Sabtu, 31 Desember 2022

American Airlines Ground Worker Reportedly Killed in Horrific Accident After Being Sucked Into Jet Engine - Paddle Your Own Kanoo

A baggage handler for a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines has been killed after reportedly being sucked into the jet engine of an Embraer E175LR regional jet at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama on New Year’s Eve.

In a short statement, the airport confirmed that a ground crew worker was “involved in a fatality”. The airport operator was unable to immediately provide any further information about the cause of death.

There have been several unverified reports that the ground worker was sucked into the engine of an aircraft at the airport. The aircraft in question is believed to be an Embraer E175LR regional jet operated by Envoy Air – a subsidiary of American Airlines which operates flights under the American Eagle brand.

The worker has been identified as working for Piedmont Air which is another wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines.

The four-year-old aircraft involved in the incident was due to operate flight AA3408 from Montgomery to Dallas at 3.46 pm on December 31. The flight has since been cancelled.

Neither Envoy nor Piedmont immediately responded to requests for comment.

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2023-01-01 01:09:52Z
1722986065

RCMP investigate 'threat' aboard Flair flight that landed at YVR - Vancouver Sun

Passengers say police were pacing the aisles and checking mobile phones.

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It was a tense few hours for airline passengers arriving in Vancouver from Edmonton Friday, as Mounties boarded the plane asking who had used AirDrop to send out an alleged photo of a bomb.

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Richmond RCMP Cpl. Dennis Hwang confirmed Saturday that shortly before midnight there was a security breach involving “an individual on this flight receive(ing) electronic communications on their mobile device of a possible threat.”

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Police were called out to investigate Flair Airlines flight 2799 landing at YVR.

According to a Row 27 passenger on board, who has asked not to be identified in connection with the alleged threat, the ordeal was “very scary.”

She recalled three Mounties boarding the plane a few hours after it landed on the taxiway around 11:44 p.m.

The officers immediately approached a young man near Row 11, according to Vancouver’s Jesse Boyk, who was also on the flight.

“They were talking to the guy about Airdrop,” Apple’s wireless file-sharing facility, Boyk said. “One of the cops asked him to show them his phone.”

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Another officer paced the aisles, asking passengers who had sent or received an AirDrop file about a bomb being on the plane, both passengers confirmed.

Before RCMP cleared the plane and passengers were unloaded at 2:15 a.m., they were told little about the unfolding security concern.

“The pilot came on and told three announcements which were basically all the same,” recalled the Row 27 passenger. “He said, ‘We are investigating a security threat … We need to follow what the RCMP instructs … Thank you for your patience’.”

Mounties eventually told passengers Apple was being contacted to trace the digital correspondence, Boyk said. “It was all very surprising.”

RCMP is still investigating the incident, with the “Number 1 consideration for charges being the uttering of threats,” said Hwang. The maximum punishment for the conviction is five years in prison.

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“However, if in the investigation we determine it’s not in the public interest to pursue the charges or there is not sufficient evidence, we will not pursue.”

The officer also pointed to the power that airlines themselves have in penalizing passengers who carry out similar disruptions.

“The airline itself can decide to enact a lifetime ban on a person who is behind the AirDrop threat,” said Hwang. “These things not only put safety at risk, but it also costs companies a lot of time and money when a flight is delayed.”

Similar reports have seen AirDrop used to send unsolicited threats to strangers in Canada since the feature was first introduced in 2011. In March, an Air Canada flight to Montreal was cancelled after some passengers received images via AirDrop, one of which was a cartoon bomb about to explode.

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Although the security threat was ultimately deemed non-credible, the messages were enough to cause panic on the plane.

While Apple users can decide to accept or decline an image when it is sent wirelessly, the request includes an image preview that users see before responding.

However, the unwanted sharing of files and pictures via AirDrop can be turned off if users change their iPhone’s default settings to “Receiving Off.”

  1. Hundreds of pieces of unclaimed luggage that need to be reunited with their owners sit at YVR on Thursday.

    'Complete chaos': 2,500 bags unclaimed at YVR in wake of snowstorms

  2. Passengers from Sunwing airlines line up for check-in at Cancun International Airport after many flights to Canada have been canceled because of the severe winter weather conditions in various parts of the country, in Cancun, Mexico December 27, 2022.

