Omicron wave forces Lufthansa to axe 33,000 flights

German national carrier Lufthansa will cut its winter flight plan by "around 10 percent" as the spread of the Omicron variant fuels uncertainty about travel, chief executive Carsten Spohr said Thursday.

"From the middle of January to February, we see a sharp drop off in bookings", leading the airline to cancel "33,000 flights or about 10 percent" of its flights this winter, Spohr said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS).

"Above all we are missing passengers in our home markets of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, because these countries have been hit hardest by the pandemic wave," Spohr said.

Europe's largest airline was currently running "about 60 percent" of flights compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019, carrying "roughly half" the number of passengers, the CEO said.

The number of cancellations would have been higher were the company not running 18,000 "extra, unnecessary flights just to secure our landing and takeoff rights," Spohr said.

The airline industry has been battered since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with countless flights grounded in 2020 as countries closed their borders.

The European airports association ACI Europe estimated on Thursday that the number of passengers travelling through its members had dropped 20 percent since November 24, when the Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization.

Germany has placed stricter limits on travellers coming from the United Kingdom and South Africa, among others, where the new variant has caused a surge in cases.

The sudden headwind for the industry also caused Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair to cut its planned January schedule by 33 percent this week.

- Sick pilots -

On Thursday, a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP the airline had already cancelled several transatlantic flights around Christmas, after the number of pilots calling in sick was greater than normal for this time of year.

Asked whether the absences were linked to the Omicron variant, the spokesman said he "could not speculate" as he did not have any information about the causes of illness.

In total, the airline has been forced to axe six flights between December 23 and 26, including services to Chicago, Boston and Washington.

The lack of personnel came despite Lufthansa's "big planned reserves" of crew, the spokesman said.

Swedish national carrier SAS on Wednesday also cancelled nine flights due to the coronavirus, after scrapping some 30 flights worldwide the day before.

Lufthansa posted its first operating profit since the beginning of the pandemic in the third quarter of this year, after a difficult 18 months.

The carrier booked an underlying, or operating loss of 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2020 and turned to the state for support.

In November, Lufthansa announced it had finished paying back the nine-billion-euro bailout it received from the government earlier than planned.

Agence France-Presse

Emirates airline to cut up to 9,000 jobs: report

Emirates airline has cut a tenth of its workforce during the novel coronavirus pandemic in layoffs that could rise to 15 percent, or 9,000 jobs, its president said, according to a report on Saturday.

The Middle East's largest carrier, which operates a fleet of 270 wide-bodied aircraft, halted operations in late March as part of global shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus. 

It resumed two weeks later on a limited network and plans to fly to 58 cities by mid-August, down from about 157 before the crisis.

However, its president Tim Clark has said previously that it could take up to four years for operations to return to "some degree of normality," and that the airline has been staging rounds of layoffs as recently as last week, without disclosing numbers.

Before the crisis hit, Emirates employed some 60,000 staff, including 4,300 pilots and nearly 22,000 cabin crew, according to its annual report.

Clark said in an interview with the BBC that the airline had already cut a tenth of its staff and that Emirates "will probably have to let go of a few more, probably up to 15 percent".

A company spokeswoman told AFP the airline had nothing to add to the report.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that airlines are in line to make a combined net loss of more than $84 billion this year in the wake of the pandemic crisis, the biggest in the industry's history.

Clark said in the interview that Emirates was "not as badly off as others" but that the crisis hit just as it was "heading for one of our best years ever."

The Dubai-based airline had reported a bumper 21 percent rise in annual profits in March.

Agence France-Presse

Singapore Airlines posts first annual loss on fuel hedges, COVID-19

SYDNEY -- Singapore Airlines Ltd on Thursday reported its first-ever annual loss, citing poor fuel hedging bets and the collapse in demand driven by the coronavirus pandemic, and said the timing of any recovery was uncertain.

The airline, a bellwether for premium travel in Asia, swung to a S$212 million ($149.14 million) net loss in the financial year ended March 31, down from a S$683 million profit a year earlier, in line with guidance to investors provided last week.

In the fourth quarter, it lost S$732 million, down from a S$203 million profit the prior year. Singapore Airlines did not declare a dividend and said the prospects of a recovery in international travel depended on when border controls and travel restrictions eased.

