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Weekly UpdatesJul 5, 2009
Air China
Air China will begin offering direct flights from Beijing to Tibet this month, shaving two hours off the current travel time in a bid to boost tourism, state media said Wednesday. Jul 2, 2009
Air India
About 13,000 employees at state-run Air India walked off the job for two hours Friday after the airline failed to pay their monthly wage. Jul 3, 2009
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand will operate seasonal thrice-weekly Brisbane-Queenstown service from mid-December to the end of January. Jul 3, 2009
Air New Zealand, Airbus
Air New Zealand has installed required navigation performance (RNP) technology on its Airbus A320 fleet, two years after introducing it on its Boeing 737 fleet and saving around NZUSD 3 million (USD 1.89 million) from the programme. Jul 3, 2009
All Nippon Airways, Boeing
All Nippon Airways said on Wednesday it had increased its order for Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes to 55 from 50. Jul 1, 2009
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines began nonstop Sydney to Los Angeles flights Friday, becoming only the fourth carrier to fly the lucrative route. Delta Flight 16 left Sydney International Airport at 9:25 a.m. (2325 GMT), kicking off a daily service in either direction with a Boeing 777-200LR. Delta joins United Airlines, Qantas and V Australia on the route. Jul 3, 2009
Garuda Indonesia
Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the EU will lift its ban on Garuda Indonesia. Garuda intends to fly to Amsterdam beginning next year with new 777s, followed by London Heathrow and Frankfurt. Jul 1, 2009
Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Prime Air, Air Fast
Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the EU will lift its ban on Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Prime Air and Air Fast this month, according to The Jakarta Post. "The EU judge[s] that our local airlines have fulfilled 62 out of the 69 requirements to fly to the continent," Hassan said during a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission for Foreign Affairs. Indonesian carriers have been on the EU's blacklist for two years. Jul 1, 2009
Japan Airlines, Air France
Japan Airlines and Air France will expand their codeshare network July 7 with daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-Istanbul Ataturk service operated by Air France. Jul 3, 2009
OzJet Airlines, Strategic Airlines
OzJet Airlines of Australia announced its acquisition by Strategic Airlines, a charter and ACMI operator. Strategic said it will introduce an Airbus A320 on OzJet's Perth-Derby service by the end of September, replacing a chartered Fokker F100. Jun 30, 2009
Qantas Airways, Airbus
Qantas Airways' low-cost carrier Jetstar is looking to add more Airbus A330s now that Qantas group has cancelled some 787 orders and delayed others. Jul 1, 2009
S7 Airlines
S7 Airlines re-launched Irkutsk service to Tashkent (once-weekly) and Beijing (twice-weekly) aboard new A320s. Jul 3, 2009
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines will add a fourth daily Singapore-Manila 777 flight on July 10. Jul 1, 2009
Yemenia, Airbus
The sole survivor of a Yemeni jet that crashed into deep water while attempting to land on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros was reunited with her father back in France early Thursday. Bahia Bakari, who can barely swim, clung to floating debris for more than 12 hours before search teams spotted her struggling in rough seas. Rescuers have failed to find any of the remaining 152 passengers and crew since the Yemenia Airbus A310 crashed in rough weather in the early hours of Tuesday morning. French and American military aircraft continued to scour the crash site Thursday as hopes of another miracle find faded fast and efforts turned towards locating the wreckage thought to be in waters up to 500 meters (1,640 ft) deep. Local doctors, who marveled at Bakari's escape with little more than cuts, bruises and a fractured collar bone, said she was discharged at her father's request. "It was on the demand of her father in France. The girl was regaining her spirit and was in a satisfactory physical state," said Dr Jean Youssef, lead doctor at the disaster unit on Grand Comore. Television images showed her lying weakly in a poorly-equipped intensive care bed, unaware her mother had died in the crash. Youssef said Moroni's El Marouf hospital lacked the facilities needed to properly scan the teenager's body for any internal damage. Bakari returned to France on a French government jet with French Cooperation Secretary Alain Joyandet. Local rescuers suspect many of the dead remained trapped inside the doomed plane and say the search effort should focus on finding the wreck. "Everything leads us to believe that the bodies of the victims remain inside. In two days we haven't found a body, any large pieces of debris or suitcases floating on the water," disaster center member Ibrahim Abdourazak said. The cause of the crash is still unknown, officials say. The French defense ministry denied on Wednesday reports by the state-run airline that the flight recorder -- the so called black-box -- had been found. The airline said there were 75 Comoran passengers on board, along with 65 French nationals, one Palestinian and one Canadian. The crew comprised of six Yemenis, two Moroccans, one Indonesian, one Ethiopian and a Filipina. Jul 2, 2009
Yemenia, Airbus
The Airbus plane that crashed off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Tuesday had sparked a European Union inquiry two years ago into Yemenia airline's safety record, an EU Commission official said. Separately, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said Yemenia had passed the necessary checks to avoid a ban on operating in the 27-nation bloc, but that EU experts would ask it to explain what had happened in the Comoros accident. The Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board, including 66 French nationals, crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros as it approached in bad weather early on Tuesday, officials said. So far, only one survivor -- a 14-year-old girl -- has been found, a senior Comoros official said. "In July 2007, this plane gave us occasion to start inquiring about the safety record of Yemenia," the European Commission official said of the Airbus which crashed as it approached the Comoros with 153 people on board. "The concern was about incomplete reporting procedure and incomplete follow-up... Member states did 24 inspections over two years, showing its record was improving," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it had suspended Yemenia's permission to maintain EU-registered planes in February after the carrier failed a set of audit inspections. Jul 1, 2009
Yemenia, Airbus
French and US aircraft joined the hunt Wednesday for possible survivors from a plane that crashed off the Comoros archipelago, while in Paris expatriate Comorans tried to block another flight by the same airline. The Yemenia Airbus A310-300 went down in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday morning with 153 people on board as it came in to land at Moroni, the Comoran capital. It was flying the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen. Just one survivor -- a 14-year-old Franco-Comoran girl -- has been found in the sea. "Up to now we haven't found any other survivors, but we haven't given up hope," Comoran vice-president Idi Nadhoim said. As a flotilla of boats took to sea off the main Grande Comore island at first light, angry Comoran expatriates tried to block passengers from checking into another flight from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport to Yemen, the airports authority said. About 60 people who had been due to take the flight did not check in, though the spokeswoman could not say if the protest was the cause or if they had decided not to travel for another reason. About 100 people did check in and the flight took off. The survivor from the doomed flight, identified as Bakari Bahia, had cuts to her face and a fractured collar-bone. She was picked up during rescue efforts on Tuesday. "Her health is not in danger. She is very calm given the shock she suffered," local surgeon Ben Imani said at Moroni's El Marouf hospital. Sixty-six French nationals were aboard the flight, Paris officials said. Though a full list has not yet been published, a Yemeni official said there were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen on board. Comoran officials said France had sent a plane, and was also moving two ships into the area while the United States had sent a helicopter to help, and a plane with supplies. With a population of about 800,000, the formerly French-ruled Comoros archipelago comprises three islands off mainland east Africa and just north-west of Madagascar. Jul 1, 2009
ZZ AirGuide 090706
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