unaligned

Indonesian authorities on Sunday located the black boxes of the Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea soon after taking off from the capital Jakarta, as human body parts and pieces of the plane were retrieved. The Boeing 737-500 with 62 passengers and crew was headed on a domestic flight to Pontianak in West Kalimantan on Saturday before it disappeared from radar screens four minutes after take-off. Indonesia National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) chief Soerjanto Tjahjono said the locations of Flight SJ 182′s two black boxes had been identified. “Hopefully, we can retrieve them soon,” said military chief Hadi Tjahjanto, without giving an estimated timeframe. Search will continue into the night, a search and rescue official said, but efforts will be limited to sonar scans by boats. There were no clues yet as to what caused the crash, the first major aircrash in Indonesia since 189 passengers and crew were killed in 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max in 2018 also plunged into the Java Sea soon after take-off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Pieces of wreckage were brought to Jakarta port by rescuers, including the plane’s altimeter radar, emergency chute and a piece that was suspected to have come off of the bottom part of the plane’s tail, KNKT official Nurcahyo Utomo said.<br/>

As the coronavirus pandemic cleared Indonesia’s skies of airline traffic, Capt. Afwan, an experienced Boeing 737 pilot for Sriwijaya Air, waited. A former Indonesian Air Force pilot who was widely admired and had more than 30 years of flying experience, he filled his time with Sriwijaya flight simulator sessions meant to ensure that pilots completed the minimum flying hours to keep their licenses. Like many in his Muslim majority-nation, he prayed regularly and advised colleagues to maintain their piety, too. On Saturday, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, with Captain Afwan in charge, crashed into the Java Sea a few minutes after takeoff in heavy rain. The Boeing 737-500 series passenger jet carried 62 people, including six active crew. By Sunday afternoon, divers had retrieved items from the plane in waters northwest of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta: chunks of fuselage, airplane wheels and waterlogged children’s clothes. Ten children and babies had been aboard the flight, en route from Jakarta to the city of Pontianak on the island of Borneo, a roughly 90-minute journey. Indonesian investigators say they have confirmed where the plane’s data recorders are in the watery crash site, an area known as the Thousand Islands, and they hope to recover the so-called black boxes soon. There is no question that Indonesia’s skies remain some of the world’s most dangerous, tainted by a history of poor safety regulations that has dogged domestic airlines for years. And the pandemic has complicated efforts aimed at restoring their reputations and finances. Grounded by a collapse in passenger traffic from the coronavirus, pilots said that it was a struggle to maintain their professional edge, even if their carriers offered training on simulators. Sriwijaya has two flight simulators for older 737 models, pilots said. Capt. Rama Noya, the chairman of the Indonesian Pilot Association who is also a pilot for Sriwijaya, said that when he flew after a month’s pause, he felt like he “was being plugged in again.” The rusty feeling is not limited to pilots for Indonesian carriers. “This is a concern for all countries at the moment,” said Gerry Soejatman, an Indonesian aviation expert.<br/>

Alaska Airlines banned more than a dozen passengers this week for not complying with its mask mandate and for harassing staff members. The 14 passengers were banned from flying with the airline after they were "non-mask compliant, rowdy, argumentative and harassed our crew members" on a flight from Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, to Seattle on Thursday evening, according to a statement from Alaska Airlines. "Their behavior was unacceptable," the statement from the airline said. "We apologize to our other guests who were made uncomfortable on the flight." When asked for more detail on the passengers, the airline said that they're "focused on the individual actions of those passengers and their non-compliance with our mask policy." "We're thankful and appreciative of the efforts of our dedicated crew members who are committed each day to keeping travel safe and respectful," the airline said. Alaska Airlines says it has banned 288 passengers for violating its mask policy since it went into effect -- a number that does not include these 14 passengers.<br/>

WestJet Airlines said it would reduce capacity by a further 30% in February and March, affecting the jobs or pay of roughly 1,000 employees and bringing the number of domestic and international flights it operates down to levels not seen in almost 20 years. The cuts come after PM Justin Trudeau’s government ordered travelers to present a recent negative Covid-19 test before being allowed to board flights into Canada. The new rules took effect Thursday. After that requirement was announced, the Calgary-based company saw “significant reductions in new bookings and unprecedented cancellations,” WestJet CEO Ed Sims said. “The entire travel industry and its customers are again on the receiving end of incoherent and inconsistent government policy,” Sims said. “We have advocated over the past 10 months for a coordinated testing regime on Canadian soil, but this hasty new measure is causing Canadian travelers unnecessary stress and confusion and may make travel unaffordable, unfeasible and inaccessible for Canadians for years to come.” Trudeau’s ministers and the airline sector have been locked in tense discussions over a possible government relief package since the pandemic began in March 2020. Official talks began in November with Transport Minister Marc Garneau saying any state aid would have conditions, including issuing refunds for unused tickets. The government has insisted that airlines not cut domestic routes.<br/>