"There are few signs of abatement in the COVID-19 pandemic," the airline said in a statement. "The group will maintain a minimum flight connectivity within its network during this period, while ensuring the flexibility to scale up capacity if there is an uptick in demand."

Airline passenger traffic is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels until 2023 at the earliest and domestic markets will recovery more quickly than international travel, the International Air Transport Association said on Wednesday.

Singapore, a small city-state that lacks a domestic aviation market, is closed to transit passengers on which the airline normally relies for much of its revenue.

Singapore Airlines and regional arm SilkAir have cut 96 percent of capacity through the end of June, and low-cost arm Scoot has cut 98 percent.

The airline said in February it had entered fuel hedging contracts through March 31, 2025. A collapse in the global oil market, which has lost more than half of its value so far this year, led to big losses on those contracts, including S$710 million recorded in the fourth quarter.

Singapore Airlines said further hedging losses were likely in the current financial year.

The airline's majority shareholder, state-fund Temasek Holdings, in March agreed to underwrite the sale of S$8.8 billion of shares and up to S$6.2 billion of convertible bonds in one of the biggest rescue packages in the global aviation industry since the coronavirus crisis hit.

Singapore Airlines said on Thursday it would only tap the convertible bonds if necessary and was concurrently exploring other funding sources such as secured financing and sale-and-leaseback transactions over its airplanes.

The carrier has cut executive salaries and is in talks with manufacturers to push back deliveries of new planes as it looks to conserve cash and moderate capacity growth in the near term.

The airline's management team is due to hold a results briefing for analysts and media on Friday.

-reuters-

Emirates airline asks staff to take one month unpaid leave over coronavirus

DUBAI -- Major international airline Emirates is asking staff to take unpaid leave for up to a month at a time due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus that has led to flight cancellations around the world.

Emirates has cancelled flights to Iran, Bahrain and to most of China because of the virus, and countries around the world have placed strict restrictions on entry of foreigners.

The airline has more resources than it needs as a result of cutting frequencies or cancelling flights to some destinations, said Chief Operating Officer Adel al-Redha in a statement on Tuesday.

"Considering the availability of additional resources and the fact that many employees want to utilize their leave, we have provided our employees the option to avail leave or apply for voluntary unpaid leave for up to one month at a time," he said.


Emirates Group, the state-owned holding company that counts the airline among its assets, has asked staff to consider taking paid and unpaid leave as it seeks to manage a "measurable slowdown" in its business, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an internal company email.

The group had more than 100,000 employees, including more than 21,000 cabin crew and 4,000 pilots, at the end of March 2019, the end of its last financial year.

Major concerts and events in the United Arab Emirates, an air transit center that includes tourism and business hub Dubai, have been cancelled or postponed as the coronavirus spreads in the Gulf.

The airline industry's largest global body IATA on Monday urged Middle Eastern governments to provide support to airlines as they try to manage the impact of the outbreak.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Canada's Trudeau says evidence indicates Iran shot down Ukraine jet

OTTAWA—Canada has intelligence from multiple sources indicating a Ukrainian airliner that crashed on Wednesday near Tehran was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

US officials had earlier said the airliner was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defenses. All 176 people on board, including 63 Canadians, were killed.


"We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa.

"This may well have been unintentional. This new information reinforces the need for a thorough investigation into this matter," he continued.

Trudeau said his government would not rest until it had obtained closure, transparency, accountability and justice.

He also said he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told him that Iran would allow investigators from Kiev into the country.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

German cabin crew union threatens Lufthansa strikes after 'failed' talks

BERLIN - German cabin crew union UFO said arbitration talks with Lufthansa on Sunday had failed and its members could stage strikes any time from now on, though they would spare passengers industrial action on Dec. 24, 25 and 26.

In addition to a dispute over pay and pensions, UFO has been at odds with Lufthansa for months over the union's legal status. Lufthansa has said the union's leadership team that took office earlier this year was not elected in a way that met legal requirements.

"Even though we have agreed not to disclose the contents of these talks, unfortunately we must state that there was no solution ... so we failed," UFO spokesman Nicoley Baublies said in a statement after Sunday's talks.

