Dublin airport authorities say six passengers and six crew members were injured after flight hit turbulence over Turkey.
At least a dozen people have sustained injuries after a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin was hit by turbulence while flying over Turkey, Dublin airport authorities have said.
At least six passengers and six crew members were injured on Qatar Airways flight QR017, Dublin airport said in a statement on Sunday.
It said that the aircraft landed safely as scheduled before 1pm (12:00GMT). Upon landing, it was met by emergency services, including airport police and the fire and rescue department, the airport said.
“All passengers were assessed for injury prior to disembarking the aircraft,” it said, adding that eight passengers were taken to hospital in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.
Qatar Airways confirmed that the flight, a Boeing B787-9 from Doha to Dublin, landed safely.
“A small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention,” read the statement. “The matter is now subject to an internal investigation.”
15.00 update:⁰⁰Qatar Airways flight QR017 from Doha landed safely as scheduled at Dublin Airport shortly before 13.00 on Sunday. Upon landing, the aircraft was met by emergency services, including Airport Police and our Fire and Rescue department, due to 6 passengers and 6 crew… pic.twitter.com/6rZjQg5vOb
The incident comes after a British man died and dozens of people were severely injured on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight that hit sudden and severe turbulence on Tuesday. The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.
Health authorities said on Thursday that 20 people remained in intensive care while others sustained spinal cord, brain and skull injuries.
Following the incident, Singapore’s flag carrier adopted “a more cautious approach to managing turbulence in-flight”, SIA told Al Jazeera in a statement on Friday. Under the revised policy, meal service will no longer be provided when the seat belt sign is on, the airline said.
The cabin crew will also continue to secure all loose items and equipment during poor weather conditions and continue to advise passengers to return to their seats and secure their seat belts.
Air travel rarely leads to injuries. In the United States, the world’s largest air travel market, there have only been 163 injuries between 2009 and 2022 that required hospitalisation, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The US National Transportation Safety Board hasn’t reported a single turbulence-related death on a large-body aircraft in that period.
It’s also almost unheard of for turbulence to bring down an aircraft – let alone a commercial one.
Experts warned that while aircraft are designed to withstand severe amounts of turbulence, climate-change-related factors such as warming temperatures could lead to higher wind speeds.
On May 14, 1954, Boeing, now one of the world’s largest commercial aerospace companies, unveiled its first commercial jet-powered passenger plane, the Model 367-80 prototype, at its Renton Field plant on the south shore of Lake Washington in Washington state, where jetliners are still produced today.
The 367-80 would eventually be retired on January 22, 1970 but not before its technology had been used to create the famous 707 model – and, later the hugely successful 737.
Initially, airlines were cautious about embracing jet technology, citing worries about expense and noise levels among other things. However, the successful test flights of the 367-80 demonstrated the advances aviation had made in increased speeds and altitudes.
Ultimately, this success laid the groundwork for Boeing’s 707 plane, which was launched in 1957. US airline group Pan Am began regular 707 flights on October 26, 1958, signalling the industry’s broader acceptance of jet airliners. Before the 707, propeller-driven aircraft had dominated commercial air travel.
Boeing’s 737 model was launched in 1967 and would become the most commercially successful aeroplane in aviation history.
However, in recent years, Boeing has suffered a string of technical failures. Most recently, a Boeing 737 carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at Senegal’s main airport, injuring 10 people including the pilot, while a Boeing 767 cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing following a front landing gear failure.
Last week, Boeing was forced to postpone the launch of its new CST-100 Starliner capsule, designed for launch into space, after engineers detected a problem with a rocket valve.
Here is a timeline of some of Boeing’s highs and lows over the past century.
(Al Jazeera)
A century in the air – some of Boeing’s highs
The company, which was first founded as Pacific Aero Products Co by William Boeing in 1916, was officially named Boeing Airplane Co in 1917, shortly after the US entered the war. During the war, Boeing provided Model C trainer planes to the US Navy, designed a new patrol “flying boat” and signed a contract with the US Navy to build 50 Curtiss HS-2L seaplanes.