    'Get us home!': B.C. travellers stranded in Mexico after Sunwing flight cancellations


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2022-12-31 23:00:54Z
1722775366

Kamis, 29 Desember 2022

Southwest says it will resume normal flights Friday after travel chaos - BBC

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Southwest Airlines vows to return to its normal schedule after mass cancellations of its flights created chaos for thousands of people.

Operations "with minimal disruptions" would resume Friday, the company said, adding that it was eager to get back to normalcy for the next holiday weekend.

The carrier had cancelled more than 10,000 flights since a winter storm struck the US last week.

It twice apologised, but faced deep criticism from stranded travellers.

On Thursday, Southwest said it was "encouraged by the progress we've made to realign Crew, their schedules, and our fleet" but admitted that "even our deepest apologies - to our Customers, to our Employees, and to all affected through this disruption - only go so far", and promised to improve.

The airline had earlier said sorry to customers, with the company's chief commercial officer pledging on Wednesday to "work day and night" to regain customer trust and its CEO issuing an apology the previous day.

But the low-cost airline - the largest carrier in the US - struggled to return to a normal flight schedule after the fierce weather swept the country, even as other airlines caught up following the travel disruptions.

The 2,360 flights it cancelled on Thursday comprised nearly all of the total US flight cancellations for the day, according to tracking service FlightAware.

The week's worth of disruptions left customers across the US missing their luggage, scrambling for alternative ways to travel or stranded at airports.

Patrick Keane exclaimed with joy upon being reunited was with his lost luggage and said he had not had his belongings in a week.

"I've just been wearing other people's clothes," he told Reuters.

Others took to social media to say they ended up paying for costly new flights or had to find alternative means of transportation.

Southwest has said it will honour "reasonable requests" for reimbursement for meals, hotel and alternate transportation for travellers stranded between 24 December and 2 January, and will offer flexibility for passengers to make changes to their travel online.

Other major airlines - including United and American Airlines - have pledged to place price caps on flights in certain cities where Southwest operates to help some passengers.

The flight chaos drew criticism from the White House, which has promised to hold the company accountable and ensure they provide vouchers for travel costs incurred as a result of the cancellations.

Speaking to "Good Morning America" on ABC News on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the flight cancellations a "meltdown" and argued it was "past the point" where the company could blame bad weather for the disruptions.

Unions and analysts say a variety of factors led to the cancellations, including the airline's "point-to-point" system for how it designs its routes, which they say can leave it vulnerable to staffing issues when it comes to delays.

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2022-12-29 19:42:34Z
1707200037

Exxon sues EU in move to block new windfall tax on oil companies - Reuters

Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) is suing the European Union in a bid to force it to scrap the bloc's new windfall tax on oil groups, arguing Brussels exceeded its legal authority by imposing the levy.

Record profits this year by oil companies benefiting from high energy prices have boosted inflation around the world and led to fresh calls to further tax the sector.

The windfall profits tax is "counter-productive," discourages investments and undermines investor confidence, Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said on Wednesday. Exxon will factor in the tax as it considers future multibillion-euro investments in Europe’s energy supply and transition, he said.

"Whether we invest here primarily depends on how attractive and globally competitive Europe will be," Norton said.

Reuters Graphics

The European Commission said it took note of the lawsuit.

"It will be now up to the General Court to rule on this case. The Commission maintains that the measures in question are fully compliant with EU law," Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta said in a statement on Thursday.

Windfall profit taxes imposed by Europe could cost at least $2 billion through the end of 2023, Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells said in a call to analysts on Dec. 8.

Exxon said it invested $3 billion in the past decade in refinery projects in Europe. The projects are helping it deliver more energy products at a time when Europe struggles to reduce its imports from Russia, the company said.

"We will continue to work with EU leaders to address these issues. Thoughtful policy is critical," the company said.

Chevron Corp (CVX.N) had also warned that taxing oil production would serve only to reduce energy supply by discouraging company investments.

"That goes against the intent of increasing suppliers and making energy more affordable," Chevron's chief financial officer, Pierre Breber, told Reuters in October.

In September, EU countries approved emergency levies on energy firms' windfall profits which include a levy on fossil fuel companies' surplus profits made in 2022 or 2023 and another levy on excess revenues that low-cost power producers make from soaring electricity costs.

