A new screening technology which may allow large electronic devices to remain in airline cabins has begun testing in the US as part of a cutting-edge partnership between  American Airlines and the Transport Security Administration.

The futuristic-looking Computed tomography (CT) checkpoint scanning equipment uses an X-ray camera that spins around the conveyor belt to shoot hundreds of images and build a 3-D picture of carry-on items.

It also applies what the TSA describes as “a sophisticated algorithm” to detect explosives and officers are on hand to open bags if further screening is needed.

The system is designed to speed up the security process by allowing people to leave laptops as well as liquids, aerosols and gels in their bags.

The TSA has partnered with American Airlines and has already begun a demonstration in one checkpoint lane in Terminal 4 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).  A similar demonstration will begin in Terminal E at  Logan International Airport (BOS), in Boston,  later this month. Passengers will be asked if they’re willing to volunteer to use the screening.

“The safety and security of travelers is the number one priority of TSA and our partnership with industry is critical in helping develop innovative and critical security enhancements,” TSA acting administrator Huban Gowadia said in a statement. “We already use this type of technology for checked baggage, and we expect these smaller checkpoint-sized machines will provide the same high level of security.”

A successful test could see the TSA and American deploy CT technology to other locations.

Another US company, One  Resonance Sensors, says it has developed a more compact and less costly scanner that specialises in screening devices such as laptops and notebooks.

The company says its MobiLab ES scanner is being assessed by the TSA and uses radio-frequency electromagnetic waves to inspect electronic devices.

The new technology comes as the Department of Homeland Security is considering extending a ban imposed in March on taking laptops and other large electronic devices as carry-on US-bound direct flights from 10 North African and Middle East destinations.

Looking to fly to Miami from the wide, wide world?

Your international options are taking off.

Airline Network News and Analysis says over the past 12 months Miami International Airport (MIA) registered the biggest jump in new international routes among US  airports.

That ties it with Los Angeles International, with each adding 10 new international runs in the year to May, 2017.

The second half of 2017 promises even more international action at Miami.

Among the additions: Aer Lingus launches three weekly flights to Dublin September 1, SAS begins weekly flights to Stockholm October 29 and El Al again makes an appearance in the MIA market November 1 with thrice-weekly nonstops to Tel Aviv.

MIA, say airport officials, handles a full 70 percent of all international visitors to Florida.

And don’t mistake MIA for a pure leisure gateway: the airport is a formidable business gateway too.

It’s home to American Airlines’ vaunted Latin American hub, connecting what some refer to as the “capital city of South America” with much of the rest of the planet.

While it has its share of low-fare carriers, most of the cheap seaters serving MIA are long-range operations: WOW air, Eurowings, airberlin and the like.

If you’re in search of closer-in low-fare flights to the Caribbean, Central and near South America it pays to take a look at What Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FLL) has to offer.

Located 21 miles (34kms) north of MIA, FLL is a magnet for low-fare airlines.  JetBlue, Spirit and Southwest dominate the tarmac at there.

FLL and MIA are keen competitors. MIA lays claim to offering “more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other U.S. airport,” says Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González.  That’s one of the reasons it “continues to attract a diverse mixture of airlines from around the world”.

The 20-airline SkyTeam alliance will open its first branded lounge in North America later this year at Vancouver International Airport.

The move comes as new figures show robust annual growth in the premium segment and that fares are holding up well.

The latest financial monitor from the International Air Transport Association showed premium origin and destination traffic accounted for 5.5 percent of global travel in the first three months of this year, down slightly on the same quarter a year ago, but 27.2 per cent of total passenger revenues, up from 26.4 per cent.

Annual growth in premium passenger traffic was also stronger than its economy counterpart in most premium markets, particularly in Europe-Asia and the north and mid-pacific.

The Vancouver will be the alliance’s seventh branded lounge —  joining facilities in Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London Heathrow and Sydney — designed to give premium passengers an upmarket environment.

Its most recent addition, at Beijing International Capital Airport, opened at Terminal 2 in May and offers a range of amenities for 12 carriers servicing the Chinese capital.

The lounges are open to first and business class passengers travellin on, or connecting to, a same-day international flight operated by a SkyTeam member airline as well SkyTeam Elite Plus members travelling on a flight. SkyTeam Elite Plus members can also invite a guest.

