AirAsia X has been under heightened surveillance by Australia’s air safety regulator since an Airbus A330 leaving Sydney last year was forced to divert to Melbourne after its crew seriously affected key systems trying to fix a data entry error.

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority has confirmed that the Kuala Lumpur-based budget airline has been subject increased ramp checks since the captain inadvertently entered the wrong longitude in the aircraft’s flight navigation system in March last year. 

The error, outlined in an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report issued last week, placed the Kuala Lumpur-bound aircraft 11,000kms away from its actual location, prompting it to turn the wrong way after taking off and cross the departure path of an adjacent parallel runway.

Read: AirAsia X flight 11,000km off course

The crew did not detect the navigation problem until the plane was airborne and the aircraft was not fitted with an upgraded flight management system that would have prevented the data entry error.

Their attempts to fix the problem made matters worse by affecting key flight guidance and control systems.

At one point, the captain’s primary display lost all information except airspeed and vertical speed while the first officer’s display showed incorrect heading information and there was no usable map, waypoint of tracking information.

The autopilot and autothrust systems were also unavailable and some of the aircraft’s handling characteristics were affected.

The mounting problems meant the aircraft could land only in visual conditions and, when bad weather prevented it from doing so in Sydney, air traffic controllers used radar to vector it to Melbourne where the crew were able to land on the second attempt in better weather. 

A CASA spokeswoman told AirlineRatings.com it was standard policy to review all safety occurrences and incidents involving foreign operators in Australian airspace.

She said AirAsia X had been involved in two incidents in the past 18 months, including the one involving the departure from Sydney airport.

The second involved loss of separation between an AirAsia A330 and an Airbus A320 on the Gold Coast on July 21 that was still under investigation by the ATSB.

“The ramp inspection frequency is determined based on a detailed analysis of the overall safety performance,’’ she said. “This applies to all foreign aircraft operators.’’

In the Gold Coast incident, an AirAsia X A330 was departing Gold Coast Airport for Auckland, New Zealand, while the A320 was arriving from Avalon, Victoria. 

The aircraft were in visual meteorological conditions and each of the flight crews could see the other plane.

Air traffic control instructed the A330 to pass behind the A320 and climb but as it climbed both aircraft received a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) resolution advisory and the controller received a short-term conflict alert.

The ATSB found that separation had reduced to about 600ft vertically and 0.35nm (630m) laterally compared to a required separation of 1000ft and 3nm (6km). 

“Although there was a loss of separation, there was no collision risk as both crews smoothly completed the advisory manoeuvres associated with the TCAS RA,’’ investigators said.

The AirAsia group has also been involved in a serious incident in Perth, Western Australia, in February when the pilots of an Indonesia AirAsia flight approaching the airport at night were told to abort their landing because they were 300m too low.

AirAsia X has been asked to comment on CASA’s increased scrutiny but is yet to respond. 

However, last week AirAsia X said it had taken corrective action prior to the publication of the ATSB report to upgrade flight management systems across its fleet.

It had also developed a training bulletin and package for flight crew that emphasised correct operation and alignment of air data and inertial reference system and briefed all pilots on an internal review.

“We also wish to reiterate that we have in place robust management systems to monitor and prevent similar incidents from reoccurring,’’ it said. “The airline has regularly passed safety and security audits conducted by various international regulators. We remain committed to ensuring our compliance to all safety and security regulations.’’
 

Norwegian Air Shuttle will add the Spanish city of Barcelona to its growing Boeing 787 network when it launches long-haul low-cost flights from the airport next year.

The low-cost cost airline will also ramp up its network from Copenhagen, Denmark, to the U.S. with a new non-stop service to Oakland International Airport (OAK), one of the three international airports in the San Francisco Bay, from March. 

And the airline’s CEO Bjorn Kjos has hinted it is planning more long-haul flights. “Our low-cost long-haul growth between Europe & the U.S. has only just started,” he told Bloomberg TV.

Barcelona El Prat Airport, which features a stunning new terminal, will be Norwegian’s seventh European base offering long-haul services, joining Copenhagen, London Gatwick, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and the Norwegian city of Bergen. It also offers flights from Guadeloupe and Martinique in the French Caribbean to the U.S.

From June 5, Norwegian will connect the Spanish city with direct flights to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Oakland, New York’s Newark Liberty International and Fort Lauderdale in Miami.  Norwegian’s flights to Newark (EWR) will be the carrier’s first from that New York City-area airport.

