AvNews: 04/11/17

Updates

Air Berlin: The Aftermath

It's been one week since Air Berlin's last flight landed at Berlin-Tegel, and the airport has lost 50% of it's daily traffic. Luckily, easyJet has come to save the day and will be buying 25 A320s from Air Berlin for €40 million. They will base all 25 in Tegel. With these new A320s they plan to expand their German domestic branch and be “the leading provider for short haul flights to and from Tegel”. Three routes that were operated by Air Berlin are likely to be one of the routes operated by easyJet with the new aircraft; Berlin-Tegel to Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Munich. As of now, easyJet don;t operate to or from Berlin-Tegel, however operate to Berlin's other airport. Schönefeld. The new operations from Tegel are expected to begin in winter of this year.

Besides aircraft, easyJet will also be hiring 1000 employees with no jobs from Air Berlin, which means 1000 jobs saved. Air Berlin's liquidator, Frank Kebekus, had said that Air Berlin may have to give the boot to around 4000 employees if no buyer, other than Lufthansa, could be found. Lufthansa will be taking 81 aircraft and 3000 employees, they will also take over Air Berlin's subsidiaries, Niki and LGW. Condor has also taken interest in buying some of Air Berlin's aircraft 'if the conditions are good'. After Lufthansa has taken their 81 aircraft, and easyJet, their 25, FAZ has estimated that 18 Air Berlin aircraft will be left.

Speaking of Lufthansa's aircraft, Eurowings have been receiving their first few Bombardier Dash-8 Q400s from Air Berlin, to be honest and in my opinion, the livery is... rather bland.

Besides that, an open letter from Eurowings staff had expressed warning about joining the airline due to low wages and poor working conditions.

“Lufthansa used to stand for reliability, fairness, social responsibility and justice, but this has changed with the foundation of Eurowings Europe."

They also said if they had the ability to go to Ryanair, they would take the chance to. Boss Robert Jahn had said, “This letter contains false claims and is highly damaging to business," in response to the release of the open letter.

Major News

Leaving it to the Airlines

Transport Canada to cut pilot evaluators, leaving the responsibility to airlines. Although the government suggest that this plan is low-risk many people have criticize the safety of this decision. Documents show this decision was taken in May back when the House of Commons transport committee was reviewing aviation safety and subsequently recommended more on site inspections. A document concerning the risk assessment and in internal letter from Transport Canada director of national operation for civil aviation has been obtained.

The letter says the changes will take place in April first for airlines with planes that fly more than 50 passengers.

The risk assessment document acknowledges Canada is moving away from the mainstream practices used in other big countries. It also says:

“It could be argued that Canada’s experience and relative maturity with systems-based surveillance will adequately complement this shift of responsibilities ... and therefore mitigate any concerns other states or trade associations may have with response to such a departure from globally accepted practices,”

Respecting the ICAO rules, Canada will be evaluating pilots every two year as recommended.

Greg McConnell a chairman of the pilot association said that these changes are pushing Canada's aviation safety system into the industry itself.

“I think it’s very, very important that people understand we are getting closer to self-regulation all the time.” he said in an interview. “It’s just more cutting, more dismantling of the safety net.”

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a email that:

“Data has demonstrated that over the past five years, approved check pilots have had a very low failure rate (less than 0.2 per cent) when being monitored by Transport Canada. The department is confident that approved check pilots are exercising their delegation of authority properly,” it says.

There as been no comments from Westjet or Air Canada, Canada's two major airlines.

Aerolineas Argentina staff go on strike.

A few days ago, a strike by the two largest airlines in Argentina caused the cancellations of over 50 flights grounding tens of thousands of passengers on Tuesday. With high cost of living in Argentina and low paying salaries this was inevitable.

Five unions representing Aerolineas Argentina and sister company Austral Lineas Aereas are demanding a 26% salary increase in line with inflation rates. About 40 000 people have been affected and 300 domestic and international flights have been cancelled in the pass 24 hours.

The president of Aerolineas Argentina criticized the unions representing the workers and said the company might take legal action.

Union secretary general Ruben Fernandez told local news media that the unions will likely strike again if their demands are not met.

Alaska Airlines raises pay for staff , just under amount larger U.S. airline pay.

Alaska Airlines had signed a new combined labour contract which had raised the wage to the highest of $251 per flight hour for Alaska and Virgin America, this will also increase by 3% in 2018 and 2019. On top of this whole thing, the average pay increase for an Alaska captain was 16% and for a Virgin America captain, 29%. The average pay increase for an Alaska first officer was 28% and for a Virgin America first officer was 45%.

The contract and its effects had become effective on November 1st, 2017 through to April 2020.

