Older Airbus A380 operators are set to be ordered to check for cracking in the region of the outer rear wing spar. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has disclosed that cracks have been discovered in this area, notably on top and bottom flanges between ribs 33 and 49. Both wings are potentially affected, says EASA in a proposed directive, adding that the situation could reduce the wings' structural integrity. Airbus is planning to issue a service bulletin containing detailed inspection instructions, requiring phased-array ultrasonic testing for the wing box. EASA says the directive would be limited to the 25 oldest wing sets on the A380 fleet, although it could subsequently expand to cover additional aircraft.<br/>
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Air space re-opened at the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport, Mitiga, on Sunday after it was halted following a fall of missiles, according to a post on the Mitiga airport authority’s Facebook page. The airport authority added that the carrier companies will begin receiving passengers to complete the rest of their re-scheduled flights for the day shortly. Three Afriqiyah airlines employees were injured and a plane was hit. No immediate comment was available from the carrier. An airplane coming from Tunisia Carthage airport to Mitiga was redirected earlier Sunday to Misrata international airport that serves the Mediterranean coastal city of Misrata in Libya instead, after Mitiga’s air space shut down, according to the authority’s Facebook page.<br/>
Passengers using Frankfurt Airport Sunday should brace for possible delays as some routes will be altered while engineers dispose of a World War Two bomb, operating company Fraport said on Friday. It advised travelers to consult their airlines and check the airport’s website and app well before planned departures and arrivals for information about flight delays. Fraport said the extent of the disruption would also depend on the weather, which determines how much flexibility it has to divert flights. The disruption is expected to begin at 1000 GMT and will also affect public transport. About 16,500 people living within a kilometer’s radius of the site of the bomb, near the European Central Bank tower in the east of the city, will be evacuated while engineers defuse the 500-kg bomb, police said. Frankfurt Airport lies about 14km east of the bomb site.<br/>
Austrian trade union Vida is launching a new offensive aimed at Vienna International Airport that it says could involve strikes, but support across airline employees based at the fast-growing airport seems weak. VIDA wants to protest against want it calls the "escalating distortions of competition and exploitation of airline staff through wage and social dumping.” Vienna has seen record numbers of passengers in the first five months of 2019, with totals up 25% versus 2018 to 11.7m. Traffic growth is expected to continue, fueled by an influx of LCCs. Vida is looking to create a cross-industry collective agreement for pilots and flights attendants. But the aviation unit of the department of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKOE) said in a statement it did not see a need for such an agreement given the global operations of the airlines now serving Vienna. Vienna-based LaudaMotion and Eurowings Europe each have their own collective agreements; while Wizz Air is headquartered in Hungary and says it does not need a collective agreement for its Vienna base. Austrian Airlines and Level also do not expect their employees to participate in any strike action.<br/>