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The Transportation Safety Board of Canada(opens in a new tab) says it is investigating after the tail of a plane arriving in Fredericton from Ottawa struck the runway during landing. A statement from the agency says the tail strike happened on Friday and involved a DHC-8-402 aircraft, commonly called the Dash 8, operated by Porter Airlines. It says the crew aborted the first landing attempt after the tail strike and landed without further incident on the plane's second approach. No injuries were reported. A statement from Porter says the tail section of the aircraft arriving in Fredericton touched the runway, and the pilots identified the issue based on an indication light in the flight deck. The Transportation Safety Board says it has sent two investigators to gather information.<br/>

Both sides in the Aer Lingus pay row still awaiting a Labour Court recommendation, likely to be critical to resolving their bitter dispute. Representatives of the company and Irish Airline Pilots’ Association, part of trade union Fórsa, appeared before the court for more than three hours on Wednesday. They expect the court to issue a recommendation aimed at brokering peace at the airline, which has cancelled 468 flights up to next Wednesday, upending 75,000 people’s travel plans, to combat pilots’ industrial action. Both sides will have to agree to whatever proposals the Labour Court makes to resolve the row, as the body’s recommendations are not binding. Association leader Capt Mark Tighe has already confirmed that the union’s members will vote on any recommendation. The Labour Court used powers under industrial relations law to intervene in the dispute this week following the failure of various efforts to find a solution. A failure to break the deadlock could prompt the association to step up existing industrial action. Pilots began a work-to-rule a week ago and halted work on Saturday for an eight-hour strike, during which 500 union members marched at Dublin Airport. The association is seeking pay rises of more than 20% to compensate members for inflation. The union says it moderated its position during talks and argues that it will take just E5m a year to bridge the gap with Aer Lingus. The airline says it cannot agree to increases greater than the 12.25% awarded to cabin and ground crews without getting a deal on extra productivity and flexibility from the pilots.<br/>

Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian has revised downwards its full-year operating profit forecast, to NKr2.1-2.6b ($199-246m) – including the contribution from newly-acquired regional operator Wideroe. Norwegian had previously indicated an operating profit of Nkr2.5-3.2b but this excluded any Wideroe profits. It states that the revision is based on a softening of traffic during Q2. “Primarily due to a significant capacity increase on longer flights, Norwegian experienced a slight decrease in yield and load factor,” says CE Geir Karlsen. Load factor during June, while up on April and May, was down by one point compared with the same month last year. Norwegian adds that delivery delays from Boeing has “forced” the airline to source one or two aircraft externally to supplement summer capacity. The airline also says a higher-than-expected salary settlement for its pilot corps during collective bargaining, and effects of a weaker Norwegian currency, have contributed to the situation. Norwegian had forecast that unit costs, excluding fuel, would be flat compared with last year, but its revised outlook indicates that the figure will instead increase by a “low single-digit percentage”, based on jet fuel prices and foreign exchange data.<br/>

An easyJet flight to Tenerife had to make a sudden U-turn and return to Gatwick due to a "technical issue". The captain of flight EZY8033, which left the London airport at 7.26am and was due to arrive in Tenerife at 11.50am, decided to return to Gatwick "as a precaution", easyJet said. The airline added: "The captain performed a routine landing in accordance with standard operating procedures and passengers have disembarked normally. We are arranging for an alternative aircraft to operate the flight to Tenerife and would like to thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the delay. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and easyJet operates its aircraft in strict compliance with manufacturer guidelines."<br/>

A Taiwanese airline is aiming to operate five daily round-trip flights on its Hong Kong-Taipei route that will debut later this month with an initial two. Tony Cho, the general manager of Starlux Airlines’ Hong Kong branch, said on Thursday the carrier would also recruit more staff from the city, though he did not specify a timeline for additional hires or the increase to five daily flights. “After the pandemic, the tourism industry is recovering rapidly, Cathay Pacific and other airlines in Hong Kong are hiring more employees and increasing flights,” he said. “The industry will catch up and even go beyond the level from before the pandemic, therefore we are very confident to enter the Hong Kong market right now." The airline will offer two daily round-trip flights between the city and Taipei Taoyuan International Airport beginning on July 16. The flights will take off from Hong Kong at 10.55am and 7.45pm respectively, with a travel time of one hour and 40 minutes. The return flights from Taipei will take off at 8am and 4.50pm.<br/>

Thai AirAsia has taken delivery of a new Airbus A321neo, marking the resumption of aircraft deliveries for the AirAsia Group after a hiatus of close to four years. The aircraft (HS-EAC) landed in Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport on 29 June after a delivery flight from Airbus’s Hamburg facility. It is the 54th aircraft in Thai AirAsia’s fleet and its third A321neo, according to Cirium fleets data. While the Bangkok-based operator has not disclosed plans for the new jet, flight-tracking data shows the aircraft is scheduled to begin domestic flights from 5 July, including to Krabi and Chiang Rai. The low-cost group, which also has units in Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia, is expected to take delivery of four new A321neos this year; three more are expected to enter the fleet in Q4. In February, the group confirmed it had swapped a number of its on-order A321neos for A321LRs. In total, 62 A321neos will be converted, one for one, to the longer-range variant. AirAsia has 326 A321neos on order. <br/>