A JetBlue flight from Ecuador to Fort Lauderdale hit extreme turbulence while approaching the Florida airport Monday, injuring seven passengers and a crew member, the airline said. JetBlue flight 1256 had traveled from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and was headed to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for a landing shortly after 5 a.m. when it “experienced sudden severe turbulence as it neared Florida,” the statement said. The injured were taken by paramedics to the hospital for treatment and evaluation, the statement said. The airline said it could not comment on the severity of the injuries. It was not immediately known if the injured were wearing seatbelts. Broward County Fire-Rescue, which treated the injured, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The airline said the Airbus 320 twin-engine plane was taken out of service for inspection. The Fort Lauderdale airport directed all questions to the airline.<br/>
unaligned
SalamAir, a low-cost airline based in Oman, will stop flying to India from Ocotber 1, according reports based on emails received by passengers.<br/>The passengers who have booked on SalamAir flights have been told that they would receive the refund for their bookings, said a Times of Oman report. SalamAir currently flies to four major cities across India, including Jaipur, Lucknow, Calicut and Thiruvananthapuram. Travel agencies have also confirmed that they have been notified on the halt of all operations to India by the airline, the report said. The email from SalamAir team to trade partners said the "decision was not made lightly, but due to the limitation of flight rights allocation to India. We understand that this news may cause inconvenience, and we apologise for any difficulties that this may arise."<br/>
A global aviation leasing watchdog has for the second time cut India's compliance rating with international leasing laws and kept the country on a watchlist with a negative outlook amid a dispute between local airline Go First and its aircraft lessors. The move by the Aviation Working Group, a UK-based entity that monitors leasing and financing laws, comes as bankrupt budget carrier Go First is locked in a legal tussle with aircraft lessors seeking to repossess jets. The courtroom battle started after Go First was granted bankruptcy protection in May. Under Indian law, that prevented lessors from recovering 50-plus grounded Airbus planes. The lessors have complained that critical plane parts are now corroding or getting "robbed". The AWG said 130 days had passed since the lessors' request to repossess their aircraft, more than double the maximum waiting period of 60 days according to India's obligations under the Cape Town Convention, an international treaty protecting the repossession rights of lessors. India has ratified the Cape Town Convention but has yet to pass a law resolving conflicts with the country's insolvency and bankruptcy code, which is backed by parliament. "The prolonged failure to make remedies, including repossession and deregistration, available to creditors ... and provide for asset maintenance and value preservation ... negatively impact scoring," the AWG's notice said, warning of further rating downgrades.<br/>
Batik Air has launched its daily service from Jakarta to Perth. The non-stop service commenced last Friday aboard the A320neo PK-BDF, and will be operated by A320 aircraft, arriving in Perth at 12:20am every night and returning to Jakarta at 1:50am. Kate Holsgrove, Acting CEO of Perth Airport, said Batik is a valued airline partner for Perth. “This Batik Air service to Jakarta will fly daily and deliver more than 120,000 new seats into the Perth market which delivers another huge boost for Western Australia’s business, student, and tourism sectors,” she said. “With a population of 10.5m, there is massive opportunity to entice not only tourists, but students from the Indonesian capital. As Western Australia’s 12th largest trading partner, the new non-stop service to the Indonesian capital city only presents more opportunity for Western Australia businesses.” Perth is already connected to Jakarta by Citilink and Indonesia AirAsia, with all three airlines also offering services from Perth to Denpasar.<br/>
Malaysia turboprop operator MASwings faces daunting operational challenges in its mission to support remote communities in Borneo. Tiny and remote airports located in the mountainous interior of Malaysian Borneo present particular issues, according to Muhammad Bari, the carrier’s director of flight operations. Remote airports can suffer from short runways and a lack of communications to challenging fauna. The airport of Mulu, for example, is one among many difficult destinations MASwings services. The airport is located near the Gunung Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its caves – and bats. Bari says that all flying to the airport ceases at 16:30 because this is when swarms of bats habitually emerge from the region’s cave system. “Once he sees one or two bats flying out of the caves, the pilot will immediately taxi back to the apron,” says Bari. Bari discussed made the remarks in a presentation at the recent IATA World Safety & Operations Conference in Hanoi. Cirium fleets data indicates that MASwings, a unit of Malaysia Airlines owner Malaysia Aviation Group, operates eight ATR 72-500s and six Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otters. Long Banga Airport, which MASwings serves with the DHC-6-400, is particularly challenging. The runway, nestled in a narrow valley, is very short at just 600m (1,969ft). The airport has no navigation aids and only a small tower operated by ground crew. The fire services vehicle is a scooter equipped with fire extinguishers. Though the DHC-6-400 can carry a maximum of 19 passengers, it is restricted to carrying just nine in and out of Long Banga. <br/>