"Industrial action must be expected again any time from now," he added. "The only thing we can disclose to our passengers is that we will leave out the Christmas holidays - specifically December 24, 25, 26."

Industrial action on Monday, Dec. 23, could not be ruled out, he said.

Lufthansa said separately that arbitrators had proposed a further meeting with UFO for early January.

"Lufthansa continues to expect that good solutions can be found for the 22,000 cabin crew members with regard to the arbitration issues," the airline said in a statement. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Emirates close to buying 30 Boeing 787 as it reviews fleet: sources

DUBAI -- Emirates and Boeing were poised on Wednesday to seal a compromise deal that would see the Dubai carrier order around 30 787 Dreamliners, paving the way for a reduced order for delayed 777X jets, people familiar with the matter said.

Emirates tentatively ordered 40 Dreamliners in 2017 but "tough" last-minute talks to finalize the order this week have hinged on negotiations over the fate of a massive separate order for 150 777X after the latter ran into delays, they said.

A restructuring of the 777X order may, however, not be highlighted officially at the Dubai Airshow, where Emirates plans an announcement for 0700 GMT on Wednesday (3 p.m. in Manila).

Emirates and Boeing declined to comment.

Sources cautioned talks were still going on in Dubai and the number of aircraft ordered could be subject to last-minute adjustments, but said it was unlikely Emirates would take all 40 787 jets announced at the largest Middle East air show in 2017.

One source said the order could involve as many as 35 787s.

Emirates has been looking at reducing part of its 777X order, which the airline's president Tim Clark said on Tuesday could be influenced by the delays and in turn determine whether it went ahead with a 787 deal.

Emirates says it no longer knows when it will receive its first 777X, which was supposed to be delivered next year. Boeing has said the 777X will be delivered in 2021.

Easing an eight-month-old crisis over the grounding of its smaller 737 MAX, Boeing had earlier at the Nov 17-21 show won tentative or firm orders for 60 of the grounded MAX jets.

But industry sources had warned that Boeing had risked leaving Dubai without resolving the critical set of interlocking deals with Emirates, the industry's largest customer for wide-body jets and the backbone for the 777X program.

A high-profile order announcement on Wednesday would also effectively deliver a message of support from Dubai for the troubled US planemaker, whose ongoing MAX crisis has harmed Emirates sister carrier flydubai, analysts said.

The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, is a close ally of the United States, which has poured support into the region amid tensions between Iran and Gulf Arab states that provided a tense backdrop to the Middle East industry event. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Lufthansa crew strike set to go ahead on Thursday after court ruling

FRANKFURT - A two-day strike by Lufthansa cabin crew was set to begin on Thursday after a German court ruled late on Wednesday against management's efforts to stop it.

The strike over pay and pensions, due to last through Friday, will result in the cancellation of 1,300 flights and affect 180,000 passengers, the German carrier said.

That amounts to about one in five of Lufthansa's planned 6,000 flights over the two-day period. It will affect both long- and short-haul flights, a spokeswoman said.

The UFO union, representing cabin crew, said it would inform the public on Thursday about a possible expansion of strikes beyond Friday.

Germany's biggest airline had filed motions with courts to prevent the strike.

The airline and the union have been at odds for months over the union's legal status. Lufthansa says a union leadership team that took office earlier this year was not elected in a way that met legal requirements.

Lufthansa said in a statement that it regretted the court decision not to block the strike. It said it would examine further legal steps, including a possible suit for damages.

"We will do everything we can to minimize the impact on our customers who are suffering from this massive strike," Lufthansa said.

Last month, the union staged an all-day strike at smaller German Lufthansa divisions, including Germanwings and Eurowings.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Delta buys 20 percent stake in Latam Airlines for $1.9 billion

NEW YORK - Delta will acquire a 20 percent stake in South American carrier Latam Airlines Group for $1.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday.

The venture, described as a "strategic partnership," will add to the networks of both companies, which include Delta's existing partnership with AeroMexico, the companies said in a joint press release.

Under the transaction, Delta will invest $350 million in the partnership, acquire four of Latam's Airbus A350 aircraft and assume the South American company's commitment to purchase 10 more of the planes.

Delta will also have board representation at Latam, the companies said.

