♥ Thursday, July 29
PARIS - French police have arrested an Air France stewardess on suspicion of stealing thousands of euros in cash, cards and jewelry as passengers slept on long haul flights, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Police investigating thefts over several months on flights between France and the Far East picked up the 47-year old attendant identified as Lucie R. after she landed from Tokyo on Friday, Le Figaro said.
"Her bank accounts showed an absurd gap between her lifestyle and her declared income," the newspaper quoted a police investigator as saying.
Police launched an investigation in January after about 4,000 euros' was stolen from five passengers. The robber took advantage of sleeping passengers, taking euros, yen, and Swiss francs as well as watches, jewels, credit cards and even cheque books.
According to the newspaper, the woman, who worked mainly in business class, began her spree in March 2009 to ease financial problems and has confessed to 26 thefts.
Since January, there have been about 140 thefts, the newspaper said. "The Japanese were ideal prey because they travel with lots of cash -- euros and yen -- instead of paying with credit cards," a police source said.
Police found travelers' cheques, blank cheques and bank card numbers at her home, the newspaper said.
4/9 '10 loves x3 5:46 PM
♥
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board, officials said, in the worst aviation accident in Pakistan.
The Airbus 321, belonging to a private airline crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside while flying from the southern port city of Karachi.
Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said 115 bodies had been recovered so far but bad weather and difficult terrain above the city had hampered search efforts.
"Unfortunately, no one survived ... Many bodies are not in good shape," Kaira told a news conference.
Twelve bodies had been identified so far, but "the crash was very terrible. There was fire. It's difficult to recognise the bodies."
Passengers' remains were badly damaged in the crash and DNA tests would be used to identify the victims, he said.
Two Americans were among the victims, a U.S. embassy spokesman told Reuters. He had no further details.
While thick fog and rainy weather are considered the most likely reasons for the crash, Kaira declined to rule out sabotage and said all possibilities would be investigated.
Kaira said the plane's "black box" data recorder had yet to be recovered.
The plane lost contact with the control room of the Islamabad International Airport at 5:43 a.m. British time. It was carrying 146 passengers and six crew members.
"The pilot was given directions to land either on runway I or II," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters. "The plane was at 2,600 feet before landing but suddenly it went to 3,000, which was unexplained."
"If the visibility to the runway was so poor then it should have been diverted."
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhatar said the control tower at the airport had been sealed and a team would examine the data recorder and radio traffic between the plane and the tower.
"If you look at the position of the wreckage it's clear that the plane went beyond safety margins. It should have manoeuvred within five miles of the runway but it did not happen," said Ejaz Haroon, managing director of state-run airline PIA.
The crash site is on the Margalla Hills facing Islamabad, about 300 metres up the side of the hills. Smoke could be seen from some districts of the city after the crash.
While Wednesday's crash is the worst aviation accident on Pakistani soil, PIA has had two worse disasters. In 1979 and 1992, PIA jets crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu, killing 156 and 167 people, respectively.
Within Pakistan, the last major aviation accident was in 2006 when a PIA plane crashed near the central city of Multan killing 45 people.
NEW PLANE
The military sent three helicopters to the site and troops also were deployed. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani surveyed rescue operations from the air and the government declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims.
AirBlue began operations in 2004 with a fleet of Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, according to its website www.airblue.com. It flies primarily domestic routes as well as to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Manchester in Britain.
Spokesman Raheel Ahmed said this was the first crash for the airline and that an investigation was being launched.
"It's too early to speculate," he said about the cause of the crash. "The civil aviation authorities will also be involved."
Airbus confirmed one of its planes was involved in the AirBlue crash.
"We regret to confirm there has been an accident with an Airbus aircraft and we will provide more information when we have more confirmed data available," said Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath.
At Islamabad's international airport in the moments after the crash, passengers in the departure lounge scanned the television screens for news.
"I'm not surprised something like this has happened," said Ahmed Fairuz, a passenger awaiting departure. "The weather is just too bad for flying."
Aviation industry sources in Europe said the aircraft was leased from International Lease Finance Corp, the leasing unit of U.S. insurance giant AIG.
Los Angeles-based ILFC was not available for comment and there was no immediate confirmation of these details.
The A321 is the largest of the A320 family of single-aisle jets produced by EADS subsidiary Airbus. This particular type of aircraft, which can seat up to 185 passengers, has been in service since 1994
4/9 '10 loves x3 5:43 PM
♥ Wednesday, July 28
Singapore Airlines (SIA) chief executive Chew Choon Seng will step down at the end of this year when his contract expires, the carrier said Tuesday.
The airline said in a brief statement to AFP that an announcement on Chew's replacement would be made once the board has made a decision on the candidate.
Chew, 64, joined SIA in 1972 and rose through the ranks to become chief executive in 2003.
That year, he steered the airline during one of its worst crisis when travel demand was squeezed by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) health scare.
SIA reported Monday a first quarter net profit of 253 million Singapore dollars (185.65 million US) as the travel industry continued to recover from the global economic slump that started in 2008.
The April-June performance was a sharp turnaround from a year ago when SIA incurred a net loss of 307 million dollars as travel demand slumped because of the downturn.
SIA is one of the world's leading carriers and is consistently voted by travellers as one of their favourite airlines
4/9 '10 loves x3 11:23 PM
♥
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board, officials said, in the worst aviation accident in Pakistan.
