A Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to fly back to Britain's Manchester Airport due to a "technical issue" after take-off on Friday, an hour after a fire on another Dreamliner shut down London's Heathrow Airport.
"Thomson Airways can confirm that flight TOM126 travelling from Manchester to Sanford, Florida, experienced a technical issue and the aircraft returned to Manchester Airport, as a precautionary measure," the airline said in a statement.
"Passengers have disembarked and our dedicated team of engineers are now inspecting the aircraft."
A spokesman for Manchester Airport in northwest England confirmed that the plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and said it had landed safely at around 1640 GMT.
Just an hour earlier, London's main airport Heathrow was forced to suspend both its runways after a parked Ethiopian Airlines 787 Dreamliner caught fire. No injuries were reported.
Heathrow was shut down for around an hour-and-a- half. The airport announced at 1700 GMT that services were resuming, but warned passengers to expect delays.
Television images showed the Dreamliner surrounded by pools of foam, with three fire engines on the scene.
The two incidents come after Boeing temporarily withdrew the Dreamliner from service earlier this year for modifications after concerns that batteries on board could cause fires.
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A technical issue that isn't revealed, God knows what the Dreamliner has up its sleeves.
A handful of US flights were cancelled at two Mexican airports on Friday after ash from a nearby volcano fell in central Mexico, authorities said.
Alaska Airlines voluntarily cancelled a flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City's international airport and the later trip back to California, airport spokesman Jorge Gomez told AFP. The rest of the airport, however, was operating normally.
The small airport of the central city of Puebla, located just 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Popocatepetl volcano, suspended its operations as a safety precaution "due to the abundant presence of ash," the transportation ministry said in a statement.
This forced the cancelation of six flights, including a United Airlines flights to Houston, Texas, an American Airlines trip to Dallas, Texas, and four domestic routes operated by Mexican carriers Volaris and Aeromexico, it said.
Two cargo flights were also affected, the ministry said, adding that clean up crews were deployed to pick up ash from the runway and roads.
The Popocatepetl volcano has been rumbling periodically since May, spewing huge columns of ash that prompted several US airlines to cancel dozens of flights into and out of Mexico City last week.
Last Saturday, authorities raised the alert level around the volcano to Yellow Phase III, one notch below evacuations of residents who live near the 5,452-meter-high (17,887-foot-high) "Popo," as it is locally known.
The Mexican capital is only 55 kilometres (35 miles) from the snow-capped volcano.
In its latest bulletin, the National Disaster Prevention Centre reported that the volcano had spewed steam and ash accompanied by medium intensity explosions early Friday that blew glowing rocks up to two kilometres (1.2 miles) from its crater.
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Volcanic ash is a pain in the butt for commercial aviation. It is highly damaging to jet engines and airlines will not want to risk flying in unsafe airspace. Flight cancellations will cause losses for them, but when safety is concerned, some profit will have to be compromised.
South Korean aviation officials on Friday dismissed any suggestion that a deferential culture in which junior pilots were afraid to challenge their seniors played a part in the crash of an Asiana jet in San Francisco.
Two people died and more than 180 were injured when a Boeing 777 crashed last Saturday after clipping a seawall short of the runway, skidding out of control, shredding the tail of the plane and catching fire.
An investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board is focusing much of its attention on Lee Gang-Kuk, who was landing the 777 for his first time, and his trainer Lee Jeong-Min.
"We're certainly interested to see if there are issues where there are challenges to crew communication," Deborah Hersman, head of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which is investigating the crash, said Wednesday.
Aviation industry have been training pilots in order "to make sure that a junior pilot feels comfortable challenging a senior pilot and to make sure the senior pilot welcomes feedback in a cockpit environment from all members of the crew and considers it", she said.
But Chang Man-Heui, director of flight standards at the South Korean transportation ministry said it was "outrageous to suggest that traditional Korean Confucianist culture might have contributed to the accident".
"It's true that authoritarianism existed in the cockpit until the late 1990s (of South Korean flights) but we have now a completely different culture," he said, dismissing such a suggestion as "anachronistic".
One incident partly blamed on rigid relations between senior and junior pilots was the 1999 crash of a Boeing 747 Korean Air cargo shortly after takeoff from London.
The plane's captain, who had a malfunctioning cockpit indicator, censured his first officer who was communicating correct information to the control tower, according to British investigators.
Another accident linked to a deferential culture involved a Korean Air Boeing 747 that prematurely descended on an approach and slammed into a hillside short of the runway at Guam in 1997, killing 223 of 254 aboard.
The captain failed to respond to warnings from his junior pilot that they were flying too low, according to reports.
These crashes and other accidents sparked a hectic government-led campaign to improve cockpit environment as part of global efforts at better crew resources management, which have largely paid off, local experts said.
Professor Jung Yun-Sick at Jungwon University, a former Asiana pilot, noted drastic changes had occurred not only in aircraft cockpit but the South Korean society as well.
