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      12 Injured on Qatar Airways Flight From Turbulence

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      The Dublin Airport said that a Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed in Ireland after a dozen people were injured by turbulence.Twelve people were injured on Sunday during turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha that landed safely as scheduled in Ireland, the Dublin Airport said.The plane, a Boeing B787-9, was flying over Turkey when it encountered turbulence, injuring six passengers and six crew members, the Dublin Airport said on social media.The flight landed in Dublin just before 1 p.m. local time and was met by emergency medical workers, the airport said.Passengers were checked for injuries before leaving the plane, and eight people were taken to a hospital.Dublin Airport said that its operations were not affected and that the airline’s return flight to Doha was still scheduled to depart later on Sunday.Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number” of passengers on the flight, QR017, had minor injuries.“The matter is now subject to an internal investigation,” the airline said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.”The flight lasted seven hours and 35 minutes according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website. The flight continued for more than three hours after passing over Turkey, according to tracking data.The injuries come after a rare death from turbulence occurred during a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday.A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured during the flight, which left from London and was flying over Myanmar when it hit what the airline described as “sudden extreme turbulence.”The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, made an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.Singapore Airlines said in a statement on Sunday that 40 passengers and a crew member who were on the flight were still hospitalized in Bangkok. There were 211 passengers on the 13-hour flight.Though turbulence on a flight can be intense and severe, it is rare for it to result in a death.There were 163 passengers and crew members seriously injured by turbulence on aircraft registered in the United States from 2009 to 2022, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. More

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      Turbulence on Qatar Airways Flight Leaves 12 Injured

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      The Dublin Airport said that a Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed in Ireland after a dozen people were injured by turbulence.Twelve people were injured on Sunday during turbulence on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha that landed safely as scheduled in Ireland, the Dublin Airport said.The plane, a Boeing B787-9, was flying over Turkey when it encountered turbulence, injuring six passengers and six crew members, the Dublin Airport said on social media.The flight landed in Dublin just before 1 p.m. local time and was met by emergency medical workers, the airport said.Passengers were checked for injuries before leaving the plane, and eight people were taken to a hospital.Dublin Airport said that its operations were not affected and that the airline’s return flight to Doha was still scheduled to depart later on Sunday.Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number” of passengers on the flight, QR017, had minor injuries.“The matter is now subject to an internal investigation,” the airline said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.”The flight lasted seven hours and 35 minutes according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website. The flight continued for more than three hours after passing over Turkey, according to tracking data.The injuries come after a rare death from turbulence occurred during a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday.A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured during the flight, which left from London and was flying over Myanmar when it hit what the airline described as “sudden extreme turbulence.”The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, made an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.Singapore Airlines said in a statement on Sunday that 40 passengers and a crew member who were on the flight were still hospitalized in Bangkok. There were 211 passengers on the 13-hour flight.Though turbulence on a flight can be intense and severe, it is rare for it to result in a death.There were 163 passengers and crew members seriously injured by turbulence on aircraft registered in the United States from 2009 to 2022, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. More

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      Justice Dept. Says Boeing Violated 2021 Settlement Over Max Plane

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      The department said the company had failed to design and enforce an ethics program to prevent violation of U.S. fraud laws.The Department of Justice said on Tuesday that Boeing was in violation of a 2021 settlement related to problems with the company’s 737 Max model that led to two deadly plane crashes in 2018 and 2019.In a letter to a federal judge, the department said that Boeing had failed to “design, implement and enforce” an ethics program to prevent and detect violations of U.S. fraud laws in the company’s operations. Creating that program was a condition of Boeing’s settlement, which also carried a $2.5 billion penalty.The determination by the Justice Department opens the door to a potential prosecution of a 2021 criminal charge accusing Boeing of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration, though Boeing can contest Tuesday’s decision.In a statement, Boeing said that the company believed that it had honored the terms of the settlement, adding that it was looking forward to the opportunity to respond.“As we do so, we will engage with the department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement,” Boeing said in its statement.The Justice Department declined to comment. Paul G. Cassell, a lawyer representing families of victims of the fatal plane crashes, said that his clients were planning to meet with the government on May 31 to discuss next steps in the case.When the government reached its settlement with Boeing in January 2021, many families of the crash victims said that the Trump administration had been too lenient on the aircraft manufacturer.“This is a positive first step and, for the families, a long time coming,” Mr. Cassell said. “But we need to see further action from D.O.J. to hold Boeing accountable.”The crashes of the 737 Max 8 planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people, prompting the F.A.A. to ground the entire 737 Max fleet. An investigation found that both crashes involved mistaken triggering of a maneuvering system designed to help avert stalls in flight.In another settlement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Boeing had offered misleading reassurances about the safety of the 737 Max in public statements after both crashes, despite knowing that the maneuvering system had posed a continuing safety issue.The Justice Department reached its finding at a tumultuous time for Boeing, which has faced intense regulatory scrutiny since a door panel blew out of a 737 Max 9 plane during an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Ore., in January. In March, the company said its chief executive, Dave Calhoun, would step down at the end of the year, along with Stan Deal, the head of the division that makes planes for airlines and other commercial customers.Mr. Calhoun replaced Dennis A. Muilenburg, who led the company during the 2018 and 2019 crashes. Boeing fired Mr. Muilenburg, whose performance during the crisis angered lawmakers and alienated victims’ families.Mark Walker More

