A Southwest Airlines flight almost took off from a taxiway — rather than a runway — at a central Florida airport on Thursday before an air traffic controller stopped the plane, officials said. No injuries were reported, and passengers departing Orlando International Airport were accommodated on another aircraft heading to their destination of Albany, New York, the airline said in a statement. The aircraft was switched to help facilitate an investigation. Southwest Flight 3278 had been cleared for takeoff and initiated a takeoff roll on a taxiway after the crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway, officials said. But air traffic controllers canceled the clearance before the plane could take off. Taxiways are routes used by planes to move on the ground between gates, hangars and runways. Runways are the long, usually paved, areas of airports specifically meant for takeoffs and landings. Southwest is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees,” the airline said in a statement.<br/>
unaligned
Uganda Airlines has disclosed that it plans to open a route to London, several years after initially floating the plan. The carrier will operate Airbus A330-800s on the four-times weekly route from Entebbe to London Gatwick. It will start the service on 18 May. CE Jenifer Bamuturaki detailed the new service during an event on 20 March. She says the carrier, which commenced operations in 2019, had originally sought London slots in 2020 before the Covid pandemic disrupted the plan. “This route marks the end of our establishment phase and sets us on a course for long-term growth and expansion,” she says. “It follows meticulous planning, preparations and many setbacks. But finally we are here.” Uganda Airlines has two A330-800s – the rare smaller variant of the A330neo family – as well as four MHIRJ CRJ900s. The company says it has also been leasing an Airbus A320 to “alleviate some challenges”. Opening the route will shorten the travel time between Entebbe and London from 16h to 9h, by avoiding the need to fly via other hubs. Bamuturaki says the A330-800 will also support cargo operations, and adds that the carrier is planning to enhance its cargo operation with a freighter “later this year”.<br/>
A mid-air fire in the overhead compartments on a Hong Kong Airlines flight forced the plane into an emergency landing in China on March 20. None of the 168 passengers and crew on board were reported injured. Flight HX115, an Airbus SE A320 jet, took-off from Hangzhou, China, en route to Hong Kong just before 1pm and had to divert to Fuzhou after a fire broke out in an overhead compartment, the airline said in an e-mailed statement. The fire was extinguished. The airline did not specify the cause of the fire. However, social media videos circulating online showed a charred set of overhead compartments on the aircraft, pointing to a power bank fire. The risks associated with portable power banks have come into greater focus after an Air Busan plane caught fire in January, with a hand-held battery recharger the suspected cause of the blaze. South Korean authorities responded by ordering travellers to seal up ports on chargers or place them in separate plastic bags.<br/>
IndiGo has revealed the configuration and deployment of its future fleet of Airbus A321XLRs, the first of which will be handed over to the low-cost operator in fiscal year 2026. In briefing slides released on 19 March, IndiGo says its A321XLRs will come in a two-class configuration, with 12 business-class seats – known as ‘IndiGo Stretch’ – and 183 seats in economy. The A321XLR forms part of a 300-aircraft order IndiGo placed in 2019, which also comprises a mix of A320neos and A321neos. IndiGo says it plans to deploy the A321XLRs on routes across Asia and Europe, but stops short of listing specific cities. However, the airline has said the A321XLRs will be able to operate “underserved international routes” of up to 8.5h. At 195 seats, the A321XLR configuration is a lower-density layout compared to IndiGo’s two-class A321neos, which seat 220 passengers. IndiGo operates 13 two-class A321neos currently, deploying them on domestic flights between some of India’s largest cities. The ‘IndiGo Stretch’ product, which was launched in August 2024, features 38-inch seat pitch and is configured in a 2-2 layout.<br/>