A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program. SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT). Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind. "We did lose all communications with the ship - that is essentially telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage," SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot said, confirming minutes later that the ship was lost. The last time a Starship upper stage failed was in March last year, as it was reentering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, but rarely has a SpaceX mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic. Dozens of commercial flights diverted to other airports or altered course to avoid potential debris, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. Departures from airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were also delayed by about 45 minutes, it added. The FAA, which regulates private launch activities, said it had briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling, but normal operations had since resumed.<br/>
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Regional airline Air Inuit is seeking damages from the Kativik Regional Government and the Quebec Ministry of Transportation over what it says is a lack of maintenance of runways in Nunavik. The lawsuit, filed with Quebec's Superior Court and first reported by Le Journal de Montreal, alleges a lack of maintenance of the gravel runways at Nunavik's airports is causing premature wear and tear on the aircraft. Air Inuit is seeking $8.97m in damages for the repairs and replacements it's made to its planes, according to the court documents. The company points the finger at the "state of deterioration and ruin of the landing strips, which are the responsibility of the defendants," the lawsuit reads in French. Air Inuit says the gravel runways in Nunavik are poorly maintained, which creates too much dust. That debris gets caught in the planes' engines and causes damage. Last August, the chair of Air Inuit's board of directors Noah Tayara told Radio-Canada that this dust reduces the lifespan of engines by around 50%. The allegedly poor state of Nunavik's gravel runways was reported more than 174 times to the Kativik Regional Government by Air Inuit teams between 2019 and 2024, according to the lawsuit.<br/>
An airplane engulfed in flames scorches across the farmland horizon, trailing smoke as it plummets toward an airport runway — leaving those inside the control tower with seconds to react. “There’s a mayday situation,” barks air traffic instructor Karina Vasylenko, compelling a second aircraft to pull up. A code-laced back-and-forth between tower and ground control follows. Emergency vehicles race onto the taxiway and the space becomes clear for landing. “Runway two-seven is yours for the emergency,” confirms a fellow instructor. The simulation, which played out Tuesday on a bank of screens the size of bus ads, is one of many scenarios to be thrown at the first crop of students at CAE Inc.’s new air traffic training centre in Montreal. Amid a severe labour shortage, the company has joined the effort to churn out more air traffic controllers, expanding its wheelhouse beyond pilots and maintenance technicians to include trainees bound for control towers. The goal is to sharply increase the number of graduates and take on 478 air traffic students by 2028, drawing on courseware from Nav Canada, the non-profit body that runs the country’s civil air navigation as well as seven schools across the country. CAE, the world’s largest maker of flight simulators, signed an agreement with Nav Canada last April to help train controllers and flight service specialists. Air traffic controllers shepherd pilots to and from airports, instructing them to climb, descend or taxi in quick succession. From towers and windowless “area control centres,” they monitor 18m square kilometres of airspace through a complex array of maps, radar and weather data. “Sometimes, you’re playing the role of a traffic cop on a freeway,” said CAE flight centre head Stella Hughes. A shortage of these sky cops, however, has serious implications for employee stress and passenger safety. Meanwhile, an aging workforce, rising flight activity and a timeline that can top two years to train new recruits make the problem even trickier.<br/>
Airlines have warned the European Union they cannot yet comply with pollution rules that came into force this month, because the EU has not yet launched its promised system to administer them, a document seen by Reuters showed. The EU rules require airlines to track and report pollutants such as soot, nitrogen oxides and water vapour. These emissions contribute to global warming at least as much as planes' carbon dioxide output. But the EU has not yet launched a promised system - known as NEATS - to collate the data for this reporting, prompting calls from airlines to delay the deadlines. "Airlines cannot decide whether to rely on NEATS, develop proprietary tools, or utilize third-party solutions," industry groups Airlines for Europe (A4E), German industry association BDL and the European Cargo Alliance said in a letter to the European Commission, seen by Reuters. The industry has until next March to report its 2025 emissions. Failure to do so could lead to penalties. The letter was dated Dec. 24. NEATS has not launched since. A4E Policy Director Monika Rybakowska told Reuters that without it, airlines could need to collect thousands of data points per flight. A European Commission spokesperson said it aimed to launch NEATS in 2025 and would consult industry on the data models in the next two months.<br/>
