unaligned

A flight out of Newark was evacuated when someone sent an image of a suicide vest to multiple Apple devices on the plane as passengers awaited takeoff. Passengers on a Tampa-bound JetBlue flight received an unsettling surprise on Saturday when someone sent them the image through Apple’s AirDrop feature, which allows users to share content with nearby devices through Bluetooth technology. The plane was evacuated, and was able to take off after Port Authority police and bomb-sniffing dogs concluded there was no threat on board. But police have been unable to identify who sent the image in question. Unsolicited AirDrop messages have both been popular, and a concern, since the feature was first introduced in 2011. The feature allows Apple users to send photos to anyone in a 30 foot radius, and lets users accept or decline an image when it is sent. However, the request includes an image preview that users are forced to see before responding. Apple and JetBlue did not respond to request for comment.<br/>

Reunion-based Air Austral has posted a E4.5m full-year net loss, its first loss in five years. The airline cited stiff competition, higher fuel prices, adverse exchange rates, Boeing 787 groundings and public protests for the results. Air Austral said the results for the year ended March 31, came against a “complex economic” and geopolitical backdrop, further impacted by the grounding of its two Boeing 787s because of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 blade-wear issues. The mandatory 787 service-bulletin grounding meant Air Austral has had to charter in capacity, “with significant negative consequences” to its brand image. Then, in November, the “yellow vest” public-protest movement caused a slowdown in bookings, impacting load factors, placing a further strain on the airline’s results. “After five years of profits—and as forecast—the 2018/2019 financial year ended with a negative operating result of E2.7m and a net loss after tax of E4.51m,” Air Austral said.<br/>

Air Italy will serve four US destinations in summer 2020, despite complaints by several US airlines that it is effectively acting as a front for its largest shareholder, Qatar Airways. The Arab carrier holds a 49% stake in Air Italy and is leasing aircraft to re-fleet the Sardinia-based operator. The Italian carrier said July 15 it plans to resume services from Milan Malpensa to Los Angeles and San Francisco (as well as to Toronto) on March 29, 2020, while continuing existing year-round services to New York JFK (daily) and Miami (5X-weekly). Both the Los Angeles and San Francisco routes will be operated 4X-weekly next summer, while Toronto will be 6X-weekly. Air Italy COO Rossen Dimitrov said the airline plans to reinstate its three seasonal North American routes following “the excellent performance of our network during 2019.” US carriers American Airlines, Delta and United have strongly opposed the expansion by Air Italy of its US routes, with United CEO Oscar Munoz describing the latter airline as “the Italian version of Qatar.” He has argued that its US services fly in the face of US-Qatari air service agreements.<br/>

Billionaire Lucio Tan will be the interim president of his Philippine Airlines after the retirement of its long-time head. Tan will serve as president immediately, according to his daughter Vivienne Tan, in an emailed reply to Bloomberg News’ request for confirmation that the tycoon who’s been the airline’s chairman will serve on a concurrent capacity. Vivienne, executive VP of Philippine Air, said she will assist her father in the day to day operations. “Our goal is to ensure an orderly and seamless transition of leadership,” the younger Tan said, pending the approval by the airline’s board of a successor to Jaime Bautista who retired on June 30.<br/>

A Boeing 737 Max due to be delivered to Ryanair has had the name Max dropped from the livery, further fuelling speculation that the manufacturer and airlines will seek to rebrand the troubled plane once it is given the all clear to fly again. Photos have emerged of a 737 Max in Ryanair colours outside Boeing’s manufacturing hub, with the designation 737-8200 – instead of 737 Max – on the nose. The 737-8200 is a type name for the aircraft that is used by aviation agencies. The Max aircraft remains grounded worldwide after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. Boeing has yet to convince regulators that software modifications are sufficient to ensure the plane’s safety. Ryanair has 135 of the 737 Max models on order, the first five of which are due for delivery in the autumn, once regulators have declared the plane safe. The airline’s fleet order is comprised entirely of a larger version of the Max 8, with 197 seats, which it has until now referred to in official Ryanair announcements as the 737 Max 200. Neither Ryanair nor Boeing has commented on nor confirmed the substitution of the 737-8200 for the better known Max, as seen on the photographs taken at Renton in Washington, US, and posted on social media by Woodys Aeroimages. In previous photos from the same source, new Ryanair 737 Max 200 planes from Boeing are shown with 737 Max on their noses.<br/>

Wizz Air UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Central and Eastern European Wizz Air, will launch daily Airbus A321 flights from London Luton to Moscow Vnukovo and St. Petersburg Pulkovo airports from Oct. 1, becoming the second UK-designated carrier on the routes. “We will be the only UK carrier flying to St. Petersburg and on both new routes,” Wizz Air UK managing director Owain Jones said. BA, which was first designated to fly from London Heathrow to Moscow Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg, will cease the St. Petersburg route from this fall. With two new destinations in Russia, “Wizz Air now offers 100 low-fare routes to 28 countries from 10 UK airports,” the airline said. Wizz Air currently operates flights to Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg from Budapest only. It will add Kazan to its Hungarian capital network from Oct. 30. The bilateral agreement between Russia and the UK allows each side to designate two carriers to operate flights, connecting London with Moscow and St. Petersburg. Aeroflot and BA were the first designated carriers. Russian authorities had also selected Transaero for the route, but it went bankrupt in 2015.<br/>

Investigators are probing an overrun by a Belavia Boeing 737-300 at Kiev's downtown Zhulhany airport late on 12 July. The aircraft had been operating the carrier's B2847 service from Minsk and had touched down on runway 26 in darkness at about 23:40. Meteorological data from Zhulhany at the time indicates variable winds, the presence of cumulonimbus cloud and subsequent light rain showers. The aircraft continued past the threshold of the opposite-direction runway 08 by around 300m, coming to rest of soft ground having passed over approach lighting, according to video images purportedly taken at the scene and distributed on social media. None of the 139 passengers and five crew members was injured, the airport's operator states. The airport has only a single runway, which restricted operations until around 14:00 the following day.<br/>