Aviation

BEIJING / Reuters An Air China flight bound for Beijing made an unscheduled landing in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou on Sunday after a passenger threatened a flight attendant with a fountain pen, the country’s civil aviation authority said. In a brief statement on its website, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said a male passenger on Air China ...

Bloomberg A plan to sell off India’s flagship airline is facing headwinds before it even gets started. Narendra Modi’s boldest asset sale yet is the proposed divestment of Air India, the nation’s money-losing flag carrier, has run into rough weather after some of the potential bidders opted out upset with the government’s terms. This setback, however, is the least of ...

Bloomberg Hundreds of flights were disrupted Saturday as a severe spring storm threatened to dump record snowfall on parts of the Midwestern US, while ice and freezing rain hit Canada’s Ontario province. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, a regional hub for Delta Air Lines, has had to slow or halt aircraft throughout the day, contributing to about 350 cancelled flights, according ...

Bloomberg Boeing Co. proposed to build fighter jets in India along with two local firms, as the US giant prepares to bid for the world’s biggest combat aircraft order, joining the likes of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Saab AB. Boeing will partner state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Mahindra Defense Systems to manufacture the F/A-18 Super Hornet in India at a ...

LONDON / Reuters Rolls-Royce requires more money and more inspections to fix problems with Trent 1000 engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes, leading to further disruption for airlines and testing relations between Rolls and its customers. Problems with engine turbine blades wearing out sooner than expected have hampered a restructuring programme prompted by the engineering company’s declining older engine programmes ...

HAMBURG / Reuters Emirates will commit to purchasing options for 16 Airbus A380 jets from a previously announced $16 billion order that handed a lifeline to the slow-selling jet, the airline’s president said. The Middle East airline placed a provisional order for 20 of the double-decker superjumbos in January, which it has since finalised, with an option for 16 more. ...

Egypt / Emirates Business As part of its route expansion strategy, Air Arabia Egypt launched a new route linking Sohag in Egypt to Kuwait. The new flights operate three times a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, departing from Sohag International Airport (HMB) at 2340 hours and arriving in Kuwait International Airport (KWI) at 0305 hours the following day. The ...

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc, Air France-KLM Group and Cerberus Capital Management have made a joint approach to the Italian airline Alitalia SpA about a possible takeover, said a person familiar with the matter, betting the unprofitable carrier will provide a gateway to expansion in the Mediterranean market. EasyJet, Europe’s second-biggest low-cost airline, said it has submitted a “revised expression of interest ...

LONDON / Reuters Airbus wants Britain to provide more clarity over the country’s future relationship with the EU, or risk losing investment, the European planemaker’s CEO said. “We must have more clarity on the UK’s long-term relationships, not just for the next 20 months,” CEO Tom Enders said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times. “Britain must recognise that ...

Bloomberg Eurocontrol, an air traffic agency in Europe, asked airlines to apply caution on flights to the eastern Mediterranean region because of possible air strikes in Syria over the next 72 hours. “Due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the agency said in a statement posted on its website citing the European Aviation ...