The airline already flies to New York’s JFK airport, with year-round service from the European destinations of Copenhagen, London Gatwick, Oslo and Stockholm and seasonal services Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Norwegian’s long-haul operations in Barcelona will begin with two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft permanently based at the airport, where passengers can connect to the airline’s short-haul network.

The low-cost carrier will offer 325,000 seats on its intercontinental services from Barcelona during the first full year of operations of its long-haul base there. Of these, 170,000 seats are to California – divided equally between Oakland and Los Angeles.

Norwegian’s Barcelona – Oakland route will be the only direct, non-stop route between San Francisco and any Spanish airport.

Kjos, who founded Norwegian, described the launch of direct flights between Barcelona and the U.S.  as a “new milestone” for the airline.

“Spain is an important market for us where we have been very well received since we launched here,'' he said. "Many Spaniards choose to fly Norwegian on domestic Spanish routes and routes to other parts of Europe. An increasing number of Americans also fly with us to Europe, and we look forward to welcoming even more travelers from both sides of the Atlantic.”

The four new long-haul routes from Barcelona “is only the first step in what promises to be a long journey,” Kjos said, vowing that Norwegian will “develop the full potential of long-haul opertions from Barcelona, ”‹”‹adding more frequencies and more routes than we announced today.”

All Norwegian’s long-haul flights are operated with a new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Its 787-8s are configured with a capacity of 291 seats, including 32 seats in premium economy and 259 in standard economy class, while the larger 787-9 has 344 seats (35 in the premium cabin and 309 in the economy cabin).

Premium service includes a dedicated check-in counter, additional luggage allowance, fast track security, lounge access, priority boarding, seats with a 19-inch width and a 46-inch pitch “sleeper seats, all meals and drinks.  All seats are equipped with touch-screen interactive IFE TV screens and all its 787s are WiFi enabled.

At present, Norwegian has a fleet of 11 Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines powered Dreamliners, which will increase to 42 units in 2020.

The four new U.S. routes from Barcelona will operate throughout the year, according to the following schedule:

Barcelona – Los Angeles: Begins June 5 with twice-weekly service rising to three-times-a-week from August 22.

Barcelona – Newark: Begins June 6 with twice-weekly service rising to four-times-a-week from August 22.

Barcelona – Oakland: Begins June 7 with twice-weekly service rising to three-times-a-week August 22.

Barcelona – Fort Lauderdale:  Twice-weekly service from Aug. 22.

Copenhagen – Oakland: Begins March 28 with twice-weekly service.

Norwegian offers a total 44 routes to the U.S., 37 of which are from Europe and seven are from the French Caribbean. Upcoming routes to the U.S. include Las Vegas from London launching on October 31; Las Vegas from Oslo launching on November 1; and Fort Lauderdale from Guadeloupe launching on December 17.

AIR China has moved to distance itself from “inappropriate’’ comments in an in-flight magazine slammed as racist.

The airline says it has ordered the removal of the magazine from its aircraft after a CNBC reporter noticed a travel tip advising visitors to London to take precautions when entering areas “mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people’'.

“We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when traveling," the tip said.

The entry in the September issue of The Wings of China magazine caused a furore in Britain and prompted demands for an apology.

"I am shocked and appalled that even today some people would see it as acceptable to write such blatantly untrue and racist statements," London-based MP Virendra Sharma told CNN.

Air China said in a statement that Wings of China was one of almost 100 magazines distributed in its planes.

“These publications are only supplementary reading materials and none of them represents the view of Air China,’’ it said. “The safety tips seen in the article “London, City of Hat Tricks’’ on the September issue of Wings of China are inappropriate.’’

The airline said it had also demanded the Wings of China editorial team “learn the lesson, enhance content security so as to avoid similar issues from happening again.’’

As an international airline with routes covering six continents, Air China “always highly respects the cultures and traditions or the people from different ethnicities in the world,’’ it said.

The incident was deemed serious enough to warrant involvement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said it hoped Air China would properly handle the situation.

"I want to emphasise the position of the Chinese government," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying  told a regular press briefing. "We always hold that all races are equal and firmly oppose all forms of racial discrimination."
 

The chief executives of several European airlines have jointly urged the UK government to abolish the Air Passenger Duty, or APD, to boost British tourism and the economy.

 Economic analysis by PwC shows that removing the APD would grow British GDP by 1.7 per cent and create 61,000 new jobs by 2020.

Most countries in the world levy equivalent departing air passenger taxes, but the UK tops nearly all the league tables. Passengers last year paid the UK government’s Treasury about £3 billion (US$3.9 billion) in APD for departing from an airport in the country on a domestic or an international flight.

