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Canadian investigators have disclosed that a Boeing 777-200LR crew received terrain alerts and ‘pull up’ instructions while in cruise over Pakistan. The incident occurred on 27 August, as the Air Canada aircraft was operating the AC43 service from Delhi to Toronto. According to a Transportation Safety Board bulletin, the crew received “terrain, pull up” warnings about 1h into the flight. At the time the 777 was cruising at around 30,000ft over northern Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan. “The flight crew followed checklist actions and the decision was made to return to [Delhi],” says the bulletin. It adds that the crew transmitted a ‘pan pan’ urgency message and was met on arrival by emergency vehicles, although the flight landed without incident. None of the 316 occupants was injured. Air Canada took delivery of the General Electric GE90-powered twinjet (C-FIUF) new in 2007.<br/>

Lufthansa Group carrier Swiss is to configure its Airbus A350-900s with four classes, including a small number of first-class seats plus a premium-economy section. Swiss is to introduce the A350s to replace its long-haul A340-300 fleet. The airline has disclosed that the twinjets will be fitted with 242 seats, of which three will be first class. “With our new cabin concept, we will still remain the only major airline in the world to offer a first-class cabin on all its long-haul aircraft,” says Swiss chief commercial officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. Swiss adds that the aircraft will have a 45-seat business section, plus 38 premium-economy and 156 economy seats. It says that there is “growing demand” for premium-economy travel, notably among leisure passengers, and the premium-economy cabin on the A350s will be “substantially larger” than that on other Swiss long-haul aircraft. Swiss will bring in the five A350s from 2025. It says the seating decision, and the arrangement of other fittings, finalises the interior design for the type. It adds that the aircraft will feature the ‘Swiss Senses’ cabin concept aimed at offering passengers a “totally new and more personalised” flight.<br/>

An engine mechanical failure may have been behind the fire that forced an Air China flight from Chengdu, in Sichuan province, to make an emergency landing in Singapore on Sunday. This is according to the airline’s initial assessment of the incident, China’s flag carrier said in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo at about 1am on Monday. Further investigations are under way. Air China said the nine crew members on board flight CA403 handled the incident properly and according to procedure. The pilots of the flight, which left Chengdu’s Tianfu International Airport at 11.05am on Sunday, declared an emergency and requested priority landing at Changi Airport at around 3.59pm after reporting smoke in the plane’s forward cargo hold and lavatory. After the plane landed on Changi Airport’s Runway 3 at around 4.15pm, the aircraft’s emergency slides were deployed for passengers to evacuate. Air China said the 146 passengers on board were cooperative, which allowed for a successful evacuation.The Airport Emergency Service responded immediately to the incident and put out a fire in the left engine at about 4.25pm. Air China said in its Weibo post: “With the assistance of Changi Airport, work to re-accommodate the passengers has been completed. We sincerely apologise to the affected passengers.” The emergency landing led to one of the runways at Changi Airport being closed for almost three hours. This delayed flights leaving and arriving at the airport. One aircraft was diverted to Batam, Indonesia, during the runway’s closure, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group did not say how many other flights were affected by the incident.<br/>

Air India has entered into an interline partnership with Bangkok Airways that will allow the Tata Group-owned airline’s passengers connections to 10 Southeast Asian destinations beyond the Thai capital. They can take convenient connections via Air India’s Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Singapore gateways to and from 10 destinations in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia on Bangkok Airways’ route network. An interline arrangement refers to a pact to issue and accept tickets for flights that are operated by the partner airline. When selling an interline ticket, the operating airlines’ own flight numbers are used. Guests can receive their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors on a single ticket, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destinations. Air India guests taking connecting flights on Bangkok Airways will also receive complimentary access to Bangkok Airways’ boutique lounges and courtesy corners at available airports, irrespective of the class of travel, Air India said in a statement. The two carriers have also entered a special prorate agreement, which allows them to file ‘through fares’ on routes covering each other’s networks. This arrangement means that a passenger can have a single fare for a single ticket covering all destinations in an itinerary.<br/>

Air New Zealand is warning travellers to expect “significant” scheduling changes in the coming months after engine problems caused its fleet to decline in numbers. In an NZX announcement on Wednesday morning the airline said in July 2023, American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney disclosed a condition affecting the maintenance plan for the Geared Turbo-Fan (GTF) jet engine fleet. Overnight, Pratt & Whitney provided a further market update stating that 600 to 700 engines globally would be impacted over the next three years. Air New Zealand has 16 A320/321NEO aircraft in its fleet of 106 aircraft, servicing Australia and the Pacific Island markets and, to a lesser extent, domestic New Zealand. “This issue will further reduce engine availability and is expected to have a significant impact on the airline’s schedule from January 2024. It does not present a safety issue,” the announcement said. “While there is no immediate impact to Air New Zealand’s flights, it is likely the airline will need to make adjustments to its schedule in coming months, some of which may be significant.” Customers will be advised once the impacts on the schedule have been assessed. Air New Zealand said it could not comment beyond what it told the NZX. Air New Zealand CE Greg Foran announces the airline's return to profitability. The airline would work with Pratt & Whitney to implement the new maintenance plan and assess how this might affect the airline’s future schedule. The revised maintenance plan is expected to be completed within the next two months. The disruption news comes just weeks after the airline announced it had finally returned to profit after three years of losses. The national carrier posted a profit of $412m in the year to June 30, a turnaround from a loss of $591m the previous year. Revenue jumped 135% to $6.45b.<br/>