In 1917, it also produced the first US-designed and built bomber plane and its Martin MB-1 bomber made its first flight.
During World War II, Boeing produced bombers such as the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 Superfortress planes, named Enola Gay and Bockscar, were the two aircraft used to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The atomic bombing caused almost 200,000 casualties. Long-term effects on survivors would lead to radiation sickness and such cancers as leukaemia, thyroid cancer and lung cancer, due to radiation exposure.
Launch of the 737 airliner
One of Boeing’s most significant contributions to commercial aviation was the 737 series of jetliners, launched in 1967. The model would become one of the best-selling commercial jetliners in aviation history. Nearly 12,000 have been built.
During the Apollo programme, which ultimately saw American astronaut Neil Armstrong become the first person to walk on the moon, Boeing built the Saturn V’s maiden rocket in 1967. That same model rocket would be used for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, landing astronauts on the moon.
Boeing, the billion-dollar company
Boeing made $1bn in sales for the first time in 1956. It was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker symbol BA, in January 1978 and is currently valued at $109.5bn.
Which fatal crashes have involved Boeing planes?
More than 100 years after Boeing was first founded, Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 domestic passenger flight, crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang in Indonesia, en route to Depati Amir Airport, Pangkal Pinang, killing all 189 people on board on October 29, 2018. An investigation by the Indonesian authorities blamed a combination of an aircraft design flaw which had forced the plane to dive down, inadequate training and maintenance problems, one year later.
Residents collect debris at the scene where Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in a wheat field just outside the town of Bishoftu, 62km southeast of Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019 [Jemal Countess/Getty Images]
Ethiopian Airlines crash, 2019
Less than a year after the Lion Air incident, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, also a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and a scheduled international passenger flight from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, crashed near the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu just six minutes after takeoff on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 people on board. The same technical issue which had been found in the Lion Air case was also discovered.
The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide due to concerns about a faulty sensor that had caused its Manoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) to continually tilt the plane downwards, causing it to dive.
As a result of the controversy over the design flaw, Boeing’s board removed CEO Dennis Muilenburg as chairman but allowed him to remain chief executive.
The Boeing 737 MAX was finally cleared to resume flights by the FAA in November 2020, after the problem was fixed but Boeing had already been heavily criticised by the US House Transportation Committee for failing to take better safety measures.
What incidents involving Boeing planes have happened this year?
Alaskan Airlines door panel blowout, January
In January this year, a door panel on Alaskan Airlines flight 1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet, blew out, causing rapid decompression and forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport. Some passengers suffered minor injuries but nobody was killed or seriously harmed. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately grounded the 737 Max 9, of which there were 171 in use worldwide. Loose hardware was reported in an initial investigation.
This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows a gaping hole where the panelled-over door had been at the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, on January 7, 2024, in Portland, Oregon [National Transportation Safety Board via AP]
The incident caused a flurry of conspiracy theories which have ramped up in the past three months because of the deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers.
John Barnett, a quality control engineer who worked for Boeing for more than three decades, was found dead in March 2019. His body was discovered with a gunshot wound and a suicide note in his truck, which was parked in a hotel car park in South Carolina.
Two weeks ago, Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, a supplier for Boeing, died in an Oklahoma hospital due to a staph infection that quickly developed into pneumonia.
Air Senegal plane skids off runway, May
A chartered Air Senegal Boeing B737-300 plane skidded off a runway before takeoff early on Thursday, May 9 at Blaise Diagne International Airport in the capital, Dakar. Eighty-five people – including two pilots and four cabin crew – were on board the flight operated by TransAir and bound for the Malian capital Bamako. At least 10 people were injured, the transport ministry said.
Photos showed the damaged plane at a standstill in a grassy field with a damaged wing, its emergency exit slides deployed.
Videos shared on social media appeared to show a left wing on fire.
A FedEx Express Boeing 767 cargo plane made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on May 8 without deploying its front landing gear but managed to stay on the runway and avoid casualties [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
FedEx flight makes emergency landing, May
On Wednesday, May 8, a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft belonging to FedEx made an emergency landing at Istanbul in Turkey after its front landing gear failed. No one was injured and the crew successfully evacuated the aircraft.
