A plane skidded off the runway at an international airport in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday and authorities closed the airport for a few hours, news agency Interfax Ukraine quoted the airport as saying. There were 169 passengers on board the flight operated by Ukrainian charter airline Bravo Airways that was landing at Zhuliany airport from the Turkish resort city of Antalya when it skidded. “Nobody was hurt,” Zhuliany’s press service was quoted as saying. <br/>
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Air Transat executives are describing the company's rapid European summer expansion as part of a long-term strategy to remain competitive in transatlantic markets. The airline will dump 15% more seats into Europe this summer – and do so with widebody aircraft that executives concede are not ideal for the job. But starting next year, Transat will begin defending newly-acquired turf with an expanding fleet of efficient Airbus A321LRs. "Our first goal [is] to increase frequencies so that we are able to protect our market share," said Annick Guerard, COO of Air Transat parent Transat. "We need to take our place in those markets that we see are highly profitable." The 15% capacity gains will be carried on existing routes by A330s and A310s. "Do we have the exact right aircraft to operate these routes? The answer is no," Guerard says during the company's fiscal second quarter earnings call. "We preferred to have smaller models like the A321 long-range, which is coming up in our fleet."<br/>
Aspiring Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier Jetlines has firmed up a deal to lease two 12-year-old Airbus A320s from AerCap and plans to use them to launch operations, likely in early 2019. “Through my experience with Airbus, I believe that these planes are the right aircraft to commence operations with,” incoming CEO Lukas Johnson said. Jetlines, which had planned to launch this month, has not announced a new startup date. But the carrier said its first aircraft are slated to be delivered “before the first half” of next year, suggesting an early 2019 startup. Johnson was named Jetlines CEO last month after more than eight years at Las Vegas-based ULCC Allegiant Air, where he helped the carrier introduce its first A320s and established a plan to become an all-Airbus carrier by the end of this year. “The majority of ultra-low-cost carriers worldwide operate with the Airbus A320 fleet based on its fuel-efficient narrowbody framework that supports a high-density seat configuration,” Johnson said.<br/>
AirAsia has critised the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) for trying to "micro-manage the industry", saying that this will block the growth of the country's airlines. The low-cost carrier made the comment after MAVCOM put out a statement explaining that it had rejected AirAsia's application to raise frequencies on two routes due to overcapacity concerns. AirAsia was seeking more allocations for its four-times weekly Kuala Lumpur-Haikou and 25-times weekly Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan services. AirAsia said that the operation of international routes that are unrestricted in bilateral air agreements should not be blocked. "MAVCOM's decision to reject our route applications is therefore completely against the Open Skies policy advocated by the Ministry of Transport Malaysia when negotiating for bilateral air agreements with other countries." The carrier also reiterated its stance that the granting of route approvals should be handed back to the transport ministry.<br/>
A co-pilot suffered a seizure in the cockpit, causing the plane to make a violent movement. A member of the cabin crew fell to the floor as the Flybe co-pilot became incapacitated and repeatedly pressed on the plane’s pedals. He had to be restrained by a member of the cabin crew as the aircraft’s commander worked to counteract his movements, according to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). Forty-three passengers and crew were on board the flight from Inverness to Jersey, on 5 August last year. The commander was performing routine cockpit checks when he noticed his co-pilot was shaking, his arms were tensed and his was leaning back in his seat and looking towards the ceiling. The autopilot system became disconnected and the Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop airliner slewed and knocking over the cabin crew attendant. Then, the commander called the senior cabin crew member into the cockpit, where she was able to restraint the seizing co-pilot. The commander then diverted the aircraft to Manchester Airport. The landing was carried out safely and paramedics boarded the aircraft to take the co-pilot to hospital, where he was released after three hours.<br/>
Ryanair has warned that Europe’s skies risk grinding to a halt this summer as French air traffic control strikes threaten to delay or cancel hundreds of flights heading south this weekend. The airline says that more than 71,000 flights were delayed in May, affecting 200,000 of its passengers, because of ATC shortages and strikes, and accused providers of using “adverse weather” excuses to cover staffing issues. The budget carrier said that the EU is set to treble its delay per flight target of 0.5 minutes, with the 2018 average heading towards 1.5 minutes per flight. Ryanair itself was forced to cancel “just over 1,000 flights, almost all due to ATC staff shortages and strikes” in May, 24 times as many as it cancelled in the same month last year. It said EasyJet, too, cancelled 974, up from 117 last year. “Yet again this weekend, French ATC will strike on Saturday and Sunday leading to hundreds of flights being cancelled, disrupting the holiday plans of thousands of passengers,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. “Many of these flights don’t even touch France, yet they will be disruptive because French ATC requires airlines to cancel overflights while they protect French domestic routes. Europe’s airlines are also suffering thousands of ATC delays/cancellations because of staff shortages especially in German and UK ATC providers. "These disruptions are unacceptable, and we call on the UK and German Governments, and the EU Commission to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that ATC providers are fully staffed and that overflights are not affected when national strikes take place, as they repeatedly do in France.”<br/>