The THAI union has questioned the appointment of the company's former president, Charamporn Jotikasthira, as a member of the airline's committee on strategies and reform. THAI labour union president Damrong Waiyakanee said it was puzzling why Charamporn was now a member of the panel because when he was president, he had hired foreign firms to advise on strategy and reform. Also, some employees doubted the effectiveness of the reforms carried out by Charamporn while he led the company. The THAI board approved Charamporn's appointment to the reform and strategy panel. The panel has some major responsibilities including scrutinising the company's strategies and reform plans before forwarding them to the board as well as giving advice to THAI administrators. <br/>
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The website of Asiana Airlines briefly went offline Monday due to cyberattacks from overseas, inconveniencing many customers. According to the company, cyber vandals attacked its external web server at 4:35 a.m., publishing a hateful message toward Albanians. Asiana said it started to fix the problem at 5:38 a.m. By noon, the website appeared to have been fully restored. Until then, many customers trying to book flights or check their flight schedules on the website suffered inconveniences. "Based on the message that appeared after the attacks, we believe the hackers wanted to spread their message rather than attack our website," the company said. Asiana also said it has not detected any customer data leaks on its server, saying the attacks only affected the server of a contracted firm that manages its domain name. <br/>
EVA Airways said Monday it is expecting 20% growth in passenger capacity this year resulting from an ongoing fleet expansion and an increase in flight services. EVA Air chairman Steve Lin said the airline was likely to see its available seat kilometers grow by 20% thanks to growing demand, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Lin said EVA Air will also continue to strengthen its presence in the North American, Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian markets. "Southeast Asia is like a garden in our backyard," he said, referring to the transit business between the region and North America, which EVA relies on heavily. In terms of passenger numbers, the airline expects to serve 11% more passengers than the 11.2m it carried last year. Lin said the airline will introduce 7 more Boeing 777-300ER this year to meet rising demand. <br/>
The Transportation Safety Board warned air travellers of the importance of wearing seatbelts as it released a report Monday that found a failure to buckle up left 21 people injured when a Toronto-bound flight hit severe turbulence in Dec 2015. The incident took place on an Air Canada flight travelling from Shanghai to Toronto when the Boeing 777 hit severe turbulence over Alaska. “Most of the passengers who were physically injured were aware that they were required to wear their seatbelts, but chose not to,” the TSB said. “The injuries resulted from passengers coming into contact with aircraft furnishings, the ceiling, and the floor of the interior.” Most of the injuries sustained were sprains, strains, bruising and scrapes, but one passenger was seriously injured and required an extended stay in hospital. <br/>