Internal watchdog said ex-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao misused position, referred case for prosecution

The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general's office formally investigated former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao for potential violations of ethics rules and misuse of her position — and ultimately referred the case for criminal prosecution in late 2020.

The inspector general's investigation focused, among other things, on how Chao — who is married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — may have aided her family's shipping company, Foremost Group, which does significant business in China, according to a report that was publicly released this week. 

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Canada’s Transport Minister Approves Air Transat’s Take-Over by Air Canada

In a long-awaited decision, on February 11, 2021, Canada’s newly appointed Transport Minister approved Air Canada’s acquisition of rival Air Transat on public interest grounds. The approval comes after an 18-month assessment into whether the combination of Canada’s largest and third-largest carriers should be allowed to proceed. 

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Caves Road improvements needed after 80 crashes in five years

Caves Road stretches for more than 100 kilometres from Busselton to Augusta in WA's South West, winding through towering karri forests. Despite its beauty, Main Roads has recorded more than 80 crashes in five years to 2019.

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Sydney helicopter crash bodies recovered

Sydney businessman Bruce Campbell, 65, and his pilot Col, 35, were killed in the dramatic incident.

Mr Campbell, owner of Davcron Engineering, was making his weekly trip from the company's headquarters in Granville to his home at the family property at Wyee when the chopper crashed.

The helicopter was torn apart as it crashed into bushland at South Turramurra, near Kissing Point Rd, at about 9.15am.

Emergency services found the burning wreck of the Bell 206 at the bottom of a 10-metre cliff and had to abseil down to reach the crash site.

Fire and Rescue NSW inspector Chris Bishop said central impact was at the base of the cliff.

"The scene was horrific," Mr Bishop said.

The chopper was destroyed. It was a horrific scene for all crews working there."

Witnesses have told police the helicopter suffered a mechanical failure before it went down.

"A number of witnesses said they saw a part fly off the back of the helicopter," he said.

Kevin Williams, who is a volunteer with the Ku-ring-gai Netball Association, told the North Shore Times he was in the clubhouse near the crash scene at the time of the accident.

"I heard a clatter, clatter and I rushed outside of the netball clubhouse a couple of paces and I saw black smoke coming from out of the bush.

"Apparently it came across upside down."

He said the clubhouse was being used as a command post.

Another resident who did not wish to be named said she heard a loud noise about 8.30am.

"I think the helicopter must have clipped the top of a tree before going down," she said.

"The helicopter had been overhead for at least 30 minutes before the accident.

Mr Greenwood was not the regular pilot of the helicopter but he had flown Mr Campbell from western Sydney to Wyee more than 40 times, Mr Stephens said.

Heavy rain delayed investigations into the crash on Friday.

The bodies were not removed until 3.25pm (AEST) on Saturday - 30 hours after the helicopter had crashed and caught fire.

Police had originally planned to airlift them out of bushland but chose to put their bodies on stretchers because of the rugged terrain, a spokesman told AAP.

Investigators returned to the site shortly after 8am (AEST) on Saturday, when the rain had cleared.

A forensics team spent much of the day taking photographs.

A police Eurocopter repeatedly flew over the crash site, using a netball court at the end of Canoon Road as a helipad.

Police rescuers were seen preparing to abseil down the steep cliffs during the morning, before the media were asked to move further back.

A couple visited the netball court, used as a police command post, and laid a bunch of sunflowers with a card which said: "In loving memory of Bruce and Col. Love always Sean, Michelle and Liam."

They declined to speak to the media.

The bodies will now be taken to a morgue for a post-mortem.

Kuring-Gai Local Area Command police are preparing a report for the NSW Coroner.

Mr Campbell founded Davcron Engineering Pty Ltd, based at Granville, in the early 1980s, naming the firm after his three sons David, Christian and Simon.

Mr Campbell was a grandfather of five.

His wife Colleen died of cancer several years ago while Mr Campbell himself recently beat bowel cancer.

"That's why we all thought he was made of granite," Mr Stephens said.

Tiger Airways

Tiger Airways Singapore Pte Ltd, operating as Tiger Airways Singapore, is a low cost airline which commenced services on 25 March 2005. It is a subsidiary of Tiger Airways Holdings, a Singapore-based company, which is owned partially by Singapore Airlines. Incorporated in September 2003, it is currently the largest low-cost airline operating out of Singapore in terms of passengers carried. In 2006, the airline flew 1.2 million passengers, a growth of 75% from the previous year.

