An Emirates jet crashed last month after trying to land too far down the runway in a strong tailwind and failing in a bid to take off again when the gusts changed direction, according to a preliminary study into the accident. The Aug. 3 crash, which injured 24 of the 300 people on board and led to the death of a firefighter on the ground, happened after Dubai International Airport issued a windshear warning while clearing the Boeing Co. 777 to land, the report from the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority says. Flight EK521 from India approached the airport in a following wind of 16 knots, with the right-hand wheels hitting the ground three seconds before the left side in an attempted touchdown that was more than a kilometer beyond the runway perimeter, triggering a “long landing” warning in the cockpit, the study says. The jet attempted a go-around maneuver and subsequently encountered a headwind, climbing to a height of only 85 feet before sinking back onto the runway at a descent rate of 900 feet a minute. The 777-300 came down on its tail and engines, with the wheels having been retracted after the aborted landing, the report says. One turbine broke off as the plane slid along the runway, causing “an intense fuel-fed fire,” with the flight’s captain issuing a Mayday call and ordering an evacuation. The firefighter was killed when a fuel tank exploded, sending a 15-metre wing section into the air, about nine minutes after the plane had come to rest and the blaze had appeared to be under control. A flight attendant was hospitalized for five days with smoke inhalation, with all other injuries classified as minor. The aircraft itself was destroyed.<br/>
unaligned
Vietnam budget carrier VietJet Aviation has signed a $2.39b order with Airbus Group SE to buy more than 20 A321 planes, the company said Tuesday, just a few months after signing an $11b deal to buy 100 planes from Boeing. The agreement, witnessed by French President François Hollande, who is visiting Vietnam, provides for the aircraft to be delivered between 2017 and 2020. The order underscores the rapid expansion of the budget carrier since it began operating in 2011. The country’s only privately owned carrier, VietJet is also set to become Vietnam’s largest carrier, eclipsing state-owned rival Vietnam Airlines, aviation analysts say. In addition to Tuesday’s announcement, VietJet agreed last year to buy 30 Airbus A321 planes for $3.6 billion. “VietJet is developing robustly and sustainably with an aim at better serving our passengers and promoting tourism and economic development in Vietnam and other regional countries,” said airline President and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao.<br/>
State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines said on Tuesday (Sep 6) it carried almost five per cent more passengers last year compared with 2014. It flew 29,492,710 passengers in 2015, up 1,309,095 from the previous year, the airline said. The carrier, known as Saudia, restated its aim of expanding its fleet to 200 aircraft by 2020. In June last year it placed an US$8b order with France-based Airbus for 50 planes. They will be used for domestic flights, the airline says. Under its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan announced in April, Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its oil-dependent economy.<br/>
Remember those Southwest Airlines “Wanna Get Away” ads that featured folks looking to skip town after an awkward blunder? They're about to make a comeback. The ads initially debuted in 1998 and ran for about a decade. It’s been almost a decade since those ads last aired, but they'll begin running again Tuesday in six markets. The campaign will make its national debut on NBC's Thursday night National Football League broadcast. Bob Jordan, Southwest’s chief commercial officer, says it’s a good time to revive the campaign following the company's ongoing efforts to update the look of everything from its airplanes and logo to its crew uniforms. “This is a continuation of a two- to three-year journey we’ve been on to update the brand,” Jordan said. “We’re celebrating our past and putting a little bit of a new look on the brand. We have updated the aircraft, in and out. We’ve updated the airports. We’ve been updating our employee uniforms. And now we’re taking a look at our advertising.” The original Wanna Get Away campaign proved so popular after first airing in 1998 that Southwest stuck with it until 2008. In fact, “Wanna Get Away” is now the name for the category of Southwest’s lowest, advance-purchase fares.<br/>