American Airlines is going through a rough storm.

So let's begin. Recently traces of listeria have been found at GateGourmet's kitchen at LAX. Listeria causes Listeriosis, a type of food poisoning. American had suspended catering from GateGourmet's kitchen to any of their aircraft, however American stood alone in this action, other airlines that are served by GateGourmet have continued catering operations. GateGourmet has also said, “the listeria didn’t touch any food areas [and was] found during routine testing,” and GateGourmet had also “brought in outside agencies to make sure it was safe." However, American had still procceeded with their decision as an act “out of an abundance of caution."

“Based on our concerns over the progress of the action plan, we made the decision to suspend the use of catering from this location,” said Katie Cody, an American Airlines spokeswoman, “While no reports of illness related to the LAX Gate Gourmet catering operation have been reported to American, we made this decision because we felt it was the right thing to do for our customers and team members.”

American Airlines are still unsure of when the end of the suspension will be, however, in the meantime, passengers are given snacks, and if they're served catered meals, they will not be of class according to expectations. Passengers who are not given standard catering will receive vouchers

This may not be new news, but American is facing a zone of turbulence in the race department. People are saying and questioning if American Airlines is safe for black passengers. Recently, Briana Williams, a young sing mother and a third-year Harvard law student from Los Angeles, had asked for her child's stroller after being asked to deplane following a five hour delay. Then a pilot had called law enforcement and labelled Ms. Williams as 'disruptive and unruly'. In the past few years, American Airlines have been showing obvious discrimination towards African-Americans and the rate of the frequency of this issue has grown exponentially.

The N.A.A.C.P warned on Tuesday that African-American to exercise caution when traveling with American Airlines citing a pattern of "disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour from the company" The organization wanting came in the form of a travel advisory describing four recent times when a black passenger were said to have a been discriminated against. Derrick Johnson said in a statement:

“All travelers must be guaranteed the right to travel without fear of threat, violence or harm,” he said in a statement. “The growing list of incidents suggesting racial bias reflects an unacceptable corporate culture and involves behavior that cannot be dismissed as normal or random.”

And lastly, Etihad has stated they will be ending flights to Dallas-Fort Worth on March 25, 2018, and the blame American Airlines. This is due to American Airlines ending the codeshare agreement between the two airlines in July 2017. The end of the codeshare meant the route would be "commercially unsustainable" and Etihad had no choice but to suspend the flights next Spring.

“The cancellation of the Dallas route is one of several adjustments that we are making to our U.S. network in 2018 in order to improve system profitability,” said CEO, Peter Baumgartner.

Since Etihad's strategy review released last year, they have appointed a new group CEO, who will take over in January 2018, sold a stake in a European carrier, and had withdrawn financial support from Italy's Alitalia and Germany's Air Berlin.

Two passengers onboard a Delta flight caught performing oral sex.

PG 13+

A pair of Delta passengers are now facing criminal charges after being caught performing oral sex mid flight.

A female passenger aged 48 was a caught performing the sex act on a 28 year old male in their seat on a flight from Los Angeles to Detroit on Sunday. According to airport police the pair met on board the aircraft.

After landing in Detroit, they were met by airport police and given citations. Neither has been named but they are both facing charges from the FBI. Because this happened in the air, this situation falls into jurisdiction of federal investigator. The FBI did not response to the incident. It has been revealed yet if the passengers were drinking or not.

Runaway girl makes it on a easyJet flight.

A 7 year old girl slipped through security and checks and into a plane without boarding pass before being spotted by crew members and being handed to police.

Bernard Stampfli said that authorities following the Sunday incident are enhancing measures to ensure that children are accompanied by adults when passing through security checks at Geneva airport.

He said that the girl initially slipped away from her parents at Geneva's main railway station and travelled by train to the airport. The girl repeatedly took advantages of her small size and employed a ruse to make it look like she was traveling with adults ahead or behind her.

Security issue at London-Heathrow

An unemployed Londoner found a USB flash storage lying on the street as he was headed to the library to check for jobs. When he got to the library he plugged it in and found it was filled with security details for London's Heathrow International Airport. It included security measures and travel details for Queen Elizabeth II. The man turned over the drive to a reporter at the Sunday Mirror. It contained 2.5GB worth of data all unencrypted. There were at least 174 documents. Some were marked as confidential or restricted but he could still read it.

He found on the USB:

• The exact route the Queen takes when using the airport and security measures uses.

• Files disclosing every type of ID needed- even those used by cover cops to access restricted areas.

• A timetable of patrols that was used to guard the site against suicide bombers and terror attacks.