The airline was the first to operate from the Budget Terminal in Changi Airport in order to achieve operating-cost savings and its cost structure is modelled after Ryanair. Despite regional competition, the airline has reiterated its current intention to remain focused on flying within a five-hour radius from its Singaporean base. To overcome regulatory hurdles in the region, the airline attempts to buy into regional carriers to expand into a pan-Asian carrier.

Flights to India started in October 2007, and expansion to Malaysia was started in 2008. Former plans to establish new hubs at Incheon, Korea have been suspended.

Incheon Tiger Airways

On 5 November 2007, Tiger Airways announced that it would be starting a Korean-based budget airline. Incheon Tiger Airways was to have been a joint venture between Tiger Aviation and Incheon Metropolitan City, flying to destinations in Japan, China, Mongolia and the Russian Far East. The airline was to be based in South Korea's Incheon Airport and planned to begin services by 2009; however, the project was abandoned in December 2008.

Thai Tiger Airways

Tiger Airways and Thai Airways International will form an airline based in Thailand, where Thai Airways International and Tiger Airways will own 51% and 39% respectively of the newly formed airline, while RyanThai will hold the remaining 10%. Operations are expected to begin in the 1st quarter of 2011.

Tiger Activity in Philippines

In December 2010, Tiger enter the Philippines market by proxy, without setting up an airlines in Philippines. Instead, Tiger goes into partnership with South East Asian Airlines(SEAir), whereby Tiger will lease aircraft to SEAir, and SEAir will operate the aircraft in SEAir's livery, using SEAir's pilot and cabin crew. Seats on the flight operated by SEAir using aircraft leased from Tiger will be sold and marketed by Tiger for SEAir. This Tiger/SEAir partnership began with international flight departing from Clark to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau; it was then expanded to domestic flight from Manila(NAIA) to Cebu and Davao. These flight will only show up on Tiger's website route-map. Shortly after SEAir and Tiger launch the partnership, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airways, and Air Philippines send a letter of protest to the Department of Transportation and Communication. They claim the partnership between SEAir and Tiger is illegal and requested the authorities to stop flights operating under the partnership.

Tiger Activity in Indonesia

Tiger Airways ventured into Indonesia market by buying 33% shares of the troubled Mandala Airlines. The new Mandala Airlines will fly Indonesia domestic destination, as well as international destination within 5 hours radius.

Corporate management

Tiger Airways is wholly owned by Tiger Airways Holdings Limited, a holding company set up in 2007 to manage both Tiger Airways and start-up Australian subsidiary Tiger Airways Australia. Tiger Airways' original founding shareholders were Singapore Airlines (49%), Bill Franke's Indigo Partners (24%); Tony Ryan's Irelandia Investments (16%) and Temasek Holdings (11%). Tiger Airways Holdings Limited is listed on SGX since 2010.

History

The airline was incorporated on 12 December 2003 and began ticket sales on 31 August 2004. The airline flew into a period of relative difficulty for the aviation industry with rising oil prices and intense competition from other airlines. The airline held off imposing fuel surcharges as its competitors had done.

With Singapore Airlines having a stake in the airline, the airline occasionally fills in the gap when SIA drops its services from certain destinations. Macau, once served by SIA before being taken up by its subsidiary, SilkAir, in 2002, terminated all flights completely by the end of 2004. Three months later, the route was taken over by Tiger Airways with flights commencing 25 March 2005. A similar pattern can be observed in Krabi, where SilkAir suspended services in February 2005 in the wake of the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tiger Airways resumed direct services to the location from 7 October 2005.

In late July 2005, it was announced that the airline would commence flights from Macau to Manila (Clark) on 30 October 2005, a much-heralded move as it may signal the establishment of a secondary base besides Singapore, allowing the airline to expand and diversify risks.

On 21 September 2005 the company produced a report card on its first year of operations, with a total of over 500,000 passengers carried, 5000 scheduled flights flown, and a flight completion rate of 98.7 per cent. 94 per cent of flight departures and 90 per cent of arrivals took place according to schedule. It acquired four aircraft and launched a total of nine routes – of which four are flown exclusively by the airline – during the year.