"This transformative partnership with Latam will bring together our leading global brands, enabling us to provide the very best service and reliability for travelers to, from and throughout the Americas," said Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian.

"This alliance with Delta strengthens our company and enhances our leadership in Latin America by providing the best connectivity through our highly complementary route networks," said Enrique Cueto Plaza, chief executive at Latam.

New York-listed shares of Latam Airlines Group shot up 22.6 percent to $11.05 in after-hours trading, while Delta was flat.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cathay investigates after crew oxygen bottles were found empty

BEIJING - Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways on Tuesday said it had launched an investigation after a dozen oxygen bottles used by cabin crew in emergencies were found empty, or partially empty, on 2 of its aircraft.

The discovery was made on the ground in routine inspections before a departure from Toronto, the carrier said, adding that of the 22 bottles carried onboard each jet, 5 were affected on one aircraft and 8 on the other.

"The portable oxygen bottles are for operational cabin crew use and permit crew to move around the cabin in the unlikely event of emergency aircraft depressurization," Cathay said in a statement.

"Both cabin crew and passengers have in-seat aircraft oxygen available at all times."

The airline said the depleted bottles were refilled and checked by engineers prior to departure.

The incident, which comes as the airline is under scrutiny from China's aviation regulator, caused a stir on Chinese social media, with many commentators accusing the airline of endangering flight safety.

Cathay has emerged as the highest-profile corporate target as Beijing looks to quell protests in Hong Kong, with the Chinese government demanding it suspend staff involved in a protest movement, citing flight safety concerns.

Pilots and cabin crew have described a "white terror" of political denunciations, sackings and phone searches by Chinese aviation officials.

The carrier's chief executive, Rupert Hogg, stepped down this month, and his replacement, Augustus Tang, told staff one of his priorities was to focus on safety and security. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Rupert Hogg resigns amid mounting Chinese scrutiny

HONG KONG  — Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways said CEO Rupert Hogg had resigned and named Augustus Tang as the new chief, following a week of scrutiny by the Chinese aviation regulator that has hurt its reputation in the mainland.

Tang was the head of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, which like Cathay is managed by Swire Pacific Ltd.

The airline said Paul Loo had resigned as chief customer and commercial officer, to be replaced by Ronald Lam, head of its low-cost arm Hong Kong Express.

Cathay Chairman John Slosar said recent events had called into question Cathay's commitment to flight safety and security and put its reputation and brand under pressure.

"This is regrettable as we have always made safety and security our highest priority," he said in a statement. "We therefore think it is time to put a new management team in place who can reset confidence and lead the airline to new heights."

Hogg said these had been "challenging weeks" for the airline and it was right for Loo and him to take responsibility as leaders of the company.

Hogg's resignation was first announced by Chinese state television CCTV.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

AirAsia spices up inflight menu with Korean dish

MANILA -- Korean food takes center stage in AirAsia’s new inflight menu. 

In a recent launch, the low-cost airline introduced its newest celebrity chef series meal from Korean chef Hong Seok-Cheon -- the Korean Sweet and Spicy Chicken (dakgangjeong) meal. 

“Showcasing the flavors of the region at exceptional value-for-money has always been an integral part of our service offering. Korean cuisine has also become increasingly popular when it comes to requests for our guests, which is why we’re pleased to bring Chef Hong Seok-Cheon’s talent and the best of Korean food to the skies,” Karlo Sanchez, AirAsia Philippines head of ancillary, said in a statement. 

Aiming to bring the Korean chicken experience to the skies, the meal has chicken bites generously glazed with a sticky, sweet and unapologetically spicy Korean sauce, accompanied by jasmine rice and vegetables. 

Hong is a big celebrity in Korea. He lists restaurateur, actor, television personality (he hosts a cooking show called "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator"), gay activist, and politician in his resume, and dakgangjeong has always been his go-to comfort food. 

“This is a dish I enjoyed growing up and even throughout all my TV shoots. I’m thrilled to be collaborating with AirAsia on this exciting project to bring Korean cuisine to more people,” Hong said. 

Too spicy? While pre-ordering the meal at P140 already comes with complimentary drink, AirAsia’s Wintermelon Milk Tea (P120) is another great way to tone down the heat -- it’s sweet and cool with delectably chewy tapioca pearls. 