The EU expects the "temporary solidarity contribution" could generate around 25 billion euros in public revenues that would be redistributed by EU governments.

"It will ensure that the whole energy sector pays its fair share in these difficult times for many to address the extraordinary energy crisis resulting from the weaponisation of the energy supply by Russia," the Commission's Podesta said.

Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston, Additional reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Matthew Lewis, Elaine Hardcastle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2022-12-29 10:54:00Z
1718880969

Rabu, 28 Desember 2022

Southwest Airlines cancels thousands more flights following winter storm - BBC

A passenger gets help from a Southwest agent amid a pile of suitcasesEPA

Thousands of travellers are stranded at US airports as flight cancellations and delays continue to wreak havoc following a deadly winter storm.

By Wednesday afternoon, over 2,800 flights had been cancelled and and nearly 3,200 delayed.

Most of the cancellations were from hard-hit Southwest Airlines, which called off over 2,500 flights.

The chaos has left thousands of exasperated passengers sleeping in terminals as they search for solutions.

More than 2,300 flights scheduled to leave Thursday have already been cancelled, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a video apology late on Tuesday that the company was "truly sorry" to everyone who was unable to get where they needed to go because of the cancellations.

Mr Jordan said the airline - which says it is the largest carrier in the US - cancelled the flights in order to catch up after "record bitter cold brought challenges for all airlines".

"We have some real work to do in making this right," he said. "I want you to know that we're committed to that."

The airline has blamed the cancellations on the bad weather across the US and its aftermath, as well as challenges in getting crews access to updated schedules.

Unions and analysts have pointed at a host of factors causing the problems, including staffing shortfalls and outdated computer systems that did not connect crews with flights when cancellations started to pile up.

Southwest's CEO said Tuesday that he had reached out to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to discuss the matter.

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) said it was concerned by Southwest's "unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays", and Mr Buttigieg pledged on Tuesday to hold the airline accountable.

He told several news outlets that he had asked Southwest to automatically issue vouchers for hotel stays and other costs to passengers whose flights were cancelled.

Mr Jordan told Mr Buttigieg that the airline would do so, and the agency will be "watching to make sure that they follow through", Mr Buttigieg told CNN.

In a tweet on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said that his administration is "working to ensure airlines are held accountable" for disruptions. He urged that passengers check to see whether they are entitled to compensation.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the chair of the US Senate Commerce Committee, said that the committee will "be looking into the causes of these disruptions and its impact to consumers."

On its website, Southwest said that it will honour "reasonable requests" for reimbursement for meals, hotel and alternate transportation for those who have had flights cancelled or delayed between 24 December and 2 January.

With flight cancellations and delays continuing, thousands of passengers have been left at airports across the country as they attempt to re-book flights or make alternative travel arrangements. Passengers in locations including Denver, Chicago and Washington DC reported hours-long queues to speak to customer service representatives.

One Southwest passenger, Talia Jones, told BBC US partner CBS that she was "beyond frustrated and hurt" after travel disruptions meant she was unable to see her father for the holidays.

"It's very disappointing," Ms Jones said.

At Chicago's Midway Airport - where Southwest is the primary airline - hundreds of bags were waiting to be claimed. Social media images from angry passengers showed masses of bags lined up or in piles near baggage carousels.

"It's been hell," Denzil Smothers, whose flight was cancelled, told CBS.

According to the DOT's website, most airlines will rebook passengers on the next flight to a passenger's destination, provided that space is available. Passengers who wish to cancel their trip entirely are entitled to a full refund, even in cases in which they purchased non-refundable tickets.

A number of major North American airlines - including Southwest, American and Delta - have waived change fees for passengers who rebook during the storm.

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2022-12-28 21:44:39Z
1707200037

Stock market news live updates: Stocks continue year-end slide, Tesla snaps 7-day losing streak - Yahoo Canada Finance

U.S. stocks sank Wednesday, extending a sharp year-end slide as investors hobbled toward the end of a gruesome 2022.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.2% after losses picked up into the close, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) shed 366 points, or 1.1%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) declined 1.4%.

