unaligned

A Southwest Airlines plane that experienced an unusual rolling motion several times during a May flight had undergone regularly scheduled maintenance work two days earlier, US safety investigators said Tuesday. After the May 25 event, a Southwest maintenance crew found structural damage to the plane’s rudder system. The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s still trying to determine when that damage occurred, according to a preliminary report by the agency. Technicians also found damage to a backup system that helps control rudder movement. That part of the plane had passed tests following the May 23 maintenance work, the last time the system was turned on prior to the May 25 flight, the NTSB said. Flight 746 experienced what is known as a “Dutch roll,” which involves the plane’s tail rocking from side to side and is named after the motion of a Dutch skating technique. Pilots at first thought the strange motion, which occurred at 34,000 feet on a Boeing Co. Max 737 8, might have been caused by turbulence but determined that wasn’t the case after noticing an unusual movement of the plane’s rudder pedals, according to the NTSB’s report. The plane departed from Phoenix and landed safety at its destination airport in Oakland. None of the 181 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft were injured. <br/>

Aer Lingus passengers faced continued uncertainty on Tuesday as efforts to broker peace in the pilots’ pay row stalled while union leaders sought clarification of a deal meant to end the dispute, which has affected 82,000 people’s travel plans. A meeting of executive members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of trade union Fórsa, ended without a decision on whether to back a Labour Court recommendation that the company boost pilots’ pay by 17.75%. Ialpa said afterwards that officials would wait for the court to confirm several points in the deal before meeting again to decide whether to call on members to vote for it in a ballot. Capt Mark Tighe, Ialpa’s president, said the organisation had written to the Labour Court asking it to confirm that the officials’ understanding of some of its terms were correct. “We hope to have a response soon,” he added. Sources say the union executive’s decision on whether or not to recommend that pilots back the deal will hinge on the Labour Court’s response. Whatever position Ialpa officials adopt is seen as crucial to ending the dispute, as its members are likely to support this when they vote in coming days. Aer Lingus has already confirmed it would agree to the deal, but the union must ballot members before endorsing it.<br/>

Wizz Air expects further delays in deliveries of Airbus planes, but the budget carrier remains confident it can increase its capacity over the next few years, its CE Jozsef Varadi told Reuters. The low-cost airline, which flies an all-Airbus fleet, has already faced challenges related to Pratt and Whitney RTX engines, with 45 of its planes set to be grounded this summer over inspections and 35 next summer, placing constraints on its capacity. The European plane maker cut its targets last month as it faces ongoing supply disruptions. But Varadi said that additional Airbus delivery delays will not have a substantial negative impact on the airline's capacity. "We are making assumptions that Airbus will have delivery delays, but they already have six-month delivery delays," he told Reuters in an interview in London. "The real impact (...) will be fairly limited," Varadi said in remarks agreed for publication on Tuesday. He said the airline is still expecting continuous deliveries of about three aircraft a month, with 20% growth in capacity next year and 20-25% the following year. The aviation sector has struggled with delays from plane manufacturers Boeing and Airbus in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, with Boeing's constraints more pronounced given ongoing concerns over safety at the U.S. planemaker.<br/>

Former El Al CE Gonen Usishkin is heading a new Israeli start-up airline, which aims to operate turboprop services from the northern coastal resort of Haifa. Air Haifa is expecting civil aviation regulators to complete the carrier’s licence process around September this year. The airline says it plans to operate ATR 72-600 aircraft initially to Eilat and Cyprus. “We believe it should be simple to fly abroad, and we are working to make this a daily reality,” it states, adding that passengers will be able to avoid long waits at the airport. Air Haifa claims it will be the first new Israeli airline to emerge since the 1990s, and the first to use Haifa as a base. “We are committed…to the economic growth and development of Haifa and the northern districts,” it adds. Usishkin was named as the head of flag-carrier El Al in 2018 but stepped down in early 2021 after the airline underwent a change of controlling shareholder. He has co-founded Air Haifa with Michael Strassburger and Lior Yavor, both former El Al senior executives. Strassburger served as El Al’s CCO, and was also previously CE of leisure carrier Sun D’Or, while Yavor was chief pilot and head of operations.<br/>

Budget airline HK Express has apologized after two blind passengers alleged its crew removed them from a flight citing safety concerns, in an ordeal that left them feeling “insulted and embarrassed.” Passengers Andy Chui, 34, and John Li, 27, were booked for an afternoon flight from Hong Kong – where both reside – to Tokyo on May 22, and said they had notified the airline about their disability, according to a statement from the Hong Kong Blind Union. The duo said they went through check-in without any issues and were escorted to the boarding gate as usual. On board, crew members briefed them about in-flight safety procedures but later removed them from the plane over safety concerns after learning they were traveling unaccompanied, according to Li and Chui. “We felt insulted and embarrassed. They were treating us as if we were criminals,” Chui said in a press conference on Sunday. Blind Union president Billy Wong, who is authorized to speak on behalf of the two men, said the handling of the situation left the passengers confounded because they had been able to travel alone without issues on other airlines. Wong also called on the airline to investigate its protocols and treatment of travelers with disabilities, saying guidelines from aviation authorities were toothless.<br/>

Plans for a new Indian airline, Air Kerala, are gaining ground with the company now targeting the launch of its domestic operations in the first quarter of next year and expand internationally by 2026, the UAE-based businessman spearheading the company has said. The company behind the airline, Zettfly Aviation, has received the initial no-objection certificate (NOC) from India’s Civil Aviation Ministry to operate air transport services, its chairman Afi Ahmed told The National. "The first step is the NOC, it's one of the biggest tasks and that task is now covered," he said. The next steps will be to focus on the technical aspects, flights, contracts for the engineering companies, with all of that expected to be fulfilled in "around six to eight months". Being set up as an "ultra low-cost airline", Air Kerala plans to start out with three ATR 72-600 aircraft and grow its fleet to 20 for international expansion.<br/>

Singapore Airlines' low-cost carrier Scoot is set to make its maiden flight to Melaka International Airport by the end of September, said Datuk Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman. The state tourism, heritage, art and culture committee chairman said the airline is expected to make six daily flights from the airport within the next few months. "We anticipate one flight to ferry 100 over passengers to the state, benefiting the local tourism industry. The state government has managed to secure a long-term deal with Scoot Airlines," he said on Tuesday (July 9). In September last year, commercial flights in and out of the airport came to a standstill following the abrupt exit of two service providers, hence the flights operated by Scoot will revive the airport. The two airlines then cited a lack of passengers and high costs of operations to discontinue their services at the airport. Previously, airlines served popular routes, like Pekan Baru, Indonesia and Penang from Melaka airport.<br/>