Fog enshrouding East Midlands airport prevented tower controllers from realising that a parking stand was occupied by a Jet2 Boeing 737-300, before the jet was struck by a Ryanair 737-800 taxiing past it. The Ryanair aircraft, arriving from London Stansted on 30 April, had been cleared to follow the shortest path to stand S22. This meant passing behind the Jet2 aircraft on stand S24. This aircraft did not show up on the surface-movement radar display. Low-visibility procedures were in place at the time, with runway visual range down to just 300-325m, and the fog made the Jet2 aircraft "invisible" to air traffic controllers, says the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch. "Had visibility been better, [controllers] would have had an opportunity to visually acquire the obstruction and offer a different route [to the Ryanair crew]," it adds. Although the Jet2 aircraft was correctly parked, the short 737-300 was occupying a position normally intended for a 737-800 – a larger aircraft, which might have made the lack of clearance more obvious to the Ryanair crew. The inquiry says aeronautical information charts did not indicate that clearance could be compromised, and even though the Ryanair crew was aware of the narrow margin and kept to the taxiway guidance line, the 737-800's right winglet sliced into the Jet2 aircraft's horizontal stabiliser. "Commercial flight crew routinely operate on airfields where following established taxiway markings generates safe separation," says the inquiry. "Repeated achievement of safe outcomes through compliance builds confidence and trust that airfield markings are safe to follow."

Source: FlightGlobal

South African Airways acting chair Thandeka Mgoduso has confirmed that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association issued the national carrier with a strike notice on Wednesday morning. Mgoduso was appearing before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). SAA announced on Monday that it is embarking on a restructuring process which may affect 944 jobs - almost a fifth of its employees. In response, Numsa and SACCA warned that their members are preparing for "the mother of all strikes at SAA". On Wednesday, SAA briefed SCOPA on the reasons why it failed to submit its 2018-19 annual report and financial statements, as required by the Public Finance Management Act. The delegation told SCOPA that they were prevented from tabling the report as there are reservations whether the airline can be presented as a going concern. Over the past 13 years, the flag carrier has incurred over R28bn in cumulative losses. The committee was not satisfied with their explanation, but gave the utility an opportunity to explain the financial situation and plans to table their annual report on November 20th. SAA board member Martin Kingston told SCOPA that the only thing that may have changed by November 27th is a potential strike, which would lead to a further deterioration of the carrier's financial situation. Deon Fredericks, interim chief financial officer (CFO) of SAA, told a media briefing on Tuesday that the strike will endanger the existence of SAA and could destroy every job at the state-owned airline. Fredericks said labour currently represents 24% of SAA's total cost. Fin24 understands that SAA is currently under pressure to secure R2bn in working capital, which it needs before the end of November. Government does not want to extend further support. Finance minister Tito Mboweni announced last month that Treasury won't extend additional bailouts to state-owned enterprises - any further financing will be in the form of loans, that will have to be repaid, with interest.

Source: Fin24

Wizz Air chief Jozsef Varadi has scorned the pledges of airlines which are committing to becoming carbon-neutral in several decades' time. Varadi spoke during a 13 November half-year briefing at which it put its carbon dioxide emissions figure at 57g per revenue passenger-kilometre, claiming this to be some 40% lower than IAG or Lufthansa. "It's great when an airline like British Airways, KLM, or Air France says that in 2050 – we're all going to be dead by that time – we're going to be carbon neutral," he said. "These are the worst-performing airlines." He insists that, regardless of their declarations, they "don’t have the financial resources to sufficiently invest" in the technology required to "change the game". "I think it's a bit of a joke, what they're saying," says Varadi, pointing out that the larger carrier groups offer business class, lower-density seating, and flight connections. "Inherently their business model is environmentally-polluting." He argues that Wizz's environmental impact is substantially smaller, on a per-passenger basis. "If you have 'flight-shaming', maybe you should have 'business-class shaming' and 'connecting-flight shaming' as well," he says. "Maybe we need to think about that."

Source: FlightGlobal