Two Americans were among the victims, a U.S. embassy spokesman told Reuters. He had no further details.
"There are no survivors. We believe all are dead. We are recovering the remains of the dead bodies from the wreckage," Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of the state-run Capital Development Authority, a city municipal body.
The Airbus 321, belonging to private airline Airblue, crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside while flying from the southern port city of Karachi. More than 90 bodies had been recovered so far, but the bad weather was making recovery efforts difficult.
"We have suspended the air operation because of rain. It will take a long time to clear the area. There's no way to transport bodies from the site except via helicopters and even helicopters cannot land there," said Aamir Ali Ahmed, senior city government official, said.
Rescuers said they had to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, with fire and thick smoke hampering their work. The fire has since been extinguished, but access to the hillside remained limited to pedestrians and helicopters.
"You find very few intact bodies. Basically, we are collecting bodies parts and putting them in bags," police officer Bin Yameen.
The plane lost contact with the control room of the Islamabad International Airport at 0443 GMT. It was carrying 146 passengers and six crew members.
"The pilot was given directions to land either on runway I or II," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters. "The plane was at 2,600 feet before landing but suddenly it went to 3,000, which was unexplained."
"If the visibility to the runway was so poor then it should have been diverted."
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhatar said the control tower at the airport had been sealed and a team would examine the "black box" data recorder and radio traffic between the plane and the tower.
"If you look at the position of the wreckage it's clear that the plane went beyond safety margins. It should have manoeuvred within five miles of the runway but it did not happen," said Ejaz Haroon, managing director of state-run airline PIA.
The crash site is on the Margalla Hills facing Islamabad, about 300 metres up the side of the hills. Smoke could be seen from some districts of the city after the crash.
While Wednesday's crash is the worst aviation accident on Pakistani soil, PIA has had two worse disasters. In 1979 and 1992, PIA jets crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu, killing 156 and 167 people, respectively.
Within Pakistan, the last major aviation accident was in 2006 when a PIA plane crashed near the central city of Multan killing 45 people.
NEW PLANE
The military said it had sent three helicopters to the site and troops had also been moved there. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani surveyed rescue operations from the air and the government declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims.
Airblue began operations in 2004 with a fleet of Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, according to its website www.airblue.com. It flies primarily domestic routes as well as to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Manchester in Britain.
Spokesman Raheel Ahmed said this was the first crash for the airline and that an investigation was being launched.
"It's too early to speculate," he said about the cause of the crash. "The civil aviation authorities will also be involved."
Airbus confirmed one of its planes was involved in the Airblue crash.
"We regret to confirm there has been an accident with an Airbus aircraft and we will provide more information when we have more confirmed data available," said Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath.
At Islamabad's international airport in the moments after the crash, passengers in the departure lounge scanned the television screens for news.
"I'm not surprised something like this has happened," said Ahmed Fairuz, a passenger awaiting departure. "The weather is just too bad for flying."
Aviation industry sources in Europe said the aircraft was leased from International Lease Finance Corp, the leasing unit of U.S. insurance giant AIG.
Los Angeles-based ILFC was not available for comment and there was no immediate confirmation of these details.
The A321 is the largest of the A320 family of single-aisle jets produced by EADS subsidiary Airbus. This particular type of aircraft, which can seat up to 185 passengers, has been in service since 1994.
4/9 '10 loves x3 11:17 PM
♥ Saturday, July 24
Emirates’ recent announcement to equip all 90 of their new Airbus A380 aircraft with Wi-Fi networks is generating a lot of buzz among travellers.
According to a Bloomberg report, the paid-for-service will be made available in June 2012 and will allow the use of devices such as laptop computers, Apple iPhones and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones while in flight.
Some responses to a question posed on Yahoo! Answers, “How will Wi-Fi networks on airplanes change your flying experience?” revealed mixed reactions.
Some respondents raised concerns, such as the possible issue of the Wi-Fi signal causing interference with the airplane’s navigation instruments, and the possibility of terrorists taking advantage of the network to create chaos.
One user, “lady”, highlighted that connectivity on the plane may not be a good thing as bosses might expect their employees to work on the plane instead of resting.
“Arnaki” also lamented that his time on the plane was “the only sanctuary I have to shut off my Blackberry”.
Despite concerns raised, the general public sentiment was positive.
One respondent, “Ricky”, emphasised that a Wi-Fi connection would be useful for businessmen and that cost would not be an issue as it would be shouldered by the company. However, he added that pricing would need to be carefully considered, to make the service attractive for ordinary travellers’ use.
Felicia Goh, 23, a public relations coordinator, agreed. “It’ll be good to stay connected with friends and family through social networks, but I don’t think I want to pay for the service as it is not a necessity.”
Undergraduate Terence Chang, 24, offered a more practical view – he would be willing to pay a reasonable price for the service if on a long-haul flight as the cost would likely only be a small fraction of the plane ticket.
So are more airlines likely to offer Wi-Fi networks on their aircraft in the near future?
Singapore Airlines spokesman Nicholas Ionides told Yahoo! Singapore: “There are no immediate plans as yet to feature Wi-Fi on our aircraft, but we do monitor trends and listen to feedback provided by our customers and we have been studying it. Should there be any changes to our in-flight product offerings, an announcement would be made.”
4/9 '10 loves x3 12:34 AM