Airlines

U.S. Safety Board Probes United Runway Incident at Honolulu Airport

The incident on Jan. 23 at Honolulu Airport involved a United Airlines widebody crossing a runway and colliding with a Cessna landing on the same runway, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday that it will launch an investigation into the matter.

The United Boeing 777 was instructed by an air traffic controller to halt on a taxiway before reaching the runway, but the United flight crossed it as the Cessna 208B cargo plane was coming into land, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is also conducting an investigation.

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According to the FAA, the Cessna came to a stop 1,170 feet away from the United jet’s path of travel. There were no reported casualties or damages. United directed questions regarding the incident to the NTSB. The incident involved a smaller Cessna 206 turboprop cargo plane being flown by Kamaka Air, which transports freight between the Hawaiian islands. An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by the airline.

The acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen had instructed his department in a memo to “analyse the data to discover whether there are other instances that are similar to ones we have seen in recent weeks” the day before the NTSB announced the investigation.

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Airlines

Federal Court Imposes $100M Fine on Qantas for “Ghost Flights” Scandal

In a major ruling, the Federal Court has confirmed a hefty A$100 million penalty against Qantas for its involvement in the “ghost flights” scandal. As reported by FlightGlobal.

The court found that Qantas misled consumers by offering and selling tickets for flights that the airline had already decided to cancel. Adding to the controversy, Qantas failed to promptly notify ticket holders about these cancellations.

The penalty follows Qantas’ admission of violating the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The airline agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on the penalty amount, aiming to deter Qantas and other businesses from similar breaches in the future.

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The ACCC emphasized that this substantial fine sends a clear message: misleading customers will lead to serious consequences, regardless of a company’s size. In addition to the penalty, Qantas has committed to paying approximately A$20 million to affected passengers who unknowingly purchased tickets for canceled flights.

This compensation comes on top of any refunds or alternative flight arrangements already provided. ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb praised the penalty, underscoring the importance of robust compliance programs red energy qantas in large corporations like Qantas.

She pointed out that Qantas has since made changes to its operating and scheduling procedures to prevent similar issues in the future.