A woman went to extreme lengths to try and sneak onto a flight without a passport or boarding pass at an airport in Europe. Footage from January 8 shows the woman crawling under security gates and barriers at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia. Local media reported the woman managed to successfully get on an Airbus A320 operated by Wizz Air, bound for Malta. But after being unable to show a boarding pass to cabin crew, she was caught. Security was alerted and the suspect was detained. The Serbian woman was charged with trespassing. It was revealed she had arrived at the airport on a previous flight from France, where she had been deported. The Civil Aviation Authority and airport management have launched an investigation into the security breach. An airport spokesman said: “Belgrade Airport is cooperating with the relevant authorities regarding this case, and while the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide any details.”<br/>
Fraport Greece, a subsidiary of the German transport company Fraport AG which operates airports around the world, saw a massive increase in passenger traffic in its 14 Greek regional terminals, posting a record year in 2024. The 14 regional airports served more than 36m passengers, setting a new benchmark for passenger traffic. The increasing passenger flow and ongoing investments in the infrastructure of these regional airports are further enhancing Greece’s position as a leading destination, strengthening local communities and their development prospects. In December 2024 alone, the 14 airports posted impressive numbers in passenger traffic, welcoming a total of 805,056 visitors. This marks a 6.7% increase compared to December 2023, confirming the steady upward trend in passenger flow even during the winter months.<br/>
Acting President Choi Sang-mok said Friday the government will introduce comprehensive safety reforms across the aviation sector, following the tragic Jeju Air crash last month. The government, in cooperation with the private sector, has been conducting detailed safety inspections of all airports, including runways and other aviation systems, since earlier this week. "Based on the inspection results, we will develop innovative safety measures, including improvements to facilities and regulations across the aviation sector," Choi said during a disaster response meeting. Choi also urged the transportation ministry to ensure the inspections are conducted with the utmost rigor, emphasizing the need to establish realistic measures to reassure the public about aviation safety. A 2-meter-high concrete structure at Muan International Airport has been cited as a major factor contributing to the deadly Jeju Air crash on Dec. 29, which claimed the lives of all but two of the 181 passengers aboard the Boeing 737-800 flight.<br/>
There are probably not many airport upgrades that are likened to a crème brulée, especially ones that cost north of $23m, but that’s exactly how Queenstown Airport CEO Glen Sowry describes the new safety system being installed right now. The engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) is being added to each end of the runway and is similar to a gravel trap on a motorway. The energy absorbing blocks are designed to crush under the weight of an aircraft, slowing it to a stop. The groundwork was completed last month, and now the first EMASMAX blocks have been added at the Shotover River end of the runway. The Frankton end will be next, with work set to finish ahead of schedule in late February. Queenstown is the first airport in Australasia to use EMAS, and Sowry admits it is a “really significant investment” in something he hopes never has to be used. “Everyone involved in the (aviation) ecosystem places safety and operational integrity right at the forefront of all decisions that are made,” Sowry told Stuff. “So airlines and aircraft manufacturers spend millions of dollars on technology to ensure that safety can be preserved wherever possible.<br/>
