Canadian North gave its workers bonuses this holiday season, but it's unclear how much. In a letter to employees on December 6th, the airline's executive team called the bonuses "recognition awards" and that all staff would be receiving them on their next pay. Questions remain regarding the airline's financial position after it received more than $100m in government funding during the COVID-19 pandemic and got approval for changes to the conditions on its 2019 merger with First Air. Those changes meant it could reduce service to some remote communities and hike passenger and cargo rates by up to 25%. At the time, Northern Affairs Canada Minister Dan Vandal defended the changes as an effort to ensure the airline remains financially viable. Canadian North said this is the first time since the pandemic that it's been able to express gratitude to its employees through bonuses. The airline refused CBC's request for an interview. It also did not respond before deadline to questions regarding how much money it's spending on bonuses, and how much each employee will receive. In a written statement, a spokesperson for the airline said the bonuses are a token of its thanks and appreciation through recent rough years. That includes the merger with First Air, the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently this year's wildfires across the country. "This gesture is particularly significant as many of our team members not only work for Canadian North but also live in and contribute to our communities," spokesperson Annie Tomlinson said in an email. "Our staff have been indispensable in providing continuous and crucial service to our communities in Canada's Arctic during these challenging times, and their commitment and resilience have been crucial in maintaining our operations and supporting the communities we serve."<br/>
unaligned
Icelandic investigators probing a low-fuel situation involving an Icelandair Boeing 757-200 in October 2019 found weaknesses in the ability of the country’s airports to handle a diversion. The aircraft, inbound from Seattle, had been conducting its approach to Reykjavik Keflavik airport’s runway 01 when a BAe 125 executive jet experienced an excursion while landing on the same runway. This closed the runway and, since the airport’s runway 10/28 had not been maintained overnight, effectively shut Keflavik to traffic. The aircraft was instructed to hold at 6,000ft at the SOPAR waypoint to the south of the airport. Icelandic investigation authority Rannsoknarnefnd Samgonguslysa, in a 7 December final report, says the crew discussed the situation, noting that they did not have much fuel for holding, and asked Keflavik approach control about braking action at the smaller regional Reykjavik airport – the flight’s designated alternate. Although braking measurements had already been performed twice at Reykjavik, this was not known to Keflavik approach, and the crew was informed that obtaining the braking information would take half an hour. The 757’s crew responded that this was too long to wait, given the fuel status, and that landing at Keflavik was the only option. While the flight was cleared for approach to runway 01, Keflavik tower controllers were not willing to give landing clearance – owing to the BAe 125 excursion – unless the crew declared an emergency. Story has more.<br/>
Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines has taken delivery of an Airbus A321neo, the first aircraft to roll off the airframer’s new final assembly line in Toulouse. The twinjet (TC-RDK) is powered by CFM International Leap-1A engines. It was flown from Toulouse to Istanbul on 27 December. Airbus assembled the aircraft from a newly-established line at the former A380 production building. The line was set up to support Airbus’s efforts to reach a build rate of 75 A320neo-family jets monthly from 2026. Airbus had a production backlog of 6,719 A320neo-family aircraft at the end of November, including just over 4,400 A321neos. Pegasus operates around 109 aircraft, mainly Airbus single-aisle types although it still has more than a dozen Boeing 737-800s. The carrier has 68 A321neos on order.<br/>
A Soviet-era Antonov-24 aircraft carrying 30 passengers landed on a frozen river near an airport in Russia's far east on Thursday because of pilot error, transport prosecutors said. The Polar Airlines An-24 landed safely on the Kolyma river near Zyryanka in the Yakutia region, the prosecutors said. "According to preliminary information, the cause of the aviation incident was an error by the crew in piloting the aircraft," a spokesperson for the Eastern Siberian transport prosecutor said in a statement. Prosecutors published pictures of the aircraft on a frozen river. The Izvestia newspaper published pictures of passengers disembarking. "The An-24 aircraft landed outside of the runway of the Zyryanka airport," Polar Airlines said in a short statement. "There were no casualties," it said.<br/>