“The UK spends hundreds of millions of pounds attracting foreign tourists and business people to the country and then charges them up to £146 in tax to return home,’’ said Thomas Reynaert, managing director or Airlines for Europe (A4E), a Brussels-based airline lobby group. “It’s time for the UK government to get rid of this tax which punishes business and consumers.”

The issue of “anti-competitive” aviation taxes in Europe is one of the key policy priorities of A4E, which has the continent’s five largest airline groups — Air France KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group (IAG), Lufthansa Group and Ryanair — among its members.

Other airline and business associations also have urged the UK government to remove or drastically reduce the ADP. The British Air Transport Association (BATA), the trade body for UK registered airlines, has been campaigning for this for years. It is part of the ‘A Fair Tax on Flying’ campaign and BATA commissioned the consultancy firm Steer Davies Gleave to analyze and assess the APD.

The final report was released earlier this year and reveals that:

• The applicable rates (in nominal terms) of the APD have increased significantly between its introduction in 1994 and 2015. The rate for short-haul trips in the lowest class of travel has increased by 160 per cent, from £5 to £13. For longer haul trips the rate for the lowest class of travel has increased by 630 per cent, from £10 to £73. The corresponding increases for travel in higher classes (premium economy, business and first), have been 420 per cent for short-haul trips (from £5 to £26) and 1,360 per cent for longer-haul trips (from £10 to £146).
• The UK APD is the highest aviation tax levied on passengers departing from airports in the EU, Norway and Switzerland for both short-haul and long-haul journeys in all classes.
•  On a global level, the UK has the highest tax for long-haul destinations for travel in any class, whereas it has the 61st and 27th highest tax for short-haul destinations for travel in economy and higher classes, respectively.
• On a per passenger-kilometre basis, the UK ranks highest globally for domestic and long-haul journeys in economy. For short-haul international journeys, the UK ranks below countries in Africa and Latin America, but above other world regions including Australia and North-America.

Over the years, the UK has simplified its APD and it currently has two categories based on stage length — band A for flights up to 2,000 miles and band B for longer flights — and two categories based on the class of travel, the lowest class and the higher classes comprising premium economy, business and first.

The need to abolishes the APD is even more imperative in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, according to A4E.

The excessively high tax on the departing passengers APD puts the UK “at a competitive disadvantage as other European hubs take traffic and business away from the UK precisely because of the APD. Following the vote to leave the European Union, every effort should be made to ensure the UK economy improves its competitiveness and secures its position as worldwide trading nation,” Reynaert emphasised.

He advised the UK government looks to other countries in Europe where it can find experience and “hard economic facts” showing that removing aviation taxes is beneficial to the economy and connectivity. For example, Ireland saw a 52 per cent increase in Northern Ireland residents flying from Dublin Airport in the year following the Irish government’s decision to scrap the air travel tax on passenger departures.

Cathay Pacific will add Melbourne to its growing Airbus A350 network when it brings its newest aircraft type Downunder from February 1.

The use of the A350-900 , outfitted with enhanced cabin product as well as wireless internet access, is part of a push by Cathay to increase capacity to Australia’s second biggest city by 15.7 per cent.

The airline has been flying the new aircraft in South-East Asia and recently began services to London’s Gatwick Airport and Dusseldorf, in Germany. Other destinations already announced include Auckland, Vancouver, Paris and Rome.

 The new plane will operate one of Cathay’s three daily flights to Melbourne and will be joined on March 1 by the airline’s popular Boeing 777-300ER on a second daily flight. The bigger B777, which will operate as the daily CX178 flight, boosts the availability of premium seating with 40 seats in business and 32 in premium economy.

The aircraft replace Airbus A330s and bring the number of weekly seats into and out of Melbourne to 12,194.

The A350 will be deployed on the daily CX104 flight, which currently departs Melbourne at 1420 and arrives into Hong Kong at 2150, and the return flight CX105. 

New features on the aircraft include new premium economy seats, high resolution touch video screens, better economy seats and well-designed enhancements to business class. Like its composite competitor, the Boeing 787, the A350 has higher cabin pressure and greater humidity to make passengers feel fresher after long flights.

Read our A350 review

Cathay Pacific general manager Southwest pacific Nelson Chin said Cathay had grown its Melbourne operation to 21 flights a week over the 40 years it had been operating to the city.

