A 51-year-old man has been arrested after a laser was shone into the cockpit of a plane approaching Bristol Airport. Avon and Somerset Police said a laser was shone at a commercial airline while it was flying over Martock in Somerset on Sunday 14 August. Officers were sent to the village and saw a laser being directed at another plane from a property. The man has been released under investigation. Police said that a number of pilots operating out of airfields including Bristol Airport and RNAS Yeovilton have recently reported being targeted by a laser while flying over the Martock area.<br/>
general
The operator of Dubai International Airport said on Wednesday said the Middle East hub could see monthly passenger traffic return to pre-pandemic levels in the latter half of next year. Dubai Airports CE Paul Griffiths told Reuters 62.4m passengers were now expected to travel through the airport this year, about 7% more than its most recent forecast after traffic more than doubled in the first half. "We should be back at the normal sort of monthly throughputs of about 7m passengers-plus by the end of next year. That's what we're predicting," he said in an online interview. The airport is expecting an average of 5.6m a month in the second half of this year. The state-owned operator has previously said Dubai International could return to pre-pandemic annual passenger traffic levels in 2024. It handled 86.4m passengers in 2019.Dubai airport screened 27.9m passengers in H1 of the year, compared to 10.6m a year ago, while Q2 traffic nearly tripled to 14.9m. "As soon as people have been able to travel again, they've voted with their feet ... and the evidence is there," Griffiths said. The recovery at the airport, hub for airline Emirates, continues to be led by passengers starting or ending their journey in Dubai, rather than catching connecting flights.<br/>
Dubai International Airport, a major aviation hub, is gearing up to help ease transit travel for World Cup supporters ahead of the tournament starting in November, its director said Wednesday. The first World Cup ever held in a Middle Eastern country is set to kick off in Qatar on November 20, and will last until December 18. Gulf states have agreed to ease administrative procedures for fans in transit, in particular through the United Arab Emirates. "We are actually putting together some immigration procedures which actually should make that transition between the two countries a lot easier," Dubai Airports chief Paul Griffiths told AFP. He said online check-in will mean normal procedures can be bypassed "and then you can get in and out very quickly". Pre-pandemic, Dubai was the world's busiest airport for international passengers. Without specifying figures, Griffiths said there would be "quite a number of flights every day during the World Cup, ferrying fans to and from Doha", the Qatari capital, following requests by several airlines. He said he also expected many people to "be going back and forth and enjoy their leisure time in Dubai and going back and forth just for the matches". Flights between the UAE and Qatar resumed in January last year after a diplomatic reconciliation ended a more than three-year boycott. In 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Qatar, accusing it of backing Islamist extremism. Griffiths also said he was optimistic about Dubai airport's prospects.<br/>
China’s July air passenger traffic rebounded to 57.3% of the 2019 level, the country’s aviation regulator said on Thursday, as the airline industry slowly recovers from widespread COVID-19 lockdowns that paralysed travel demand. Still, July passenger traffic was down 30.8% from a year earlier, an official at the Civil Aviation Administration of China told an online press conference.<br/>
In view of the rapid surge in Covid cases, commercial airlines have been advised by DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to comply with stringent coronavirus protocols inside aircraft. On August 16, the statutory body urged airline companies to ensure that passengers adhere to Covid norms as well. Iterating that the DGCA may carry out random inspections on the site, it laid out instructions to the stakeholders. Passengers have been asked to don face masks at all times and ensure proper sanitisation of the passengers along various platforms. In an instance wherein passengers failed to comply with Covid directives, DGCA has asked airlines to implement punitive actions against the violator. With a 100% hike in Covid hospitalisation in Delhi since August 1, the national capital has been recording more than five Covid-related deaths every day since Saturday. The national capital has recorded a nearly two-fold rise in hospitalisations in a fortnight. Statistics shared by Delhi State Health Bulletin showcased an upward trajectory for hospitalisations since August 1. From 307 Covid patients in the hospital, the figures have surged to 588 while 205 remain on oxygen support and 22 on ventilator support. ICU admissions have doubled from 98 on August 1 to 202 as of August 16.<br/>
People will have more options to fly from one city to another as nearly 220 destinations including airports, heliports and water aerodromes with 1,000 routes have been planned to be completed under UDAN regional connectivity scheme. The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship programme Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN has completed 5 years of success since the launch of its first flight by the Prime Minister on April 27, 2017. The scheme was initiated on October 21, 2016 with the objective to fulfil the aspirations of the common citizen by following the vision of ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’, with an enhanced aviation infrastructure and air connectivity in tier II and tier III cities. On the occasion, Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “The success of RCS UDAN is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’. It has played a great role in the transformation of the Indian aviation industry. So far under this scheme, we have 425 routes aiming to go up to 1,000 routes, 68 new airports aiming to touch 100 airports. In the next 4 years, we are expecting 40 crore travellers through Civil Aviation in India. That day is not far when along with rail transport and road transport Civil Aviation will become the bulwark of the transportation in India.”<br/>
Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, issued a six-month flight ban to a woman who made a TikTok video at Phu Quoc Airport. The passenger deliberately violated regulations on aviation safety and security and public order at airports when dancing on the runway on May 18. A security staff member at the airport quickly approached and asked her to return to a safe area. The unruly passenger faced administrative fines as regulated in the civil aviation sector. According to the decision, domestic and foreign airlines operating in the country are not permitted to carry the passenger on domestic and international flights from between Aug 17, 2022, and Feb 6, 2023. Regulations on aviation safety and security stipulate the areas in which passengers are allowed to move when they get on and off planes. <br/>
Auckland International Airport posted its second straight annual loss on Thursday but said it would return to profit in 2023 as demand for air travel picks up in the country following the easing of COVID-19 curbs. New Zealand has in recent months reopened its borders and loosened restrictions that led to one of the fewest COVID-19 case loads in the world. The country welcomed hundreds of travellers from Australia in early April for the first time since mid-2021. "After two years of disruption, careful cost management ... our recovery is now well underway," CE Carrie Hurihanganui said. "While we are hopeful of a strong recovery over the next 18 months, our outlook remains conservative." New Zealand's biggest airport operator expects an underlying profit after tax in the range of NZ$50m to NZ$100m ($31.39m and $62.78m) for fiscal 2023. It posted an underlying net loss after tax of NZ$11.6m for the year ended June 30, compared with a loss of NZ$41.8m a year earlier. Revenue for the year rose 7% to NZ$300.3m.<br/>
Boeing and Northrop Grumman are joining a White House-backed compact to help smaller US-based suppliers increase the use of 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing technologies. The voluntary program, unveiled by President Joe Biden in May, seeks to boost suppliers' use of additive manufacturing. Driven by 3D printing, the technology allows complex shapes to be built in layers from particles of plastic or metal. The Biden administration views it as an innovation that will enable US manufacturers to flourish and create jobs. The program, Additive Manufacturing Forward (AM Forward) is organized by non-profit Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America (ASTRO America). "The supply chain crisis isn’t just about building out ports. It’s about building up parts – right here in America’s small business factories," said ASTRO America's CEO, Neal Orringer. GE Aviation, Siemens Energy, Raytheon Technologies, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin were the initial companies to make commitments.The manufacturers say they will purchase additively produced parts from smaller US suppliers; train supplier workers on new additive technologies; provide technical assistance; and engage in standards development and certification. Boeing and Northrop Grumman both aim to increase the number of small- and medium-sized suppliers competing over quote packages for products using additive manufacturing. Boeing will also aim to increase its qualified small and medium supplier capacity by 30% and provide technical guidance to meet qualification requirements.<br/>