Emirates has announced its latest codeshare partnership, joining forces with avianca in South America. Emirates is a global airline with a wide-reaching network. Despite its massive offering, the Gulf carrier has taken advantage of codeshare agreements, which have been popular with airlines worldwide since the 1990s. In recent years, Emirates has drawn closer to several Star Alliance airlines, leading many to think it will join the alliance soon. Though Emirates and avianca will codeshare, the benefits will only apply to specific routes. According to today’s announcement, only flights traveling through London, Barcelona, and Madrid will have codeshares. On the avianca side, passengers can connect to three Colombian cities, Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali. On the Emirates side, passengers can fly to Dubai from the three European cities listed above. Story has more.<br/>
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Turkish Airlines posted another profitable first quarter as its revenue climbed almost 10% thanks partly to a sharp jump in cargo sales. While the Star Alliance carrier posted a slightly reduced net profit of $226m for the first three months of the year – and profits from its main operations more than halved to $42m – it marks another profitable quarter for an airline that has been in the black at an operating level since Q2 2021. Turkish Airlines’ revenue climbed 9.6% to $4.77b during the first quarter. Notably, given the challenging global market for air cargo, that was driven by a 27% jump in freight revenue, to $750m. The carrier attributes the improvement to strong e-commerce activity. By contrast, its revenue from passengers increased less than 5% year on year in the first quarter, even though the airline carried 8% more passengers (18.5m total). Turkish Airlines’ first quarter passenger revenue per available seat kilometre (RASM) declined 7% year on year, though its RASM excluding the impact of currency value changes declined less than 3% year on year.<br/>
Romanian investigators have disclosed that a departing Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-300 destroyed several runway edge lights, as well as signage, during take-off from Bucharest last month. The aircraft was bound for Istanbul on 17 April, says the Romanian authority AIAS. It states that the twinjet (TC-LOC) had travelled along taxiway D to runway 26L, from which it took off, in darkness, at 22:32. After it departed, ground personnel observed that 10 edge lights on the north side of the runway – as well as a sign indicating the taxiway G exit – had been destroyed. Other damage was also found on the shoulder of the runway on the same side, according to preliminary information from the inquiry. AIAS says the aircraft landed at Istanbul about 1h later but stopped on one of the taxiways when the crew reported a technical problem with the nose-gear. It states that Bucharest airport’s administration replaced the broken lamps “immediately”, without having to suspend operations from 36L. AIAS has yet to reach conclusions over the incident, and explain the reason for the A330’s apparent misalignment. None of the 258 passengers and 10 crew members was injured.<br/>
Singapore’s prime minister has promised a “thorough investigation” after a British man died and dozens were injured during extreme turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight from London. Members of Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) were dispatched to Bangkok to formally investigate the sudden turbulence that hit Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 on Tuesday. A 73-year-old British man died during the incident, identified as Geoff Kitchen. Bangkok’s Samitivej Hospital said in a statement on Wednesday that as of lunchtime local time there were 20 passengers in intensive care. Nine patients had surgery on Tuesday and a further five were expected to undergo surgery on Wednesday. “The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau under the ministry of transport will conduct a thorough investigation,” Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in a social media post on Wednesday. The National Transportation Safety Board, the US government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation, said in a statement on Tuesday it would also send a representative and advisers to help aid Singapore’s investigation, as the incident involved US company Boeing. The agency said it has “long been concerned about turbulence-related accidents and incidents” in the social media post. Boeing said it is in touch with the Singaporean carrier and is “ready to support them”. Flight SQ321, which left London on Monday, diverted to Bangkok and landed on Tuesday afternoon after experiencing “sudden extreme turbulence” while flying over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board the Boeing 777. Turbulence is a growing problem for airlines, and the leading cause of injuries on board passenger planes. It is expected to worsen because of climate change. Singapore Airlines has not provided details on whether the aircraft flew into storms or if the problems were caused by “clear air turbulence”, which occurs in seemingly calm conditions. Passengers were being served breakfast at the time of the turbulence and have described chaotic scenes of bodies and items being flung about the cabin. <br/>
A passenger on Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 on May 21 said he heard a loud bang as soon as the seatbelt sign came on during the flight. In an interview with British news outlet Sky News, British national Josh Silverstone said: “I remember waking up on the floor and just listening to people crying, looking around and seeing blood; seeing the ceiling falling through and things like that. It was pretty alarming. There was a lady in front of me, kind of elderly; she couldn’t move. She didn’t remember her name. She didn’t know why she was on the flight.” Silverstone, 24, added that he saw a member of the cabin crew who had been scalded by hot water as breakfast was being served at the time of the incident. "There were many other crew members who were bleeding as well, walking around checking everyone’s okay,” he said. The flight, which had departed London’s Heathrow airport for Singapore on May 21, experienced extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin around 10 hours after departure. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, was then diverted to Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport for an emergency landing. Silverstone told Sky News he had used the aircraft’s Wi-Fi to contact his mother. He said: “I didn’t want to be too alarming and scare them, so I messaged her something like ‘On a bit of a crazy flight. Having an emergency landing. I love you’.” He said that he suffered a cut and bruising on his face, as well as a chipped tooth.<br/>
The seatbelt sign came on moments after the plane started shaking, but, for some, it was too late. “Whoever wasn’t buckled down, they were just launched into the air within the cabin,” said Dzafran Azmir, who was among the 211 passengers on board the London-to-Singapore flight that encountered deadly turbulence on Tuesday. “Within an instant, they hit the ceiling of the cabin and dropped right back onto the floor.” The plane, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 ER, had taken off from London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday night, about 10 hours earlier. It was about three-quarters full. Many of the travelers were Singaporeans returning home. Some were students studying in England. Others were families and some who had planned a “holiday of a lifetime” to far-flung destinations like Australia. The bulk of the 13-hour journey of flight SQ321 was over, and many passengers had finished their last meal onboard, a breakfast that these days has been a choice between an omelet with cream cheese or stir-fried Asian noodles, both served with a side of fresh fruit. By this time, the plane had reached the Bay of Bengal, which sits between the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Some pilots consider the region “notorious” this time of the year because its monsoon rains can cause turbulence. But commercial pilots know how to prepare for such scenarios. They rely on weather radar and carry extra fuel so they can fly around and wait for the weather to ease, if needed. Or they follow the course charted by other planes that recently have passed through the area and have warned air traffic controllers about weather upheavals. One scenario that is impossible to prepare for is when the skies are clear and the plane’s radar does not detect anything amiss. This phenomenon is known as clear air turbulence. “It could be the plane just starts shaking, we turn on the seatbelt sign, but, unknowingly, we fall into the clear air turbulence zone,” said Captain Teerawat Angkasakulkiat, president of the Thai Pilots Association. “It’s totally unpredictable.”<br/>
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is sending representatives to assist Singapore’s investigation into the 21 May turbulence event that killed one passenger aboard a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777. The NTSB, which has long called for measures to address risks posed by turbulence, says its assistance aligns with ICAO-set investigation guidelines, which call for involvement by representatives from the state where an aircraft was manufactured. The US accident investigatory agency “is sending an accredited representative and four technical advisers to support the Singapore” investigation into the events involving Singapore Airlines Flight 321, the NTSB tweeted on 21 May. The Singapore Transport Safety Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry. <br/>