Losses continued across the board Wednesday after equities began the holiday-shortened week — a period that normally sees a seasonal end-of-year rally — on a down beat. In the previous session, the S&P 500 posted a 0.4% loss and the Dow closed just 0.1% above the flatline, while technology stocks dragged the Nasdaq down 1.5%.

Tesla shares (TSLA) clawed back 3.3% Wednesday, snapping a seven-day selloff that brought the stock down nearly 70% from its November 2021 all-time high, with declines intensifying over the past couple of months over concerns around CEO Elon Musk's management of social media platform Twitter.

Tesla's tailspin continued this week after Reuters reported Tuesday that the electric carmaker will reduce output at its Shanghai factory in January, adding to woes from a separate report by Reuters over the weekend that said Tesla would suspend production a day earlier than planned at its Shanghai Gigafactory over rising COVID-19 infections in China.

SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk takes part in a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk takes part in a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Meanwhile, Apple's (AAPL) stock tumbled 3%, falling below the key technical $130 level and setting a fresh 2022 low Wednesday for a second day, while also weighing on the broader market.

"One of the most important items we’ll be watching over the next week or two will be the action in Apple," Miller Tabak Chief Market Strategist Matt Maley said in a note Wednesday. "The reason that the $130 level is so important is because it’s where the lows from June come in (which was the low for 2022)."

"Therefore, any meaningful break would give the stock a key 'lower-low'…and that would be quite bearish because Apple has already broken below its trend-line from the March 2020 pandemic lows (and below its 200-day moving average)."

U.S. and global stocks are on pace for their worst drop since the 2008 financial crisis. Pessimism around the outlook for financial markets and the economy amid a backdrop of rising interest rates and fears a recession is underway have thrown a wrench in prospects for the seasonal year-end rally markets stocks typically experience at the end of December.

Investors' cautiousness over the year ahead also outweighed a move by China to ease travel restrictions this January as the world's second largest economy further reopens after three years of zero-COVID protocols.

“The question is no longer about the speed with which China reopens,” China Beige Book International Managing Director Shehzad Qazi told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. “The real question now is how quickly can Beijing undertake the policies that are necessary for it to gain control of the virus?"

"We haven't hit the peak of COVID cases — that is still ahead of us — which means that some of the bad news is still ahead of us, and until we are past that point, we can't really start talking about an economic recovery."

Elsewhere in markets, oil slipped 1.2% after climbing on demand expectations from China's loosening of COVID curbs and the reopening of U.S. refineries after this week's winter storm closures. U.S. Treasury yields charged higher, with the 10-year note topping 3.8%. The U.S. dollar index rose.

Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc

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2022-12-28 21:05:51Z
1709557610

Oil Prices Shed Gains As China Covid Cases Soar - OilPrice.com

Oil Prices Shed Gains As China Covid Cases Soar | OilPrice.com
Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy

Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com

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After Tuesday’s gains on demand optimism over Beijing’s easing of COVID travel restrictions, oil prices reversed course early on Wednesday, edging lower on fears that surging virus cases would hinder a demand uptick. 

Earlier this week, Beijing said it would ease travel restrictions for visitors to China, ending quarantine and testing requirements and opening its borders, allowing international travel to resume beginning on January 8. The announcement has sparked a run on bookings for overseas travel, according to the BBC

As of 8:32 a.m. EST, Brent crude was trading at $83.94, down 0.45% on the day, while WTI was trading at 79.31, down 0.28% on the day. 

"The somewhat firmer dollar and doubts about how quickly Chinese demand would bounce back following the country's scrapping of its quarantine rules weighed on oil and other commodities such as copper on Wednesday," Raffi Boyadjian, lead investment analyst at XM, said in a note to clients carried by MarketWatch

The move to reopen borders follows Beijing’s decision to ease up on its zero-COVID policy under pressure from protests. 

Last week, a UK research firm cited by Reuters warned that China’s latest Covid-19 wave could be far more serious than the government is claiming, estimating that more than 5,000 people are probably dying each day from COVID-19 in China, with the firm’s mortality risk analysis suggesting that 1.3 to 2.1 million people could die in the country’s current COVID outbreak. 

At the same time, the lifting of travel restrictions is not likely to result in a surge in Chinese travel to some countries, which are considering imposing new limitations on Chinese visitors due to the surge in COVID cases and a lack of accurate data. The U.S. government is among those considering new restrictions. 