Nine SkyTeam members service Vancouver: Aeroméxico, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Xiamen Airlines.

“With the opening of Vancouver later this year, SkyTeam will offer more branded airport lounges around the world than any other airline alliance. Increasing the number of shared facilities worldwide realizes significant synergies for our airlines while offering a greatly enhanced airport experience for our top customers,” SkyTeam chief executive Perry Cantarutti said in a statement.  “Meanwhile, we continue to invest in technology so that we can capitalize on emerging customer trends, drive greater efficiencies and continue to deliver value for our airlines and their passengers.”

SkyTeam services more than 1000 destinations in 177 countries with almost 17,500 departures and some 665 million passengers annually.

The flight crew of a Jetstar Boeing 787 has been praised for a high degree of professionalism after icing shut down the Dreamliner’s autopilot and made some automated flight protections unavailable.

The plane travelling from Melbourne to Singapore in December, 2015, was about four hours into the flight and north of Australia when airspeed indications became erratic.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released Thursday revealed the autopilot disconnected and the primary light control system reverted to a secondary mode that did not include some automated functions and protections. These included the autopilot as well as systems designed to protect against aerodynamic stalls and help control pitch, roll and yaw.

The airspeed returned to normal after about 17 seconds but the aircraft remained in the secondary control mode and could only be flown manually.

The crew decided to jettison fuel and divert to Darwin, where they landed safely.

“In this case, the crew showed a high level of professionalism in response to a weather-related event,’’ the ATSB said. “The crew demonstrated high levels of communication and coordination, promptly applied checklists and procedures.”

Investigators found that monsoon-related weather in the area was conducive to ice crystals capable of affecting three pitot sensors used to calculate airspeed and the plane’s angle of attack, the angle between the wings and the air flow.

They said the impact of icing caused the recorded airspeed to drop below a point that triggered the secondary flight control mode. The flight controls remained “latched’’ in this condition and could only be reinstated to normal mode on the ground.

“Boeing revised the flight control software to reduce the chances of reverting to secondary mode in a short duration, erratic airspeed event,’’ the investigators said.

The ATSB found two similar events involving B787s and pointed to a move by the US Federal Aviation Administration in response to one of these to publish an airworthiness directive warning flight crew not to make large abrupt magnitude flight control inputs in response to unrealistic drops in airspeed.

Boeing also made flight control software changes to take this into account.

QATAR Airways says it will continue to expand its network beyond the four countries that have severed diplomatic ties as the airline’s chief executive lashed out at what he termed an illegal and unprecedented blockade.

Qatar chief executive Akbar Al Baker called on the International Civil Aviation Organisation to intervene in the move by Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to impose an economic blockade on Qatar that included closing airspace.

The move caused the suspension of Qatar’s flights to the four countries but it was able to maintain its wider network using a restricted corridor to the north of the Gulf state.

“Qatar Airways continues to operate to the rest of its network as per its published schedules with day-to-day adjustments for operational and commercial efficiencies, which is standard airline practice,’’ the airline said yesterday as it announced a record net profit of $US538 million for the year to March 31. That was up 21.7 per cent on the previous year as revenues rose 10.4 per cent and passenger numbers rose by more than 20 per cent to 32 million.

It came as Qatar, along with other Gulf airlines, was hit by a ban on large electronic items hit in March by a ban on large electronic items in the cabins of aircraft operating direct US-Bound flights.

The two events are set to hit Qatar’s bottom line in the current financial year and Al Baker told CNN in a broadcast interview the loss of some 18 destinations from its network had hurt business.

He said the blockade was “unprecedented in the history of aviation” and would create a big impact for Qatar Airways.

However, the airline would not need to seek cash from the Qatar government because of its cash reserves.

He said the airline had legal channels through which to object via the Chicago Convention and the Air Services Transit Agreement covering overflights.

“ICAO, which is the international regulator and part of the United Nations, should heavily get involved and put their weight behind this to declare this an illegal act,’’ he said, noting he had options he was not prepared to talk about on-camera.

Asked about the closure of airline offices in three countries, he said: “It is actually a travesty of civilised behaviour to close airline offices.