• Maps pinpointing CCTV cameras and a network of tunnels and escape shafts linked to the Heathrow express.

• Routes and safeguards for Cabinet ministers and foreign dignitaries.

• Details of the ultrasound radar system used to scan runways and the perimeter fence.

The scare comes just weeks after Britain's terror threat stood at critical following the Parsons Green Tube bomb bid. It is still at severe.

In a statement a spokesperson for Heathrow said:

"Heathrow’s top priority is the safety and security of our passengers and colleagues. The UK and Heathrow have some of the most robust aviation security measures in the world and we remain vigilant to evolving threats by updating our procedures on a daily basis. We have reviewed all of our security plans and are confident that Heathrow remains secure. We have also launched an internal investigation to understand how this happened and are taking steps to prevent a similar occurrence in future."

A security source said:

“In the wrong hands, this would represent a profound threat in terms of terrorism or espionage."

"Aviation security is under the microscope because of the desire by terrorists to bring planes down in a spectacular fashion. Security services would not want this leaked or sold to hostile parties.”

Met police detectives were liaising with airport chiefs to work out how a massive 2.5GB worth of data ended up in the streets. Airport insiders revealed they were trying to determine if there had been an "incompetent data breach" or if someone had been accessing files intentionally.

Police fear it may have been copied and circulated on the dark web where terrorists and criminals buy information. The level of detail could have been taken years to compel and involve a number of different systems according to police. A place said:

"The fear is that this information could have been downloaded and disseminated God knows where."

"The worry is it ends up on the dark web and used by bad guys to pick holes in airport security"

A former counter-terrorism chief who specializes in airport security told a news outlet.

"There are serious questions to be answered"

"Why was this sensitive material held on an unencrypted memory stick and taken off-site? It's a huge security breach and massively embarrassing for those in charge of security."

"Knowing certain aspects of this information may make it easier for potential attackers to avoid detection"

"And the cumulative impact of having so many documents, videos, maps and images all in one place represents a security risk"

The man which has not reveal his name found a lot of security details about the airport's Royal Suite used by the Queen and other dignitaries.

In the USB there were photos of X-rays machines and scanning equipment used by her Majesty.

The Royal Suite which costs 2,800 pounds to hire for a single flight -is hidden from view in Terminal 5 and guests are driven directly to it.

But the memory stick holds images of the route leading up to the suite and satellite images with the locations of nearby checkpoints. Details of screens processes in Windsor

Suite-used by stars.

Other files listed those exempt from screening details of driver ferrying VIP guests to the suite and radios codes in the case of a hijack.

Other maps showed where some of Heathrow's maintenance tunnel and escape shafts are linked to the Express train line. There were also satellite images and operating manuals for the Doppler radar surveillance system were also stored.

An expert said that this information would've facilitated an attack. He said:

"Knowing this information would cut down on surveillance and could potentially make access easier."

"Security chiefs will be working hard to ensure there is no physical threat as a result of this breach and changing process if necessary."

"It is not helpful -certainly not best practice- to have amps and drawings of the UK's biggest airport left in the street. "

"It is serving up intelligence on a plate to people. It's hugely embarrassing and should not have happened."

"In the wrong hands, it could potentially be very helpful and would save them a lot of time in planning an attack"

his news comes a few days after US intelligence warned the Islamic State jihadist and Al-Qaeda are planning more mass-casualty attacks on the scale of the 9/11 hijackings.

Meanwhile, US court papers revealed an Al-Qaeda trained former McDonald's worker in bomb-making techniques to carry out a suicide attack at Heathrow airport targeting US and Israel passengers.

There has never been such a huge major security breach at an International Airport. This raises a lot of questions if travelling is safe and when and where could a possible attack happen.

Aircraft News

A350:

• The A350-1000 had completed all it's flight tests and Airbus is expecting first delivery in the coming weeks.

A320 Family:

• Virgin America's third A321neo (N923VA) has been delivered.

737 Family:

• Air Canada's first 737 MAX 8 (C-FTJV) has been delivered.

• American's second 737 MAX 8 (N304RB) has been delivered.

• Air China's first 737 MAX 8 (B-1397) has been delivered.

Dash 8-Q400:

• Alaska's first Bomabrdier Dash8-Q400 painted in the new livery.

Airline News

Delta's last 747 USA-Japan flight.

United isn't the only U.S. airline saying goodbye to it's 747s, Delta is too. With this monumental last flight, Delta had flown the last 747 flight from the U.S. to Japan. Coincidentally, NWA's (Northwest Airlines) first international 747 flight was from Seattle to Tokyo. This last 747 flight between the two cities Detroit-Tokyo. For many years, Tokyo has seen Northwest's and Delta's 747s operating there, and this week it had flown there for the last time.

