An airline passenger in Thailand had part of her leg amputated this week after an accident on a moving airport walkway, the Thai authorities said. The accident, involving a 57-year-old woman, occurred Thursday in the domestic terminal of Don Mueang International, the older and smaller of two major airports that serve Bangkok, the capital. It’s unclear precisely what happened. Local news media initially reported that the woman’s leg had been pulled into the walkway’s machinery after she tripped on her suitcase. But her family said on Saturday that she had been walking normally when part of the walkway collapsed. What’s clear is that her leg was amputated up to the kneecap after the accident. The Thai authorities are now trying to determine if the accident resulted from human error or an equipment malfunction. Walkways are widely used and seldom feared. Such walkways are known as “moving walks” to government regulators and construction companies. Moving walks are often talked about in the same breath as escalators because they use similar technology and move at about the same speed — generally 100 feet per minute, or just over 1 mile per hour. The main difference is incline. An escalator sits at about 30 degrees, but a moving walk’s incline is typically no more than a tenth of that. Many moving walks are flat. Escalators and moving walks ease the movement of billions of people through airports, shopping malls and other public spaces each year. The National Elevator Industry, Inc., an industry group in the United States, estimates that about 105b passengers ride escalators annually — the world’s population, multiplied by 13 — in the US alone. Escalators and moving walks are widely seen as very safe. But, like virtually any form of public transportation, they occasionally malfunction. In Australia, for example, inspectors in the state of Queensland found two recent examples of moving walks that were operating with a missing pallet, the technical term for the metal slats that separate passengers from the whirring machinery below. And in Thailand, a passenger at Don Mueang International Airport reported losing a shoe to the machinery of a moving walk in 2019, Thai news media outlets reported this week. Story has more.<br/>
general
Geneva Airport said it had reached a deal with public service staff to end a strike over pay which led to the cancellation of dozens of flights in and out of the Swiss hub on Friday. About a hundred employees protested outside the airport's departure area against a salary policy approved by the airport's board that imposed a freeze on pay increases. "An agreement was reached and the union accepted the management's proposals," Geneva Airport wrote on Twitter, adding: "Traffic will resume as expected Saturday." Geneva's airport, which is a hub for diplomats and officials travelling to the United Nations, saw its air traffic halted for around four hours on Friday morning as a result of the strike. Switzerland's Public Services Union had pledged to return to the picket line on Saturday before the deal was struck. Prior to the agreement being reached, Pierre Bernheim, president of Geneva Airport, said the strike was unjustified. "I'm sad because they are taking passengers, who may have saved money for a long time, hostage," he said, describing the airport's pay and working conditions as excellent. Flight delays became apparent early on Friday as passengers formed large lines to check in and go through security. The striking workers include security and emergency staff.<br/>
Some Dublin airport staff's financial information has been compromised by a cyber-attack on provider company Aon that also affected various other firms, the Dublin Airport Authority said on Sunday. "DAA can confirm that as a result of a recent cyber-attack on Aon, a third-party professional service provider, data relating to some employees’ pay and benefits was compromised," a spokesperson said. Britain's Sunday Times reported that the attack on file-transfer software tool MOVEit, used by Aon, affected nearly 2,000 Dublin airport staff, as well other agencies and companies in the US and UK. The cl0p ransomware gang has claimed to be behind the hacking of MOVEit. AON did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "DAA is offering support, advice and assistance to employees impacted by this criminal cyber-attack," the Irish airport authority said, without giving further details.<br/>
London's Heathrow Airport has appointed Copenhagen Airport boss Thomas Woldbye as its next chief executive, who will take charge of western Europe's busiest airport later in the year. Heathrow regained its top spot as the busiest airport in western Europe last year, after sliding down the rankings during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the British airport has faced worker strikes over pay in the past few months. Last week, however, more than 2,000 security workers at the airport called off 31 days of strikes planned for this summer after they accepted an improved pay offer. Woldbye, who will replace current boss John Holland-Kaye, will step down as CEO of Copenhagen Airports by Sept. 30 after 12 years in the job, the Danish airport said on Friday. "In his time as CEO, he has led the airport ambitiously through its growth period with passenger levels rising to record levels from 20 to 30m in 8 years," Chairman of Copenhagen Airports A/S Lars Nørby Johansen said. "With a steady hand he has guided us through the troubling Covid pandemic." Heathrow is owned by Spanish group Ferrovial and Qatar Investment Authority, plus other investors.<br/>
The chief suspect in a shootout in Moldova's main international airport remained in a coma on Saturday and was wanted in his native Tajikistan in connection with the abduction of a bank officer, Moldovan authorities said. The 43-year-old man grabbed a gun and shot dead two security officers and wounded a civilian on Friday after being denied entry to ex-Soviet Moldova, they said. Acting Chief Prosecutor Ion Musteata said the suspect, who seized a gun from a security officer, remained unconscious after being wounded in the exchange of fire while being led away to an area for a flight back to Istanbul, from where he had arrived. Moldovan politician Dragos Galbur said on social media on Friday that the suspect had received some 10 gunshot wounds and had undergone surgery. Officials said he became agitated while being questioned over his reasons for visiting Moldova. He briefly took hostages before being apprehended. Musteata said the suspect would be tried in Moldova and face an aggravated murder charge "if he survives". He said initial suppositions that the incident was a "terrorist act" had been abandoned. A statement issued by prosecutors in Tajikistan, also an ex-Soviet state and located in Central Asia, said the suspect was wanted in connection with the abduction of a bank officer in the capital Dushanbe last month.<br/>
