unaligned

A flight packed with vacationers had to be aborted in midair because a technical mistake meant the aircraft failed to pressurize. An official report into the incident last year found that the 193 people on board the Tui Airways flight from Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom to Kos in Greece “were exposed to the risk of hypoxia.” A cabin altitude warning was activated in the Boeing 737-8K5 on October 17, 2023 as the plane flew over Lincolnshire in eastern England. The plane returned to Manchester and there were no injuries but the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said that those on board were likely to have been at risk of dropping oxygen levels during the incident. The investigation revealed that switches that regulate the air pressure inside the plane, known as bleed air switches, were turned off during maintenance work carried out on the air conditioning system before takeoff. This error was not picked up by the crew in their pre-flight safety measures. One of the engineers who carried out the maintenance work on the plane told investigators that he believed the switches had been “returned to their original position” after checks on the jet’s air conditioning system. A second engineer failed to spot that they were, in fact, in the off position.<br/>

Norse Atlantic Airways has obtained around $15m in new capital through a combined equity and loan transaction by its founding shareholder. It disclosed the support as it posted a third-quarter operating profit of $4.6m, but a net loss of $6.3m – a contrast to last year’s narrow net profit of $1.6m for the period. The shareholder, BT Larsen & Co, is a vehicle linked to founder and CE Bjorn Tore Larsen. Norse says the investment involved private placement of new shares raising around $8.7m, plus a shareholder loan of about $6.3m. The carrier states that the capital will be used for “general corporate purposes”. Chairman Terje Bonin Larsen says the investment “demonstrates the commitment and belief” of the shareholder in the company’s strategy. Norse has shifted towards leasing part of its fleet capacity in order to offset seasonal variations in demand for its passenger flights. It has reached a preliminary agreement to wet-lease six of its aircraft to an international carrier next year. The newly-issued private-placement stock will account for some 13% of the company’s outstanding shares, and give BT Larsen & Co around 29.46% of the total capital.<br/>

Dublin Airport has long-term ambitions to grow its capacity to 55m passengers a year, according to documents filed with Fingal County Council. The airport operator, DAA, has filed a dossier of 12,000 pages responding to 85 areas of concern the council raised earlier this year regarding its plan to raise passenger capacity at the airport to 40m from its current cap of 32m and make major changes to various parts of the airport. The original planning application documentation ran to a further 7,000 pages. DAA is looking to have the council set aside a 32m limit on passenger numbers imposed in 2007 as a condition of permission to build a second runway at the airport. That runway came into use in 2022, triggering the cap. It said 31.9m people passed through the airport last year. It expects to breach the cap this year and says numbers passing through the airport could hit 35m in 2025. “The proposed development for which the applicant now seeks permission has been designed to ensure that it does not compromise the ability of the airport to expand to 55m passengers per annum throughput at some point in the future,” according to a report by Cork-based Coakley O’Neill Town Planning.<br/>

Strikes have been threatened at Edinburgh Airport over the festive season in a dispute over pay which could impact domestic and international flights. Tanker drivers employed by North Air, supplying fuel to airlines, are on the verge of taking strike action, it was announced by the Unite union. The pay dispute relates to a rejected 4.5% pay offer by North Air after years of below-inflation pay increases, according to Unite. Union members represented by Unite “overwhelmingly” backed strike action in a drive to secure a better pay offer, despite recent talks with Acas, a spokesperson said on Monday. However there has been no enhanced pay offer by the company. Unite warned that unless there is “movement over pay” in the coming days then strike dates will be issued which would “directly hit” peak festive season flights. Routes that could be affected include United Airlines to New York, Emirates to Dubai and Loganair’s domestic routes to the islands. Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “North Air is a profitable company and there is no excuse for not making an improved pay offer to our tanker drivers. Unite will always support our members in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.” S&JD Robertson North Air Ltd is a profitable company which in its latest accounts registered an increase in pre-tax profits from GBP1.1m in 2022 to GBP1.9m in 2023. Turnover increased by GBP33.2m to GBP40.4m over the same time period. <br/>