Video by: tengoindiamike

As of October 30th, DAL275 is now operated by an A350 which is the inaugural of the first Delta A350 service. This sparks a new era of flights from the U.S. to Japan.

Video by: woody23451

Southwest begins inflight "concerts"

Officially I think it's safe to say that Air Travel is at its best. Southwest Airlines has finalized an agreement with Warner Music Nashville that it'll expand the airline's new series of pop up in-air Concert. Southwest has been hosting these air shows since 2011 and Billboard report that the series has only grown in popularity over the past six years as passengers hope that their flight will been of the lucky ones to feature a live viral performance.

Singapore Airlines unveils new A380 cabin.

All media courtesy of Singapore Airlines

On Thursday, Singapore Airlines had unveiled their brand new cabin for their flagship aircraft, the A380. Beginning with their brand new First Class "Suites." The first major cabin overhaul in the A380s first decade of operation. There are six suites, half of how many First Class suites there were before. Along the suites, there are 78 Business Class and 44 Premium Economy seats as well on the upper deck. On the main deck there are 343 regular economy seats.

The new suites are thought to be the goal of a flying hotel. Each suite boasts a bed with two pillows and a cotton duvet for the bed that measures 76"x 27". The first two suites have a retractable privacy wall and the beds can be joined forming a full bed. The beds are also stowable. Suite passengers will also receive slippers, eyeshades, and socks. Of course, this being the A380, there is a lot of space to store anything, (well maybe not everything).

Each suite also features a leather chair that can swivel between 135 degrees and 270 degrees controlled electronically. If looking out of your two full windows, that each suite has, gets boring, every suite has a 32" HD monitor for inflight entertainment. Now for the passengers who are frequent bathroom-goers. There are 2 of them for each 6 suite passengers, I doubt they'll be any line.

Now the food must be elite, and it really is. Singapore Airlines had even run through the menu with celebrity chefs from around the world, and whatever is served during flight to the suite passengers, is rather lavish.

Business Class has also received a overhaul. Lately Business Class cabins have become more elaborate. Designs mostly focused on privacy featuring pod like designs. Singapore's new Business Class will have 78 seats and in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seat itself is like a cocoon shape, designed to give the passenger more privacy. The seat can fully lie-flat and features 50" of legroom, plenty of workspace, and is 25" wide.

Like the suites, the 2 Business Class seats in the middle have a seat divider that can be lowered to join each lie-flat seat to make a full bed. This conce

pt has also been launched on Qatar's new QSuites. Each of the Business Class pods feature in-seat power and an 18" monitor.

Premium Economy has also been refreshed. The new Premium Economy seats are more spacious boasting 19.5" in width. However not being lie-flat, they can retract eight inches and feature a calf/footrest. Each passenger also receives noise-cancelling headphones.

British Airways announces last 747 flights, and it isn't anytime soon...

The British national carrier has announced their final plans for their 36 747-400s, British Airways, however, still remains the largest operator of the iconic plane.

However time has come to retire these old birds. Chief financial officer Steve Gunning said earlier November that newer generation aircraft are 30% more efficient than the 747s. He says the airline is expecting a £150 millions annual fuel benefit with the retirement.

Half of the current 747 fleet will be withdrawn by 2021 and says the last 747 will leave the BA fleet in February 2024.

100th A380 for Emirates

The giant Middle Eastern received its 100th Airbus A380 this week. The huge milestone for both Airbus and Emirates was marked by a special ceremony at the plane manufacture's delivery centre in Hamburg, Germany that was attend by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum Emirates' chairman and and chief executive.

The giant Dubai carries has the most A380 aircraft in the world and has another 42 on order. Rumours do point out that they are looking to order more aircraft possibly keeping the production of the A380 for another decade.

Sheik Ahmed said:

"This is a tremendous moment for Emirates, for Airbus and for our many partners involved in the A380 programme,"

"There is no doubt that the A380 has had a big positive impact on aerospace manufacturing and the broader aviation industry, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and stimulating innovation and new product development in many related areas such as ground handling, catering, airport facilities and cabin products, to name a few."

The 100th A380 has a special livery as a tribute to Sheikh Zayed.

Sheikh Ahmed added: “2018 is the 'Year of Zayed', marking 100 years since the birth of our country’s founding father and celebrating his legacy. Emirates is proud to launch our tribute to the man who has been instrumental to the UAE’s formation and development, at the milestone delivery of our 100th A380.”

Budget airline buying seaplanes to reach areas others can't.

