In a bid to step up flight security, China plans to use policemen disguised as crew members. The undercover police, who may be armed, are undergoing training and are likely to be deployed in October this year.
British Airways has suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia after receiving evidence of a planned attack on a UK jet at Riyadh airport.
Expect to get some good fares between New Zealand and Tasmania: Air New Zealand (ANZ) is to launch a low cost service Tasman Express on October 29th on its trans Tasman route. There is already an Emirates service across the Tasman Sea and Virgin Blue has said it intends to start flights between the two countries later this year.
ANZ also plans to cut the price of fares from Auckland to Sydney by 45 percent to NZD$189 (USD$111) one way, while the total reductions would average about 20 percent.
India's first budget airline, Air Deccan has just started with flights from the southern city of Bangalore. Air Deccan aims to undercut other carriers' fares by 50 percent, will start with one daily service to Hubli and Mangalore, but plans to expand quickly to 20 flights per day to destinations in the south of the country. India's civil aviation minister, Rajav Prat Rudy said: “The days of flying being a symbol of only maharajas or the rich are over.”
Pilots in the US are pressing the government to train more cockpit crews in the use of guns after new warnings about possible terrorist hijack attempts.
The US government has put out a worldwide alert that terrorists may be plotting more hijack attempts on commercial airliners this summer. According to a report from CNN the targets could include Australia, Italy, the UK or the eastern United States. However, the intelligence is still being evaluated and some doubts have been cast on its reliability.