US Department of Transportation orders the suspension of all commercial passenger and cargo flights between the United States and Venezuela

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The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday ordered the suspension of all commercial passenger and cargo flights between the United States and Venezuela, citing reports of unrest and violence around airports in the South American country. In a letter to the Transportation Department requesting the halt, the Department of Homeland Security said “conditions in Venezuela…

Qantas announces Points Plane

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Qantas has announced a “points plane.” The flight can only be booked with Qantas Frequent Flier Points. The first Qantas points plane will be an A380 flying Melbourne to Tokyo on 21 October, with seat bookings opening 7:00am AEST 16 May. The flight will have 14 first class, 64 Business, 35 Premium Economy and 371…

French firm Vinci Airports takes control of London Gatwick

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Today, VINCI Airports completed the acquisition of a majority shareholding (50.01%) in London Gatwick airport, a freehold property and the UK’s second-largest airport. With this transaction, VINCI Airports becomes the world’s second-largest airport operator with over 240 million passengers a year including 46 million at London Gatwick. VINCI Airports now operates the world’s largest and…

WestJet to be sold in $5B deal

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WestJet says it has agreed to be acquired by Onex Corp. and will become a private company in a transaction valued at $5 billion including debt. The deal that came as a surprise to some, including the head of the pilots union. Under the agreement announced Monday, Onex will pay $31 per share, or $3.5…

Ryanair surpasses new safety standards regarding flight tracking

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Ryanair announced the deployment of GlobalBeacon, a live flight monitoring platform that combines FlightAware’s data processing capabilities and web-interface with global flight tracking coverage from Aireon. The Aireon network tracks aircraft via their ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) out antennas, which are mandated in many parts of the world including throughout Europe. This enables most airlines…

Trainee solo pilot falls “unconscious” during flight

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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released a report into a “serious accident” after a trainee solo pilot from Flight Training Adelaide became “unconscious” for 40 minutes while in the air. The pilot of the Diamond DA40 had set off from Port Augusta Airport and was heading to Parafield Airport. The pilot fell unconscious…