EasyJet announced a new five-year term loan facility of $1.87b Friday, which will be secured on aircraft upon drawing. “This facility will significantly extend and improve EasyJet’s debt maturity profile and increase the level of liquidity available,” CEO Johan Lundgren said. The facility is underwritten by a syndicate of banks and supported by a partial guarantee from UK Export Finance under their Export Development Guarantee scheme, the airline said. The airline had taken a GBP600m loan from the UK government, cut 4,500 jobs and tapped shareholders for GBP419m last year to survive the impact of the pandemic.<br/>

Unionized employees at Mexican airline Interjet went on strike on Friday, a union spokesman said, after weeks of flight cancellations as the company struggles to maintain operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Videos shared on social media showed groups of striking workers at Interjet counters in Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport and outside Toluca International Airport, about 66 km away. The majority of employees voted to strike at the company’s premises in Mexico City to recoup some wages and benefits through the union, the Seccion 15 workers union said. Interjet employees are owed four months of salary and other wages, including Christmas bonuses and savings fund contributions for 2020, the union said. Like many airlines, Interjet has suffered severe disruptions because of the pandemic. All the airline’s flights and operations have been suspended since last month, the union said. In November Interjet cancelled multiple flights after reportedly missing advance payments on jet fuel for the second time in two months. <br/>

China Aircraft Leasing has placed an order for 30 Comac ARJ21 aircraft with an Indonesian airline, in which CALC and two of its most senior executives have a 49% stake, as a co-buyer. The aircraft will be delivered “in stages” up to 2026, according to an 8 January filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange by the locally based lessor. The agreement includes a purchase option for 30 additional ARJ21s. CALC holds its stake in TransNusa via Aviation Synergy (Caymen), which in turn owns Naga Pacific Holdings, which has a 49% stake in TransNusa, a 4 March 2020 Hong Kong stock-exchange filing and the 8 January one show. CALC holds a 72.8% stake in Aviation Synergy, while its CEO Mike Poon and deputy chief Winnie Liu hold 14.1% and 13.1%, respectively. In the 4 March statement, CALC called its investment in TransNusa a “significant move for CALC to expand its downstream footprint to cover the entire aviation value chain” and “aligning the group’s business strategy in combining vertical integration and horizontal expansion”. Earlier, in December 2019, CALC had signed a strategic co-operation agreement with TransNusa to “boost [the airline’s] next phase of growth and expansion”. It added that the deal would help TransNusa “enhance its ability to deliver excellent air transportation services” and raise its safety standards, though pointed out that the airline had had zero incidents in eight years.<br/>

Fake IDs are apparently not just for liquor stores and bars anymore; some travellers have been using them to illegally gain free flights. A Houston man who US attorneys say manufactured, used and sold fraudulent airline-employee ID cards to gain free-flight privileges on Spirit Airlines was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 months in prison by a US district judge in California. The man, a former Mesa Airlines employee who had legitimate access to the Spirit Airlines flight privileges as a work benefit until 2015, allegedly started the scam after Mesa Airlines terminated him in 2015. Officials said Hubbard Bell, 32, made the fake Mesa Airlines credentials using actual employees' personal information. The fake ID ring ran from early 2016 to late 2017, and it resulted in 1953 known flight bookings reserved for someone whose name did not match the Mesa Airlines employee used to book the free flight. Personal information including employees' names, dates of hire and employee identification numbers were allegedly sold in the scam. In September, Bell pleaded guilty via remote video conference to one count of conspiracy to commit wire forgery. In addition to his prison sentence, Bell has also been ordered to repay US$150,000 (NZ$208,04) in lost ticket charges to Spirit Airlines.<br/>

In its latest travel advisory, Emirates has confirmed that all flights to Hong Kong have stopped for two weeks according to a new directive issued by the Chinese-ruled territory. The suspension of flight came into effect on January 9, and will continue for two weeks until January 22. The updated website of the Dubai-based carrier stated: “As per the latest authority directive in Hong Kong, customers holding tickets on flight EK 384 with final destination to Hong Kong from 9 – 22 January 2021, will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin.” Passengers travelling to Bangkok as the final destination will be accepted for travel. However, Emirates assured that flights from Hong Kong have not been disrupted, and customers booked to travel on flight EK 385 from Hong Kong during this period will continue to be accepted for travel. “Emirates regrets any inconvenience caused. Affected customers should contact their travel agent or Emirates contact centre for rebooking options,” it added.<br/>

Five years in the making and in the midst of a global pandemic, Pakistan’s newest airline finally launched in December. Headquartered in Sialkot, AirSial offers both daily and weekly domestic flights from its base in Karachi to four destinations on a fleet of three A320s. The airline’s base of Sialkot is home to a billion-dollar export industry where the city’s chamber of commerce funded an international airport 20 years ago. The chamber is also a backer in the new airline. The three daily flights to Islamabad and Lahore, and the three weekly flights to Peshawar and Sialkot have been operating with load factors between 92 to 100 percent, said CEO Ameen Ahsan. AirSial currently operates only domestic routes, but it has plans to add destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America eventually. Besides the chamber of commerce, the company’s ownership structure includes individual investors. “And now today, we have almost more than 500 shareholders into this company; mostly businessman and small businessmen overseas,” Ahsan said.<br/>