Corendon Airlines plane has burst tyre, May
Also in Turkey, 190 people – including six crew members – were safely evacuated from a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Corendon Airlines after one of the aircraft’s tyres burst on Thursday, May 9, during landing at Gazipasa, an airport near the Mediterranean coastal town of Alanya.
Boeing Starliner launch halted, May
Boeing called off the inaugural crewed flight CST-100 Starliner space capsule on Monday, May 7, after engineers detected an issue with the Atlas V rocket valve. The decision to call off the launch on Monday came two hours before the scheduled liftoff and about an hour after two NASA astronauts had strapped into the spacecraft.
NASA chief Bill Nelson posted on X. “Standing down on tonight’s attempt to launch. As I’ve said before, @NASA’s first priority is safety. We go when we’re ready.”
(Al Jazeera)
Is Boeing’s safety record being investigated?
Boeing has been the subject of 32 whistleblower complaints lodged with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the workplace safety regulator, in the United States during the past three years
Air safety officials in the US are also currently investigating whether employees at Boeing falsified inspection records for the 787 Dreamliner.
Sam Salehpour, another whistleblower and quality engineer who worked for Boeing for 10 years has stated he had safety concerns regarding the 787 Dreamliner. Last month, Salehpour testified at a congressional hearing with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the safety of the 777 and 787 aircraft.
He stated: “I have analysed Boeing’s own data to conclude that the company is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 programme that may significantly reduce the airplane’s safety and the life cycle.”
Boeing strongly refuted the claims and stated that it is “fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner”.
Accidents involving Air Senegal, Corendon Airlines come as aircraft manufacturer in crisis over its poor safety record.
Two Boeing 737 passenger planes have been involved in accidents in Senegal and Turkey on takeoff and landing, raising further questions about the aircraft manufacturer’s safety record.
In Senegal, a chartered Air Senegal Boeing B737-300 plane skidded off a runway before takeoff early on Thursday at Blaise Diagne International Airport in the capital, Dakar.
Eight-five people – including two pilots and four cabin crew – were on board the flight operated by TransAir and bound for the Malian capital Bamako. At least 10 people were injured, the transport ministry said.
Photos showed the damaged plane at a standstill in a grassy field with a damaged wing, its emergency exit slides deployed.
Videos shared on social media appeared to show a left wing on fire. The aircraft was later cordoned off with red and white tape, the Reuters news agency reported.
The facility was closed after the accident but had reopened by 11:00 GMT, the airport operator said.
In Turkey, 190 people – including six crew members – were safely evacuated from a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Corendon Airlines after one of the aircraft’s tyres burst on Thursday during landing at Gazipasa, an airport near the Mediterranean coastal town of Alanya.
Corendon Airlines denied Turkish media reports that the aircraft, which had arrived from Cologne, Germany, had landed on its nose. Turkey’s Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure reported damage to the plane’s nose landing gear.
Flights were diverted to nearby Antalya airport while the aircraft was removed, the ministry said.
It was the second incident at a Turkish airport in as many days. On Wednesday, a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft belonging to FedEx made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport after its front landing gear failed. No one was injured and the crew safely evacuated the aircraft.
Manufacturers are not typically involved in the operation or maintenance of jets once they enter service, but Boeing has been under intense media and regulatory scrutiny following a series of incidents involving its 737s.
In January, a door panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. The midair blowout followed two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
Further denting the company’s image, air safety officials in the United States are currently investigating whether employees at Boeing falsified inspection records for the 787 Dreamliner.
Air India was once so renowned for its service that Singapore’s founding statesman Lee Kuan Yew used the airline as a blueprint for launching the city-state’s own flag carrier in the early 1970s.
In recent decades, India’s national airline came to be seen as a cautionary tale of decline as it racked up billions of dollars in losses and battled a reputation for tardiness and poor service.
