Norse Atlantic ASA is offering steep discounts on flights to the US as the struggling transatlantic specialist fights to bring in more cash over the slower winter season. As summer travel winds down, the Oslo-based discounter launched a sale on US fares over the coming months, it said in a statement Wednesday. From Oct. 1, a round-trip flight to New York from its London Gatwick hub can be had for as low as £259 ($400), with deals also in place for cities including Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas. The move comes after Norse Atlantic pared back its winter network in a bid to conserve cash and hold down costs. The discount airline burned through half of its cash during the first half of the year, and over winter it will lend out more of its fleet to charter operations to generate revenue. Filling the remaining scheduled flights would also help. The promotion is likely to boost short-term sales for Norse Atlantic as customers rush to lock in deals. The tickets on offer include a return flight from London Gatwick to Las Vegas for as little as £299 including taxes, and to Miami or Los Angeles from £275. Promotional fares are also in place on a handful of flights from Oslo, Berlin, Athens and Paris. The schedule cuts will limit the window for some cheap fares. Flights from Gatwick to Los Angeles, for example, will be paused altogether from November through April 2025. The promotion ends on June 15.<br/>
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Investigators in India have identified that a high-pressure turbine blade giving way - due to “enormous stress” - was likely the cause of an engine failure on an IndiGo Airbus A321neo. According to the final investigation report from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the incident on 10 June 2023 has also prompted CFM to redesign the Stage 1 high-pressure turbine blade on the Leap-1A, which “demonstrated improved durability during production testing”, and will be retrofitted globally. The IndiGo jet (VT-ILN) was operating flight 6E2789 from Delhi to Chennai when the incident occurred just after take off. Six minutes after take-off and as the aircraft was climbing, the flight crew heard a loud bang, then were notified that the No.1 engine had stalled before it failed. The crew transmitted a ‘pan pan’ urgency message and shut down the No. 1 engine. They subsequently performed a single-engine landing at Delhi airport, 30min after departure. There was no evidence of external fire or smoke from the aircraft, nor were any injuries sustained among the 233 passengers and seven crew members. Post-flight engine inspections found “metal particles” in the exhaust of the Leap-1A engine. Boroscope inspections also showed that the high-pressure turbine stage 1 and 2 blades, as well as the low-pressure turbine blades, were badly damaged.<br/>
A Batik Air Boeing 737-800 passed within 1,000ft of terrain on an approach to Canberra in which it passed below the safe altitude. The incident occurred on 14 June 2024 as the aircraft (PK-LDK) operated the airline’s inaugural flight on the Denpasar-Canberra route, arriving in the city’s airspace before airport controllers started work, according to a preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. At 05:51 local time, the crew requested air traffic control clearance for an ILS approach to runway 35, but Melbourne air traffic control responded that the Canberra tower was closed, and common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) procedures applied. As the aircraft was above the desired flightpath, the crew decided to hold at waypoint MOMBI and reduce altitude. Owing to crew inputs, the aircraft descended to 4,700ft, while the minimum holding altitude was 5,600ft. The Melbourne Centre controller failed to observe to see that the aircraft was operating below the minimum holding altitude. Meanwhile, the Canberra Tower controller was getting ready to commence service and observed that the aircraft was below minimum holding altitude. The controller made “multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact the crew” on the Canberra CTAF frequency. “As the Canberra Tower controller did not have a direct means of communication with the Melbourne Centre controller, the Tower controller contacted a Melbourne Approach controller to relay their concerns to the Melbourne Centre controller,” says the ATSB.<br/>