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A mechanical problem on a United Airlines flight prompted an emergency landing early Thursday at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. "After our aircraft experienced a mechanical issue shortly after takeoff, it remained in the air to burn fuel and then landed safely," United said. "Passengers deplaned at the gate and a new aircraft is scheduled to depart this morning." An initial maintenance inspection suggests an issue with a hydraulic pump on the aircraft, which had 256 passengers on board for the flight, United Airlines said. Sparks flew off the plane as it climbed after takeoff, according to a video posted online that purports to show the flight. The FAA is investigating what happened with Flight 149, which departed Newark airport late Wednesday night, then declared an emergency. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft had been headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil, before returning to Newark, the FAA said. The hydraulic system on the Boeing 777 runs key systems, such as the landing gear, flaps and brakes. There are three redundant hydraulic systems on the plane, meaning two can fail and the airplane can still operate normally. The flight circled over the Atlantic Ocean to burn fuel before returning to the airport about two hours after departure, flight tracking data shows.<br/>

Portugal’s ailing flag carrier TAP is delivering on its restructuring goals despite global uncertainties, which makes it all the more attractive to a potential international partner who could reinforce its resilience, its CE said on Thursday. The 72.5% state-owned airline also boasts “one of the most modern European fleets, and unique market destinations” in Brazil and Africa, Christine Ourmieres-Widener told reporters. “TAP is definitely quite an attractive airline for any group in a consolidation process. To be part of a big (international) group would be a source of resilience for TAP,” she said, adding that a strong partner would ideally bolster TAP’s market share in key markets such as the United States. She said it was up to the government to decide whether and when to reprivatise TAP, declining to estimate when that could happen. Brussels approved in December an E3.2b rescue plan for TAP, but imposed a tough restructuring that included downsizing its fleet, cutting more than 2,900 jobs and reducing wages of most workers by up to 25%. TAP has to achieve positive operating results in 2023 and a net profit in 2025, recouping from a record loss of E1.6b in 2021. Ourmieres-Widener said that TAP was already showing “a very significant improvement in the operating profit” and aimed to improve such parameters as amortization, depreciation, interest and debt. TAP’s H1 loss more than halved from a year ago to E202m as passenger revenue jumped nearly five-fold and it is flying at 90% of 2019 capacity, after two years of repressed global travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br/>

Portugal’s national airline TAP Air Portugal says hackers obtained the personal data of some of its customers and have published the information on the dark web. No payment data was taken in the cyberattack, the flag carrier said in a statement late Wednesday. The attack began almost a month ago and is being investigated by Portuguese authorities, with the help of specialists from Microsoft, the airline said. The hackers obtained the name, nationality, sex, date of birth and address, email and telephone contact details, the airline said, without elaborating. Portuguese newspaper Expresso said a hacker group called Ragnar Locker was offering the information of 1.5m TAP Air Portugal customers on the dark web.<br/>