oneworld

British Airways said Wednesday it would suspend all its flights to Tel Aviv after it diverted a flight from London back to Britain citing security concerns in Israel. Separately, Virgin Atlantic said it will halt all flights to and from Tel Aviv for the next 72 hours, citing the safety of passengers and crew. A spokesperson for Israel's airports authority said rockets were flying around Tel Aviv at the time of the British Airways diversion, but there was no immediate threat to the flight or to Ben Gurion Airport. She said the return to Britain was the pilot's decision and that no other flights were diverted. Governments and airlines have sought to add flights from Israel to evacuate their country's citizens, while Israeli airlines have sought to fly reservists back to Israel. Aviation authorities have cautioned airlines flying to Israel but haven't grounded flights, though some experts have warned that the current airspace situation was risky due to ongoing rocket attacks. "Safety is always our highest priority and we've taken the decision to return our Tel Aviv flight to Heathrow (Airport)," a spokesperson for British Airways said. British Airways had operated a single daily flight to Tel Aviv before the suspension, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar. Since the surprise attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on Saturday, many international airlines have suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv.<br/>

Australian women suing Qatar Airways after a “horrific” experience at Doha airport have criticised a Senate report into the airline’s blocked push for extra flights, claiming the investigation focused too much on Alan Joyce and Qantas, without holding the Qatari carrier to account. On Monday the Senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flights into Australia’s major airports – released its report, urging the Albanese government to immediately review its decision. Through a month of hearings the inquiry examined questions about Qantas’s influence on the transport minister Catherine King’s decision – including grilling the airline’s new boss, Vanessa Hudson, and threatening her predecessor Joyce with jail if he failed to appear at a later date after his return from overseas – as well as broader accusations of anti-competitive behaviour and high airfares. The inquiry also canvassed the significance of an October 2020 episode at Doha airport, when female passengers were forced from planes at gunpoint and subjected to non-consensual invasive bodily inspections as authorities searched for the mother of a baby abandoned in a bathroom. Five Australian women are taking legal action against Qatar Airways, its subsidiary that owns Doha airport and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. Marque Lawyers, the firm representing the women, have complained of a lack of cooperation from the Qatari parties and criticised their failure to directly apologise to the women. King revealed her intention to block the airline’s request for more routes in July, when responding to a letter that the women had sent her pleading not to grant the carrier extra rights. In the months of controversy that followed, she stressed their treatment was only one factor that provided context to the decision, amid a range of “national interest” considerations. Qatar Airways representatives told the inquiry such treatment would not be repeated and in the committee’s report on Monday the recommendations focused on reviewing the decision and better considering consumers, as well as noting that Qatar Airways had helped repatriate Australians during the pandemic and from Afghanistan in 2021.<br/>

Fiji's Defence Minister said a Fiji Airways flight had left Tel Aviv with almost 200 Fijian religious pilgrims, plus citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States on board. The flight will arrive in Nadi, Fiji, on Thursday, Defence Minister Pio Tikoduadua told reporters in Suva, and praised the aircrew "who chose to fly into a nation at war". Fiji Airways flew into Tel Aviv for the first time a fortnight ago, carrying a large group of Christian pilgrims, as the Pacific Islands nation sought to build closer ties with Israel after it pledged to open an embassy next year. Several international airlines have suspended flight services to Tel Aviv after the surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israel over the weekend and continued fighting, impacting hundreds of flights. Fiji Airways special flight 2394 landed in Ben Gurion airport on Tuesday "on a mission to bring Fijians home", and had safely departed, Tikoduadua said Wednesday. Also on the flight were international travellers including 13 Australians, 16 New Zealanders, 8 Samoans, as well as several Americans, Canadians and Filippinos, he said. The minister also said that no decision had been made on where to locate Fiji's mission in Israel, in comments that appeared to back away from a pledge by deputy prime minister Bill Gavoka that an embassy would be opened in Jerusalem. "It is still in the planning process in terms of where it will be and how long it will take to be established. Obviously with the situation now, there will be some concerns about how to do it safely," Tikoduadua said.<br/>

Commercial law firm Piper Alderman told a court it is potentially weeks out from filing a competing class action against Qantas for failing to give customers full cash refunds for cancelled flights during the pandemic. Appearing in the Federal Court on Thursday morning, Thomas Bagley, counsel for Piper Alderman, said the firm had spent six months investigating the major airline and could be prepared to file its own proceedings within the next fortnight. Piper Alderman’s potential class action will clash with proceedings lodged two months ago by Echo Law. Both firms alleged Qantas has “enjoyed significant financial benefits at its customers’ expense” for issuing travel credits or vouchers instead of full cash refunds for their cancelled COVID-19 flights. The vouchers were subject to “significant restrictions” and could expire, which Echo Law submitted meant they were of “much lower value to customers than the refunds to which they were entitled”. Echo Law counsel Dr Oren Bigos objected to Piper Alderman’s class action, telling the court because they did not have a lead applicant or had filed anything, that they had “simply turned up and said they want in”. Dr Bigos said that allowing Piper Alderman to interrupt the proceedings would delay the progress of setting down a timetable. “If the proceedings are put on hold … it will set a precedent that a person could turn up, without filing any proceeding of their own. He has turned up and hasn’t got his own proceeding,” Dr Bigos said. Having heard from Qantas that they are prepared to issue refunds to customers – and have started this process with Echo Law’s own lead applicant – Justice Murphy said without this competing class action, he would have sent them to a registrar instead to find an agreement.<br/>

Drinking bad coffee is just one of the many downsides of flying. Alaska Airlines thinks it has a solution. Alaska has created a custom blend with Portland-based roaster Stumptown to make a coffee that’s immune from the altitude-changing effects that airborne-served coffee typically creates, including tasting bitter and weak. The custom coffee, a first for a major airline, will exclusively be served on every Alaska flight, including its regional carrier Horizon Air, by December 1. Taste and smell are inextricably combined and people’s sense of smell is significantly altered in the sky. Food and drinks taste different because pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels, which reduces the ability of olfactory receptors (i.e. the ability to smell). The extremely dry air of the cabin, with its humidity levels lower than that of the Sahara Desert, also affects the nose. To combat those effects, Alaska turned to Stumptown’s Holler Mountain, a medium-dark blend, for the base, then infused it with punchier notes that taste like marshmallows, browned butter and toffee as well as a “delicate hint” of citrus oils and cherry essence. As a result, the coffee’s notes have a more “complex” taste when consumed in the air. The coffee has been in development for a year, with the airline telling CNN that 20 different versions were tested, including during flights and with blind surveys. Alaska even taste-tested the blend with creamer and Biscoff cookies to “ensure the best combination.”<br/>