Alitalia Airbus A320 makes safe emergency landing in Rome

Ten people have been injured after an Alitalia Airbus A320 crashed and skidded off the runway at Rome's Fiumicino Airport.

Officials have stated that the pilot was coming into land and realised its right landing gear had failed to deploy, causing the Airbus A320 to land on its right wing and tail.

The Airbus A320 had 151 passengers and 5 crew on board.

Virgin Australia Executives Don't Receive Pay Rise for 2013-2014.

Virgin Australias chief executive John Borghetti's remuneration fell last financial year as he missed out on long-term incentives worth almost $1 million because of the airline's $98m annual loss. Also Virgin Australias executives will stay on their 2012 fixed pay rates after the airline's board decided it was "not appropriate" to review them this year in the wake of last year's $98 million annual loss.

(The Australian 2013)

CASA briefs on new licence regulations for December

Civil Aviation Safety Authority will hold briefings next month to focus on new licensing regulations due to take effect from December 4.

The briefings will be on the new Part 61 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations that will cover the content of the new pilot licensing rules for pilots within Australia, the briefing will go into detail of what they mean for each category of pilot and how new licences will be issued.

The briefings will be held simultaneously between 6pm and 9pm in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. CASA says pilots will be moved across to the new Part 61 licences over four years and new licenses will be issued when a pilot updates their qualification, but not when a medical is renewed. There is no charge to existing licence-holders and pilots will retain their current flying privileges post-December 4.

Many pilots are still unsure how this will affect them with licencing of Recreational Aviation and General Aviation, hopefully these briefings will clear all questions in regards to the new licencing regulations that will be in place this December.

TigerAir Australia Launching Sydney to Perth Service

The newly branded TigerAir Australia is launching their Sydney to Perth service in its first strategic move since Virgin Australia took majority control this year.

The airline will announce today that it will fly up to six weekly return services on the trans-continental route in time for the Christmas peak season, with sale fares starting at $109.95 each way available from today. The kicker is the fares are available for the February and March low season and not during the more expensive school holidays.

TigerAir has announced that it will fly up to six weekly return services on the trans-continental route before Christmas holiday peak, with sale fares starting around the $109 figure for a one way ticket. The downfall for this sale is that they will be available for the February to Market season and not during the school holiday period.

The new service, to begin on December 19, is the sixth launched this year and will complement the low-cost carrier's existing three-time weekly Melbourne to Perth service. The other new routes were Sydney-Coffs Harbour, Sydney-Cairns, Sydney-Alice Springs, Melbourne-Alice Springs, and Melbourne-Sunshine Coast.

The Sydney-Perth route comes as the airline is looking to expand its fleet and its footprint as part of the expanded Virgin Australia group. It currently has 11 Airbus A320 aircraft but has indicated it plans to at least double its fleet to 22 aircraft by 2018.

TigerAir chief executive Rob Sharp said the airline had been co-ordinating activities with Virgin, which has also been boosting its trans-continental routes using new widebody Airbus A330s with a business class and revamped cabin service.

The airline is continuing to work on its on-time performance, which was hit heavily by weather and airport congestion in Sydney and Brisbane in July.


As Tiger continues to grow with Virgin as its majority holder, its close competition JetStar Australia will receive its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner within the next month.