Three flight attendants and four passengers were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney over July 4th weekend when the plane “encountered unexpected severe turbulence,” the airline said. The incident occurred about five hours into the nearly 11-hour-long flight, which departed Honolulu around 1 p.m. HST on Friday. “Our immediate priority is to continue to care for our passengers and crew affected by this turbulence event, and we thank Sydney airport first responders for their swift assistance,” Hawaiian Airlines said. One of the passengers onboard, Melissa Matheson, told Australian media outlet 10 News First, that the flight became “really rocky, like really, really rocky for about probably a minute and then we just dropped.” Georgia Matheson told the news station she saw passengers in the back of the plane with “ice packs on their heads.” “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Melissa Matheson said. The Airbus A330 aircraft landed at Sydney Airport without incident on Friday at 7:47 p.m. local time, according to the airlines. Three injured passengers were evaluated and released by airport medical personnel, Hawaiian Airlines said. A New South Wales ambulance spokesperson said that 12 patients were assessed at the scene and three were hospitalized for injuries such as back pain. Before returning to Honolulu from Sydney that night, the aircraft underwent inspection. <br/>
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Luxembourg’s flag-carrier, Luxair, has introduced its first Boeing 737 Max, as it embarks on further fleet modernisation. The aircraft, powered by CFM International Leap-1B engines, was originally delivered in 2018 to Air Italy. Air Italy was a short-lived joint-venture between Qatar Airways and Alisarda, which used a 737 Max fleet but ceased operations in early 2020. Luxair disclosed earlier this year that it would purchase Max 8 jets for delivery from 2026, and take others on lease in the interim. It has also opted to take the smaller Max 7 variant under an agreement revealed during the Paris air show.<br/>
British billionaire Richard Branson severely damaged Virgin Group's reputation by residing in a tax haven while UK-based airline Virgin Atlantic sought a government bailout during the pandemic, according to internal Virgin emails cited in a $250m London lawsuit on Monday. The emails were cited by lawyers for US train operator Brightline, which is being sued by the Virgin Group after cancelling a deal to use the Virgin brand in 2020, just over 18 months after it was signed.<br/>Under the deal Brightline operated a rail line in Florida using the name Virgin Trains USA. Brightline says it cancelled the deal because the Virgin brand had been hit by negative press coverage of Branson's 2020 claim that Virgin Atlantic would need a bailout from the British government to survive the pandemic. Brightline's lawyers cited internal Virgin Group emails describing group founder Branson being based in the British Virgin Islands for tax purposes as "a reputation killer", while one email from an external public relations adviser said: "Richard needs to show he's not a ruthless, tax-evading billionaire." In an April 2020 email, Virgin Group CEO Josh Bayliss referred to Branson's tax residency in relation to the request for a bailout, saying: "Richard cannot escape the criticism. The truth is he has paid as little tax as possible". Virgin argues its brand was not materially damaged by the group's handling of COVID-19, meaning Brightline was not entitled to cancel the licensing deal without paying an exit fee of up to $200m. The company is also seeking unpaid royalties.<br/>
Passengers on cash-strapped SpiceJet Ltd. are experiencing the most flight disruptions in India, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market. With the busy summer travel season arriving, only 61% of SpiceJet’s flights departed on time from the country’s four biggest airports — Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — in May, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. That’s down from the already trailing figure of nearly 70% in April, the agency’s data showed. SpiceJet, which is operating about 250 flights a day, isn’t alone. Air India, the nation’s second-largest carrier, slid to fifth from second in the punctuality ranks, with almost twice as many flight delays in May as a month earlier. Akasa Air, launched less than a year ago, was the most on-time, though its performance also slipped. Frequent delays underscore the challenges of the post-pandemic boom in India’s intensely competitive aviation market. Travel surges during the school holidays in May and June, and carriers struggled to keep pace. Demand for some routes was higher than normal after the insolvent Go Airlines India Ltd. stopped selling tickets in May, placing a greater burden on the country’s flight networks. Domestic passenger traffic climbed 15% to 13.2m in May from the month earlier. The airlines, meanwhile, are dealing with shortages of workers and planes after both were sidelined during the pandemic. A global issue with Pratt & Whitney engines is adding to the tension by grounding dozens of planes that normally serve the Indian market. <br/>