Aviation with Style

Travelers from around the world seeking to fly to the United States will soon face a new series of security hurdles before they’ll be allowed to enter the country. And if the airline they are flying is either unable or unwilling to comply with the new security measures being imposed by the Department of Homeland Security, the airline could lose its landing rights in the United States. “ I am concerned that we are seeing renewed interest on the part of terrorist groups to go after the aviation sector—from bombing aircraft to attacking airports on the ground, as we saw in Brussels and Istanbul ,” said John F. Kelley, the Secretary of Homeland Security. “ However, we are not standing on the sidelines while fanatics hatch new plots. The U.S. government is focused on deterring, detecting, and disrupting these threats ,” he said. “We cannot play international whack-a-mole with each new threat. Instead, we must put in place new measures across the board to keep the traveling pub...

In-flight Internet is virtually ubiquitous these days with most major airlines offering some form of sky-high WiFi – and while this has traditionally attracted sky-high prices to match, the cost of connecting mid-flight is on the decline, with some airlines now even offering the service for free. Among them: Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Finnair, Qantas and Virgin Australia: and if the trend continues, the prospect of   paying   for in-flight Internet could soon mirror the same concept at hotels, where Internet access once cost a small fortune but now comes at no charge for most guests. Australian Business Traveller   highlights five airlines that provide some form of free inflight Internet, including how you can take advantage on your next domestic or international flight. Emirates: free Airbus A380, Boeing 777 in-flight Internet: A business or first class ticket with Emirates now buys   unlimited free Wi-Fi   with the Gulf carrier . Passengers book...

Residents reportedly stockpiling goods from supermarkets amid fears over food imports after land, sea and air routes closed. The tiny Gulf state of Qatar has been literally and figuratively isolated by the escalating row with its Arab neighbours, with   land, sea and air routes closed off   in an unprecedented crisis in the Arabian peninsula that threatens longstanding trade deals. The closure of the only land route into Qatar as well as the airspaces of   Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in effect established a blockade on Doha, which relies almost entirely on imports to feed its population. It will damage the prospects of a recovery for Doha’s national carrier,   Qatar   Airways, amid a slowdown caused by the US administration’s ban on electronic devices in the cabins of aircraft flying from the Middle East, and will raise questions about the future of al-Jazeera, the flagship television network established by the Gulf kingdom an...

 The Civil Aviation Authority is the body that regulates civil aviation activities in Sri Lanka. From 27 December 2002 to date, respective governments changed its chairmen, but the only person who remains in his job all this while is its Director General H.M. Chandrasena Nimalsiri. For 15 years, he is running an authoritarian rule to establish his power. Those who are close and near him get all the privileges, while a majority of employees of the institution remain trampled by his iron shoes. To say the least, the Authority does not have a second string. The DG thinks of flying in the air until the day he dies. The ages of officials in its hierarchy are as follows: · Director General – 59 Years · Additional Director General – 59 Years · Three Deputy Director Generals – 60 years, 58 years, 57 yr Taking a look at this group nearing 60 years of age, it is not difficult to understand the mentality of the DG, who is surrounded by his friends of his own age, while t...

OVER-regulation of Australia’s aviation industry has created a situation whereby pilots spend more time ticking boxes and filling out paperwork than flying planes, operators say. Chief Executive of the   Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association , Benjamin Morgan, spoke out about an “ industry in decline ” following another fatal crash in Australia. Rossair   chief pilot Martin Scott and pilot inductee Paul Daw were killed, along with Civil Aviation Safety Authority officer Stephen Guerin, when a Cessna Conquest crashed shortly after takeoff from Renmark Airport in South Australia on Tuesday. The crash was the worst in the state this century, and came just a few months after the Essendon crash in Victoria in which five lives were lost. Both incidents are now under investigation by the   Australian Transport Safety Bureau . BUREAUCRATIC BURDEN Mr. Morgan said it was difficult to draw a connection between the tragic crashes and t...

British Airways' epic meltdown over a busy holiday weekend further fanned public outrage of an industry infamous for its focus on cost cuts over customer service, leaving the U.K. carrier scrambling to explain how a local computer outage could lead to thousands of stranded passengers. Amid   United Airlines ' dragging fiasco, mass cancellations at   Delta Air Lines   and U.S. concerns about terrorists using laptops to down planes, the global aviation industry hardly needed another blow. But then on Saturday morning, a brief power surge knocked out British Airways' communications systems grounding the carrier's entire London operations, leading to days of chaos and putting the new chief executive officer in the hot seat. With nearly 600 flights canceled and luggage unable to be dispersed, images and horror stories quickly coursed through social media. Damages for rebooking and compensating customers is estimated at about $112 million, or about 3 percent of...

British Airways resumed some flights from Britain's two biggest airports on Sunday after a global computer system failure created chaos, but hundreds of passengers were still waiting for hours at London Heathrow. BA said it aimed to operate the majority of services from Heathrow and a near normal schedule from Gatwick, the capital's second busiest airport. Heathrow, however, said it expected further delays and cancellations of BA flights. At Heathrow's Terminal 5, where BA is the dominant carrier, hundreds of passengers were waiting in line on Sunday and flight arrival boards showed cancelled flights. Some passengers were curled up under blankets on the floor or sleeping slumped on luggage trolleys. Several passengers complained about a lack of information from BA representatives at the airport. Others said their luggage had been lost. " Many of our IT systems are back up today ," BA Chairman and Chief Executive Alex Cruz said in a video posted on Tw...

Without the shocking video, it's unlikely that the world would have learned or cared about the violent manhandling of a 69-year-old man on a plane last month. The outrage on social media, the mea culpa by an airline CEO, the promise to treat customers better — none of it would have happened. The passengers who shot those videos on a United Express plane in Chicago violated United's policy on photography. By the letter of the airline's law, they too could have been ordered off the plane. Under United's policy, customers can take pictures or videos with small cameras or cellphones "provided that the purpose is capturing personal events." Filming or photographing other customers or airline employees without their consent is prohibited. American, Delta and Southwest have similar policies. Passengers are accustomed to using their cellphones to take photos and videos that they can upload to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Airline rules on photography a...