force to scramble two F15 fighter jets. The man, who has not yet been named by officials, then did a number of manoeuvres in the air including a complete loop the loop, flying inverted, doing a low pass over the water as well as appearing to climb straight up.

When I first heard this story on the radio news, I assumed it had been a small Cessna or a similarly sized aircraft, I was therefore shocked to discover it was a twin-engined turboprop Bombardier Q400 belonging to Alaska Airlines' sister carrier Horizon Air.

Video of ground collision at Ataturk Airport

Thursday saw another aircraft collision at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport between a departing aircraft and one parked at a departure gate.

A Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787, registration CN-RGT had been pushed back and was given clearance to taxi and was proceeding along when its wing tip struck the rear of a Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, registration TC-JJZ.

The two-year-old Royal Air Maroc suffered only minor damage, but the damage to the rear of the Turkish Airlines aircraft that had just come in from New York was more severe. Early indications are the covers as well as the APU was damaged.  A full investigation is underway, however, local media reports are suggesting the Turkish 777 had stopped short of the designated parking line for an aircraft of its size.


The incident bears a striking similarity to a collision between an Asiana Airlines Airbus A330-300 and a Turkish A321 back in May this year.   The Asiana aircraft sliced through the Turkish aircraft's tail fin with dramatic consequences.







The pilots at Royal Air Maroc are continuing with their strike action over pay and conditions which is now into its fourth week. The airline has had to cancel a number of flights daily, as staff walk out, usually it is around 8 to 10 a day, however for tomorrow it appears only four have been axed, so far.

Flight	From	To	Status of disrupted flights on August 11
AT750	Casablanca	Paris	Canceled*
AT751	Paris	Casablanca	Canceled*
AT992	Casablanca	Madrid	Canceled*
AT993	Madrid	Casablanca	Canceled*

United July Figures

One of the largest US carriers, United Airlines has reported its July 2018 results earlier this week, which so the airline performed well, increasing revenue and loads over the same period last year. The carrier flew more than  15.4 million people during the month on more than 73,000 mainline flights.

United advise that its July 2018 consolidated traffic (revenue passenger miles) increased 6.9 percent and consolidated capacity (available seat miles) increased 4.0 percent compared to last year. UAL's July 2018 consolidated load factor increased 2.4 points compared to July 2017. 

Some of the highlights for the month include ---

Air New Zealand ventures into 3D printing of metal aircraft parts

Air New Zealand has teamed up with Zenith Tecnica for 3D printed metal parts for aircraft and tools.

Air New Zealand has confirmed it is working with Zenith Tecnic to work on producing 3D printed metal parts for its aircraft. Zenith Tecnic specialises in the design and manufacture of 3D printed titanium and other metals using a technology called electron beam melting (EBM).

Qantas to help drought hit farming communities with $3 million aid.

Photo Brent Winstone.

The Australian airline Qantas is stepping up help and assistance to the drought-affected farming communities in Australia. The airline has said, that together with its customers, it will donate $3 million to help provide relief. 

Qantas has started a new partnership with charity Rural Aid to help fund hay bales, water trucking, groceries and mental health counsellors for farming communities who are struggling to survive in what is the worst drought conditions that parts of Australia have seen in decades.

The airline will make an immediate $1 million cash donation to Rural Aid, followed by a number of Qantas and Jetstar appeal initiatives to raise another $1 million with the help of customers. Qantas will then match these fundraising efforts, with the aim of providing the charity with a total donation of $3 million by the end of 2018.