Apple products are a big seller on China’s eBay-equivalent website Taobao, but what about actual apples? People’s Daily Online (via The Daily Mail) is reporting that there’s been a rise of listings on the website of flight attendants supposedly kissing apples and selling them to interested customers. The apples, some of which claim to have been kissed by 500 air hostesses,...
By Benjamin Zhang As Business Insider's transportation reporter, flying on planes is an integral part of my job description. Unfortunately for me, acrophobia is also a major part of life. Simply put, I don't like heights. Although I thoroughly enjoy flying on big airliners, small planes still bug me. I don't like the instability, the single engine, and I don't like the a...
Preliminary data as of December 26, 2015. Final data will be published January 1, 2016 The Aviation Safety Network today released the preliminary 2015 airliner accident statistics showing a record low total of 16 fatal airliner accidents, resulting in 560 fatalities. Despite several high profile accidents, the year 2015 turned out to be a very safe year for commercial aviatio...
China’s aviation industry is coming to the end of its most profitable year in history and is headed for a 2016 that will see more new airlines formed and new international routes added as the sector stands out as a bright spot in the mainland’s slowing economy. The industry turned in a total profit of 54.8 billion yuan (HK$65.7 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, up 76.2 pe...
Russia will supply President-S onboard defense systems to Egypt to protect aviation from antiaircraft missile systems and air-launched missiles, the first deputy head of Radioelectronic Technologies Group (KRET), part of state hi-tech corporation Rostec, said on Friday. "There is a contract and we’re working within this contract. The deliveries will start in the imminent future,&qu...
It has been just 10 years since Airbus launched its A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. When the super-jumbo made its first commercial flight in 2005, it was viewed as the future of air travel. The double-decker allowed airlines to carry more people without buying extra landing slots at increasingly congested airports. The Gulf’s three biggest airlines – Emirates, Et...
African airlines are facing another year in the red, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicting collective losses of approximately $100 million for 2016. This follows loss estimates of some $300 million for African carriers in 2015, according to the organization’s recently revised industry outlook , in which it projected that globally the world’s airlines a...
Just 18 short months ago, most airlines were attempting to grasp how they would craft merchandising strategies in order to fully exploit exploding ancillary revenue sales. Now with year-end 2015 fast approaching, online travel agencies (OTAs) have emerged as one of the fastest growing channels for ancillary revenues. Travel services technology provider and GDS firm Amadeus recently offered some...
“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” Gloria Steinem Among those leading the shift to gender balance in air and space is the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW), whose flagship outreach program, Women of Aviation Worldwide W...
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. was fined almost 500,000 euros ($547,000) for what a French court termed irregular pay practices concerning pilots operating European routes for the Hong Kong-based airline. The penalty was imposed after union complaints that crew stationed at Charles de Gaulle airport weren’t being recognized by Cathay as based in France, allowing it to avoid making proper pay...
Some foreign carriers pitch for more landing points as well as higher number of seats but at times allowing such requests could hurt domestic carriers, said a senior official from the Civil Aviation Ministry. Signalling a major shift in granting air traffic rights, the government is looking at restricting the number of landing points for overseas airlines irrespective of their seat entitlements...
An investigation has been launched after a Malaysia Airlines plane took off from Auckland Airport on Christmas Day and surprised the pilot with the direction it started flying. Just eight minutes into the direct flight to Kuala Lumpur, MH132's pilot queried why his Airbus A330 was heading so far south. He wondered why the plane was heading towards Melbourne and not taking a more direct f...