Airline passengers in the UK are being let down by toothless regulation, with no airline fined in the last 20 years for breaching obligations, the consumer group Which? has found. It called for urgent legislation to beef up the regulator’s powers, contrasting the lack of action in the UK over unpaid refunds or compensation with fines issued in other countries. The Civil Aviation Authority was given powers in June 2003 to apply to courts to ensure enforcement against airlines for consumer protection. It has only pursued that course of action once, however, against Ryanair in 2018, in a case that ended with the airline agreeing to pay due compensation to passengers but no further sanction. Authorities in the US this month fined British Airways $1.1m after 1,200 complaints about delayed refunds during the pandemic, but the carrier has not faced any similar threat in the UK over affected customers. British law requires airlines to issue refunds for cancellations within seven days, but many passengers waited months during the pandemic. CAA data from 2020 alone also showed more than 24,000 complaints recorded over compensation under the EU261, due from airlines for cancelled or delayed flights. Italy, Germany and Greece are among the other nations whose regulators have fined airlines in recent years. Which? said the CAA should be doing more to pursue law-breaking airlines and urgently needed stronger enforcement powers. The Department for Transport announced this week that it plans to give the CAA the power to fine airlines “when parliamentary time allows”.<br/>
Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority has issued a statement on Friday extending the closure of Sudanese airspace until July 10, to all air traffic with the exception of humanitarian aid flights. Sudanese airspace was closed to regular traffic after a military conflict erupted between the country's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April.<br/>
Flights departing Australia’s busiest airport are mostly back on schedule after two chaotic days of cancellations and delays caused by poor weather and a lack of staff, although Qantas still reported at least 20 cancellations on Sunday. Strong winds forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights out of Sydney airport on Friday and Saturday with pilots limited to a single runway due to high winds. The knock-on effect led to huge crowds spilling out of the terminal as the New South Wales school holidays began. On Sunday, flight monitors showed most departures from domestic and international terminals at Sydney airport were leaving on time. But there were still some cancellations and delays, mostly affecting Qantas and Jetstar flights. The delays were not due to ongoing weather issues but the earlier disruptions and subsequent crew availability. Qantas had at least 20 cancellations on Sunday, the airline said. Jetstar had “a number” of cancellations. Sydney airport indicated it was smooth sailing on the ground, with the average time for passengers to get through domestic airport security between three and five minutes. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup<br/>Traffic controller Airservices Australia said it continued to closely monitor weather conditions to ensure safety. The strong winds that caused nationwide travel disruptions have abated, with the only wind warning in NSW on Sunday for the Eden coastline, south of Sydney. The airport chaos caused thousands to scramble to find new flights, with 18 departures out of Sydney cancelled and dozens more delayed on Saturday due to wind gusts of up to 45km/h. There were also some staffing issues. More than 100 flights were cancelled on Friday and the disruption spread to airports across the country.<br/>
A US appeals court on Friday rejected a challenge to the first federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes, which environmental groups and several Democrat-led states have insisted are too lenient. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Environmental Protection Agency adequately considered issues like climate change when crafting the rules for commercial and large business planes. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, writing for the court, said the decision to not adopt stricter rules rested on the "reasonable judgment that the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally would be to align with international standards." Three environmental groups, 12 states and the District of Columbia sued in 2021 saying that the EPA's regulations "by EPA's own analysis, will reduce no emissions whatsoever and will prompt no improvements to airplanes' emissions reduction technology." Liz Jones, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups, said aviation pollution will keep rising as a result of the EPA's "do nothing" regulatory approach. The EPA said it is reviewing the decision. The states, including California, Illinois and New York, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization's standards were agreed to in 2016. They are "technology-following," meaning they do not set unachievable standards with the hopes of spurring future innovations, the court said. The US rules were finalized in January 2021 in the final days of the Trump administration, with industry support. The Biden administration said it would not rewrite the rules but would press for more ambitious international standards.<br/>
Western Global Airlines founder and CEO Jim Neff bought the cargo airline’s deeply distressed secured debt as the company veers toward a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The move comes just three years after Western Global raised $400m in a bond deal that handed Neff a payout as part of a minority stake sale to employees. Neff still owns more than 60% of the company, one of the people said. A representative for Western Global declined to comment. The company has been weighing a bankruptcy filing as it faces dwindling liquidity, Bloomberg previously reported. Neff’s plan would be to keep Western Global as a going concern as it seeks to restructure its debt load, the people familiar with the matter said. The company began confidential talks with some of its creditors related to its financing needs last month, Bloomberg reported. Amid those talks, Truist Financial Corp. sought to sell the company’s first-lien term loan and revolver and accepted a bid of about 40 cents on the dollar, the people said. A representative for Truist declined to comment. After Neff’s purchase of the senior debt, some of the investors who bought Western Global’s bonds in 2020 — who now sit behind Neff in line for repayment — are examining if such a purchase could be considered fraudulent if the company files for bankruptcy, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. <br/>