An Indonesian airline has fired a pilot suspected of trying to fly a plane while he was drunk, and 2 of its executives are resigning. Citilink president director Albert Burhan announced Friday that he and the airline's production director would resign over the impropriety. Citilink is a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia. Passengers became suspicious when they heard slurred words and unclear announcements from the cockpit. Some of them left the plane and asked for a replacement of the pilot they believed to be either drunk or under drug influence. Citilink assigned a new pilot to fly the Airbus A320 about an hour behind schedule. "The pilot had committed serious violation of standard operation procedure that endangered passengers," Burhan said. <br/>
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Canadian police have charged a pilot for Sunwing Airlines with impairment after he was allegedly found passed out over his seat before take-off early Saturday. Police said the pilot boarded the Boeing 737 with 99 passengers and 6 crew members in Calgary, Alberta for a flight that was scheduled to make stops in Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, Manitoba before continuing on to Cancun, Mexico. But before it took off, police said the gate crew as well as crewmembers on the aircraft indicated he was behaving strangely. Police allege the co-pilot found the pilot passed out in the cockpit. The pilot was escorted from the plane and has been charged with having care and control of an aircraft while being impaired, as well as having a blood-alcohol level exceeding .08 while in care and control of an aircraft. <br/>
Oman Air will introduce Jan 9 a new policy on baggage, moving away from the traditional kg weight based allowance and excess baggage charge to a more simple policy based on number of bags being checked-in. In addition to the free allowances, a new low cost, flat-rate fee will be introduced for travellers wishing to carry more baggage on board. The old, traditional excess baggage charge of up to RO11.6 (US$30) per kg will be abolished and travellers can now purchase extra baggage starting at RO16 for a 20kg bag. Initially, travellers will be able to purchase up to 1 extra piece of luggage on routes within the GCC, Middle East, Africa and Indian sub-continent. However, travellers on long-haul services to Europe and the Far East will be able to purchase up to 4 extra pieces of baggage, all at the same flat rate. <br/>
Zimbabwe’s newest commercial airline, Rainbow Airlines, will launch its inaugural flights from Harare International to Johannesburg from Jan 25. The airline that will start by servicing the Harare-Johannesburg route on a daily basis and the Harare-Victoria Falls route has also earmarked the Harare to Cape Town route. Rainbow Airlines will be flying the 50 seat Bombardier CRJ100 aircraft — which is much smaller than the traditional aircraft used by other airlines on the Harare-Johannesburg route. The company’s CE, Ed Berry, said they are expecting to get a second CRJ100 aircraft within the first 4 months of operation, to assist in servicing the increased routes and frequencies. Rainbow Airline has gone into a business relationship with CemAir, a privately-owned airline operating in South Africa. <br/>
Southwest Airlines lost 3 of its slot pairs at Ronald Reagan Washington National in October, following the lifting of restrictions at Newark Liberty International. The carrier returned the slots to United Airlines, which assumed control of them through its 2010 merger with Continental Airlines. Continental had traded the pairs with AirTran Airways in exchange for slots at the then newly slot-restricted Newark airport in 2009. Southwest acquired AirTran in 2010. The trade was nullified with the FAA’s decision in April to lift slot restrictions at Newark from Oct 30. This eliminated the collateral that Southwest provided United under the terms of the deal. "While it was not ideal for Southwest Airlines, it was an agreement that we agreed to in the lease," says a spokesman for the airline. <br/>
Five airlines are hoping to begin operating in Cambodia over the next 2 years, with 2 currently under govt review after they submitted requests to launch domestic and international flights, officials said Sunday. JC Cambodia International Airlines and Lanmei International Airlines, which were among 5 airlines to receive “in-principle approval” from the govt, have officially applied for a license, said the director of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation’s flight operations and air safety department. Air Siem Reap, Small Planet Airlines and Spring Airlines have also signalled their desire to open operations. Both JC Cambodia and Lanmei submitted applications to the aviation authority about 2 months ago. If their requests are successful, they will join 4 local and 32 international airlines offering flights from the country’s airports. <br/>
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority is investigating Jambojet after thousands of the domestic airline’s passengers were booked on too a large plane that could not land at Ukunda Airstrip in Kwale County. The airline was faulted for diverting the plane to Moi International, Mombasa, and transporting the passengers by road amid hectic activity of crossing Likoni Channel by ferry. KCCA DG Gilbert Macharia Kibe said the investigations will also cover overbooking, which had passengers stranded for days at airports. Kibe stated that KCCA will also investigate delays and cancellations of flights to Malindi and Lamu in North Coast and Ukunda in South Coast at the eleventh hour without properly informing the affected passengers. <br/>
Officials say a Polish charter plane has made an emergency landing in the Czech Republic after its pilot reported a bomb threat on board. Czech Interior minister Milan Chovanec said Friday that police have detained a Polish national who threatened to blow the plane up. The minister declined to say whether the officers found any explosives on the suspect. He said a bomb squad is to search the aircraft. Chovanec tweeted: "All passengers are fine, no one was hurt. So far, it looks like it was not a terrorist attack." The Boeing 737, operated by charter airline Enter Air, carried 160 people, mostly Polish nationals, from Las Palmas, the capital of the Spanish Grand Canaria island, to Warsaw, said the Czech Republic's Air Navigation Services spokesman. <br/>