A bird strike caused the engine of an American Airlines flight to catch fire, forcing pilots to turn around shortly after take-off and land the plane back at John Glenn Columbus International Airport early Sunday morning. Airport officials said American Airlines flight 1958 landed safely, no one was injured in the incident and the airport was shut down for only a few minutes while the plane returned for the emergency landing. An airport spokesperson couldn't say how many passengers were on the flight. The plane left about 7:45 a.m. and was headed for Phoenix when birds struck the engine shortly after takeoff. Airport officials couldn't say how long the plane was in the air before rerouting back to the Columbus airport, but it didn't make it out of the Central Ohio area. Reports of birds striking aircraft exploded across the country after the so-called Miracle on the Hudson in 2009, when a US Airways jet with 155 people aboard hit a flock of Canada geese in New York. Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger glided the aircraft into the Hudson River and everyone on board survived. Michael Begier, national coordinator for the USDA's Airport Wildlife Hazards Program, has told USA TODAY that much of the increase came from better reporting by pilots, tower personnel, mechanics and others.<br/>
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An American Airlines employee died Thursday at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, was operating a ground service vehicle that struck a jet bridge, authorities said. Police and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services called to the airport found the employee with “obvious signs of trauma” to his body. “Unfortunately, the male succumbed to his injuries,” Corporal Destiny Silva with the Austin Police Department said in a news conference Thursday. The incident is being investigated as an accidental death and airport operations were not affected, Silva said. “We can confirm that Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) responded to an incident with an American Airline employee on the apron by Gate 24 at AUS earlier this afternoon,” Bailey Grimmett, a public information specialist with the airport, said in an email to CNN, adding airport staff “are working closely with the airline and emergency services personnel.”<br/>
A pair of major US carriers – Alaska Airlines and American Airlines – are pursuing separate codeshare agreements with Condor and JetSmart, respectively. German leisure carrier Condor has applied with US regulatory authorities for a code-share agreement that would allow Condor to use Alaska’s airline designator code on international flights. Condor requested in a 21 April filing with the US Department of Transportation to begin the code-share service “on or around” 1 June. The holiday specialist also requested “expedited processing of this application”. Under the proposed agreement, Alaska would place its code on Condor services between Frankfurt, Germany and 12 US cities – Anchorage (Alaska), Boston, Baltimore, Fairbanks (Alaska), New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis (Minnesota), Portland (Oregon), Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco. “The code share authorisation requested herein is fully consistent with the applicable open skies air transport agreement currently in place between the United States and the European Union,” Condor says in its application. Separately, American and Chilean low-cost carrier JetSmart received DOT approval on 21 April to enter a two-year code-share agreement effective immediately and running through 21 April 2025. The agreement allows American to provide scheduled air service “between points in the United States and points worldwide on a third-county code-share basis”. It also grants JetSmart authority to display American’s designator code on flights operated by JetSmart “within Chile and between Chile and third countries”, according to the filing. “Based on the record in this case, we found that JetSmart… is operationally and financially qualified to conduct the proposed services,” the DOT says. “We also note that American has conducted a safety audit of JetSmart… and the FAA has advised us that it has reviewed the relevant audit report and found it to be acceptable.” <br/>
Investigators are probing an incident in which a Qatar Airways Airbus A350-900 executed a go-around after touching down at Islamabad, apparently after an unstable approach. The aircraft had been arriving from Doha on 16 April and was conducting the ILS Z approach to runway 28L. According to French investigation authority BEA, citing Pakistani counterparts, the crew was in contact with the tower controllers after establishing the aircraft on final. But the pilot reported executing a go-around from the touchdown point “due to an unstable approach”, says BEA, with the aircraft “offset from the centreline”. It has not indicated the extent of the offset, or any other details of the approach. The tower controller reported that the go-around was initiated after the aircraft’s main landing-gear had contacted the runway in the vicinity of taxiway G – which lies about 550m from the runway 28L threshold. Although the pilot reported all operations were normal, BEA says the crew was informed that the tower had seen the main gear touch the runway. It adds that fire and rescue services were alerted. The French authority describes the event as a “serious” incident, but the full circumstances have yet to become clear. Meteorological data indicates the presence of gusting crosswinds from the right. After carrying out the ILS Z approach again, the aircraft – identified by BEA as A7-ALN – landed safely 12min after the first attempt. None of those on board was injured.<br/>