India’s air safety watchdog Monday suspended the license of a senior Air India pilot, who is also the carrier’s director of operations, for three years, a day after he failed two breathalyzer tests before a flight to London from New Delhi. This is the second time Arvind Kathpalia has been in trouble over alcohol tests. He was suspended for three months in 2017 for allegedly refusing to take breathalyzer tests. “The privileges of his license have been suspended for a period of three years from 11.11.2018 as per the provisions of applicable regulations,” a spokesman at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. Kathpalia, who sits on the airline’s board, said the DGCA directive “is a rule and so it is meant to be followed”. “At present, I don’t see how” to contest it, he added. On Sunday, he had said that he would contest the results of the tests and claimed he was the victim of internal feuding within the loss-making state-owned airline.<br/>
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Air NZ is boosting services to the Gold Coast using its new A321neo as a rival airline pulls off the route. Air Asia is quitting daily flights on the Auckland-Gold Coast route next February, the same month as Air New Zealand will add a fifth weekly service and use the A321neo (new engine option) aircraft to increase the number of seats available by almost 60%. The aircraft has 214 seats – 46 more than the current international A320 fleet and Air NZ chief revenue officer Cam Wallace said the move to five days a week would be great for holidaymakers. "The Gold Coast is a popular destination for Kiwi tourists and Australia is New Zealand's largest source of inbound visitors, so it's fantastic to be able to increase capacity to meet this demand." The airline's first A321neo (new engine option) aircraft arrived in Auckland early last week after departing the Airbus facility in Hamburg. The aircraft is the first of 13 new Airbus neo aircraft to join Air New Zealand's fleet and is expected to enter commercial service on November 23 operating flight NZ739 from Auckland to Brisbane.<br/>
Air China has announced that the launch of a direct flight between Phnom Penh and Beijing will be delayed to early next year, after having previously scheduled it for November. The airline cited “market reasons” for its decision to delay the route, according to officials at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) of Cambodia. “They told us they are not ready to operate the flight by November and said it will be delayed until early next year,” the Khmer Times on Monday quoted SSCA spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha as saying. Air China announced in August plans to have the maiden flight for its Beijing-Phnom Penh route in November. At the time, the company said it will use Airbus A320 aircraft for the route, flying three times a week. Despite a considerable number of airlines connecting the country with various cities across China, there is no direct air link between the countries’ capitals yet.<br/>