When the Tata Group bought the company in October 2021, returning control to the wealthy Tata family after decades of state ownership, CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran laid out a clear objective: “To build a world-class airline”.
Tasked with leading this mission is Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, who was recruited from Singapore’s low-cost airline Scoot in 2022 to turn around the carrier, founded in 1932 by French-Indian aviator entrepreneur JRD Tata.
“Standards have slipped considerably over the years,” Wilson told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.
But Wilson is adamant that “the journey to restoring Air India to its former glory is well under way” under a five-year turnaround plan unveiled last year.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson was recruited from Singapore’s low-cost airline Scoot in 2022 [Arun Sankar/AFP]
The Tata Group has spent tens of billions in transforming the company in recent years, investing in 470 new aircraft, cabin modernisation, a brand refresh and customer service changes.
After the “capital-intensive” five-year plan is completed, Air India hopes to capitalise on the huge growth potential of the Indian aviation market, the world’s third-largest with some 145 million domestic passengers annually.
The Tata Group’s initial priority has been its ageing fleet, the upkeep of which has been neglected for decades.
Shortly after the ownership change, Air India added 36 leased aircraft – 11 Boeing 777s and 25 Airbus A320s – which allowed the airline to launch six new international routes and increase frequency across a further 24.
Air India’s largest investment came with its announcement of plans to buy 470 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft at a cost of $70bn, including 140 A320neos, 70 A321neos, and 190 of the 737 MAX.
Wilson said the acquisitions will enable Air India to “operate the most advanced and fuel-efficient fleet within five years”.
The airline also plans to spend $400m to retrofit its existing fleet by refurbishing cabin interiors.
Wilson said the retrofit will initially focus on the airline’s narrow-body A320neo and A321neo aircraft, after which 40 legacy wide-body Boeing 777s and 787s will receive a “complete makeover with all new interiors”.
Other changes to improve onboard service include introducing premium economy seats on selected long-haul flights and new food menus.
Henry H Harteveldt, the president of Atmosphere Research Group, said the Tata Group’s investments may help to build a foundation for Air India to succeed, but the changes will not matter much if the airline does not manage to be reliable and punctual.
Above all else, Air India should strive to be seen as “the on-time machine”, Harteveldt told Al Jazeera.
“If a service isn’t considered reliable, customers won’t have the confidence to book with that airline,” he said.
Damaged relations
The Tata Group’s biggest challenge of all may be addressing Air India’s damaged relationship with its customers.
Apart from recurring issues with reliability and punctuality, the airline’s image has been tarnished by high-profile controversies involving its customer service, such as an incident in February in which an 80-year-old passenger collapsed after being forced to walk 1.5km (2.4 miles) from the plane to the immigration counter due to a shortage of wheelchairs.
John Gradek, an expert in aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said that Air India’s fleet renewal efforts will fail to revive the airline’s fortunes unless it can establish a “new customer service mindset among its customer-facing staff”, a task that has proven difficult “for many airlines looking to grow their international brand”.
More than two years after the Tata Group’s takeover of Air India, the airline’s turnaround plan has completed its first phase.
Its achievements so far include a $200m investment in new IT to boost reliability and the recruitment of more than 3,800 new employees across several areas to support growth.
Harteveldt said the investment in IT was especially welcome as Air India has been “tech-starved for a long time because of the Indian government’s inability or unwillingness to invest in the airline adequately”.
For the Tata Group, the progression has continued into 2024 with the scheduling of new international routes with the newly delivered Airbus A350-900 between Delhi and Dubai.
Additional changes, such as consolidating carrier Vistara into Air India, are expected to occupy Tata’s focus for the remainder of 2024, in keeping with Chandrasekaran’s view of consolidation as “an important milestone in the journey to make Air India a truly world-class airline”.
There are also internal issues with its subsidiary Air India Express, which has both domestic and international flights. Since Tuesday, it has cancelled at least 90 flights as more than 100 crew members have called in sick at the last minute, essentially a strike action reportedly over pay and related matters.
Cancellations across the Indian budget carrier represent owner Tata Group’s second setback in as many months, as Vistara was forced to adjust its schedule with flight cancellations amid a pilot shortage only in April.