Attendees during the launch were also served AirAsia Santan’s inflight meals and snacks from dimsum, tuna rolls, Tex-Mex items like quesadillas and burritos, as well as dessert options like salted caramel pudding and tiramisu. 

Santan meals are available for pre-booking for AirAsia Philippines flights.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

WOW Air collapses, cancels all flights; thousands stranded

Iceland's troubled budget carrier WOW Air said it had ceased operations and cancelled all flights on Thursday, stranding thousands of passengers in the low-cost airline industry's latest collapse. 

The closure of WOW Air, which transports more than a third of those travelling to Iceland, comes after buyout talks with rival Icelandair collapsed earlier this week.

"All WOW Air flights have been cancelled. Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines," the carrier said in a statement. 

"Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances. Information on those airlines will be published, when it becomes available."

Iceland's government said it estimated that 4,000 travellers were stranded, including around 1,300 currently in transit. 

At Reykjavik airport, hundreds of passengers were left without planes to board as 30 WOW Air flights to Paris, New York and Montreal were cancelled.

Two Portuguese tourists, Cristiana and Nuno Barrocas, were in Iceland as part of a trip around the world and rushed to the airport after hearing the news.

"Our dream is to go around the world but the start of our adventure is turning out worse than expected," the couple told AFP after their flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik was delayed on Wednesday.

A 28-year-old Canadian university exchange student in Belgium, Charles Ouellet, was due to fly home to Montreal on a WOW flight via Reykjavik on April 3. 

"I'm going to see if I can get refunded," he told AFP.

Almost 10 low-cost airlines collapsed in 2018, including Belgium's VLM Airlines, Denmark's Primera Air and Cyprus' Cobalt Air.

In February, Berlin-based airline Germania cancelled its own flights and filed for bankruptcy, and other budget airlines such as British Flybe have narrowly escaped folding this year.

Fierce competition in Europe has led airlines to slash prices, pushing their profit margins lower.

Companies have also faced stiff competition from low-cost subsidiaries set up by big operators such as British Airways parent company IAG.

Founded in 2011, WOW Air exploited Iceland's location in the middle of the North Atlantic to offer a low-cost service between Europe and North America as well as tapping into a tourist boom to the volcanic island.

However it had flown into financial trouble in recent years due to heightened competition on transatlantic low-cost flights and rising fuel prices, and had been searching for an investor for months.

- Blow to Iceland economy -

On Monday WOW said it was in talks to restructure its debt with its creditors after Icelandair ended brief negotiations over buying a stake in the no-frills airline.

WOW Air was left needing $42 million to save the company, according to the Frettabladid newspaper.

The privately-owned airline had undergone major restructuring after posting a pre-tax loss of almost $42 million for the first nine months of 2018.

It reduced its fleet from 20 to 11 aircraft, eliminating several destinations, including those to the US, and cutting 111 full-time jobs.

In 2018, WOW Air, which employs 1,000 people, transported 3.5 million passengers.

A report by a governmental work group has warned that a WOW Air bankruptcy would lead to a three percent drop in Iceland's gross domestic product, a fall in the value of the krona and rising inflation.

"I'll never forgive myself for not acting sooner, because it is clear that WOW is an unbelievable airline and that we were going to do bigger and better things," the company's founder and chief executive, Skuli Mogensen, wrote in a letter to staff on Thursday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi crashes, killing 157

NAIROBI -- An Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board and raising questions about the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a new model that also crashed in Indonesia in October.

Sunday's flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8:38 a.m., before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m.

"There are no survivors," the airline tweeted alongside a picture of CEO Tewolde GebreMariam holding up a piece of debris inside a large crater at the crash site.

Passengers from 33 countries were aboard, said Tewolde in a news conference. The dead included Kenyan, Ethiopian, American, Canadian, French, Chinese, Egyptian, Swedish, British, Dutch, Indian, Slovakian, Austrian, Swedish, Russian, Moroccan, Spanish, Polish, and Israeli citizens.

Weeping relatives begged for information at airports in Nairobi and Addis Ababa.

"We're just waiting for my mum. We're just hoping she took a different flight or was delayed. She's not picking up her phone," said Wendy Otieno, clutching her phone and weeping.

