Plane Crash Kills Nineteen

A small plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers, an airline official said.
The twin-engine propeller-driven Dornier aircraft, owned by private firm Sita Air, had taken off from Kathmandu for Lukla in the Mount Everest region when it crashed in a field near Kathmandu airport, police said.
The weather was clear at the time and the cause of the crash was not immediately known. Four Nepali passengers and three Nepali crew were also among the dead.
Autumn is the peak tourism season in Nepal which has eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest. At least 11 people were killed in an avalanche in northwest Nepal on Sunday.
In May, 15 people were killed when their plane crashed into a hill in northwest Nepal.
(Reuters)

Cape Town to get direct Lufthansa flights

WESTERN Cape tourism, finance and economic development MEC Alan Winde says he will sign an agreement with German national airline Lufthansa for it to fly directly between Munich and Cape Town.
"The contract would be for one tourist season and we would have to prove to them (Lufthansa) that the route is viable," he said.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday, Mr Winde said the aim of the new direct flight would be to offset the loss of South African Airways (SAA) cancelling its direct route between London and Cape Town, which ended on August 15 after 20 years.
When announcing the cancellation of the route, SAA said it was unprofitable because of a drop in business travel caused by the global financial recession.
Mr Winde said: "I am reluctant to criticise SAA on what was essentially a business decision. And it is about time they made business decisions. But it was a blow for Cape tourism and we have to find ways to offset that."
He said the air route between Cape Town and Johannesburg was rated as one of the 10 busiest in the world during the tourist season.
Another German airline, Condor, will start direct flights between Frankfurt and Cape Town from November 3 for the tourist season that ends in May.
He said the loss of the SAA direct flights was because the airline had decided on a "hub and spoke" strategy that meant all its international flights would be routed through OR Tambo International Airport.
Mr Winde said he would also explore the idea of a direct service between the Miami in the US and Cape Town.

Nigeria Bans Loans To Two Of Its Airlines

Nigeria's central bank has banned loans to 113 firms, including the country's two major airlines, which have failed to repay debts after a 2009 financial crisis that nearly brought down the banking system.
The ban covers firms whose bad debts were absorbed by state-backed "bad bank" AMCON as part of efforts to draw a line under a credit crisis that nearly sank nine lenders. The companies have yet to make good on those loans, an internal document obtained by Reuters said.
Nigeria's central bank injected USD$4 billion in 2009 to support nine lenders it judged to be so weakly capitalised they posed a threat to the whole economy. Since then, a number of banks have been restructured, and AMCON, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, absorbed their toxic assets.
"As part of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)'s efforts at strengthening financial stability, it has become necessary to stop debtors who failed to repay their loans to banks and had those loans transferred to AMCON from further enjoying credit facilities... until they fully repay," the memo said.
"Banks are prohibited from approving or disbursing any new credit facilities to all persons and organisations on this list," it said, adding that any breach would be punished by a fine equal to the value of the loan and possibly additional penalties.
The list includes Nigeria's biggest carrier, Arik Air, with 85 billion naira (USD$560 million) in debts.
A spokesman for Arik Air, Ola Adebanji, said the company had not been informed.
"There is a relationship between Arik and AMCON... We have not received any document from CBN concerning that," he said.
Arik suspended its operations last week over a spat with unions, the airport authorities and the aviation ministry, partly over alleged unpaid dues, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The airline resumed flights on Sunday.
Nigeria's only other functioning major airline, Aero Contractors, was also on the list but was not immediately reachable for comment.
(Reuters)

United Airlines Receives First 787

 

                                                                         United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

United Airlines became the first US airline to take delivery of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner this week, the carrier said on Monday.
United said it expects to fly the plane to its Houston hub from Boeing Field in Seattle this week. The first of five 787s United should receive this year will be used in a month-long training programme before it enters commercial service.
Chicago-based United has 50 787s on order. Carriers that have already received the jet are All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines of Japan, Ethiopian Airlines, Chile's LAN Airlines and Air India.
The 787 is the world's first commercial passenger jet with an airframe made largely of carbon composite materials. Because of its lighter weight, the plane consumes 20 percent less fuel than other jets its size on similar routes.
(Reuters)

Fake Italian Pilot Arrested After Flight

A man who posed as an airline pilot was arrested in Turin Airport using forged identity cards and wearing a pilot's uniform, Italian police said on Saturday.
The 32-year-old, whose real name was not released, allegedly created a fake identity as a Lufthansa pilot named "Andrea Sirlo," complete with a Facebook page that included fake flight attendant friends.
Police said they were alerted several months ago after "Sirlo" introduced himself as a captain to a Civil Aviation lieutenant, who became suspicious because he seemed too young for the job.
The national military police tracked down the suspect from photos on his Facebook profile, in which he is shown posing in uniform and sunglasses in front of planes.
He was arrested in the check-in area of Turin Airport on Friday.
Police said "Sirlo" had flown for free on at least one flight as a "third pilot" sitting in the cockpit. They were investigating whether he had flown as an imposter at other times.
Lufthansa declined to comment on whether one of their flights had been involved and said it was a matter for the police.
At a press conference, police displayed a white shirt with epaulettes and a black double-breasted jacket with pilot stripes sewn on the cuffs. They said they also seized fake resumes, airline badges and an airport staff parking permit.
Turin Airport said in a statement it had not issued any permits in the name of the person involved.
A profile on a website where users can track their flights shows "Pilot Andrea Sirlo" flying from Munich Airport to Turin on October 23, 2011.
The case recalls the 2002 film "Catch Me If You Can," in which Leonardo DiCaprio played Frank Abagnale, a real-life con man who is said to have flown more than 1,600,000 km (1 million miles) as a fake Pan Am pilot in the 1960s.
'Sirlo' is the name of a flight corridor over Turin.
(Reuters)