Category: Transport Watch

Six FIFO workers are alleged to have threatened airline workers and refused to wear facemasks at the Port Hedland airport in Australia prior to boarding a flight. Witnesses reported the men were drunk and belligerent. They were refused alcohol service as a result. Things went downhill from there. Police told three of the men to leave the premises, but two more were initially allowed to board the plane. Shortly before take-off however, they were removed from the aircraft when a brawl ensued.

Bombardier suffered a limited cybersecurity breach, the company said in a press release. An unauthorized party accessed and extracted data by exploiting a vulnerability affecting a third-party file-transfer application, which was running on purpose-built servers isolated from the main Bombardier IT network, the company said. The company initiated a response protocol upon detection of the data security incident. As part of its investigation, Bombardier sought the services of cybersecurity and forensic professionals who provided external confirmation that the company’s security controls were effective in limiting the scope and extent of the incident. Approximately 130 employees located in Costa Rica were impacted having personal and other confidential information relating to employees, customers and suppliers compromised.

Stewart Dempsey, 58, of Napier, New Zealand was sentenced for commenting that he had bombs in his luggage when asked if he had any bags to check by Air New Zealand personnel. The airport, per protocol, had to evacuate the premises. He was arrested and then found to have been driving illegally. Dempsey was fined and blacklisted from flying Air New Zealand.

Reports emerged that Marcus Monroe, a New York actor, uploaded a video on TikTok allegedly cooking a steak over a fire he had lit in the toilet of a Delta flight. Monroe later stated that he had faked the video and that the prank was intended as a joke about the lack of food and drink options on flights during the pandemic.

A Moscow-Yekaterinburg flight operated by Russia’s largest budget airline, Pobeda (a subsidiary of Aeroflot), made a number of diversions, tracing out a phallic shape in its flight path. It was suggested that the stunt was performed by the pilots in solidarity with the captain of the Russian national football team, who was dismissed following an alleged sex tape scandal. A deputy director at the airline was sacked in connection with the incident.

An El Al aircraft was delayed at Hong Kong Airport for two days after a cat’s paw prints were found on board a flight. The flight arrived in Hong Kong from Tel Aviv, where it is believed the cat boarded the flight. Flight crews laid down traps and attempted to locate the cat for two days – flights are forbidden from taking off with an animal on the loose. The flight returned to Tel Aviv on 12 November.

An unnamed man ran from JFK after a loaded gun was found by TSA agents in his carry-on luggage. However, the man was quickly identified by the three forms of ID in his bag.

The refusal of air traffic control (ATC) staff to submit to screening by members of the Airport Security Force at New Islamabad International Airport resulted in a physical fight between the two groups. ATC staff subsequently commenced strike action in protest impacting airport operations.

Ye Min Thu, a Burmese man, was arrested for trying to enter Suvarnabhumi Airport dressed as a pilot, and using a fake pilot’s licence as ID, in an incident the media described as reminiscent of the film Catch Me If You Can. Ye Min Thu had also portrayed himself to his girlfriend and family as being a qualified pilot. He was subsequently sentenced to eight months in prison.