Stormy weather, rowdy passengers and security threats, sure, but squabbling flight crew? That was the reason behind the cancellation of a Qantas flight from Tokyo to Melbourne on Good Friday.
Qantas has launched an investigation into a fight involving several of the aircraft's flight crew that ended up delaying hundreds of passengers and left a crew member in hospital.
The scuffle started out as a heated argument in a Tokyo night spot, about 15 hours before the long-haul crew was due to start work on the flight to Melbourne. As it intensified at least one punch was thrown, with one crew member needing treatment in hospital, it is understood.
A spokesman for Qantas, Michael Sharp, confirmed an "incident" had happened in Japan over the Easter weekend and said the airline had immediately launched an investigation.
Mr Sharp said Qantas had to cancel the flight because a member of the flight crew had been stood down - with full pay.
A British teenager who idolises Richard Branson is to launch his own airline. Eighteen-year-old Martin Halstead�s Alpha 1 Airways will operate a twice-daily service between Oxford and Cambridge. The two cities, both home to internationally renowned universities, are not linked by a convenient road or rail network.
Halstead said he has used money left to him by his grandmother, and saved more from part time jobs.
A new study has found that recycled air in aircraft cabins does not help spread
the flu and other respiratory diseases among passengers. UK medial journal
The Lancet will release a study stating that fears relating to diseases
spreading in aircraft are largely unfounded.
In fact, the study argues that the environment control system used in commercial
aircraft seems to restrict the spread of airborne pathogens. �The
perceived risk in greater than the actual risk,� the study said. The study
suggested modern airlines are no greater source of contagion than other confined
spaces, including offices.
Last year was the safest in aviation history, according to the IATA. The association claims that in 2004 a total of 428 people were killed in crashes worldwide, the same number as in 1945. Back then, nine million passengers roamed the sky, compared to last year�s 1.8 billion. IATA expressed its concern about Africa, where aviation safety remains a serious issue.
Last year, Africa had a crash rate 10 times greater than the rest of the world.
Meanwhile more Australians than ever are choosing to travel by air domestically and regionally, according to the Bureau of Transport
and Regional Economics� report.
According to the department, the industry continues to operate at record levels, with 10 of the 12 busiest months in
Australian aviation history occurring in 2004.
Passenger numbers on Australian domestic and regional airlines jumped 14 per cent in the year ended December 31, 2004, with
numbers measured at more than 38.7 million passengers.
The most expensive hotel ever built has opened in Abu Dhabi. The new Emirates Palace
- comprising of 400 rooms, 128 kitchens and pantries, 20 restaurants and 755
plasma screens - cost $3.6 billion to build.
A single lead-in room costs $16,400 per night (plus a 20 per cent service change)!
Patrick Corporation has won control of Virgin Blue Airlines. Patrick, which launched a $1.1 billion offer for the shares in the airline it did not already own.
At the end of March it owned 54.26% of the discount airline. Richard
Branson's Virgin Group holds a stake in Virgin Blue of about 25 per cent.
Patrick's wholly owned subsidiary, Plzen, made its offer nine days after Virgin Blue warned its annual profit would fall by
as much as 15 per cent due to sluggish demand and a price war with Jetstar.
Patrick has said it would be happy to retain Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey, while promising a wider review once it
gained control.
Sydney Airport is rated in the top five airports worldwide by the 2004 AETRA survey, which is conducted
by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Over 80,000 passengers from 52 major
international airports in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific participated in the survey. Sydney Airport took out two prestigious ratings and was the only airport in the top five that is not government subsidised or
owned.
Virgin Blue is for the first time offering clients a refund option as part of a new �Blue Plus� fares structure specifically
designed to attract Australian business travellers. Commercial officer Stefan Pichler said the new fares were in response to feedback from corporate customers and demonstrated
the airline�s commitment to developing �service propositions� for the business traveller.
But the airline has reportedly been shut out of the $230 million-a-year market for Federal Government travel
business.
Melbourne's Age newspaper reported government departments were flouting orders to obtain the cheapest fares.
Last year Virgin Blue received 0.43 per cent share of government business on domestic flights, the newspaper said.
Qantas took 84 per cent of government business, with the rest going to smaller
regional and charter travel.
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A probe into the Concorde crash five years ago near Paris entered a new phase, when a French court placed US airline
Continental under investigation for manslaughter and injuries.
A judicial enquiry into the crash near Charles de Gaulle airport in
July 2000 concluded last December that a titanium alloy strip fell
from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that took off just before the
Concorde. The piece of metal punctured the Air France
Concorde's tyre, sending debris upwards into the fuel tank which
then exploded.
The report said the strip played a "direct" role in the accident,
although a "relative weakness" on the interior surface of the
Concorde's distinctive delta-shaped wings which held its fuel tanks
also contributed.
Continental Airlines has rejected any responsibility for the crash said it would fight any criminal charges stemming from a
French probe of the accident.
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