JOHANNESBURG - SA Express has confirmed to Eyewitness News that several flights have been canceled nationally, citing operational reasons.

Management is currently locked in a meeting to discuss the matter.

SA Express said passengers who had been affected by the grounding of flights had been notified and alternative arrangements had been made.

It's not clear when operations will resume.

The company said it could not comment on claims that it owed Airports Company South Africa millions of rand.

Source: EWN

Emirates is probing a maintenance accident involving one of the carrier's Airbus A380s which received substantial damage during a routine check. The accident occurred on 20 August, the Dubai-based airline tells FlightGlobal. Emirates says the aircraft was undergoing an A-check on the jet at the time. It has given few details on the circumstances but says there was "an incident" when its engineering team was carrying out the work. "All our employees are safe and unhurt," the airline stresses. Images circulating on social media purporting to have been taken at the scene show an A380 resting on its open nose-gear doors, having apparently dropped to the ground. The aircraft has sustained damage to its radome, the upper half of which appears to have separated, while the gear doors and surrounding fuselage underside are badly deformed. The status of the nose-gear itself is unclear. Although the forward left-hand main-deck door is absent, there is no indication as to whether it was removed before or after the accident. The extent of any other possible damage to the aircraft has not been confirmed. "We are investigating the cause internally," says Emirates. "Safety is our number one priority, and we follow stringent safety and technical standards."

Source: FlightGlobal

Air China would like to establish a joint venture with United Airlines, but current tense US-China trade tensions make such an arrangement all but impossible, according to an Air China executive. The carrier's vice-president and general manager of North America Zhihang Chi says trade frictions comes amid a broader slowdown in demand for air travel from China to many international destinations. "In the United States, we would like to have a joint venture relationship… with United Airlines," Chi says at the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Las Vegas on 26 August. "But given all that has been going on, this is virtually impossible." Air China and United already have a codeshare arrangement and are both members of Star Alliance. But in recent years Air China has sought to establish tighter relationships with partners by establishing joint ventures, which typically involve sharing revenue and joint marketing and sales activities. Air China has signed such deals with Air Canada and Lufthansa. But joint ventures require regulatory approvals, and the USA and China are currently battling in a tariff war. Just days ago, US President Donald Trump announced he would raise taxes on imported Chinese goods in response to new tariffs imposed by Beijing.

Source: FlightGlobal