A Pakistani-led investigation into a deadly air crash Friday will examine whether the jet’s engines were damaged in an aborted first landing, causing a loss of power when the plane circled around for a second landing, officials familiar with the probe said. Initial evidence suggests the engines of the PIA jet made contact with the runway in Karachi when the pilot attempted to land without landing gear deployed, the officials said. Marks on the runway indicate the engines were dragged along it, while flight-altitude data and eyewitness accounts say that the plane took off again, they said. The Airbus A320 never made it back to the runway, striking a residential building near the Karachi airport. The crash killed all but two of the 99 people on board and injured several on the ground. CE Arshad Malik has declined to comment on the cause of the crash until he sees the findings of the full investigation, which are supposed to be delivered within three months. The “black box” flight-data recorder was found Friday, but the voice recorder hasn’t been located. The investigation is expected to get technical assistance from Airbus, and the engine manufacturer CFM. “This will be a totally free and fair inquiry,” Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the aviation minister, said Saturday. “There will be action against whoever is held responsible.” The investigation team is composed of three air force personnel and one representative of the industry regulator. Imran Narejo, of the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association, questioned the independence of the inquiry, criticizing the absence of a commercial pilot or international experts.<br/>
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Virgin Australia Holdings' administrators have reached in-principle agreements with aircraft lessors covering the bulk of its fleet to wait until after Aug. 31 to repossess planes, to allow them to complete a sale, an affidavit showed. The administrators at Deloitte are not paying aircraft and engine lessors but have asked them to sign standstill agreements to refrain from repossession to let the buyer decide on the future fleet, showed the affidavit published by the Federal Court of Australia on Monday. Lessors would normally be able to repossess planes from June 19, which is 60 calendar days after the appointment of administrators. But the coronavirus pandemic has decimated travel demand, giving lessors few alternative options for placing the planes. “Negotiations with the Aircraft Lessors have been advanced to the point where an indicative in-principle agreement has been reached with lessors representing the vast majority of the Virgin Companies’ fleet which are subject to lease or financing arrangements,” administrator Salvatore Algeri said.<br/>
Israel’s flag carrier completed its first cargo flight to Turkey in 10 years on Sunday, the latest sign of a thaw in ties between the two nations. An El-Al plane landed in Istanbul on Sunday, the Israeli embassy in Turkey said on Twitter, adding that flights between Tel Aviv and Istanbul will help trade volumes between the nations reach “record levels.” In April, Turkey started supplying medical equipment to Israel to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak, an unexpected display of solidarity that has paved the way for an improvement in strained relations between the once-strategic allies. Turkey was Israel’s closest partner in the Muslim world, and their armies had strong ties, but relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply in 2010 when a Turkish flotilla bound for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip was raided by Israeli commandos, resulting in the deaths of 10 civilians.<br/>