Passengers booked to fly British Airways to Cairo this week will find themselves boarding not one of the most advanced aircraft on the planet but instead a plane belonging to a Belgian budget airline. BA is continuing to suffer from engine issues on its Boeing 787 planes, normally used on the 5-hour route to the Egyptian capital, and so has been forced to wet-lease an aircraft and its crew from Air Belgium, which has just 4 planes to its name, all Airbus A340s, and all just over 10 years old. A spokesperson for British Airways said it was in touch with customers affected and had offered them “a range of options” should they not wish to travel, adding: “We’re doing everything we can to make sure our customers travel as planned, in light of continuing issues with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines". <br/>
oneworld
An airline has lost a family’s emotional support dog, a labradoodle named Logan, in New York after the pet seemingly failed to board a flight to Paraguay Aug 27. LATAM Airlines has said that it “deeply regrets the situation” after the dog—belonging to the parents of Jonathan Rolon—disappeared. The parents had flown out of JFK International to Paraguay. But when they landed, the pooch was nowhere to be seen. According to Rolon, the airline informed him the labradoodle never actually boarded the flight due to a "ramp issue." When he contacted the New York airport, Rolon said he was informed that an employee had taken the dog home, where it had then escaped and gone missing. The airline has posted 600 posters around the area close to the JFK airport spanning a 30-mile radius, with the hope of still finding the dog. <br/>
The Australian authorities have confirmed in a report that the omission of some mandatory pre-departure checks was the reason why Malaysia Airlines flight MH134 had to turn back and perform an emergency landing at the Brisbane Airport July 18. The crew did not notice that the plane's pitot probes - which measure air pressure to assess speed - were covered, resulting in an air-speed indication failure, according to a preliminary report published by the ATSB Thursday. The carrier had earlier said July 19 that the incident "was due to an unexpected technical issue that occurred after take-off". ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said that the incident is a serious one and added that the investigation is ongoing. <br/>
Iberia has retrieved an Airbus A340-600 damaged in a hard landing at Quito, but has yet to determine when the aircraft will re-enter airline service. The aircraft touched down hard on Quito’s runway 18, in good weather, following a service from Madrid Aug 11. Its crew belatedly aborted the landing, executing a go-around before making a second approach. Video footage purportedly capturing the landing shows the 9-year old aircraft apparently bouncing after the hard contact before climbing away. Iberia says the aircraft has been returned to Madrid. “We don’t know yet when it can go back to operations,” the airline adds. French investigation authority BEA, citing Ecuadorian counterparts, says the aircraft suffered a tyre burst on its central main landing-gear bogie. <br/>