The aircraft, a 737 MAX 8, is the same model that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.

The cause of that crash is still under investigation.

Ethiopian's new aircraft had no recorded technical problems and the pilot had an "excellent" flying record, Tewolde said in a news conference.

“We received the airplane on November 15, 2018. It has flown more than 1,200 hours. It had flown from Johannesburg earlier this morning," he said. “The pilot mentioned that he had difficulties and that he wanted to return."

'UNSTABLE SPEED'

Flight ET 302, registration number ET-AVJ, crashed near the town of Bishoftu, 62 km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, with 149 passengers and eight crew aboard, the airline said.

The flight had unstable vertical speed after take off, the flight tracking website Flightradar24 tweeted.

The aircraft had shattered into many pieces and was severely burnt, a Reuters reporter at the scene of the crash said. Clothing and personal effects were scattered widely over the field where the plane came down.

It was not clear what had caused the crash. Boeing sent condolences to the families and said it was ready to help investigate.

This is the second recent crash of the latest version of Boeing’s workhorse narrowbody jet that first entered service in 2017. The 737 is the world’s best selling modern passenger aircraft and one of the industry’s most reliable.

A preliminary report into the October Lion Air crash, focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor, but did not give a reason for the crash. Since then, the cockpit voice recorder was recovered and a final report is due later this year.

ANGUISHED RELATIVES

At Nairobi airport, many relatives were left waiting at the gate for hours, with no information from airport authorities. Some learned of the crash from journalists.

Robert Mutanda, 46, was waiting for his brother-in-law, a Canadian citizen.

"No, we haven't seen anyone from the airline or the airport," he told Reuters at 1 p.m., more than three hours after the flight was lost. "Nobody has told us anything, we are just standing here hoping for the best."

Kenyan officials did not arrive at the airport until 1:30 p.m., five hours after the plane went down.

James Macharia, the cabinet secretary for transport, said he heard about the crash via Twitter.

Families were taken to Nairobi's Sheraton hotel, but said they were still waiting to hear from airline staff eight hours after the accident.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Under international rules, responsibility for leading the crash investigation lies with Ethiopia but the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will also participate because the plane was designed and built in the United States.

Representatives of Boeing and Cincinnati-based engine-maker CFM, a joint venture between General Electric and General Electric Co and France’s Safran SA will advise the NTSB.

Ethiopian is one of the biggest carriers on the continent by fleet size. The plane was among six of 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets the rapidly expanding carrier has ordered.

The fleet will continue flying since the cause of the crash is not clear, the CEO said.

Its last major crash was in January 2010, when a flight from Beirut went down shortly after take-off, killing all 90 people onboard. The Lebanese blamed pilot error, which was disputed by the airline.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Dutch buy Air France-KLM stake to counter French influence

THE HAGUE -- The Netherlands announced Tuesday the surprise purchase of a stake in Air France-KLM, saying it needed to protect Dutch interests after a series of rows about the alliance's management.

Paris reacted testily to the Dutch purchase of the 12.68 percent share -- which puts it on course to match France's own holding -- saying that Air France-KLM must be free of "state interference".

The Dutch swoop threatens to reignite tensions after a bitter dispute about the fate of the chief executive of the group's Dutch arm, and concerns over a series of strikes in France last year.

"With this share purchase, the Dutch cabinet wants to be able to directly influence the future development of Air France-KLM in order to optimally ensure the Dutch public interest," Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra told a hastily arranged press conference in The Hague.

"The aim is to eventually get to a position equal to that of the French state," which has a 14.3-percent stake, Hoekstra added.

The Dutch stake cost 680 million euros ($771 million), Hoekstra said in a letter to parliament. The government previously had a 5.9 percent stake in KLM but started buying more shares in the alliance on February 20.

It would cost around a further 70 million euros to reach the French level, broadcaster NOS said.

The move stunned Paris, with Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire saying the Dutch government had not informed the French government.

"It is essential to respect the principles of good governance and for Air France-KLM to be managed... without state interference," Le Maire told Les Echos newspaper.

Air France and KLM merged in 2004 but continue to operate largely separately, while the French arm in particular has struggled with industrial action in recent years.