India's SpiceJet is looking to open travel by air to the billion of Indian's that have never flown, either because they can't afford it or do not live close to a suitable airport. So they have been in touch with Japanese company, Setouchi Holdings Inc. to buy about 100 amphibious Kodiak planes, this deal is valued at an astonishing $400 million.

The plane has the ability to land on gravel, an open field, or even in water, perfect for literally reaching every part of India. India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has a plan, fueled by ambition, to connect the whole country by air without having to wait for billions of dollars worth of upgrades to rebuild infrastructure from the colonial era.

SpiceJet CEO, Ajay Singh, says “airports are in short supply in India, lots of the growth in India is happening in small markets, but those small markets have little or no connectivity. So we are looking for a solution where we can get flights to places where no airports exist.”

Of India's 1.3 billion people, 97% of them have never flown on an airplane before. So SpiceJet's goal is to connect all of India with the help of Setouchi and their aircraft that are able to pretty much land anywhere in India.

Emergencies

JetAirways hijack scare.

Birju Kishore Salla, a 37 year old man, had fallen for a Jet Airways employee, and what he had plotted to win her comes straight out of a Bollywood movie. The plot was to ruin the company the woman had worked for so she comes running to him for work. Salla was onboard JAI339 from Mumbai to Delhi.

A senior investigator covering this incident said,"Salla runs property business in Thane, a suburb of Mumbai. His company is registered with the ministry of corporate affairs. Last July, he had picked up a major fight on a Jet Airways flight by claiming that his meal had cockroaches. He somehow wanted to harm Jet so that the lady comes to him for a job. Salla may be of unsound mind."

However, this was dismissed after running background checks on Salla and confessions allegedly made by Salla. He had also written a note that would destabilize the company and had kept it.

The note says: "Flight No 9W 339 is covered by Hijackers and aircraft should not land and flown straight to POK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). 12 people on board. if you put landing gear you will hear the noise of people dying. dont take it as a joke. Cargo area contains explosive bomb and wl (will) blast if you land in Delhi. Allah is great."

The flight had then diverted to Ahmedabad, fortunately they landed safely and the aircraft was inspected by the bomb disposal squad, no bombs were found and the note was a hoax.

TUI flight diverts to Canada to deplane disruptive passenger.

A 24 year old British man was being rather disruptive and disrespectful on a TUI flight from Cancun to Manchester. The flight had diverted to Gander International Airport in Newfoundland to remove the man.

Prior to the flight, he had been acting very rude and loud on the bus transfer to the flight. After boarding he had showed signs of intoxication and bothering other passengers after being denied alcohol.

"On the flight the disruptive passenger kept walking up and down the aisles, trying to aggravate passengers," a witness said. "The flight crew did refuse to serve him alcohol. He kept saying, 'You have given it to everyone else'.”

The flight landed at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, and the man was escorted off the flight by the RCMP. The man was traveling with another person, who tried to calm the man down, this person, not being a disturbance, was allowed to continue to Manchester.

"We’re aware of the situation that occurred on board flight TOM173 from Cancun to Manchester, which diverted to Canada due to a disruptive passenger," a TUI spokesman said, "Once the passenger was offloaded and after a short delay we can confirm that the aircraft departed safely and continued its journey to Manchester."

"We would like to again apologize to any passengers inconvenienced by this and would like to reassure customers that we take a zero-tolerance approach to any behavior of this kind,” they added.

The man had been held in a facility in Gander, and was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for violating the Aeronautics Act.

United 777-200ER diverts, fire in rear galley.

A United Airlines Boeing 777 from Munich Germany to Washington US reported fire on board and diverted to Boston Logan International Airprot. A small fire in the rear gallery of the planed caused the planed to divert and passengers were disembarked safely.

The aircraft registered N296UA, the fire department was originally called to assist. Not much is known of the caused of the fire

JetStar A320 over Tasman Sea reports "spitting" engine.

JST202 from Auckland to Sydney, an Airbus A320-200 (VH-VGY), was cruising at FL340 over the Tasman Sea. The flight was 170nm west of Auckland, when the pilots were told to return back to Auckland. 35 minutes later, the flight had landed safely back in Auckland. A ground handler had told the airline that he/she put a plastic clipboard onto the cowl of the engine and had forgot about it. Later debris had been seen ejected from the engine's tailpipe. The crew was then notified and called back to Auckland. Minor damage was found and was repaired. The aircraft was put back into service seven hours after landing back in Auckland.

Another Air France A380...

AFR178 , diverted to Shannon due to a medical emergency but suffered a fuel leak after dumping fuel. Fire services are inspecting for possible fuel leak according to ATC on Air France flight from Paris to Mexico , the aircraft is an A380.