In 2006 Southwest Airlines contracted a company to perform a skin repair on 44 of it' s Boeing 737s to eliminate potential cracking of the aluminium on the planes' hulls. The company carrying out the work, Aviation Technical Services, did not follow approved procedures for the maintenance and did not properly stabilise the planes while making the repairs. The FAA is now proposing to fine Southwest Airlines for operating the aircraft without providing documentation to show the aircraft were compliant. Southwest did eventually provide documentation to the FAA, but only after many flights had been flown. The FAA also proposed a $10.2 million fine for Southwest Airlines in 2010 after investigation uncovered that 46 aircraft had not received mandatory repairs.

Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for Nigeria' s finance ministry arrived in Nigeria from Liberia, and was found to be infected with the Ebola virus. Nigerian authorities have quarantined Sawyer in Lagos, and begun trying to identify everyone he has been in contact with during his journey, which included changing flights in Ghana. West Africa is currently battling the worst ever outbreak of Ebola, which as killed more than 1000 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and is currently bracing itself for a possible outbreak of the disease, after a Liberian man died last week. Large airports will often have quarantine facilities, where travellers who have a contagious disease can be confined. Airline workers are trained to spot symptoms and most international airports have quarantine officials. Updates regarding travel exposure to disease is available from the World Health Organisation: http: //www.who. int/ith

ndonesian-based airline Tigerair Mandala has announced that they will suspend operations on July 1st 2014. The airline has had poor financial performance for several years and has recently undertaken significant capacity reduction. The airline’s key stake holders, which include the Tiger Airways Holdings Group and the Saratoga Group, recently entered talks with potential investors regarding a share acquisition or purchase of the small airline division. With the failure of these talks it was concluded that the operations, currently only consisting of five aircraft, would be suspended. The aircraft will be returned to their lessors and future bookings will be either refunded or booked via an alternative Tigerair airline division.