More than 33,000 Boeing workers walked off the job on 13 September 2024, beginning the biggest strike at the US aircraft manufacturer in 16 years. Workers rejected a pay offer and demanded better wages, bringing production of the 737 MAX, 777, and 767 to a standstill.
Continue reading Boeing Machinists Strike, Halting 737 Production
On 9 August 2024, a Voepass ATR 72-500 fell from cruising altitude and crashed into a residential neighbourhood near Vinhedo, São Paulo State, killing all 62 people on board. The accident was captured on video by ground witnesses and circulated widely on social media, becoming one of Brazil’s worst aviation disasters in recent memory and drawing urgent international attention to the hazards of airframe icing on regional turboprop aircraft.
Continue reading Voepass ATR 72 Spins to Ground, Killing 62
On 19 July 2024, a faulty software update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused millions of Windows computers to crash simultaneously around the world. The failure brought airlines, banks, hospitals, and broadcasters to a standstill, and led to the cancellation of more than 5,000 flights globally in a single day.
Continue reading CrowdStrike Outage Cancels Thousands of Flights
On 18 June 2024, Boeing’s chief executive Dave Calhoun appeared before a US Senate subcommittee investigating the aerospace manufacturer’s safety culture and quality control failures. The hearing, which featured new whistleblower allegations released just hours earlier, represented one of the most significant moments of congressional accountability in the company’s turbulent recent history.
Continue reading Boeing CEO Faces Senate Over Safety Culture
On 21 May 2024, Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 encountered severe turbulence over Myanmar, killing one passenger and injuring 104 others in one of the most widely reported aviation safety incidents of the year. The event — the first turbulence-related fatality in commercial aviation in more than two decades — refocused industry and regulatory attention on the hazards of convective weather at cruise altitude and the limitations of current turbulence forecasting technology.
Continue reading Singapore Airlines Turbulence Kills One, Injures 104
On 24 April 2024, the US Department of Transportation announced a new rule requiring airlines to automatically refund passengers when flights are cancelled or significantly delayed. For years, airlines had made passengers request refunds manually, and many tried to offer travel vouchers instead of cash.
Continue reading Airlines Must Now Give Automatic Cash Refunds