"I assure you that cockpit culture has undergone great changes and become as much democratic as other countries", he said.
"But this does not mean there should be no hierarchical order in the cockpit as aircraft, as well as ships, need a strict command and control", he said.
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Ah, when such allegations surface it is of no surprise the airline will defend themselves fiercely. Who can blame the rumours when such occurrences did happen in the past and it can still exist in today's environment especially in the airline industry where seniority is very much emphasized. It is a very old fashion ay of doing things and it should have been abolished long ago.
Shareholders in British no-frills airline EasyJet on Thursday voted in favour of its deal to buy 135 Airbus single-aisle A320 passenger planes, defying objections from founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
The carrier said in a statement that 57.3 per cent of shareholder votes cast at a general meeting backed the multi-billion-pound order, despite opposition from Haji-Ioannou whose family controls almost 37 per cent of EasyJet.
About 85 per cent of the company's shareholders cast their votes at the meeting at its headquarters in Luton, north of London.
However, just 43 per cent of those votes were cast against the plans to expand the fleet. That was short of the 50-percent level needed in order to overturn the plans.
"The vote in favour of our new fleet arrangements will allow EasyJet to continue its successful strategy of modest, profitable growth and sustainable returns for our shareholders," said Chairman John Barton in the statement.
Following the vote, Airbus confirmed that EasyJet had firmed up the purchase of the 135 Airbus A320 family aircraft.
John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer-Customers at Airbus said in a statement the company was "delighted".
However earlier this month, Haji-Ioannou had written to shareholders, arguing that the Airbus order was a "bad deal" owing to the high cost.
Back in June, EasyJet had unveiled the order for 35 current generation A320 planes for delivery between 2015 and 2017 and 100 new generation A320neo aircraft from 2017 until 2022.
The airline said at the time it had negotiated "very substantial" discounts on the combined list price of US$11.9 billion. Industry sources told AFP that EasyJet may end up paying only half the amount.
There is also an option to buy a further 100 Airbus planes as part of the deal.
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The purchase will go ahead and Airbus is the happiest party in this deal. A win-win situation for both parties when the airline gets huge discount while the manufacturer continues to make profits and provide jobs for its employees.
The pilots of the Asiana Boeing 777 that crashed in San Francisco appeared to be unaware the plane was flying too slowly until just seconds before the aircraft slammed into the ground.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chief Deborah Hersman said Thursday that analysis of cockpit voice recorders showed no talk of speed during the plane's doomed approach until it was 100 feet from the ground.
Nine seconds before impact, a call was made to increase speed. Two different members of the cockpit crew then made separate requests to abort the landing, three seconds and 1.5 seconds before the crash, Hersman said.
"There is no mention of speed until about nine seconds until impact," Hersman told a news briefing.
The NTSB had previously revealed the plane's speed had dipped to 103 knots three seconds before the crash -- sharply below the target landing speed of 137 knots at the threshold of the runway.
Two people died and more than 180 were injured when Asiana flight 214 crashed on Saturday after clipping a seawall short of the runway, skidding out of control, shredding the tail of the plane and catching fire.
The NTSB has steadfastly shied away from apportioning blame for the crash, insisting it is too early to draw conclusions as it sifts through a mountain of recorded data and evidence gleaned from interviews with flight crew.
Hersman meanwhile confirmed Thursday that all of the aircraft's automated flight systems had been working correctly during the flight.
"There is no anomalous behaviour of the autopilot, flight director and auto-throttles based on the FDR (flight data recorder) data reviewed to this date," Hersman said.
The NTSB chief also played down suggestions that a mysterious "light" seen by the plane's pilot in the approach had played any part in the crash.
"The pilot flying told the NTSB that at about 500 hundred feet ... he observed a bright point source of light that could have been a reflection of the sun but he wasn't sure," Hersman said.
"The light source was straight in front of the airplane but not on the runway. He briefly looked away from the light and then he looked into the cockpit and he stated that he did not think that the light affected his vision because he could see the flight control instruments and he was able to look at the speed at that time.
"Neither of the other two flight crew members mentioned this light during their interviews. And in the review of the CVR (cockpit voice recorder), there is no discussion of the light."
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This is quite a serious matter when pilots are unaware of something is amiss until the very last moments of the crash. Does this stem from the lack of experience or are they too preoccupied with other matters in the cockpit?
The European Union has lifted a three-year ban on Philippine Airlines flying into its airspace after the national carrier addressed safety concerns, the EU's ambassador to Manila said on Wednesday.
PAL will be allowed to fly into the 28-member bloc from Friday, which will spur tourism and business links, ambassador Guy Ledoux said.
"This is a tremendous achievement in such a short period of time," Ledoux said.
He added that the EU would conduct further reviews so other Philippine carriers would also be able to fly to Europe as well.
"This decision is very encouraging and is the first success of CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) and Philippine Airlines," he told reporters.
