Ethiopian Airlines fly A737 MAX for first time since 2019 crash February 1, 2022 Ethiopian Airlines flew today a Boeing A737 MAX for the first time since the March 2019 crash, when 157 people died a few minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa. The demonstration flight took off from the Ethiopian capital and travelled around Mount Kilimanjaro, carrying journalists, diplomats and officials aboard, Reuters reported. While the victims’ [...]
Face masks on flights are not going anywhere, experts warn February 1, 2022 Travellers will be wearing a mask aboard flights for the foreseeable future, as aviation experts believe it will be impossible for single carriers to remove the policy anytime soon. Aviation insiders believe UK airlines will look for “international consistency” before allowing a policy change, acting as one. “Until there is a harmonised lifting of mask [...]
Putting passengers first: Airlines to offer compensation if domestic flight is an hour late January 31, 2022 Airlines could be forced to offer passengers compensation if their domestic flight is an hour late, according to new UK ministers’ plans. Under the new plans, the UK Government will replace the current EU rules – which allow passengers to ask for compensation if flights are delayed by more than three hours – with a [...]
What are ghost flights and what is the debacle around them? January 27, 2022 EasyJet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren this morning told investors the airline was in favour of airport slot rules going back to “a normalised delineation,” saying the carrier will not be forced to operate ghost flights to retain its slots. “We should remember that the reason why [governments] made these exceptions was because restrictions were in [...]
EU court adviser green-lights airline passenger data law January 27, 2022 The European Court of Justice’s advocate general Giovanni Pitruzzella has given the green light to a law that allows the gathering of airline passengers’ information. According Pitruzzella, under the 2016 Passenger Name Record Directive, authorities should access passengers’ information on all flights to and from the EU only in security matters, including terrorism and other [...]
EU ‘ghost flights’ can generate up to 2.1m tonnes of CO2 January 26, 2022 European ‘ghost flights’ could produce up to 2.1 million tonnes of CO2 this winter, according to a recent Greenpeace analysis. “Transport emissions are skyrocketing,” Herwig Schuster, a spokesperson for Greenpeace’s European Mobility for All campaign, told the Guardian. “It would be irresponsible of the EU not to take the low-hanging fruit of ending ghost flights [...]
Flight or fight: 5G confusion rocks both sides of the Atlantic January 21, 2022 The frenzy around 5G seems to have eased in the last day, as many US carriers – including American Airlines – said they registered a “minor operational impact”.
Bumpy rides: Number of UK daily flights at half of pre-Covid levels January 20, 2022 Turbulent times are far from over for airlines, as the number of UK daily flights is at an average of 2,443 per day – still 49 per cent down on pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONGS). Commenting on the results, Hargreaves Lansdown’s senior investment and market analyst Susannah Streeter [...]
Biden in talks with aviation over 5G issues January 18, 2022 US President Joe Biden is reportedly in talks with aviation and industry stakeholders over 5G issues, after US airlines warned the roll out could have “a devastating impact” on the sector. In an attempt to smooth things, US network operator Verizon has agreed to limit 5G deployment around airports, Reuters reported. The White House reportedly [...]
Wizz Air issues new €500m bond at minimal premium to repay Bank of England financing January 13, 2022 Wizz Air Holdings (Wizz Air) has issued a €500m bond at minimal premium to pay off Bank of England financing.