A Sri Lankan woman travelling from Riyadh to Colombo aboard a SriLankan Airlines plane gave birth to a baby boy during the flight.
The crew assisted in the delivery of the baby on board the SriLankan Airline Flight UL 288.
The cabin crew handled the situation with the support of a Canadian passenger, a professional midwife, without disrupting the flight which arrived in Colombo on schedule. Most passengers were unaware of what had taken place until shortly before landing, a spokesperson for SriLankan Airlines said.
“Our cabin crew is renowned for their professionalism, as well as their caring, warmth, and friendliness,” he added. After landing a medical crew was on hand at the Bandaranaike International Airport and rushed the mother and baby to hospital.
A British passenger plane has made an emergency landing in Athens following a bomb threat, officials say. This report from the BBC
Greek fighter jets were scrambled to escort the Thomson Airways Boeing 757-200, which was on its way from Bristol to the popular resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
All 213 people on board the plane are said to be unharmed.
The plane is undergoing checks in a remote area of Athens International Airport, authorities there said.
The BBC’s Malcolm Brabant, in Athens, says the bomb threat was received by an Egyptian news agency and passed on to the crew of the plane.
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British Airways has been accused of discriminating against pregnant cabin crew by forcing them to take unpaid leave if they live too far away from Heathrow or Gatwick to work as ground staff, reports the Telegraph.
The Unite trade Union claims they are aware of a number of cases where BA has discriminated against pregnant women by stopping pay if they do not life close enough to the major airports to work as ground staff.
Last night the airline rejected allegations of discrimination claiming every effort is made to offer suitable alternative work for cabin crew who could not fly.
The row erupted as BA waits to hear the result of the latest strike ballot by the Unite trade union.
It came just as hopes were rising that the festering cabin crew dispute was inching towards a settlement.
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Talks to head off a wave of strikes by Spanish airport workers will be held in Spain on Thursday amid fears that the stoppages could have a ripple effect across Europe, reports the Telegraph.
Union leaders will meet Jose Blanco, Spain’s development minister, in an attempt to settle the dispute over plans to privatise the country’s airports.
Spanish unions have threatened 22 days of strikes starting just ahead of Easter and running through until August.
They have called key workers out, including firemen without whom airports cannot operate as well as baggage handlers and back office staff.
A stoppage would not only shut Spain’s airport’s, but could have an impact elsewhere, warned a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association, the body representing scheduled airlines.
“If you take one country out of the network, there could be problems,” he said.
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USA Today reports that a flight attendant was fired for placing a child in overhead storage.
What began as a father’s in-flight game of peek-a-boo over the South Pacific ended with a flight attendant’s firing for briefly hiding a 17-month-old boy in an overhead bin, according to reports from Down Under.
Virgin Blue airlines said it fired the male attendant and offered Natalie Williamson two free trips for the incident, which occurred three months ago, the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun reported.
Williamson said her son, Riley, has been suffering anxiety and withdrawal and has seen several specialists. She said the child was inside the closed compartment for about 10 seconds during the flight from Fiji to Sydney.
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British Airways’ new chief executive has extended an olive branch to its mutinous cabin crew, telling them they are at the “heart” of the brand and he wants a fresh start, reports the Telegraph.
In a personal letter to all of BA’s 13,500 flight attendants, Keith Williams struck a more conciliatory tone than that of his combative predecessor Willie Walsh – the man now running the merged BA-Iberia combine known as International Airlines Group.
“I want a new start. I want a positive relationship with all cabin crew whether in Unite or not,” wrote Mr Williams in a letter coinciding with the start of another strike ballot.
Unite on Tuesday began its fourth ballot for industrial action, sending voting forms to 9,800 unionised crew – a figure 3,000 lower than for the first ballot in 2009. Some 22 days of strikes last year cost BA £150m.
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According to ArabianBusiness.com, Emirates are to go on a recruiting spree.
Emirates Airline, Dubai’s flagship carrier, plans to hire 4,000 cabin crew over the 2011/2012 financial year to keep pace with its rapid expansion, the airline said Tuesday.
The hiring spree will take Emirate’s total cabin crew to 16,000, the Arab world’s biggest airline said in an emailed statement.
Emirates, which was this week named the world’s third largest airline by capacity, has squeezed its western rivals with multibillion-dollar plane purchases and rapid network expansion in lucrative long-haul routes in Asia, Europe and North America.
The Dubai carrier has announced fresh routes into France, Switzerland and Denmark in the first quarter alone, with additional flight frequencies expected this year.
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British Airways has taken one of its Boeing 747s out of service after one of its passengers complained she had been bitten by bed bugs, reports the Telegraph.
The complaint was made by Zane Selkirk, 28, a business executive, who said that the incidents happened on a flights to London from Los Angeles last month and Bangalore a few weeks ago.
Ms Selkirk, who lives in California, posted pictures of her bites on the internet after being unhappy with BA’s initial response.
“During the first flight, I turned on my light to find bugs crawling on my blanket and a bedbug-blood-spattered shirt.
“On the return Bangalore to London journey, I left my 10-hour flight to find my body covered with 90 bug bites. The worst part was the non-existent customer service throughout the ten-day ordeal.”
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A British Airways computer expert who plotted to blow up a plane has been found guilty of terror charges, reports the BBC.
Rajib Karim, 31, from Newcastle, used his job to access information for radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
He denied four charges, including sharing information of use to hate groups.
But after four days of deliberations, the jury found him guilty of all four charges.
Karim was committed to an “extreme jihadist cause” and determined to become a martyr, jurors were told.
The Bangladeshi national, who moved with his wife and son to Newcastle in 2006, had already admitted being involved in the production of a terrorist group’s video.
Karim, a privately-educated IT expert from Dhaka, became a supporter of the extremist organisation Jammat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) after being influenced by his younger brother, Tehzeeb, the court heard.
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UK multi-nationals face another legal “headache” after British Airways lost its appeal to stop Hong Kong-based former cabin crew suing the airline under UK law, reports the Telegraph.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal upheld two previous rulings that a group of foreign workers were entitled to claim age and race discrimination against BA under UK legislation.
BA had forced the overseas staff to retire at the age of 45, arguing UK discrimination law did not apply to them.
But despite spending limited time on UK turf, the former crew members took safety training and “rest periods” in London.
Juliet Carp, of law firm Speechly Bircham, said the number of claims from foreign workers would rise as a result of the ruling – clogging the “overwhelmed” tribunal system further.
She said: “This decision will worry UK multi-nationals because employees working abroad often visit the UK for short periods of time, for example to attend team meetings or training. The prospect of those occasional visitors being brought within the scope of UK employment law is a headache for employers.”
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