Tata Group CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran has stressed the need for consolidation [Christopher Furlong/AFP]
Harteveldt said the “devil is in the details when it comes to airline mergers”.
If the airline teams can “be transparent, even humble”, operational faults can be smoothed out during the integration’s initial months, he said.
After being in the government’s hands for more than half a century, Air India’s recovery is expected to take time, Harteveldt said, but there is “no reason in the world why, with the right investments and focus, Air India can’t successfully distinguish itself from other Indian-based airlines”.
Wilson said Air India’s long-term goal is to grow its market share to 30 percent both domestically and internationally by 2027.
The goal, he said, is to create an airline that is “bold, confident, and vibrant, but also warm and deeply rooted to its rich history, traditions, and warm Indian hospitality”.
Still, Wilson said he is under no illusions that the turnaround will happen overnight.
Boeing 767 cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport without its front landing gear, says a transport ministry official.
A Boeing 767 cargo plane has landed at Istanbul Airport without its front landing gear, a Turkish Transport Ministry official said.
The official said there were no casualties and authorities had launched an investigation, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.
A video on social media showed the Boeing 767 belonging to FedEx Express using the back landing gear and then dipping its nose with the front portion of the fuselage.
The plane was on the last leg of its flight from Paris to Istanbul when the pilots realised the front landing gear failed to open, state-run news agency Anadolu said.
The aircraft informed the control tower in Istanbul that its landing gear had failed to open and touched down with guidance from the tower, managing to remain on the runway, a ministry statement said.
Airport rescue and fire fighting teams were scrambled before landing, but there were no reported injuries.
It was not clear why the failure occurred.
The aircraft involved is a nearly 10-year-old Boeing 767 freighter, one of the most common cargo planes and based on the 767 passenger model dating back to the 1980s.
An official from Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure said its teams were conducting examinations at the scene as part of the continuing investigation.
FedEx said in a statement it was coordinating with investigation authorities and would “provide additional information as it is available”.
The runway was temporarily closed to air traffic, but other runways at Istanbul airport were still operating normally, the airport operator IGA said.
Manufacturers are not typically involved in the operation or maintenance of jets once they enter service, but Boeing has been under intense media and regulatory scrutiny following a series of incidents involving its 737s.
Federal Aviation Administration says Boeing voluntarily informed officials that inspections may not have been completed.
Air safety officials in the United States are investigating whether employees at Boeing falsified inspections records for the 787 Dreamliner.
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday that it had opened the probe after Boeing voluntarily informed officials that it may not have completed required inspections to “confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes”.
“The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. At the same time, Boeing is reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement.
“As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public.”
Boeing raised its concerns after an employee observed an “irregularity” and raised the issue with a supervisor, Scott Stocker, head of the Boeing 787 programme, said in an email to staff.
“We quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed,” Stocker said.
Stocker said that Boeing “promptly informed our regulator about what we learned and are taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates.”
“Fortunately, our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue,” Stocker said.
“But it will impact our customers and factory teammates, because the test now needs to be conducted out of sequence on airplanes in the build process. I know this frustrates all of you as much as it frustrates me, and it’s a reminder of why it’s so critical that each of us does our part, every day, to ensure full compliance with our policies and procedures. And to speak up if you see something that doesn’t seem right.”
The probe comes after a Boeing whistleblower made separate allegations of serious flaws in the production of the 787 at a Senate committee hearing last month.
Boeing’s safety record has been under intense scrutiny since a door panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Following the near-disaster, the FAA barred Boeing from expanding production of the 737 MAX and ordered it to present a plan to address “systemic quality-control issues” within 90 days.
The mid-air blowout was the latest incident to tarnish Boeing’s image after two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
Former Spirit AeroSystems employee Joshua Dean dies after sudden illness, family says.
A whistleblower who accused a Boeing supplier of ignoring defects in the production of the 737 MAX has died, family members and his lawyer have said.
