Investigators analysing a depressurisation incident involving a transatlantic Avianca Boeing 787-8 have disclosed that an air-conditioning system was misassembled during maintenance work a few days before. Avianca’s AV46 service from Bogota to Madrid Barajas on 31 October last year was the third flight for the twinjet (N785AV) since this maintenance work, involving both air-conditioning packs, was carried out over 2-27 October. Portuguese investigation authority GPIAAF says the aircraft had been cruising at 42,000ft when the crew received a generator-drive alert for the left-hand Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine. With the cabin altitude at 6,100ft the crew opted to execute a rapid descent. The aircraft descended to below 22,900ft – with the cabin altitude increasing to 10,100ft – when the crew switched off the left pack. But GPIAAF says the cabin altitude increased further to 11,370ft, and a cockpit warning was triggered, prompting the crew to don oxygen masks and conduct an emergency descent to 10,000ft. The crew also manually deployed the passengers’ oxygen masks, even though the cabin altitude did not exceed 14,000ft. After declaring an emergency, the pilots diverted to Ponta Delgada in the Azores where the 787 landed without further incident. None of the 259 occupants was injured. Flight-data recorder information showed both cabin air compressors stopped operating, due to overload, after the failure of one of the two left-hand variable-frequency starter generators. While the operational right-hand pack should have been sufficient to maintain cabin air pressure after the left-hand pack failure, inspection of the aircraft showed the right-hand pack “was also experiencing problems”, says GPIAAF. On a previous flight, the carrier learned, the cabin temperature had been difficult to control.<br/>
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Shortly after boarding her Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul in March, Ms Patience Titcombe from Phoenix noticed a small bug crawling on her seat when she got up to use the restroom. “I almost flicked it away,” she said, “But my friend stopped me and said, ‘That’s a bedbug.’” Titcombe, 36, who had experience with the bugs when she lived in Philadelphia, realised her friend was right and photographed the bug on her seat. She then called over the flight attendant, who disposed of the bug. When Titcombe and her friend confronted the flight attendant about it being a bedbug, she said, the attendant dismissed their concern. “I had to strip down at the airport and change clothes because I have kids – what if I brought bedbugs home?” Titcombe said. She added that her complaints to Turkish Airlines after her flight were met with denials, despite her photographic evidence. After posting about her experience on multiple social media channels, Titcombe said other users in a Facebook travel group reported similar experiences. In October 2024, two other travellers said they encountered bedbugs on the airline’s flights. For airline passengers, there are rules surrounding issues such as delays and cancellations, but not for insect infestations. Their main recourse is through airlines’ customer service departments or, failing that, small claims court. Turkish Airlines did not return multiple requests for comment. Bedbugs are a recurring issue in travel. In late 2023, Paris faced a widespread outbreak at the height of its annual Fashion Week, when the bugs were seen on public transit and in other places. That year, South Korea launched a nationwide prevention campaign targeting transportation hubs.<br/>