Hoekstra said that "it has become apparent that important decisions about KLM's strategy were increasingly taken at the level of the Air France-KLM holding company", with the Dutch government frozen out.

- 'Intensive' talks -

The Dutch government stepped into the fray in recent weeks when it officially backed the reappointment of KLM chief executive Pieter Elbers, after doubts arose that he would keep his job.

Elbers was reappointed earlier this month after KLM workers protested and threatened to go on strike if he was axed.

In a sign of the tensions, Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith rushed to the Netherlands for "intensive" talks with Hoekstra and another Dutch minister on February 15 over KLM's future in the Franco-Dutch alliance and Elbers' position.

Canadian Smith took over Air France-KLM as its first non-French chief executive in September after the rapid exit of former CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac in a bitter dispute over salaries in the French arm.

The company kept Elbers in his Dutch role but Dutch news reports said that Elbers was seen as "difficult" and standing in the way of Smith's plans to merge the two arms more closely.

Hoekstra meanwhile brought up the issue with his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire at a recent meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has avoided getting directly involved but recently said that KLM was "incredibly important for the Dutch economy and it is essential that it is well operated".

The airline's fate is directly tied to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs and a key economic driver for the Netherlands.

"A financially sound Air France-KLM with an extensive hub network at Schiphol for the Netherlands is of great importance," Hoekstra said in his letter to parliament.

Despite the recent upheaval, Air France-KLM reported last week that its annual net profits rose by 150 percent to 409 million euros ($463 million).

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Air India plane hits building at Stockholm airport

STOCKHOLM - An Air India plane carrying 179 passengers struck a building at Stockholm's Arlanda airport with its wingtip as it taxied to gate on Wednesday, but no injuries were reported, police said.

"The 179 passengers could disembark from the plane on a mobile staircase and thereafter enter the terminal," police wrote in a statement.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, police said.

It occurred at 5:45 pm (1645 GMT), about 50 meters (yards) from Terminal 5, the main terminal for international flights.

Pictures from the scene showed the Boeing aircraft parked on the runway with the very tip of its left wing stuck in the side of a building.

Several police cars and fire trucks were parked by the plane.

According to airport operator Swedavia's website, the flight had originated in New Delhi.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cuba confirms 110 killed in country's deadliest plane crash since 1989

HAVANA- Cuban authorities said the fiery crash of an aging Boeing passenger jet on Friday shortly after takeoff from Havana had killed 110 of the 113 on board, making it the Caribbean island's deadliest air disaster in nearly 30 years.

Flags flew at half-mast in Cuba on Saturday marking the start of two days of national mourning while authorities worked to recover evidence from the site of the crash and to identify the crash victims. Fifteen have been identified so far and one black box retrieved.

Authorities told a news conference on Saturday at Havana airport that 99 of the passengers killed on the domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin were Cuban, while three were foreign tourists - two Argentines and a Mexican. Another two were Sahrawi residents in Cuba.

The six Mexican crew members aboard the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, leased by Cuban flagship carrier Cubana from a small, little-known Mexican company called Damojh, were also killed.

Ten of the victims were Nazarene pastors returning home with their spouses after a retreat, the Cuban Nazarene Church said.

Three Cuban women survived the crash, but are still in critical condition, said the head of the hospital where they are being attended.

Distressed relatives cried and hugged one another outside the morgue, where they gave information on loved ones to authorities to aid in the identification process.

"This is a very unexpected death, she didn't deserve it. My grandmother was a strong person," said Katherine Lucia Martinez, an 18-year-old student, bursting into tears and clinging to her father.

Her 60-year-old grandmother was among the dead, and she was waiting with other relatives of the deceased at a Havana hotel for an update from authorities.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Saturday visited the morgue, a day after reviewing the site of the crash, which is the first big test of his presidency after taking the reins from Raul Castro last month.

Some locals who saw the crash said one of the engines appeared to have caught fire before the plane hit the ground.

"The plane was on fire, it flipped and then nosedived," said farmer Marino Perez Alvaredo.

Cubana leased it less than a month ago, Transport Minister Adel Yzquierdo said on Saturday, at a time when it was struggling to meet the demand for flights and was serving many domestic routes by bus instead.