Joshua Dean, a former Spirit AeroSystems employee who alleged he was fired in retaliation for flagging lax standards at the company’s Wichita, Kansas, manufacturing plant, died on Tuesday after a sudden illness, his aunts and sister said in posts on social media.
Dean’s lawyer Brian Knowles said his client’s death was a “loss to the aviation community and the flying public.”
“He possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he felt was true and right and raised quality and safety issues. Aviation companies should encourage and incentivize those that do raise these concerns. Otherwise, safety and quality are truly not these companies’ top priorities,” Knowles told Al Jazeera.
Spirit AeroSystems said the company’s thoughts were with his family.
“This sudden loss is stunning news here at Spirit and for his loved ones,” a spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
Dean’s mother wrote in a Facebook post last month that her son was “fighting for his life” after contracting pneumonia and suffering a stroke following an MRSA infection.
The Seattle Times, which first reported his death, said Dean was 45 years old and had “been in good health and was noted for having a healthy lifestyle”.
Barnett, 62, had been in the midst of a deposition in a lawsuit against Boeing after suffering retaliation for exposing safety problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to his lawyers.
Spirit AeroSystems has been under scrutiny since it emerged that it built the door panel that blew out of a 737 MAX 9 in mid-flight in January.
The near-disaster involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which is the subject of several probes, was the latest in a series of incidents to raise concerns about safety standards at Boeing.
Dean had filed a complaint against Spirit with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging serious quality failings at its production facility, and testified in a shareholder lawsuit against the company.
Dean told US outlet NPR in February that he believed he had been fired to send a message to others thinking of speaking out.
“If you are too loud, we will silence you,” he was quoted as saying.
Al Maktoum International Airport is envisaged to have capacity for 260 million passengers upon completion.
Dubai has started work on a $35bn airport terminal that is set to have the world’s largest capacity upon completion, the emirate’s ruler has said.
Dubai’s Prime Minister and Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Sunday that the new terminal would be five times the size of the current Dubai International Airport and handle up to 260 million passengers annually.
All operations at Dubai International Airport will be transferred to the newer Al Maktoum International Airport over the coming years, Sheikh Mohammed said.
“As we build an entire city around the airport in Dubai South, demand for housing for a million people will follow. It will host the world’s leading companies in the logistics and air transport sectors,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.
“We are building a new project for future generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children and their children in turn. Dubai will be the world’s airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global centre.”
Today, we approved the designs for the new passenger terminals at Al Maktoum International Airport, and commencing construction of the building at a cost of AED 128 billion as part of Dubai Aviation Corporation’s strategy.
Once completed, Al Maktoum International Airport, which opened in 2010, will be the new home of flagship carrier Emirates and feature five parallel runways and 400 aircraft gates.
Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, said the development would solidify Dubai’s position as a leading aviation hub.
“The growth of Dubai has always been hand in hand with the growth of its aviation infrastructure and today we see another bold step on that journey,” Griffiths said in a statement.
Dubai International Airport has been the world’s busiest airport for international travel for 10 consecutive years, putting the facility’s capacity under strain.
Nearly 87 million passengers used the transit hub last year, topping pre-pandemic levels.
Dubai announced a record 17.15 million international overnight visitors in 2023, up by nearly 20 percent from the previous year.
The Arab nations had closed their airspaces after Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel, but many flights remain affected.
Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon have reopened their airspaces after closing them over Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attacks on Israel.
Jordan’s state TV on Sunday said the country had resumed air traffic operations, citing aviation authorities. The opening of its airspace came more than three hours earlier than scheduled.
Lebanon said its airport will resume its activities after the overnight closure, state TV reported.
Iraq’s aviation authority said security risks had now been overcome.
Meanwhile, Israel also reopened its airspace as of 7:30am (04:30 GMT) on Sunday, adding that flight schedules from Tel Aviv were expected to be affected.
Flag carrier El Al said it had resumed operations and was “working to stabilise the flight schedule as soon as possible”. “El Al will continue to operate as much as possible to preserve the air bridge to and from Israel,” it said.
