Tanzania’s government will buy two new Airbus jets and one plane from Bombardier Inc as part of a fleet expansion plan for the national flag carrier, the president said on Thursday. President John Magufuli has personally taken charge of the revival of Tanzania’s loss-making state carrier Air Tanzania Company Limited, spending hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing eight new planes since 2016. President Magufuli “has already issued instructions for the purchase of three additional planes (two Airbus jets and one Bombardier) to expand air services and improve tourism,” the president’s office said. The presidency did not say how much the new planes will cost. The airline’s existing fleet includes one Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, two Airbus A220-300 jets and three Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft. ATCL launched maiden flights to India’s financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday as it expands its routes with the acquisition of new planes. Tanzania hopes the revival of the national airline will boost the tourism sector, the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.<br/>
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Southwest joined US rivals Thursday in cancelling more flights until early November due to the continued grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX, which has also prompted the low-cost carrier to freeze new pilot hiring. Southwest said Thursday it would schedule without the 737 MAX until Nov. 2, a decision that proactively removes about 180 daily flights from its schedule, more than the 150 daily flights it was removing through early October. With deliveries also on hold, Southwest has had to defer two new-hire pilot classes and two captain upgrade classes for existing pilots until it has more clarity, Southwest said. As of March 31, Southwest was expecting to take delivery of 34 additional MAX 8s and seven MAX 7s in 2019. It received three MAX 8 jets before the March 13 grounding by the US FAA, which must approve updated software and training by Boeing meant to ensure that the plane is safe to fly again. <br/>
Jet2, a British budget airline and tour operator, said it had demanded a passenger pay about $106,000 after her behaviour aboard a flight to Turkey last month prompted military jets to escort the plane back to an airport near London. The evening flight from Stansted Airport, north of London, to Dalaman, a coastal town in southwestern Turkey, was cut short on June 22 after a 25-year-old passenger, Chloe Haines of Maidenhead, England, “displayed a catalog of aggressive, abusive, and dangerous behavior,” the airline said Tuesday. Her erratic conduct, which included attempting to open the plane doors during the flight, “was one of the most serious cases of disruptive passenger behavior that we have experienced,” Steve Heapy, the airline’s CE, said in the statement. Two Typhoon fighter jets from the Royal Air Force were called to escort the aircraft back to Stansted Airport, Jet2 said. “She must now face up to the consequences of her actions, and we will vigorously pursue to recover the costs that we incurred,” Heapy said. In addition to the fine, Haines has also been banned for life from the airline. Sarah Stewart, an aviation lawyer in London, said that there had been a sharp increase in disruptive behavior on planes. From 2007 to 2015, there were over 49,000 reported cases of “unruly passenger incidents onboard aircraft in flight,” she said Thursday.<br/>
EasyJet has hired rival Ryanair’s operations chief Peter Bellew, a 30-year industry veteran, as it navigates intense competition in the European short-haul market. The airline announced Bellew’s appointment as COO alongside a trading update that revealed an 11 per cent rise in revenue for the latest quarter. EasyJet said a strong Easter and a reduction in long delays and cancellations had helped boost total revenue to GBP1.76b in the three months to June. Passenger revenue rose 10.7% to GBP1.39b. The British low-cost carrier said it expected to deliver a profit before tax of between GBP400m and 440m in H2, in line with market expectations. Bellew spent nine years at Ryanair, where he held a number of roles, including director of flight operations, before he left for Malaysia Airlines, where he was eventually named chief executive. He rejoined Ryanair in December 2017, following a pilot rostering crisis at the Irish carrier that led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights. Johan Lundgren, CE of easyJet, said Bellow had an “exceptional level of experience” in low-cost and full-service airlines and was “a great leader with a proven track record in delivering results”. <br/>
China's Spring Airlines has opened a hub at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport to capitalize on the growth of the China Greater Bay Area, which comprises Hong Kong, Macau and the Guangdong province. Spring Airlines has committed to the hub seven Airbus A320s to fly 15 domestic routes, such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Xi’an and Shenyang, as well as two international routes to Nagoya, Japan and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Spring Airlines started flying to Shenzhen from Shanghai in 2010, and soon added another service from Shijiazhuang, but was only given the nod from Civil Aviation Administration of China to establish the hub in November 2018. Spring Airlines chairman Wang Qi told Chinese media that establishing the Shenzhen branch will further promote the convergence of people, logistics and capital flows into the GBA, and provide support for the region’s aviation development. In 2018, the airline recorded around 1.6m passengers from Shenzhen alone, with average load factors of 94.5%. For the first six months of 2019, it has served 850,000 passengers. Spring Airlines said it would increase its investment and provide more services for the residents in the GBA, and make Shenzhen a hub between its North Asia and Southeast Asia markets.<br/>
The captain of an Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 that crashed while attempting to land at Chuuk on 28 September 2018 became fixated with trying to land the aircraft, ignoring several automated warnings that the aircraft was below the glidescope and had an excessive sink rate. The final report into the fatal accident of the aircraft, registered P2-PXE, by Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) concluded that the aircraft was unstable in its approach, and the co-pilot should have taken control of the aircraft and initiated a missed approach, in accordance with the operator's standard operating procedure manual. "The pilots’ actions and statements indicated that they had lost situational awareness from 625 ft on the approach and their attention had become channelised and fixated on completing the approach and landing the aircraft." It notes that the pilots failed to respond to 16 aural alerts from the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), "pull up" visual warnings at the bottom of the primary flight display, and indications from the PAPI that the aircraft's approach angle was too high, choosing instead to continue the unstable approach. The pilot-in-command also reported that there was no visibility for the last 30 seconds of the flight due to encountering a small storm cell. Nonetheless, the report notes that under Air Niugini's operating procedures, the co-pilot should have intervened earlier. Story has more details.<br/>
The Kuala Lumpur High Court has ordered low-cost carrier AirAsia to pay the country's airport operator RM40.73m (US$9.90m) for unpaid passenger service charges (PSC), which the airline refused to collect for six months last year. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) said AirAsia must also pay RM972,381 in late payment charges to Malaysia Airports, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MAHB. “The court granted summary judgement in favour of MA Sepang in all three civil suits filed against AirAsia and AirAsia X," it said. “The summary judgement order further included a declaration for AirAsia to pay MA Sepang the PSC rates that have been gazetted." Air Asia was also reportedly ordered to pay RM24,000 in costs for the three suits. AirAsia has previously refused to implement the PSC increase, which went from RM50 to RM73, citing the lower level of service at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2. “We will be taking necessary actions to preserve our interests, including appealing against said decision and applying for a stay of execution,” the airline said.<br/>