Hong Kong International airport’s operations are gradually getting back on track, a day after anti-government protesters occupied large swathes of the airport, causing all flights to be cancelled. In a notice posted on 13 August, the airport authority says that it will “implement flight rescheduling…with flight movements expected to be affected”. It urged passengers to check with their airlines, as well as on its website, on the latest flight information. On the afternoon of 12 August, the authority cancelled all flights on the grounds that its operations had been “seriously disrupted”. Flights scheduled to depart at 18:00 local time on 12 August, or later, had been cancelled. The cancellation was reported to last till the next morning. As of 11:00 local time, the airport's website shows that for the whole of 13 August, 345 flights in and out of the city have been cancelled, with a further 22 flights delayed. Cathay Pacific and its unit Cathay Dragon have cancelled nearly 200 flights in and out of Hong Kong, mostly to points within Asia. The unprecedented shutdown of Hong Kong International airport comes a week after a similar episode of flight cancellations. On 5 August, the Cathay Pacific group cancelled hundreds of flights in and out of Hong Kong, most of them flights to Asian destinations, while other Asian carriers had also cancelled flights to the city. Hong Kong has been rocked by protests for the past two months over the government's decision to introduce an unpopular extradition bill. It was later shelved, but protesters have demanded the full withdrawal of the bill and an investigation into the way the political crisis has been handled.

Source: FlightGlobal

Russian investigators are probing a take-off incident involving a Globus Boeing 737-800 which became airborne after apparently overrunning at Moscow Domodedovo. Surveillance cameras captured the jet, with its nose up for rotation, on runway 32L as it departed for Simferopol on 5 August. The images indicate the aircraft was either still on the ground or barely airborne as it travelled past the threshold for the opposite-direction runway 14R.
09 AUGUST, 2019 SOURCE: FLIGHT DASHBOARD BY: DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON
Moscow's interregional transport department of the federal Investigative Committee says a subsequent inspection of the runway after the "aviation event" revealed glass fragments from broken lighting. It adds that checks are under way intended to establish "all the circumstances and causes" of the incident. The aircraft did not return to Domodedovo but proceeded to Simferopol.

Source: FlightGlobal

Members of Irish pilots union Forsa have voted 94% in favour of taking industrial action against Ryanair in a row over pay. Forsa says it will now write to Ryanair's management next week to give details of industrial action, including strikes, unless the airline agrees to the union's pay proposals by 12 August. The union says that, under pay claims it submitted to the airline in March, Ryanair pilots would receive pay and conditions in line with industry norms. Industrial action could still be avoided if the airline engages constructively in talks, states Forsa assistant general secretary Ian McDonnell. He accuses the company of using stalling tactics to delay negotiations. "Ryanair's directly employed Irish-based pilots are simply seeking pay levels that are common and competitive in the commercial airline sector, from a company that made a more-than-healthy profit of €1 billion last year," he says. "They feel they have been forced into contemplating potentially disruptive industrial action by a company that seems either unwilling or unable to negotiate in a professional and constructive manner. At this stage, only a substantive counter-proposal, which properly addresses all areas of our claim, will be enough to prevent us serving notice of industrial action next week." Ryanair says it is "disappointed" that Forsa pilots are threatening to disrupt customers' travel plans, and argues that the union's motion to strike has the support of less than a quarter of the airline's Irish pilots.

Source: FlightGlobal