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      What the F.A.A. Bill Means for Travelers

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      The legislation, which funds federal aviation programs for the next five years, cements new passenger protections, adds new routes and lets the T.S.A. continue to expand facial recognition programs. Here’s what you need to know.Automatic refunds for significant flight disruptions, fee-free family seating and accessibility improvements.Those are among the benefits for travelers in the bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five more years, which Congress is expected to pass. After months of back and forth, and several short-term extensions, it will then head to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.The F.A.A. oversees all plane traffic in the United States, and the bill, which Mr. Biden has signaled he will sign, grants $105 billion to the agency and $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board. In addition to strengthening passenger protections, it will pay for airport infrastructure, salaries and safety programs, and take aim at the air traffic controller shortage.Geoff Freeman, the president and chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association, called the renewal “a big step toward vastly improving the travel experience.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Delta Flight Loses Emergency Slide After Takeoff From J.F.K.

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      The plane had taken off from Kennedy International Airport when crew members noticed problems near its right wing, Delta said. What became of the slide is unknown.A Boeing 767 plane flown by Delta Air Lines lost an emergency slide on Friday, prompting it to return to New York not long after taking off, officials said.The flight, Delta Air Lines 520, had left Kennedy International Airport in New York and was headed to Los Angeles when its crew discovered an issue related to the aircraft’s right wing emergency exit slide. Crew members also detected an unusual sound near the wing, Delta Air Lines said.Pilots declared an emergency to air traffic controllers and the flight returned to Kennedy and landed safely, the airline said.After the plane landed, it became apparent that the aircraft’s emergency slide had “separated” from the plane, Delta Air Lines said. The plane was removed from service and the airline said it would “thoroughly evaluate the aircraft.”“Delta flight crews enacted their extensive training and followed procedures to return to J.F.K.,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would “fully cooperate” with retrieval efforts and investigations.It was not clear on Saturday what caused the slide to detach or where it had fallen.The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that it would investigate what happened.The flight, which had been scheduled to take off at 7:15 a.m., returned to the airport at 8:35 a.m. after its crew reported “a vibration,” the F.A.A. said in a statement. The 176 passengers disembarked and traveled to Los Angeles on a different plane.Slides have previously fallen from planes while midair. In July, an emergency slide from a United Airlines-operated plane crashed into a home near O’Hare Airport in Chicago. In 2019, a slide from a Delta plane fell into a yard in Massachusetts.A spokesman for Boeing referred inquiries about the plane that lost its slide on Friday to Delta Air Lines. That plane, a version of the Boeing 767, was manufactured in 1990.With travel shut down in 2020, American Airlines announced at the time that it had moved forward with plans to retire its 767 fleet.Boeing has also faced heightened scrutiny recently over the manufacturing of its Boeing 737 Max jets. Two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people raised safety concerns about the planes.In January, a fuselage panel tore off an Alaska Airlines flight, exposing passengers to a frightening ordeal as winds whipped through the cabin. Nobody was injured, but the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing, and the F.A.A. grounded some 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes as a precaution.Since then, Boeing has said it would make changes to its quality control processes and regulators have pushed the manufacturer to make improvements to safety. More

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      Southwest Quits Four Airports in Cost-Cutting Drive

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      The airline expects fewer deliveries of Boeing planes than before, and cited “significant challenges” in achieving growth plans because of it.Southwest Airlines is ceasing operations at four airports, and reducing flights from others, in an effort to cut costs after its growth plans were curtailed by fewer than expected plane deliveries from Boeing.The airline, which flies only Boeing 737 planes, said on Thursday that delays from the embattled aircraft manufacturer were behind its struggles. Southwest reported a loss of $231 million for the first quarter, worse than analysts expected, sending its share price down 10 percent in early trading.To cut costs because of its curtailed growth plans, Southwest said it would cease operations at four airports from early August: Bellingham International Airport in Washington State, Cozumel International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and Syracuse Hancock International Airport. It would also “significantly restructure” its flights from other airports, most notably by reducing flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport.The airline’s woes were another ripple effect of the incident on Jan. 5, when a panel of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet blew out midair during an Alaska Airlines flight. The event led to the temporary grounding of the popular jet model and a slowdown in production as Boeing has faced increased regulatory scrutiny over its quality control.Southwest said it expected to get 20 new Boeing jets this year, down from the 46 it had previously anticipated. The timing of the deliveries depends on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has capped Boeing’s production while it gets quality issues under control.“The recent news from Boeing regarding further aircraft delivery delays presents significant challenges for both 2024 and 2025,” Southwest’s chief executive, Bob Jordan, said in a statement.The airline said it would limit hiring and end the year with 2,000 fewer employees. It also said it planned to put fewer planes out of service than it previously planned.On Wednesday, Boeing reported a $355 million loss for the first quarter, a steep setback that was nonetheless less than analysts expected.Demand for travel remains robust, and while other airlines are trying to manage the production slowdown at Boeing, Southwest appears more adversely affected than its rivals, many of which also buy planes from Airbus.American Airlines reported a quarterly loss of $312 million on Thursday, but provided a better-than-expected forecast for earnings in the current quarter and maintained its growth target for the year.Alaska Airlines and United Airlines recently reported narrower losses than expected in the first three months of the year, and said that they would have reported profits if the Boeing 737 Max 9 had not been grounded. Delta Air Lines was the only major airline to report a profit in the first quarter. More

