Virgin Australia, the country's No. 2 airline, said it would run five return flights a week between the city of Melbourne and Hong Kong, making good on previously disclosed plans to tap the lucrative Chinese travel market. The airline, 10%-owned by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, identified China as a target growth market in mid-2016 when it took on China's HNA Innovation Ventures and China's Nanshan Capital Holdings as major shareholders. The announcement of the new flights, the first for Virgin to greater China, came a day after Virgin said it obtained Australian preliminary regulatory clearance to operate those routes. "Virgin Australia's entry into Hong Kong and greater China is a key pillar of our international strategy, allowing us to tap into Australia's fastest growing and most valuable inbound travel market," Virgin CEO John Borghetti said. A proposed alliance between Virgin Australia, HNA and Hong Kong Airlines will let Virgin customers connect via Hong Kong to 13 destinations in mainland China, while travelers on Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Capital Airlines and Tianjin Airlines can join Virgin Australia's Australasian network, Virgin Australia said.<br/>
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AirAsia group CE Tony Fernandes is calling on Thai authorities to privatise airports as a way to tackle funding and development issues. "I encourage the government to privatise airports to allow new money to come in so these facilities can be developed faster," he said. He branded airport deficiency one of the major bottlenecks to expanding Thailand's aviation industry, particularly in handling fast-growing air traffic spurred by mass tourism. "Don Mueang is almost full, Phuket needs a new airport and Krabi is getting full soon," Fernandes said. The development of secondary and tertiary airports in Thailand also requires prompt attention, said the head of Asia's biggest low-cost carrier in terms of passengers carried. Fernandes has made clear the role that the airline group is playing as part of his advocacy for privatising Thai airports. AirAsia recently began lobbying Thai cabinet ministers to expedite airport plans, warning of how airport deficiencies are impeding air traffic growth. <br/>
A passenger plane crash-landed and burned in Wau, northwestern South Sudan on Monday, but all 49 passengers and crew survived, an airport official. The plane was landing but then crashed, said Wau's Acting Airport Manager Stephen Youngule. "The plane touched down and then jumped up again. The pilot couldn't control it," said Youngule, who is also Deputy Director of Air Traffic Services. "I saw it until the very last moment before the fire engulfed the aircraft." When the plane crashed, its door flew open, which allowed the pilot and rescue crews to get everybody out, he said. Those with injuries were taken to Wau's hospital for treatment, said Youngule. The plane, an Antonov 26, carried 44 passengers and had five crew members, said Youngule. On social media, images appeared of the plane with smoke billowing from the wrecked fuselage. The plane was from South Supreme Airlines, a South Sudanese carrier. It was making a trip from Juba to Wau, in northwestern South Sudan when it crashed. Most of the passengers were South Sudanese with two foreigners, one each from China and Eritrea.<br/>
Five Regional Express Airlines passenger planes had been grounded as a precaution after a near disaster in which a propeller fell off an airliner as it approached Sydney Airport, the Australian airline said Monday. A Saab 340 carrying 19 passengers and crew landed safely in Sydney on Friday after one its two propellers fell off over Sydney's southwest fringe. The Sydney-based airline, also known as Rex, said it had grounded another five of its fleet of 55 Saab 340s because their propeller gear boxes and shafts were from the same series as the defective propeller. "This is an extremely rare event," Rex's chief operating officer Neville Howell said in a statement. The only recorded similar mishap occurred in 1991 when a Comair Airways plane landed safely after losing a propeller, Howell said.<br/>
Alaska Airlines has added Germany-based airline Condor Airlines as a partner to its mileage plan, allowing frequent fliers to accrue miles to be spent on trips to Europe. Condor Airlines flies nonstop from Frankfurt, Germany, to cities such as Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, Anchorage, Alaska; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The airline will add in June a nonstop flight between Seattle and Munich, Germany. Under the plan, members of Alaska’s mileage plan earn awards for travels to more than 900 destinations, the Seattle-based company said in a statement. Travelers can start earning miles immediately, the company said.<br/>
A union representing cabin crews working for Lufthansa’s budget unit Eurowings says it has agreed to open an arbitration process with the airline to resolve a long-standing dispute over pay and conditions. The UFO union said Monday that both sides had agreed on entering a binding process, and would hold talks over the coming days to decide upon an arbitrator. A rival union representing other cabin crew at Eurowings came to an agreement in December for a raise package over three years. The two unions have staged several strikes in the long-running dispute.<br/>