Earlier this month, the company was ordered to suspend flights of its six Russian built AN-158 aircraft, of which most had reportedly already been grounded, according to state-run media.

Cuba often resorts to leasing due to the decades-old US trade embargo which makes it difficult to acquire planes, Yzquierdo said.

It was unclear whether Cuba had worked before with Damojh which operates just three planes, according to the Mexican government.

A pilot who used to work for Damojh was quoted on Saturday by Mexican newspaper Milenio criticizing the company for lack of adequate maintenance of planes.

"I experienced several incidents in this company, like engine failure or the electrical system went when we took off from Mexico on one occasion," Marco Aurelio Hernandez was quoted as saying. Damojh declined to comment.

Cuban investigators have so far recovered the cockpit voice recorder in "good condition," Yzquierdo said, and are still looking for the flight data recorder.

Mexico has said it will also send a team of investigators from its Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics.

The crash was the worst in Cuba since a Soviet-made Ilyushin-62M passenger plane crashed near Havana in 1989 killing all 126 people on board and another 14 on the ground.

"For the love of god, I never thought I would see this," said Caridad Miranda, 45, whose sister and niece died in the crash. "They should have checked that plane well."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Airliner escorted by fighter jets back to Singapore after bomb threat

Two Singapore fighter jets escorted a commercial airliner back to Singapore on Thursday due to a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax, according to Singapore police.

Flight TR634 carrying 173 passengers and six crew and operated by the Singapore-based low-cost airline Scoot landed safely at Changi Airport about two hours after departing on a flight to Hat Yai, Thailand.

Singapore police said in a statement that a 41-year-old man had been arrested for making a false bomb threat.

"Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had claimed to crew that he had a bomb in his hand-carry baggage," the police statement said.

Authorities conducted a thorough search of the plane and the baggage of the suspect and his two male traveling companions but did not find any bomb, the statement said.

The suspect has been arrested under legislation that makes it crime to threaten to commit a terrorist act and carries a fine up to $500,000 and possible imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Singapore is on heightened alert against terrorism, as it believes it could be targeted due to its close relations with the United States and Israel.

The Singapore Terrorism Threat Assessment Report 2017, issued last June by the Ministry of Home Affairs, said Islamic State militants "were considering carrying out an attack in Singapore in the first half of 2016," while Indonesian authorities had foiled a plot by terrorists "acting on the instructions ... of an Indonesian ISIS militant based in Syria ... to launch a rocket attack against the Marina Bay Sands" resort in Singapore.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Never in Canada, shocked minister says of United passenger scandal

OTTAWA - Shocked by footage of United Airlines forcibly removing a passenger from an overbooked flight, Canada's transport minister -- tasked with bringing in a passenger bill of rights -- vowed Tuesday to never let it happen here.

"I was very upset. I saw the video. I was very disturbed by what happened. Certainly we want to make sure that it does not happen in Canada," Minister Marc Garneau said.

The Canadian government announced last November that it would introduce legislation to create a passenger bill of rights.

It is expected to set out rules for flight changes, airline fees, and lost luggage.

Garneau said the bill would also tackle airline overbooking. The new regulations are to come into force in 2018, he said.

Videos taken on the United flight and posted to Twitter showed a man -- identified by US media as a doctor of Vietnamese descent who has lived in the US for decades -- being forcibly pulled screaming from his seat by three security personnel.

The incident occurred Sunday on a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky.

amc/sg

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Billionaire Warren Buffett invests in 3 big US airlines

NEW YORK - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has taken stakes in three large US airlines, in a $1.3 billion bet that marks a sharp U-turn of his antagonistic views on the sector.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $797 million in American Airlines, $249 million in Delta Air Lines and $237 million in United Continental Holdings, according to a regulatory filing reviewed Monday by AFP.

Berkshire Hathaway also took a stake in Southwest Airlines, CNBC television network reported Monday.

The financial guru was known for his dislike of the airline industry after his disastrous bet on preferred shares of US Airways in 1989, calling the sector a "death trap."

The surprise Berkshire news pushed airline shares sharply higher in after-market trades. American Airlines jumped 3.5 percent, Delta was up 2.9 percent and United Continental, parent of United Airlines, gained 2.6 percent.

Buffett, the head of the massive Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, is the world's third wealthiest person.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com