“Airline offices are not (a) political arm, they are commercial offices which sell tickets. We were sealed as if it was a criminal organisation, we were not allowed to give refunds to our passengers and we were not even given time to address those issues other than these 18 destinations that we have been blocked from.’’

The Qatar boss said the airline intended to continue with an expansion which saw it add 10 new destinations in fiscal 2017 to countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Thailand and the US.

It plans to add a record 24 new destinations in the next year, including cities such as the Irish capital of Dublin,  San Francisco in the US,  Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, Chile.

“We are going to continue with our expansion because the state of Qatar never gets intimidated by acts that are illegal and against international law,’’ he said.

Al Baker also expressed disappointment in the reaction to the blockade by US President Donald Trump, who endorsed the ban and called on Qatar to stop funding terrorism.

He said the US, which uses Qatar as a base for military operations in the Middle East, should be leader trying the break the blockade “and not sitting and watching what’s going on and actually putting fuel on fire.’’

Qatar’s annual results showed the airline boosted capacity by 21.9 per cent in 2016-17 to more than 185 million available seat kilometres and finished the year with a fleet of 196 aircraft.

It announced during the year plans to purchase up to 100 Boeing aircraft comprising 30 firm 787-9s and 10 firm 777-300ERs with a letter of intent to purchase up to a further 60 B737 MAX 8 aircraft.

The carrier also increased its stake in International Airline Group from 15.24 per cent to 20.01 per cent and acquired 10 per cent of LATAM Group.

Investigations are underway into what caused a gaping hole in the engine inlet cowling of a China Eastern jet on Sunday night.

The Shanghai-bound Airbus A330-200 was climbing out of Sydney after an 8.30pm take-off and was at about 5000ft when the crew reported a problem with the engine cowling.

“For your information,  maybe you would check this runway — 34 Left,’’ the pilots told air traffic control. “We just had (a) visual check of the engine number one and the cowling case has broken,’’

Passengers reported hearing a noise as the aircraft took off but no debris was found on the runway.

China Eastern said the Airbus A330, operating as Flight MU736,  encountered an unspecified engine problem after takeoff from Sydney Airport to Shanghai on Sunday night.

“The crew observed the abnormal situation of the left engine and decided to return to Sydney airport immediately,’’ the airline said in a statement. “All passengers and crew members were landed safely. They were then arranged accommodation by China Eastern Airlines. ‘’

The airline said passengers on the affected flight had been accommodated on other China Eastern flights or other airlines.

“The returned aircraft is currently under investigation at Sydney airport,’’ it said.

The damage to the cowling is in front of the fan and other moving parts of the engine and is similar to that suffered by an Egyptair A330 also powered by Rolls-Royce Trent engines on May 15.

According to The Aviation Herald website, the crew of the Egyptair plane with 211 people on board aborted a take-off after an engine failure.

The problem caused a large hole in the cowl at the engine inlet on the left-hand engine which Egyptian safety authorities said involved an uncontained engine failure.

The Sydney aircraft may also have hit something or there could have been a structural weakness in the inlet cowling material itself.

The inlet cowling comprises the front third of the engine nacelle and is largely made of composite materials by aerospace company Bombardier.

European safety authorities in 2011 issued an airworthiness directive requiring inspections of Trent 700 air intake cowls after two operators reported extensive damage as a result of the collapse of acoustic panels in the engine, likely due to disbonding.

 “This condition, if not detected and corrected, could lead to the detachment of the engine air intake cowl from the engine, possibly resulting in ingestion of parts by, and consequence damage to, the engine, or injury to persons on the ground,’’ the European Aviation Safety Agency said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration in 2012 issued an AD warning of cracking of air intake cowls on Rolls-Royce Trent engines involving fractured thermal anti-icing tubes. It said the AD was aimed at preventing  “degraded structural integrity’’.

However, engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce believes it is too early to speculate about any connection to other incidents.

A Rolls-Royce spokesman told AirlineRatings: ‘We are aware of the incident and will be working closely with relevant partners to understand the cause of the issue.”

Twin engine aircraft can safely fly on one engine and engine failures, although often spectacular, have become increasingly rare in modern jetliners.