"EU-Philippines trade and investment relations will benefit from the lifting of the air ban," Ledoux added.
He remarked that even without direct flights, European tourist arrivals to the Philippines rose by about 10 percent last year to 349,000 and expressed hope that the lifting of the ban would boost this even further.
CAAP director-general William Hotchkiss said raising safety standards had required "superhuman effort" including recruiting veteran talent.
He also expressed confidence that by the end of the year, the US Federal Aviation Administration would lift a similar ban that restricts Philippine carriers from expanding operations to the United States.
PAL president Ramong Ang told reporters at a joint press conference with Ledoux that the carrier planned to begin flights to London, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam by September or October.
He said PAL could compete with lower-cost Mideast airlines in serving those routes because it would offer non-stop flights.
PAL is already entitled to seven flights a week to London and at least six flights a week to Paris, Ang said.
He said the airline would enter into negotiations for the other destinations.
Ledoux said the safety ban on other Philippine carriers may also be lifted amid a general improvement in the country's aviation standards and positive work by the CAAP.
However he said that the EU ban on Cebu Pacific, a second major Philippine carrier, had been maintained because of an incident last month where a Cebu Pacific plane skidded off a runway while landing in the southern Philippine city of Davao.
He said this "unfortunate recent accident in June... shows some weaknesses need to be addressed."
None of the 165 people aboard the plane were hurt but CAAP later suspended the two pilots involved and harshly criticised Cebu Pacific for safety lapses.
Ledoux said the European Commission was encouraged by the actions being taken by CAAP and Philippines air carriers to address outstanding safety issues and would continue to monitor the situation closely.
Cebu Pacific said in a statement that it hoped to take part in the next EU air safety commission meeting later this year and continues to look at opening services to "parts of Europe and the US".
The EU announced in March 2010 that it had banned all Philippine airlines from flying into Europe for "serious and persistent non-compliance" with the bloc's air safety rules.
The US issued its ban on the Philippines expanding its operations in 2008.
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This is good news for PAL. They're now able to extend their network into EU airspace. However, the ban continues for Cebu Pacific after they failed to react adequately to a crash weeks ago.
Shares in long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X ended flat on their market debut in Malaysia on Wednesday, despite the firm's chief executive promising a spending spree on new planes to boost frequency and target more routes.
The carrier was trading at an intra-day high of 1.28 Malaysian ringgit, up from an initial valuation of 1.25 ringgit, but at close failed to match overall gains in the wider market, which was up 0.13 per cent.
"I think it looks like we priced it right," chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said at a news conference.
He added that the Malaysia-based carrier would use cash from last month's $308.6 million initial public offering to increase its fleet and seek out new destinations.
"Planes, planes, planes. Bigger network, more destinations, more frequencies," Azran said.
The carrier, founded by aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes, has said the funds would largely be used to triple its fuel-efficient Airbus fleet from the current 10 aircraft and repay bank loans.
AirAsia X will take delivery of 23 Airbus A330-300 planes over the next four years with a further order for 10 A350-900s as it aggressively expands routes to meet demand in the Asia-Pacific.
The International Air Transport Association said the region is the world's fastest growing market, with passenger traffic more than doubling since 1998, despite fuel costs surging 55 per cent in the past seven years.
The airline, launched in 2007, reported a net profit of 33.8 million ringgit ($10.8 million) for the year ended December 31, 2012.
Charting an ambitious growth path, AirAsia X plans to increase services to existing destinations and carve out lucrative new routes in Australia, Japan and China.
Analysts said the successful listing of the long-haul arm of AirAsia -- Asia's largest budget airline by fleet size -- showed that a low-cost long-haul business model was viable.
Total demand for the institutional tranche of the public offering was more than 10 times the number of base shares available, the company said.
"Investors may want to pay close attention to this stock because it is one of a handful of airlines in the world that has been innovative and committed to opening new markets," said Shukor Yusof, a Singapore-based aviation analyst with Standard & Poor's.
He told AFP that AirAsia X's listing would encourage other regional carriers, such as fast-growing Indonesia-based Lion Air to follow suit.
The key challenge AirAsia X would face was keeping a lid on fuel costs, which account for about 49 per cent of operating costs, he said.
"The main challenge obviously is to rein in costs. Jet fuel price has started to increase due to uncertainties in the Middle East," Shukor added.
AirAsia X's IPO comes as at a time when several companies in the region have withdrawn from such a move.
In June alone, four companies in Hong Kong either dropped IPO plans or cut their their sizes.
Ooi Chin Hock, a brokerage dealer with Malaysia's M&A Securities, said AirAsia X's "strong management and credible growth plans" was attracting investors at a time when regional markets are choppy.
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Ouch, a punch in the face for Tony even though he has given big plans ahead of the launch of the IPO. Now will it stay limp or have a revival in coming weeks? The market is very volatile at the moment and it won't be easy for it to perform.
