One cold Thursday afternoon this month, the small airport in New Haven, Conn., was bustling. A line of cars stretched from the terminal, down the main road and into a neighborhood. Inside the airport, a new, second-floor bar was crowded as passengers on the floor below walked through a gate into one of three waiting planes. Five years ago, Tweed-New Haven Airport would have been much quieter. Back then, it hosted about a half-dozen daily flights, mostly short American Airlines jaunts to and from Philadelphia. This month, about 30 flights a day were connecting the airport to more than two dozen destinations. The revitalization of this airport, which sits close to Long Island Sound, is a consequence of long-running industry changes that created an opportunity for a pair of start-up airlines — Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways — to fly from airports that the country’s biggest carriers have largely neglected. “What we’re really seeing here is the next generation of industry structure and evolution,” said John Strong, a business professor at the College of William & Mary who focuses on the airline industry. Aviation is unforgiving. Competition is fierce, the barriers to entry are high and success is fragile. After decades of consolidation, four large airlines control two-thirds of domestic air travel. Most of their flights take off or land at large airports, which has made their operations efficient and generally profitable. But over time, the big airlines trimmed service at smaller airports.<br/>
unaligned
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 62 passengers and five crew has crashed while making an emergency landing at a Kazakhstan airport, with 29 survivors, including two children, taken to hospital. Videos on local media showed a large explosion after the aircraft crashed into an empty field. Images from the scene showed passengers climbing out of the tail of the fuselage aided by emergency workers. Those aboard were from Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Russian state Ria news agency reported, citing Kazakhstan’s transport ministry. Local media outlets reported that nine of those taken to hospital were in serious condition and that search and rescue operations were under way. The plane, an Embraer 190, was travelling to Grozny in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, but was diverted to Aktau after flying into heavy fog. Early media reports suggested that the plane hit a flock of birds, which affected control of the aircraft. “After a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board the aircraft, its commander decided to go to an alternate airfield and Aktau was chosen,” Ria reported, citing Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia. Local media also shared unconfirmed reports of an explosion of an oxygen canister onboard, leading many passengers to lose consciousness.<br/>
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine announced that: “This morning, an Embraer 190 aircraft of the Azerbaijani airline flying from Baku to Grozny was shot down by a Russian air defense system. Russia was supposed to close the airspace over Grozny, but did not do so. The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny and saving lives.” Grozny has been the target of a number of retaliatory Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks, and it was flight J2-8243’s misfortune to arrive at Grozny shortly after such an attack. It seems that Russian air defences mistook the Embraer for a Ukrainian drone, and engaged it with unidentified systems. Surviving passengers said that on the third attempt to land in Grozny, there were some explosions outside the aircraft and that the flight was then diverted across the Caspian to Aktau in Kazakhstan. Passenger video from inside the aircraft showed signs of shrapnel damage, and a woman passenger suffered a leg wound.<br/>
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights to two cities in southern Russia after a passenger plane heading in that direction was diverted across the Caspian Sea and crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing dozens. vThe Embraer SA 190 aircraft was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya region, when it changed course to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan, the state-owned carrier said in a statement on Wednesday. The Prosecutor General’s Office in Baku said that 32 people had survived. The plane came down about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said. Authorities from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan said an investigation is underway and it’s too early to give a reason for the crash. The flight had initially been diverted to Makhachkala on Russia’s Caspian Sea coast because of fog, and then on to Aktau, according to the Tass news service. The Kazakh city is about 310 kilometers east of Makhachkala, across the water. The airline said it’s suspending flights to both Grozny and Makhachkala until the investigation is complete, without giving further explanation. <br/>