Japan advised more than 300,000 people to evacuate their homes on Wednesday and airlines cancelled hundreds of scheduled flights as a tropical storm bore down on the archipelago, public broadcaster NHK said. Tropical storm Krosa, packing maximum winds of 108 kph, was heading north toward southwestern Japan by 8 p.m., and is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Evacuation advisories were issued for 310,000 residents, and about 350 flights scheduled for Thursday had been cancelled, NHK said. “Let me ask the people to prepare well, stay alert and take lifesaving action, such as evacuating early,” PM Shinzo Abe told a cabinet meeting. During the 24 hours until 6 p.m. on Thursday, the weather agency expects up to 1m of rain in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four major islands.<br/>
general
Hong Kong’s airport authority has obtained an interim injunction to stop protests at the airport and restricted non-travellers from entering after a rally at the aviation hub on Tuesday night erupted into violent clashes with police. The move came as Terence Mak Chin-ho, an assistant police commissioner, said that five men were arrested in relation to Tuesday’s protests. He said acts of violence in aerodromes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Hong Kong law. “According to the law . . . if any person commits . . . any act of violence which causes or is likely to cause death or serious personal injury, and endangers or is likely to endanger the safe operation of the aerodrome . . . they are liable on conviction to life imprisonment,” he said. Protests forced the mass cancellation of flights on Monday and Tuesday, hitting Hong Kong’s main airline, Cathay Pacific, and causing disruption for travellers in the world’s third busiest airport by passenger numbers. Under the injunction, the Hong Kong’s airport authority said people could be arrested for “unlawfully and wilfully obstructing or interfering with” the airport, among other acts. The authority also said it would only allow passengers with a valid ticket or boarding pass for a flight scheduled for the next 24 hours into the building from Wednesday afternoon. China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Beijing’s highest representative office in the territory, said on Wednesday that the “outrages” by the protesters at the airport on Tuesday were “no different” to those of terrorists. With a smaller number of protesters still at the airport on Wednesday, Cathay said operations at the airport, including its check-in counters, had returned to normal but warned of the potential for disruptions at short notice. The airport authority said about 1,000 flights had been cancelled over the past five days; Cathay said it had been forced to cancel 272 flights over the past two days “affecting more than 55,000 passengers”.<br/>
Bangkok Airways and smaller Thai carriers have reported surging Q2 losses as they reeled from a decline in Chinese tourists and a strengthening baht currency. They follow on the heels of THAI, which reported last week that its losses more than doubled in Q2. Bangkok Airways said late on Tuesday that its Q2 loss amounted to 698m baht, against an 82m baht loss for the same period a year earlier. The airline’s president, Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, said on Wednesday that the carrier’s revenue dropped 4.2% due to slow growth in international tourist arrivals and the strengthening of the Thai baht, adding that in H2 of the year the carrier aims to increase online ticket sales via e-commerce platforms like Shopee. Tourist arrivals in Thailand in June rose just 0.89% from a year earlier, with visitors from China, Thailand’s biggest source of tourists, declining 7.1%. State-run THAI reported last Friday a 6.8b baht ($221m) loss for April-June, against 3.1b baht in Q2 of last year, blaming slow growth in tourism and intense price competition. However, Thai Airways said that the government’s decision to waive visa fees until October could attract more visitors during the low season. Low-cost carrier, Nok Air, reported a 796m baht Q2loss due to a fleet reduction and a decrease in Chinese tourists, it said. Rival Asia Aviation, which owns Thai AirAsia, booked on Friday a 879m baht loss for the quarter due to fewer Chinese tourists and a strong baht, which tempered demand from foreign tourists. Asia Aviation said Thai AirAsia will launch flights to Cambodia and expects a recovery of Chinese tourists in H2 2019.<br/>
Boeing has pushed back the entry into service of an ultra-long-range version of its forthcoming 777X widebody, the US planemaker said Wednesday, the latest fallout from an ongoing crisis surrounding its 737 MAX jet. The fresh delay comes as the grounding of Boeing's money-spinning 737 MAX single-aisle entered a six month in August, and as the world's largest planemaker grapples with engine delays on the 777X widebody, pushing the first flight of the 777-9 into 2020. The delay in the longer-range 777-8 will hamper Boeing's ability to provide a plane in line with the schedule for Qantas Airways' plan for 21-hour non-stop Sydney-London flights. The Australian airline had hoped for first deliveries of the planes in 2022 and the launch of the world's longest commercial flight in 2023. "We reviewed our development program schedule and the needs of our current 777X customers and decided to adjust the schedule," Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said by e-mail, adding that the manufacturer remained committed to the 777-8. "The adjustment reduces risk in our development program, ensuring a more seamless transition to the 777-8. We continue to engage with our current and potential customers on how we can meet their fleet needs. This includes our valued customer Qantas." The decision effectively means Boeing engineers have frozen development work on the ultra-long-range version of the 777X. The schedule delay could jeopardize competition with European arch-rival Airbus SE for a slice of the ultra-long-haul travel market.<br/>
French air navigation service provider DSNA has joined a consortium of European ANSPs participating in the Iris satellite-based data link program, Inmarsat announced Aug. 14. Developed by a public-private partnership of Inmarsat and the European Space Agency, Iris will be a text-based data link between pilots and controllers using Inmarsat’s Swiftbroadband-Safety service over L-band satellites. The capability will relieve existing VHF Digital Link Mode 2 radio congestion in Europe and support more efficient “4D” aircraft trajectories, adding a time element to the dimensions of latitude, longitude and altitude for more precise flight tracking and management. Following the conclusion of a five-year research program, Iris entered the commercial implementation phase in March. Full commercial service is scheduled to begin in 2021-22. As part of its involvement in the program, DSNA has agreed to capture performance data from pilot flight demonstrations. <br/>