Uzbek start-up carrier Air Samarkand has secured its air operator’s certificate from the Central Asian country’s ministry of transport. The carrier has obtained an ICAO code – UZS – as well as the callsign ‘Sarmarkand’, and has started building a fleet with an initial Airbus A330-300 and A321. “Air Samarkand is now a further step nearer to the commencement of services from this incredible, historic city of Samarkand,” says CE Anton Khojayan. “Everything is now ready for this.” Air Samarkand will initially operate charter flights before commencing scheduled services in spring 2024. It will fly to destinations including Turkey, China and south-east Asia before expanding to European cities in the first year. Granting of the AOC follows an audit of aircraft systems, equipment, flight preparation, crew qualifications and documents. “We have an ambitious plan for the rapid development of Air Samarkand, providing our passengers with safe, direct and high-quality services to a growing number of cities in Asia and Europe as we ramp up operations,” says Khojayan. He states that the airline has been recruiting experienced leadership and flight personnel in order to offer an “exceptional” in-flight service.<br/>
A stowaway was found alive but in critical condition in the undercarriage bay of an Air Algeria airplane at Paris Orly airport on Thursday morning, a security source briefed on the matter told Reuters. The person was in a life-threatening condition and was being treated at a nearby hospital, the source said. The plane was coming from the Western Algerian town of Oran, a two-and-a-half hour flight from Paris. Stowaways in the unpressurised wheel-houses and cargo holds of planes can face temperatures of between minus 50 Celsius and minus 60 Celsius as well as a lack of oxygen. In 2019, the body of a suspected stowaway fell hundreds of meters from a plane flying over southwest London, landing in the garden of a man's home, just missing him as he sunbathed. In 2015, the body of a stowaway on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow landed on a shop in Richmond, southwest London. A second stowaway survived the 10-hour flight and was found in the undercarriage of the plane.<br/>
An Airbus A380 operated by Emirates made a runway excursion while landing in Singapore when the Pilot Flying (PM) failed to acknowledge “go around” callouts from the Pilot Monitoring (PM). The serious incident occurred on 2 March 2023 at 14:27 local time in heavy rain, according to a final report published by Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB). The aircraft (A6-EVJ) was operating a service from Dubai. As the aircraft conducted an ILS approach to runway 02L the rain picked up, according to the PF. Without elaborating, he said that heavier rain affected his handling of the aircraft. At 180ft, the PF disengaged the autopilot and both crew observed the aircraft drifting to the right of the runway centreline. Left stick and rudder inputs were applied to correct this. Although the PF saw the aircraft was not aligned with the centreline, he still felt a safe landing was possible. At 30ft above ground level, the PM called out “go around,” but the PF replied with “no it’s ok” and continued the approach. “The PF told the investigation team that he actually did not understand what the PM had said but he did not ask the PM to repeat or clarify what he had said and he had responded to the PM with “no it’s OK” just so that he could get on with focusing on landing the aircraft,” says the TSIB. The PM again called out “go-around” as the aircraft was touching down. The PF did not respond and continued the landing roll. Later the PF told investigators that he didn’t’ hear the second “go-around” callout.<br/>
A Yeti Airlines crash in Nepal that killed 72 people almost a year ago was caused by the pilots mistakenly cutting power, leading to an aerodynamic stall, a report issued by a government-appointed investigation panel on Dec 28 said. The ATR 72, operated by privately owned Yeti Airlines, crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhara on Jan 15 in one of Nepal's worst aeroplane accidents in 30 years. There were 72 people on the twin-engine aircraft including two infants, four crew and 15 foreign nationals. There were no survivors. Dipak Prasad Bastola, an aeronautical engineer and a member of the investigating panel, said due to lack of awareness and lack of standard operating procedures, the pilots had put the condition levers, which control power, in the feathering position, instead of selecting the flap lever. This led the engine to "run idle and not produce thrust", Bastola said. "But due to its momentum, the aircraft flew for up to 49 seconds before hitting the ground.” ATR is based in France and the plane's engines were manufactured in Canada by Pratt & Whitney Canada. It was Nepal's deadliest air crash since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside on approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.<br/>
South Korean low-cost carrier T’way Air is poised to overtake Jin Air and become the No.2 budget airline this year. According to a brokerage consensus compiled by financial data tracker FnGuide Inc. on Wednesday, T’way Air is projected to post 17.6b won ($13.7m) in operating profit in Q4 of this year on sales of 325.9b won. Jin Air’s operating profit is projected to reach 13.4b won on sales of 293b won during the same period. T’way Air has been ahead of Jin Air in terms of sales since the first half of this year. In the first six months of 2023, T’way Air raised 102.3bn won in operating profit on sales of 644.9b won while Jin Air posted 102.7b won in operating profit on sales of 611.5b won. T’way Air posted 37.6b won in operating profit in Q3 on sales of 348b won while Jin Air’s figures stood at 32.6b won and 322.5b won, respectively, during the same period. T’way Air also outperformed Jin Air in terms of the number of passengers. According to Air Portal, T’way Air’s passenger traffic was 8.26m in the first 10 months of 2023, up 25% from 2019 before the Covid-19 outbreak. Jin Air recorded 8.2m passengers.<br/>