Boeing resumed testing for its long-delayed 777X widebody jet on Thursday, with the first flight since the U.S. planemaker grounded the test fleet in August due to the failure of a key engine mounting structure. The grounding came just five weeks after it had started certification flights for the 777-9 with officials from the U.S. aviation regulator onboard. FAA staff were not on board for Thursday's flight, according to the company. The 777X is the successor to Boeing's 777, one of the most commercially successful long-haul airliners. The company initially planned to deliver the first 777X to launch customer Qatar Airways in 2020. First delivery of the 777-9 has since been pushed back to 2026, followed by the smaller 777-8 and a freighter version later in the decade. Boeing's other 777X airline customers include Emirates, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. The planemaker has 481 777X orders, including 170 from Emirates and 60 from Qatar, according to Cirium, an aviation industry analytics company. Boeing's 777-9 test plane made a return flight from Boeing Field in Seattle to Moses Lake, Washington on Thursday. "We continue to execute a rigorous test program to demonstrate the safety, performance and reliability of the 777-9," Boeing said after it landed in the afternoon. A company spokesperson declined to comment on how the airplane performed during the flight.<br/>
The USA’s aviation regulator will require airlines to replace overhead video monitors in Boeing 737NGs and 757s after monitors detached during a hard landing. Two proposed rules released by the Federal Aviation Administration on 16 January say video monitors called “passenger service units” (PSUs) were jarred off overhead “rails during a hard landing that did not exceed the emergency load requirements”. The FAA provides no further information about that incident. Its proposed rule says Boeing already sought to address the problem by issuing Special Attention Requirements Bulletins to customers. It sent those to 737NG operators in December 2023 and to 757 customers in January 2024. The bulletins call on airlines to replace “all PSU-mounted video monitors that do not have secondary retention lanyards” with those that do, and to ensure that the lanyards are secured to PSU rails. The FAA’s proposed order would require airlines to complete those steps. “PSU-mounted video monitors that become fully detached or are held at an unsafe height could result in injury to passengers and impede passenger and crew egress during emergency evacuation,” says the FAA. Story has more.<br/>
The FAA plans to order airlines to inspect Boeing 787s because the jets might have defective seat-track hardware due to manufacturing errors. The agency disclosed the quality concern in a proposed rule released on 16 January, saying it received “multiple supplier notices of escapement” about the issue. Those reports indicate “that seat track splice fittings were possibly manufactured with an incorrect titanium alloy material”, the proposed rule says. If finalised, the order would affect 37 US-registered 787s, including -8, -9 and -10 variants. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FAA’s proposed rule says defective seat-track fittings “were possibly” manufactured using “Grade 1 or 2 commercially pure unalloyed titanium, which has significantly reduced strength, fatigue and damage-tolerance properties compared to the type design Grade 5” alloy approved for use by the FAA. The result could be “failure of the seat-track split fittings”, including when subjected to “emergency landing loads”, potentially injuring passengers, the FAA says. It notes that Boeing responded to the concern by issuing an Alert Requirements Bulletin to operators on 18 October last year. That bulletin calls for airlines to inspect 787 seat-track splice fittings using X-ray fluorescent-spectrometer or high-frequency eddy current techniques, “to determine the material”. Airlines are to replace any defective fittings found.<br/>
Construction on new jet engine repair facility in Singapore begins as part of S$242m expansion. An aerospace facility in the Loyang industrial estate is set to become the world’s largest maintenance site for the latest generation of jet engines that power popular aircraft such as the Airbus A350, Airbus A380 and Boeing 787. By 2028, the facility run by Singapore Aero Engine Services (SAESL) – a joint venture between British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and Singapore Airlines Engineering Company – will be able to service more than 400 engines a year, up from about 300 today. This growth will be enabled by a new 26,000 sq m integrated service centre that will be added to the firm’s existing 60,000 sq m campus in Calshot Road in Loyang. It is part of a $242m expansion plan that SAESL announced a year ago at the 2024 Singapore Airshow to increase its annual maintenance capacity here by 40%. SAESL is already one of the world’s largest maintenance companies servicing Rolls-Royce’s Trent jet engines. More than 20% of the world’s Rolls-Royce Trent engines pass through SAESL now, with the company supporting more than 30 airlines globally, including national carrier Singapore Airlines, Dubai-based Emirates and TAP Air Portugal, the flag carrier of Portugal. The company said its new facility, which broke ground on Jan 16, will serve as the nerve centre of its operations when it is completed in 2027.<br/>