Lufthansa was handed a fifth star from ratings service Skytrax, making it the first airline outside the Middle East and Asia to secure the ranking. The German company, which received the award in Frankfurt on Monday, becomes the 10th carrier to achieve a rating CEO Carsten Spohr has been chasing since his predecessor set it as a target in 2013.Lufthansa made securing a fifth star part of push to improve service levels that had trailed much of the rest of the industry, including European peers. The carrier came late to the flat-bed revolution, introducing the seats in business class only in 2013, a decade after pioneer BA, and was years behind others in adding premium-economy-class cabins on long-haul jets. Spohr’s campaign was frustrated by pilot and cabin crew strikes, as well as inconsistent standards as the company rolled out new features. While the main union conflicts have been resolved, the award comes against a background of uncertainty over Air Berlin flights that Lufthansa has taken over, with Spohr hinting that they may be scrapped if early antitrust approval is withheld. Unlike Skytrax’s annual passenger-feedback-based ranking of airlines, carriers must pay as much as E25,000 a year to be part of the star ratings, which require an extensive audit. Lufthansa sees the award as an extra tool with which to fend off fast-expanding Persian Gulf operators and edge ahead of local rivals BA and Air France-KLM Group. <br/>
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An EVA Air Boeing 777-300ER sustained damage to its right wing after hitting a lamp pole at Toronto's Pearson International airport. The Taiwanese carrier says the incident happened on 2 December, when the aircraft was leaving the airport's de-icing area. The jet, registered B-16718, was operating flight BR35 to Taipei with 238 passengers and two infants onboard. No one was injured in the incident, although the flight had to be cancelled. "The aircraft is being repaired and inspected. Investigative authorities are looking into the incident," says EVA. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the aircraft was built in 2014 and is owned by the carrier. <br/>
LOT Polish Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX 8 and expects to have six aircraft of the type by 2020—all on long-term lease from US lessor Air Lease Corp. The flag carrier also has options for five more aircraft, which are expected to be delivered in 2019-20. The 186-seat aircraft, powered by CFM LEAP-1B engines, is configured in a three-class layout featuring business, premium economy and economy class. LOT CEO Rafal Milczarski said taking the aircraft is a “big step forward” to “help us achieve our goals of increasing our operational effectiveness and improving our service.” In addition, the Star Alliance member plans to expand its fleet by four more Boeing 787-9s by the end of 2019. It currently has eight 787-8s.<br/>
The pilots of a Singapore Airlines flight to Mumbai did not try to land in the wrong airport, the airline said Tuesday. The statement was in response to a Times of India report, which said the pilots of flight SQ422 mistakenly made an approach to land at Juhu airport – used by helicopters and small aircraft – instead of Chhatrapati Shivaji airport, the primary international airport in Mumbai. The report said the aircraft changed its course after the error, and after a go-around it landed on the correct runway of the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport. The Singapore-Mumbai flight, an Airbus A350, was scheduled to land on Runway 9 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport at 10.35am (1.35pm, Singapore time) on Monday. A total of 245 passengers and 14 crew members were on board the flight. According to SIA, the landing was aborted at about 1,000 feet due to poor visibility, in accordance with standard operating procedures. Mumbai’s air traffic control then vectored the flight for a subsequent approach and the flight landed “uneventfully” at 10.48am, the airline said. “At no time did the pilots of SQ422 mistake Juhu airport as Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport,” it said. The two runways are about 1km apart and the Mumbai air traffic control has an alert on this for all pilots, the Times of India said. The Juhu airport has a shorter runway than the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport, and landing on the wrong runway would have resulted in an overrun, it added.<br/>