Late on Saturday night, Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel – its first direct attack on Israeli territory in a retaliatory strike that raises the threat of wider regional conflict.
Tehran had pledged to retaliate for what it says was an Israeli attack on Iran’s embassy compound last week in Damascus that killed a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s overseas Quds Force and six other officers.
Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel, had readied air defences to intercept any drones or missiles that violated its territory, two regional security sources told the Reuters news agency.
Jordan said it intercepted some flying objects that entered its airspace last night to ensure the safety of citizens, a cabinet statement said.
“Some shrapnel fell in multiple places during that time without causing any significant damage or any injuries to citizens,” it added.
Reaction to Iran’s strikes has been swift, with many countries describing the attacks as a serious escalation, with potentially widespread consequences for the region.
The attacks come amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, which shows no sign of easing despite numerous mediation efforts.
Meanwhile, global airlines have also been cancelling flights and changing routes after Iran’s attacks.
The United Arab Emirates-based Emirates announced the cancellation of some of its flights and the re-routing of others, the airline’s spokesperson said.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and making all efforts to ensure minimal disruption to customers after recent airspace closures,” a spokesperson from the airline said.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways cancelled flights to Jordan and Israel on Sunday, the airline said in a statement.
Swiss International Air Lines has suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice, the airline said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday.
Swiss, which is owned by German carrier Lufthansa, said all of its planes were avoiding the airspaces of Iran, Iraq and Israel, causing delays to flights from India and Singapore.
Engineer alleges that aircraft giant took unsafe shortcuts in the production of the 787 Dreamliner.
US aviation authorities have begun investigating new whistleblower claims accusing Boeing of poor safety standards, the latest in a series of safety-related controversies at the beleaguered aircraft giant.
Sam Salehpour has accused Boeing of retaliating against him after he identified engineering flaws that affected the structural integrity of the company’s wide-body 787 Dreamliner and 777 jets.
Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing as an engineer for more than a decade, alleges that the aircraft maker took shortcuts in the production of the 787 Dreamliner, resulting in sections of fuselages being improperly fastened together.
He has also alleged witnessing safety problems in the production of the 777, including cases of workers jumping on misaligned parts to get them to fit together.
“Our client identified serious safety concerns and did everything possible to bring those concerns to the attention of Boeing officials,” Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, lawyers representing Salehpour, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Rather than heeding his warnings, Boeing prioritised getting the planes to market as quickly as possible, despite the known, well-substantiated issues Mr. Salehpour raised. The engineering problems identified directly affect the structural integrity of Boeing’s 787 and 777 planes and unless corrected will impact the entire aviation industry and all who fly.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that it was investigating the claims after they were detailed in public for the first time in interviews with The New York Times.
A US Senate subcommittee has also summoned Boeing CEO David Calhoun to appear next week to answer questions about the allegations.
Boeing said in a statement that it was “fully confident” in the 787 Dreamliner and denied retaliating against whistleblowers.
“We are fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner because of the comprehensive work done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft. These claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate,” a spokesperson said.
“The issues raised have been subject to rigorous engineering examination under FAA oversight. This analysis has validated that these issues do not present any safety concerns and the aircraft will maintain its service life over several decades. We continue to monitor these issues under established regulatory protocols and encourage all employees to speak up when issues arise. Retaliation is strictly prohibited at Boeing.”
Boeing also said allegations related to the 777 were “inaccurate”.
Boeing, which dominates the market for commercial aircraft along with Europe’s Airbus, has faced intense scrutiny over its safety record since an incident in January in which a door panel on a Boeing 737 MAX blew out mid-flight.
The FAA has ordered Boeing to halt plans to expand production of the jet until it shows an improvement in operations and quality control.
A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board into that incident found evidence suggesting that four key bolts designed to hold the door in place had been missing.
The aircraft manufacturer has been involved in a series of less serious incidents since then, including an incident on Sunday in which an engine cover fell off a Boeing plane shortly after takeoff in the US city of Denver.
In 2018 and 2019, two fatal crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX resulted in the aircraft being grounded worldwide for more than 18 months.
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