An Egyptian jetliner carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo abruptly swerved, vanished from radar and plunged into the Mediterranean early Thursday, shortly before it was scheduled to land. Egyptian officials issued conflicting information about whether wreckage had been found and suggested terrorism was a more likely cause than technical failure. The loss of the flight, EgyptAir 804, was the second civilian aviation disaster for Egypt in the past year. It immediately resurrected fears and speculation about the safety and security of Egyptian air travel and broader questions about terrorism against civilian air travel. EgyptAir emphasised the experience of the crew of the missing airliner. The pilot had more than 6,000 flying hours, and the co-pilot had 2,700 hours. <br/>
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With French air-crash investigators, US military assets and Greek search-and-recovery teams moving quickly to assist Egyptian authorities investigating EgyptAir Flight 804’s plunge into the Mediterranean Sea, the probe is shaping up as another complex, multinational effort. But if previous international air-crash investigations are a guide—including some involving Egypt since the late 1990s—friction between various countries and organisations during months or even years of work could hamper progress. How effectively officials leading these related but legally separate investigative strands share information could help determine ultimate success, according to aviation experts not directly involved in the process. <br/>
A British exit from the EU could be a "crisis" that would hit economic growth in the region and lower demand for air travel, the head of Lufthansa warned. Britons will vote June 23 on whether their country should remain in or leave the 28-member bloc and many business have spoken out in favour of remaining in the EU. "I am certain that Brexit would result in lower growth in Europe and that would lead to less demand from customers," CE Carsten Spohr said Wednesday. "We're preparing for Brexit just we would any other possible crisis, and a crisis is how I would describe it. I hope it won't come to it though." Ryanair has threatened to withdraw some investment from the UK in the event of Brexit but Spohr said Lufthansa's investment in Britain was small and the carrier had no plans to reduce it. <br/>
Lufthansa Group will hold back its hub airlines from increasing capacity into the oil-rich Arab Gulf states for at least the next 12 months over concerns there is a glut of seats in the region. Instead, its hub airlines will focus on adding flights to Iran and Eurowings will consider new services to the region after launching Dubai-Cologne flights last year. “What we clearly see right now is a clear sign of overcapacity in the region,” Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Lufthansa’s VP for the Middle East, said Wednesday. Lufthansa Group has reined in its Gulf operations over the past 12 months, cancelling services to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, while increasing routes to Iran following the January lifting of sanctions. Lufthansa’s Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt and Australian Airlines’ Vienna-Dubai routes were cancelled last summer. <br/>
Ashwani Lohani, chairman and MD, Air India, has blamed the carrier’s woes on the merger with Indian Airlines that never took off as expected and previous bosses who pinned the responsibility on employees for its dismal state of affairs. In a hard hitting blogpost, Lohani said Air India now had a bureaucracy bigger than Indian Railways. “Earlier I always believed that the great Indian Railways was the mother of all bureaucracies but not any longer. Here, at the national carrier, the ridiculousness of the process and the diehard belief therein has been carried to a mind boggling extent,” Lohani, who took charge of the carrier in August of last year, wrote. Air India merged with the erstwhile Indian Airlines in 2007 which led to several human resource woes and huge operational losses. <br/>
United Airlines is doing more these days than trying to upgrade its service to millions of passengers. It also wants to be a good neighbour to millions in need around the world. Now it's going in a somewhat unexpected direction to help that happen. Starting later this spring, United will team with the not-for-profit Clean the World organisation to recycle unused items in premium cabin amenity kits left behind on airplanes. United's hefty business and first class fares factor in the cost of those luxury amenity kits handed out in flight. But coddled premium cabin passengers don't always use everything in them, and many of the kits are left behind at the end of the flight. Unused items will be collected, refurbished and distributed to families in need around the world. <br/>