Some Chinese carriers appear to be avoiding the airspace over southwestern Russia after a deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash that officials in Baku have blamed on the Russian military. China is among the few countries still using Russian airspace for civilian flights since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, flights between western China’s Urumqi and Georgian capital Tbilisi have circumvented southwest Russia’s Dagestan region since an Azerbaijan Airlines came down on Christmas Day, according to tracking data from Flightradar24. Flights operated by China Southern Airlines and Air China since December 26 flew into Georgian air space through Azerbaijan after crossing the Caspian Sea, and took the same route back, the data showed. Changes were also seen in China Southern flights connecting Hungarian capital Budapest to Guangzhou in south China. Instead of passing through the Dagestan region towards Hungary after crossing the Caspian Sea, China Southern planes in the past week have flown across central and western Russia before flying south to reach Budapest – a route that the airline sometimes took even before the crash. Most Chinese carriers have continued to use their original routes across Russian airspace, especially those bound for western Europe and Scandinavia. Euronews reported in July that China had the largest number of airlines using Russian airspace. Russia closed its airspace to most Western airlines in 2022, in retaliation for sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.<br/>
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Singapore Airlines (SIA) was the third most punctual airline in the Asia-Pacific in 2024, behind Japanese carriers Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA). SIA’s on-time performance score was 78.67% in 2024, compared with 78.57% in 2023, when it was ranked seventh in the region. This data was released on Jan 1 by Cirium, an aviation analytics company. A flight must arrive or depart within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of its scheduled arrival or departure time to be considered on time, according to Cirium. Asia-Pacific winner JAL’s on-time performance came in at 80.9%, with ANA a close second at 80.62%. The Japanese carriers also topped the regional rankings in 2023, with ANA recording 82.75% and JAL 82.58%. “(In the) Asia-Pacific, the on-time performance has dropped by just a slight 1% or so (overall across all airlines), but the positions (of the top airlines) have almost been maintained,” said Cirium’s chief marketing officer, Mr Mike Malik, at a virtual press conference in December 2024.<br/>
The Mumbai High Court ordered India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 19, 2024, to examine concerns raised by a pilot about the emergency oxygen supply on certain B777-200LRs operated by Air India (AI, Delhi International). Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresa made the order after a pilot filed a claim that the aircraft did not have adequate emergency oxygen supplies when operating long-haul routes between India and the United States. The court heard the petitioner pilot refused to operate a B777-200LR flight between Bengaluru International and San Francisco in January 2024 until a "safe route" was found. He was stood down and later terminated. Air India's practice of operating certain leased B777-200LRs on routes to North America has been the subject of sustained criticism from pilots, who say the oxygen carried onboard will only last around 12 minutes. Certain pilots say that in depressurisation events, it is necessary to descend to around 10,000 feet, and this may not always be possible within that time, especially when flying over regions of extensive mountainous terrain.<br/>