A Jetstar A320 with 134 people on board flew below a minimum safe altitude on approach to Christchurch, an accident investigation has found. Although the plane landed safely it was found the crew did not maintain "adequate situational awareness" of the plane's location in relation to the standard arrival path, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission found. Jetstar's procedures have been identified as inappropriate. "The operator's procedures did not encourage the appropriate use of the aeroplane's automated navigation systems," the report says. Pilots elected to use an "open descent" procedure rather than the available, fully automated "managed descent" mode. By not setting the flight control unit to the next altitude restriction, a higher level of human intervention was required to keep the aeroplane within permissible limits on the arrival route. An air traffic controller didn't follow procedures either. During the incident on August 6, 2017, the flight from Wellington to Christchurch inadvertently descended below the 2500ft (760m) minimum safe altitude for part of the arrival procedure. The commission says that as a result of the safety actions taken by the operator, no new recommendations were identified.<br/>
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Kazkahstan's flag carrier Air Astana could give its new budget arm FlyArystan an international debut later this year and follow this by establishing subsidiaries in neighbouring countries under plans to make the unit a pan-Central Asian low-cost carrier. Air Astana CE Peter Foster says FlyArystan – which today launched domestic flights – could add several cross-border routes by year-end, once more aircraft have been delivered. The airline is initially operating six domestic routes from Almaty, to Karaganda, capital Nur-Sultan (formerly named Astana), Pavlodar, Shymkent, Taraz and Uralsk, using two Airbus A320 narrowbodies provided by parent Air Astana. Cirium schedules data shows that SCAT subsidiary Southern Sky already operates the Taraz route, while Air Astana itself flies to Karaganda, Nur-Sultan, Shymkent and Uralsk from the city. Bek Air and Qazaq Air provide competition on the Nur-Sultan route. Bek Air is also present on the Pavlodar and Uralsk routes, and Qazaq on the Shymkent one. Foster says that once the carrier's third and fourth A320s are delivered, later this year, international services to neighbouring countries, including Russia, could follow. FlyArystan would use Air Astana's AOC for these. Beyond this, Foster says new airlines with "similar" branding to FlyArystan could be established in other Central Asian countries to tap demand for low-cost travel within the region, which has a population of around 100 million.<br/>
Russia’s Utair Aviation posted a net loss of RUB22b ($316.7m) for 2018, reversed from a RUB2.4b net profit in the previous year. Revenue grew 10% year-over-year (YOY) to RUB83.6b. Operating costs reached RUB78.8b, a 15.5% YOY increase; operating profit was down 36.8% YOY to RUB4.8b. The results reflected fuel cost growth, flight staff shortages and the deprecation of the national currency, Utair said. The carrier’s auditor, Ernst and Young, expressed a going concern qualification in the group consolidated audit. The carrier has negative equity of RUB30.6b and its short-term liabilities exceed current assets by RUB75b. Utair denied it would stop flights after Russian media quoted the auditor’s full-year report, saying it will operate all scheduled flights. “The company earns a stable profit from operating activities. The temporary suspension of debt payment obligations in December 2018 influenced last year’s financial result but does not affect the current flight performance. In 2019, Utair will change the debt repayment schedule to return to positive financial results. The carrier has never made any statement about suspending operations,” Utair Passenger Airline president Pavel Permyakov said.<br/>