 “It is really exciting to be introducing the Airbus A350 into Melbourne,’’ Chin said in a statement. “I know people are going to love the quieter, more comfortable inflight experience with larger windows, new seats and a spacious aesthetically-pleasing cabin with LED mood lighting. The introduction of the Boeing 777-300ER onto CX178, which departs daily at 2330, not only adds more business, premium economy and economy class seats, but it also provides better payload which will help facilitate cargo uplift.’’

Cathay currently operates 74 passenger flights a week between Hong Kong and Australia, with over 23 years of continuous services to all six major Australian cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Adelaide, and Perth.
 

Australia’s Jetstar has become the latest low-cost carrier to target budget conscious business travellers and expects strong demand from small to medium enterprises.

The Qantas offshoot has launched a new Flexibiz option that allows business travellers from Australia, Singapore or New Zealand to change their flights, gives them an extra carry-on allowance and allows them an to select an upfront seat without paying the usual charge. They can also get a credit voucher for a cancelled booking that is valid for six months.

The bundle can be added to Jetstar’s starter fares for up to $34 on domestic flights, $39 on short haul international flights and $55 on international flights.

The move follows a road paved by other low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet and comes as Virgin Australia has changed its fare structure.

Ryanair introduced “business plus’’ fares two years ago which allowed passengers to make changes to their flights, albeit at cost,  and offered a 20kg luggage allowance and fast-track security clearance.  EasyJet  introduced a more flexible fare in 2010 which included unlimited changes, free hold luggage, free seat selection, fast track security and priority boarding.

Jetstar Group chief executive officer Jayne Hrdlicka said the airline was responding to feedback from small to medium size businesses who want to save money but want more flexibility and some value-added extras.

Hrdlicka said the airline was seeing a growing number of business travellers happy to fly with a low-cost carrier but needing the flexibility to change flights when a business meeting ended earlier or later than expected.

She said Jetstar was expecting strong demand from small and medium size businesses.

“While the majority of customers travel with us for leisure purposes, on particular routes during peak times we see a significant number of customers travelling for business,’’ she said. “Qantas is well-established in the premium corporate travel market, and we want to complement this by ensuring that the other end of the business market is well-catered for. This is part of our dual-brand strategy, where each airline focuses on specific market segments.

“Our aim is to further grow our market share of the price-sensitive business market.’’

The new flexible fares are available for businesses who have registered at Jetstar’s Business Hub website using an Australian Business Number or the New Zealand or Singaporean equivalent.
 

Cathay Pacific will add Melbourne to its growing Airbus A350 network when it brings its newest aircraft type Downunder from February 1.

The use of the A350-900, outfitted with enhanced cabin product as well as wireless internet access, is part of a push by Cathay to increase capacity to Australia’s second biggest city by 15.7 per cent.

The airline has been flying the new aircraft in South-East Asia and recently began services to London’s Gatwick Airport and Dusseldorf, in Germany. Other destinations already announced include Auckland, Vancouver, Paris and Rome.

 The new plane will operate one of Cathay’s three daily flights to Melbourne and will be joined on March 1 by the airline’s popular Boeing 777-300ER on a second daily flight. The bigger B777, which will operate as the daily CX178 flight, boosts the availability of premium seating with 40 seats in business and 32 in premium economy.

The two aircraft replace smaller Airbus A330s and bring the number of weekly seats into and out of Melbourne to 12,914.

The A350 will be deployed on the daily CX104 flight, which currently departs Melbourne at 1420 and arrives into Hong Kong at 2150, as well as return  CX105 flight. 

New features on the aircraft include new premium economy seats, high resolution touch video screens, better economy seats and well-designed enhancements to business class.

htttp://www.airlineratings.com/news/788/cathay-pacifics-new-a350-a-winner-for-passengers-

Like its composite competitor, the Boeing 787, the A350 has higher cabin pressure and greater humidity to make passengers feel fresher after long flights.

Cathay Pacific general manager Southwest Pacific Nelson Chin said Cathay had grown its Melbourne operation to 21 flights a week over the 40 years it had been operating to the city.

 “It is really exciting to be introducing the Airbus A350 into Melbourne,’’ Chin said in a statement. “I know people are going to love the quieter, more comfortable inflight experience with larger windows, new seats and a spacious aesthetically-pleasing cabin with LED mood lighting. The introduction of the Boeing 777-300ER onto CX178, which departs daily at 2330, not only adds more business, premium economy and economy class seats, but it also provides better payload which will help facilitate cargo uplift.’’

Cathay currently operates 74 passenger flights a week between Hong Kong and Australia, with over 23 years of continuous services to all six major Australian cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Adelaide, and Perth.