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      Transportation Dept. and State Attorneys General Will Look Into Airline Complaints

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      Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a new partnership with more than a dozen state attorneys general that aims to improve protections for air travelers.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday announced a new partnership with more than a dozen state attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against airlines.The partnership sets up a process for state attorney general’s offices to review complaints from travelers and then pass the baton to the federal Transportation Department, which could take enforcement action against airlines.“The support that’s being offered by state attorney general’s offices means that our capacity to protect airline passengers is expanding,” Mr. Buttigieg said at Denver International Airport, where he appeared with Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is among those joining the partnership.The federal-state initiative is Mr. Buttigieg’s latest step aimed at improving protections for air travelers and ensuring that airlines are held accountable when they err. The Transportation Department has issued more than $164 million in penalties against airlines during his tenure, according to the agency. Mr. Buttigieg has also pressed airlines to seat children with their parents for free and to improve the services they offer to travelers who experience lengthy delays or cancellations.The Transportation Department said attorneys general from 15 states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin — had signed agreements to be part of the partnership.The attorneys general from the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands also have joined, the department said, bringing the total number involved to 18. Of those, 16 are Democrats and two are Republicans.Under federal law, states are generally barred from enforcing their own consumer protection laws against airlines. State attorneys general have pushed for federal legislation that would empower them to take action against airlines, just as they can against companies in other industries.The new partnership does not grant them that power. Instead, their offices would investigate complaints from travelers, and if they determine that federal consumer protection rules may have been violated, they could refer the matter to the Transportation Department under a fast-track process. The federal agency would then review the complaint and could take enforcement action.“The ideal world would be one where states are given formal authority to enforce consumer protection law alongside the Department of Transportation,” Mr. Weiser said. “Congress has failed to act on that thus far, but we are not waiting for action.”In a statement, Airlines for America, a trade group representing the country’s largest air carriers, said it regularly worked with the Transportation Department and state attorneys general to improve the flying experience for travelers.“We appreciate the role of state attorneys general and their work on behalf of consumers,” the group said, adding that it looked forward to continuing to work with them. More

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      Boeing Defends Safety of 787 Dreamliner After Whistle-Blower’s Claims

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      After a Boeing engineer went public with safety concerns, the company invited reporters to its South Carolina factory and top engineers vouched for the plane.Boeing sought on Monday to reassure the public of the safety of its 787 Dreamliner plane days before a whistle-blower is scheduled to testify before Congress about his concerns regarding the jet’s structural integrity.In a briefing for reporters at the factory in North Charleston, S.C., where the plane is assembled, two top Boeing engineers said the company had conducted exhaustive tests, inspections and analyses of the plane, both during its development and in recent years, and found no evidence that its body would fail prematurely.The presentation came just under a week after The New York Times reported the allegations by the whistle-blower, Sam Salehpour, who works as a quality engineer at Boeing and is set to testify before a Senate panel on Wednesday. Mr. Salehpour said that sections of the fuselage of the Dreamliner, a wide-body plane that makes extensive use of composite materials, were not properly fastened together and that the plane could suffer structural failure over time as a result. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating his allegations.Mr. Salehpour’s claims instantly created another public-relations problem for Boeing, which has been facing intense scrutiny over its manufacturing practices after a panel came off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.Mr. Salehpour said that the gaps where sections of the Dreamliner’s fuselage were fastened together did not always meet Boeing’s specifications, something that he said could weaken the aircraft over time. The Boeing engineers disagreed with his assessment, without naming him. They said the plane had gone through extensive testing that showed that, in a vast majority of cases, the gaps met the specifications. Even if the gaps exceeded the specifications by a reasonable amount, they would not affect the plane’s durability, the engineers added.“Not only did we interrogate those airframes — we were taking out fasteners, we were looking for damage, we’re also doing the approval inspections to understand the build condition, and we didn’t find any fatigue issues in the composite structure,” said Steve Chisholm, a vice president and the functional chief engineer for mechanical and structural engineering at Boeing.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More