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Five passengers and two crew members on board a China Eastern flight into Sydney Airport have been taken to hospital and treated for serious injuries after the aircraft suffered through severe turbulence at high altitude. Flight MU777, a four-year-old Airbus A330 flying from Kunming to Sydney, was cruising at 20,000 feet to Sydney Airport when the turbulence struck, sending some unfastened passengers out of their seats. The plane — which had 212 passengers on board — landed safely at about 2:45pm and was met by emergency services on the runway where medical attention was provided to the injured passengers and crew. Sydney Airport confirmed emergency services were on site to treat the “small number of injured passengers” affected by the unexpected turbulence. A spokeswoman for NSW Ambulance said the injuries included neck pain, bumps and scratches. It’s an inauspicious start for the new China Eastern service which only commenced flying from Kunming in the south of China to Sydney last week. China Eastern’s general manager for Oceania Kathy Zhang confirmed there were injuries sustained on the flight. The incident has been reported to the ATSB for investigation.<br/>

Kenya Airways has renewed and expanded its codeshare agreement with Vietnam Airlines as it seeks to meet the demand on the Asian route. The national carrier Tuesday said the new agreement will allow it more access to South East Asia destinations, which took effect this November. The codeshare covers the Bangkok-Hanoi and Saigon, Nairobi–Hanoi, and Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur routes. “The expansion of our codeshare with Vietnam Airlines is in line with our ongoing efforts to expand our network, and to offer our customers reliable, convenient and more travel options,” Kenya Airways CEO Mbuvi Ngunze said. KQ has had a codeshare agreement with Vietnam Airlines since August 1, 2012, and started to fly to Hanoi in March last year. The expanded codeshare with Vietnam Airlines comes in the back of Kenya Airway’s signing a codeshare with India’s Jet Airways to codeshare on domestic flights in order to enhance connectivity for passengers travelling from Kenya to domestic destinations in India.<br/>