A man has been arrested and charged after he allegedly disarmed an aircraft door mid-flight and attempted to stab a flight attendant, US officials said. Francisco Severo Torres, 33, sparked panic on the Los Angeles to Boston flight after he was seen pacing near an aircraft door before crew were alerted it had been disarmed. Mr Torres was then said to have used a broken spoon to attack a crew member. He was arrested at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Sunday. The United Airlines flight was due to land in less than an hour when flight crew in the cockpit … Continue reading Man charged over mid-air door and stabbing rampage

Five people are dead after a small plane crashed following take-off from an airport in the US state of Arkansas, officials say. Authorities said no-one survived the crash near the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock. The non-commercial flight, a twin-engine Beech BE20, was bound for Columbus, Ohio. All those on board, including the pilot, were employees of CTEH, a Little Rock-based consultancy, said the firm. “We are incredibly saddened to report the loss of our Little Rock colleagues,” said Paul Nony, senior vice-president of CTEH, in a statement to media. “We ask everyone to keep the … Continue reading Five dead and no survivors as Arkansas plane crashes

Qantas has announced half-year profits of more than A$1bn ($683m) in a dramatic turnaround of the airline’s fortunes since last year. It comes after the company lost more than A$7bn during the pandemic, when Australia imposed strict travel rules. Its troubles continued last year with a slew of criticism over cancelled flights, lost luggage and delays. The airline said strong demand for flights, higher airfares and cost-cutting were behind its rebound. Chief executive Alan Joyce said revenue had tripled for the six months to the end of December to almost A$10bn as pandemic travel restrictions were eased. The A$1bn profit … Continue reading Australian airline’s profits soar back after record Covid losses

Rescuers have found the bodies of all four people on board a small plane which crashed into an active Philippine volcano last week. Authorities on Thursday confirmed the deaths of the two Filipino pilots and two Australian passengers. Search teams had scoured the slopes of the Mayon volcano since Sunday, when the aircraft wreckage was spotted about 300m (985ft) from the crater. Teams now faced the challenge of safely retrieving the bodies, officials said. Local Filipino authorities say they will investigate the cause of the plane’s crash. The Cessna 340 aircraft went missing on Saturday shortly after departing for Manila … Continue reading Tragic: Bodies found in plane wreck on Philippines’ Mayon volcano

More than 200 flights were cancelled at Frankfurt airport after construction work damaged broadband cables and caused check-in and boarding problems for German airline Lufthansa. But the airline said all of its systems were now back up. Earlier on Wednesday, thousands of passengers were stranded as their flights were cancelled or delayed across the world. The airline expect flights at Frankfurt to return to normal on Thursday. The company said engineering works on a railway line mistakenly cut a bundle of cables in Frankfurt on Tuesday. It has asked customers flying on domestic flights to book train tickets and said … Continue reading Lufthansa tech failure leaves planes grounded

US air safety officials say they will investigate why a Boeing 777 jet unexpectedly lost altitude and nearly plunged into the Pacific Ocean. United Airlines flight 1722 had left Maui on 18 December and was climbing when it suddenly plummeted 1,400ft (425m), reports say. It stabilised at just 775ft in altitude and went on to land safely in San Francisco 27 minutes early. Its adds to a number of near misses involving planes this year. The flight was going normally until 71 seconds after take-off from Kahului Airport when it suddenly dropped in elevation, according to Flightradar24, an aviation website. … Continue reading US to investigate Boeing 777’s mysterious nosedive

Aircraft giant Boeing will answer a fraud charge in court later over two plane crashes which killed 346 people. Both accidents were down to flaws in the flight control systems on the 737 Max aircraft which caused nosedives. Boeing was found to have failed to disclose information about the system but avoided a trial by agreeing to pay $2.5bn in fines and compensation. Relatives of those who died are trying to reopen the settlement. It means that for the first time, the company will be formally charged in court in relation to the two crashes, and will have to plead … Continue reading Boeing in court on fraud charge over 737 Max air crashes

Two JetBlue aircraft bumped into one another on taxiway of a New York airport on Wednesday, the second unusual incident there in recent days. An aircraft bound for Puerto Rico struck the tail of a parked plane as it was departing the gate, officials said. No injuries were reported and passengers boarded a different aircraft after returning to the gate. In a statement, JetBlue said flight 1603 had come “into light contact with a parked unoccupied aircraft”. “Safety is JetBlue’s first priority, and both aircraft involved will be taken out of service for inspection and the incident will be investigated,” … Continue reading JetBlue plane hits parked aircraft at JFK airport

A man in his 60s has been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after traces of uranium were found at Heathrow Airport in December, Scotland Yard said. It comes after counter-terrorism officers searched an address in Cheshire on Saturday. The man was arrested under Section 9 of the Terrorism Act 2006, which covers the making and possession of radioactive devices and materials. He was released on bail until April. Commander Richard Smith, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said that “based on what we currently know”, the incident “still does not appear to be linked to any … Continue reading Man arrested over Uranium at Heathrow airport

Normal air traffic operations are slowly resuming in the US after flights were halted on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. The disruption was due to a “damaged database file”, the FAA said, adding that “at this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack”. Flights began taking off again around 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT), though airlines have warned of further delays. Airports nationwide were affected, from Denver to Atlanta to New York City. As of Wednesday night east coast time, nearly 10,000 flights in and out of the US had been delayed and more than 1,300 were … Continue reading Update: Further delays to US flights expected after FAA outage

India’s aviation regulator has pulled up an airline for leaving behind passengers on the tarmac in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. A flight by Go First, previously known as Go Air, took off from the airport in Bengaluru city, leaving more than 50 passengers forgotten in a bus. Reports said the travellers had checked in their baggage and had boarding passes in hand. The airline said it was investigating the incident. Go First apologised to passengers who complained on Twitter but has yet to explain what caused the confusion. The Bengaluru-Delhi flight took off at 06:20 local time on … Continue reading Go First flight under fire for leaving over 50 passengers behind on tarmac

British Airways has apologised after flights due to depart from the US were grounded for several hours. The airline said it was urgently investigating a technical issue with its third-party flight planning supplier. BA passengers have reported waiting for hours in airports. The airline said it aimed to get planes departing as quickly as possible, adding it was sorry for any disruption to its customers’ plans. Passengers have taken to Twitter to report waiting at John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than three hours. Others said they had been sitting on planes parked on runways for hours, before being … Continue reading British Airways flights leaving US grounded over technical issue