"There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing Covid-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data," U.S. officials said in a statement.

"Without this data, it is becoming increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread."

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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2022-12-28 13:40:44Z
1718159937

Selasa, 27 Desember 2022

Canadian oilpatch likely to surpass 2022's production record - Business News - Castanet.net

Canadian oil and gas companies are expected to increase spending in 2023, but analysts say it will be another year of modest growth and not a return to boom times.

For Canada's energy industry, 2022 was the year that finally snapped a decade of weak commodity prices and brought prosperity back to the sector. With the lifting of global pandemic restrictions, the war in Ukraine, and the cumulative impact of years of under-investment in oil and gas, energy prices hit record highs in 2022 and Canadian companies reaped record profits.

But most of these profits went to paying down debt and rewarding shareholders, not into major construction or infrastructure projects. And even though commodity prices are expected to remain healthy in 2023, that theme is likely to remain.

"The oil producers have become far more financially disciplined over the last six or eight years," said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, adding the threat of a looming recession in 2023 is one factor preventing oil and gas companies from getting carried away with spending plans.

"What we know is that in an economic downturn, oil demand falls," Petursson said. "So I think (companies) are going to want to be a little more measured and not say ‘hey, oil prices are just going to trend higher — let’s go all in in 2023.' ”

In Alberta alone, over the first 10 months of 2022, crude production averaged 3.7 million barrels per day — an all-time record thanks to surging global demand, according to ATB Financial.

Experts say production will be even higher in 2023, based on the already released capital budgets and production guidance of oil and gas companies. Many companies were able to pay down large amounts of debt in 2022, so will have more cash flow available next year as long as commodity prices hold around that US$75 per barrel mark.

In addition, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is expected to be complete by the end of the year, offering additional transportation capacity for oil companies and increasing the potential for export growth.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says it also expects investments in natural gas and liquefied natural gas to grow through 2023, as the LNG Canada export facility near Kitimat, B.C. continues to progress toward a 2025 completion date.

Petursson said he expects Canadian oil production in 2023 will exceed 2022's record — but only by a hair.

“I think it will nudge a little higher because of projects already in place," he said. “But I don’t think you’re going to see the 'drill, baby, drill' mentality of decades ago.”

Jonah Reznick, a senior research analyst with Wood Mackenzie, said the 2023 capital budgets unveiled thus far by Canadian oil and gas companies show "significant" increases in expected capital spending — in the range of five to six per cent on average — year-over-year.

But he said much of that is due to smaller projects, and can't be compared to the mega-projects and rapid industry expansion that took place during the boom years of pre-2014.

“If you take it net of inflation, I don’t think we’re seeing tremendous capital spend," Reznick said. "Producers aren’t responding with historical types of responses, even though we’re seeing robust commodity fundamentals.”

In 2023, the industry will likely continue to focus on shareholder returns and keeping their companies financially viable, Reznick said. He added that in addition to global economic uncertainty, Canada's oil and gas sector is facing increasingly aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. The federal government is currently in the process of developing a legislated cap on emissions from the sector, something the industry opposes.

Mike Belenkie, CEO of Advantage Energy Ltd., — a mid-sized producer heavily weighted towards natural gas, with assets in the Montney region of Alberta — said his company is planning to grow at a rate of 10 to 12 per cent over the next several years. 

“We’ve probably never been in a stronger position than we are today. Our debt’s very low, our production is growing, our team is steady and in very stable execution mode," Belenkie said.

But he added that he blames years of federal government policy — including a carbon pricing system that he says puts Canadian producers at a competitive disadvantage to their U.S. counterparts, and a regulatory and political environment that makes it difficult to build major projects — for constraining the overall industry and putting an end to the era of large projects.

"Over the last decade, most of the companies that were weak have died off and fallen away. And the companies that are left behind are fairly strong and have the ability to weather a lot of volatility," Belenkie said.

"But most of the industry has almost given up on the notion that we will ever be able to deliver more energy to the world," he said, adding he doesn't understand, for example, why the Canadian government isn't working to develop LNG capacity on the east coast to help address natural gas shortages in Europe and reduce reliance on coal.

"We now operate within a heavily constrained industry. And we've abandoned almost all illusions that those constraints will come off."

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2022-12-27 15:24:00Z
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