Aeroflot is claiming to be the first Russian carrier to introduce aircraft under wet-lease, following a change in the country’s air transport regulations. The airline has reached a preliminary agreement to take three Airbus A330s operated by Moscow-based Ifly. Ifly uses both A330-200s and -300s. Aeroflot says the Ifly wet-lease will bring to 15 the number of A330s in its fleet. It intends to use the aircraft on domestic services to destinations in eastern Russia, including Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Aeroflot chief Sergei Alexandrovsky says the measure is a “timely and effective” solution to enable carriers to increase transport volume and improve accessibility to various regions. He says he expects wet-leasing to develop further and enable Russian carriers to lease aircraft from foreign airlines, to serve international routes. Wet-leasing had not been permitted in Russia until an amendment to the country’s Air Code in early August, which took effect on 1 September. Federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia’s chief, Dmitry Yadrov, says wet-leasing is a “new mechanism” which will “contribute to the development of civil aviation” in Russia.<br/>

Fifteen of Ukraine's civilian airports have been damaged since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was quoted as saying by local media on Saturday. Ukraine, which the state aviation service says has 20 civilian airports, has been exploring avenues to partially open its airspace. It has been completely closed since the start of the war. Ukrainians who want to fly abroad currently have to go via road or rail to neighbouring countries to catch flights. For those living in the east, the journey out of Ukraine can take a day in itself. "We conducted a risk assessment and determined the needs of the air defence forces to partially open the airspace," local news agency Ukrinform quoted Shmyhal as saying at a transportation conference. "Security issues and the military situation remain key to this decision," he said. Shmyhal added that Russia had attacked Ukraine's port infrastructure nearly 60 times in the last three months, damaging or destroying nearly 300 facilities and 22 civilian vessels.<br/>

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has lifted its bar on Pakistan International Airlines from operating in the bloc, it said on Friday. EASA suspended PIA's authorisation to operate in the EU in June 2020 over concerns the ability of Pakistani authorities and its Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to ensure compliance with international aviation standards. The suspension came days after Pakistan launched an investigation into the validity of pilots' licenses issued in the country following a PIA plane crash that killed 97 people. "EASA has now re-established sufficient confidence in the PCAA oversight capabilities," an EASA spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters. It said that the decision to authorise PIA to perform commercial air transport operations to, from and within the EU was based on the "significant efforts" made by the PCAA. Pakistan had grounded 262 of the country's 860 pilots, including 141 of PIA's 434, whose licences the then aviation minister termed "dubious". The investigation ultimately did not reveal any major concerns, but the suspension remained in place. PIA in a statement also welcomed the announcement, vowing to abide by EASA regulations. Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, while speaking to local broadcaster Geo News, said the lifting of the ban would revitalise the debt-ridden national flag carrier and the effort to privatise it. The ban was costing PIA nearly 40b Pakistani rupees ($144m) in revenue annually, according to government records presented in parliament.<br/>

Virgin Australia has been given a temporary green light to sell tickets on 28 weekly return Doha flights under wet-lease with Qatar Airways. The ACCC’s interim authorisation will allow the airlines to market and sell the flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, with east coast flights to commence in June 2025 and Perth flights to follow in November. It comes weeks after Australian Aviation exclusively revealed that up to 28 wet-leased Virgin flights per week from the four major airports were possible under Australia’s bilateral air service agreements (ASAs) with Qatar, which allow Qatari carriers to operate the same number of flights into Australia. Virgin and Qatar had asked the consumer and competition watchdog to give the interim approval by the end of this month, to allow ticket sales to begin promptly. The service is still subject to regulatory approval; however, ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh has said customers who book the services will be protected if the tie-up is knocked back. ”We consider that granting interim authorisation now will allow Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia the lead time to undertake the necessary planning discussions, marketing, selling and system alignment in preparation for Virgin Australia to commence flying the new services by June 2025,” he said. “Affected customers will be given the option of a refund or re-accommodation on a suitable alternative flight at no additional charge, and would not be out of pocket for any reasonably foreseeable costs, if these proposed new services ultimately don’t get approved. Having this court-enforceable undertaking that protects customers was important to our decision to allow Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to start selling tickets now.”<br/>