Aviation

  Washington / AFP British Airways (BA) cabin crew have suspended a two-day strike planned over Christmas, labour union Unite announced after securing a new deal with the airline. Almost 2,000 British Airways cabin crew, or more than one in seven, were due to walk out on Christmas Day and December 26 (Boxing Day) in a dispute over pay. Talks …

  Bloomberg American Airlines flight attendants filed a grievance with the carrier over new uniforms they say have caused headaches, skin irritation and other health problems since being introduced in September. The airline should either stop issuing the clothing or allow workers to wear their previous outfits, Bob Ross, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said in a …

  Bloomberg China has targets for just about everything, from ethanol production to reaching Mars. Now the top economic planning body wants to get more tourists to hit the road, and has even announced targets for skydiving, water skiing and mountain climbing, as authorities push for more consumer spending to aid the economic transition away from old industrial drivers. The …

  Bloomberg An Indian green court ordered the country’s aviation safety regulator to ensure planes don’t dump human waste during flights, ruling on a plea by a New Delhi resident who claimed his neighborhood had to endure excreta that fell from the skies. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the safety regulator, should conduct surprise checks on aircraft when they …

  Bloomberg Congestion is the biggest reason why LaGuardia Airport in New York is regularly rated the worst in America: Neither planes nor people move in an efficient manner through a facility designed for far, far less traffic. When it’s completed in summer of 2022, a gleaming new LaGuardia will be a modern space featuring a collection of aeries and …

  Bloomberg Beijing and other regions of north China were blanketed by the year’s worst bout of noxious smog, prompting officials to cancel 351 flight departures from the capital’s airport because of limited visibility. The concentration of PM2.5 — the particles that pose the greatest health risks — was 402 micrograms per cubic meter near Tiananmen Square at 5 p.m. …

  Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s website failed, blocking access to booking and flight check-in tools in a busy holiday travel week. The carrier said it was making progress in fixing the disruption and was getting reports of successful transactions and online check-in attempts around 5:45 p.m. New York time. The failure affected all customers but didn’t have any impact on …

  Seoul / AFP South Korea’s top carrier Korean Air said its staff followed company procedure in restraining an unruly passenger after 80s pop singer Richard Marx tweeted that he helped the “ill trained” crew handle the situation. Marx said he and his wife were flying from the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to Incheon airport, the South’s main hub, when a …

  Bloomberg Air travellers globally are bracing for higher fares after Opec decided last month to cut output. Not in India, the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market. Carriers cut fares in November, selling tickets about 12% cheaper on average for Mumbai-New Delhi flights from a year ago, according to Yatra.com, India’s No. 2 online travel agency. The steepest discounts were …

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. is making deeper job cuts in its commercial airplane business and planning further reductions for 2017, citing “fewer sales opportunities and tough competition.” The US planemaker will trim the workforce in its largest division by 8 percent by the end of this year compared with the January level, Boeing Vice Chairman Ray Conner and Kevin McAllister, …