Southwest Airlines suddenly grounds 34 planes in its fleet

Southwest Airlines had to abruptly ground 34 Boeing 737-700 aircraft on Thanksgiving Eve when the low-fare behemoth discovered that the maintenance paperwork related to the grounded planes was not in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety directives. Per an FAA mandate, Southwest was required to do immediate detailed visual inspections of the 34 grounded aircraft. A Southwest spokesperson said the carrier voluntarily followed the FAA mandate. (www.bizjournals.com) さらに...

Plane in holding pattern takes side trip around Mt. Rainier

An Alaska Airlines pilot stuck in a holding pattern due to fog at Sea-Tac Airport near Seattle on Tuesday decided to take the monotony out of the delay by getting clearance to circle Mount Rainier as a treat for his passengers. Flight 401 from Las Vegas was forced to travel in a circle over Lewis County south of the airport before its pilot took the side trip around the highest mountain in the Cascade Range, as reported by KOMO and the Seattle PI. (www.msn.com) さらに...

Southwest Airlines suddenly grounds scores of planes due to aircraft weight issues

Southwest Airlines abruptly grounded 66 Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet last Wednesday after issues with the carrier’s aircraft weight records were discovered. In an internal memo to employees on the matter that was obtained by the Chicago Business Journal, Southwest said: “Today (Wednesday) we discovered the weights being sent to our Dispatch Operation did not match our other weight records for a number of aircraft in the fleet. As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, we have stopped… (www.bizjournals.com) さらに...

Oman Air plans to order Airbus A350XWB instead of Boeing 787-10, sources

Last June, chief executive officer Abdulaziz Al Raisi has revealed plans of the Gulf carrier about renewing its widebody fleet. The national carrier of Oman wants to replace some of its aging A330s with new devices. The state-owned company thinks that the next-generation widebody aircraft with higher capacity are best-suited to the airline's expanding network. Oman Air management is currently working on a dozen possible new route launches next year. After nearly two years of evaluation, the… (airlinerwatch.com) さらに...

Teen daughter removed from front of Spirit Airlines plane while uninformed mother sat in back, lawsuit claims

A 15-year-old girl is removed from a Spirit Airlines flight due to overbooking, while her unbeknownst mother and brother sit in the back of the plane — and don’t realize until halfway through the flight. While it may sound like the scene out of a movie like Flightplan or Home Alone 2, a Michigan woman claims it happened to her. Stacy Giordano says she was flying with her daughter and son from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Detroit, Mich., in April of 2018, when the family had to switch planes in… (www.yahoo.com) さらに...

Emirates says goodbye to its last Boeing 777-300

Emirates is preparing to say goodbye to its last Boeing 777-300 in the fleet. The aircraft, which was delivered to the Gulf-based carrier in 2003, will be phased out soon. The aircraft is the shorter variant of the 777-300ER (Extended Range) and operated by Emirates on regional flights only. The company had a relatively small sub-fleet of 777-300 since 1999. The outdated planes have been taken out of service in recent years. In 2016, one was lost in a crash landing at Dubai airport. Emirates is… (airlinerwatch.com) さらに...

Delta has apologised after handing out 'creepy' Diet Coke napkins to passengers encouraging them to give their number to their 'plane crush'

Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola have apologised for handing out "creepy" Diet Coke napkins to passengers on board flights. Travellers have been sharing images of the napkins, which feature an array of messages encouraging fliers to flirt with fellow passengers, on Twitter. "Be a little old school. Write down your number and give it to your plane crush. You never know..." reads one napkin. Another says: "Because you're on a plane full of interesting people and hey...… (www.msn.com) さらに...

FAA mandates changes to Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it was mandating new flight control software and parts to Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner to address what it called an unsafe operating condition of certain products on the plane. The FAA's new airworthiness directive was prompted by a finding that certain areas in the 787's tire and wheel "threat zones" could be susceptible to damage, resulting in the loss of braking and steering power on the ground at certain… (www.yahoo.com) さらに...

Boeing never tested scenarios for AOA sensor malfunctions, sources claim

On April 29, during the annual meeting of the company, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg told that there was nothing wrong with the design of the 737 MAX anti-stall software and blamed the pilots of the crashed MAX jets for not following the procedures as it was stated in the Boeing's training manuals. But an investigation by CNN revealed the Boeing 737 MAX anti-stall system that was linked to both Lion Air and Ethiopian crashes was never tested by Boeing for malfunctions, although… (airlinerwatch.com) さらに...

United Airlines says using larger jets on 737 MAX routes is 'costing money'

United Airlines’ use of larger aircraft on routes previously flown by Boeing Co’s grounded 737 MAX jets is costing the carrier money in the short-term, the company’s President Scott Kirby said in a letter to employees on Tuesday. Chicago-based United, which owns 14 MAX jets and has dozens more on order, has been using its larger 777 or 787 aircraft to cover routes formerly flown by the suspended MAX planes, without being able to fill the extra last-minute seats. “Of course, we can’t keep this up… (www.reuters.com) さらに...