Ryanair said it would open 22 new French routes early in winter 2019 because of strong demand, as it pushes ahead with its plan to expand rapidly in France. Ryanair said over a year ago that it wanted to expand rapidly in France, basing aircraft in the country to help capture growing demand for low-cost air travel. It has established bases in Bordeaux, Marseille and most recently said Toulouse would be its third base in France. The carrier said March 12 that from Toulouse, nine new routes would start two months early in September to Alicante, Spain; Brest and Lille, France; Budapest, Hungary; Luxembourg; Oujda and Tangiers, Morocco; Palermo, Italy and Porto, Portugal. In Bordeaux, seven new routes will be up and running a month early in October to Budapest; Palermo; Brest, Lille and Strasbourg, France; Prague, Czech Republic; and Nador, Morocco. Marseille will see six new routes starting a month early in October, to Strasbourg, Toulouse; Copenhagen, Denmark; Essaouira, Morocco, Milan Bergamo, Italy; and Sofia, Bulgaria.<br/>
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Aviation experts expressed doubt Wednesday that turbulence could have caused the deadly February crash of a cargo plane in Texas, suspecting human error or a massive malfunction as more likely culprits. The NTSB is investigating why Atlas Air Flight 3591 suddenly dropped during its approach to a Houston airport and has not issued a cause of the crash. The federal agency has said cockpit audio and flight data suggest the pilots lost control and the plane hit turbulence in its final moments. The Boeing 767 struck Trinity Bay while traveling at hundreds of miles an hour — an impact that killed the three men aboard and sprayed debris through the swampy area 40 miles east of George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The bay's deep mud slowed investigators, and aviation safety specialists see the details already released as too little to solve the mysteries of the crash. But they think it's enough to rule out choppy air as a likely cause. "Airplanes operate in situations like that all the time," John Cox, an accident investigator and retired pilot, said of turbulence the plane hit a minute before it entered its fatal drop. Story has more.<br/>
A McDonnell Douglas MD-83 belonging to Taiwanese carrier Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) was involved in a runway excursion after landing at Philippines’s Kalibo International Airport on the evening of March 13. Based on initial statement by the Philippines Office of the Civil Defense, none of the 121 occupants were hurt. Flight FE321 departed Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 3:52 p.m. local time and landed at Kalibo International Airport at 6:07 p.m. when the aircraft experience an excursion into Bay 1. The incident resulted in the temporary closure of the runway and the delay of two departures, one arrival and the cancellation of a flight from Manila. The return FAT flight to Taipei was also cancelled.<br/>