The airline expected to increase its fleet to nine Airbus A320 aircraft by end 2006, and to carry up to three million passengers a year by then. It also hoped to add six more routes during the year, primarily to destinations in China and India, with flights to Southern China having commenced April. The airline also announced its switch from Singapore Airport Terminal Services to Swissport for ground handling when it becomes the first airline to operate at the newly opened Budget Terminal in Changi Airport on 26 March 2006.

Tiger Airways became the first Singaporean low-cost carrier to receive operating permits from the Chinese aviation authorities to fly to the southern Chinese cities of Haikou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in an announcement on 21 February 2006. Ticket sales to these destinations commenced 24 February 2006, with the first flight to Shenzhen taking place on 15 April, to Haikou from 26 April and to Guangzhou from 27 April 2006. The airline has since indicated that the routes were highly popular, with increased flights to Haikou and Guangzhou less than three months since their launch.

Icelandic volcano ash could enter UK airspace

Safety experts have warned that ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano that closed the country's airspace may blow across large swathes of western Europe, raising fears of new flight chaos.

Air safety officials said ash from the Grimsvotn eruption may reach north Scotland by Tuesday before sweeping across Britain to hit France and Spain two days later, as experts said the impact should not be as far-reaching as 2010 when a similar event caused widespread flight cancellations.

Ash deposits were sprinkled over the capital Reykjavik on Sunday, some 400 kilometres to the west of the volcano which spewed a cloud about 20 kilometres into the sky.

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Residents living near to Grimsvotn said the skies had turned black in an eerie echo of last year's eruption of the smaller Eyjafjoell volcano which led to the biggest global airspace shutdown since World War II.

"It's just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight," Bjorgvin Hardarsson, a farmer at Hunbakkar Farm in the nearby village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur said by phone.

"It's been very dark. You'd think it was night," agreed Vilhelm Tunnarsson, a photographer for local Icelandic media staying at a nearby hotel, adding at times he had been unable to see 30 centimetres in front of him.

At the moment if the volcano continues to erupt to the same level it has been, and is now, the UK could be at risk of seeing volcanic ash later this week," said Helen Chivers, Met Office spokeswoman. "Quite when and how much we can't really define at the moment."

Chivers said the weather situation is set to be different to last year, with the wind direction set to change continuously.

She added: "If it moves in the way that we're currently looking, with the eruption continuing the way it is, then if the UK is at risk later this week, then France and Spain could be as well."

While the ash has grounded aircraft in Iceland, it is not anticipated that it will have a similar impact in the rest of Europe.

Dr Dave McGarvie, volcanologist at the Open University, said that the amount of ash reaching the UK "is likely to be less than in the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption", and said the last two times Grimsvotn erupted it did not affect UK air travel.

"In addition, the experience gained from the 2010 eruption, especially by the Met Office, the airline industry, and the engine manufacturers, should mean less disruption to travellers."

The April eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, in south-east Iceland, caused the worst disruption to international air travel since 9/11. Flights across Europe were cancelled for six-days stranding tens of thousands of people and was estimated to have cost airlines £130m a day.

Eurocontrol, the Europe-wide air traffic control network, said in a statement: "There is currently no impact on European or transatlantic flights and the situation is expected to remain so for the next 24 hours. Aircraft operators are constantly being kept informed of the evolving situation.

World air traffic:Iceland Erupts Again

Plume of smoke has risen 20km (12 miles) into the sky from the volcano.

But Iceland's Meteorological Office says the eruption should not cause widespread disruption to air traffic.

Last year, ash clouds from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokul, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace.

Governments feared that ash particles could cause aircraft engines to fail, and the closure caused chaos to air travellers.

Different ash

Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the Isavia civil aviation authority - which has imposed a flight ban of 120 nautical miles (222 km) around Grimsvotn - said: "We have closed the area until we know better what effect the ash will have."

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Glaciologist Matthew Roberts: the eruption "shouldn't have any far-reaching effects"

But officials say it is unlikey to have the same impact as last year.

Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said the 2010 eruption was a rare event.

Icelandic Met Office website reported that ash is falling in the vicinity of the Vatnajokull glacier. This also includes towns of Hofn i Hornafirdi and Kirkjubaerklaustur as well as farmland nearby. The plume is up to 12 miles (20km) high, but the basalt eruption is meant to give the ash a density that will prevent a Eyjafjallajokull-style spreading.

Other effects associated with Grímsvötn is glacial flooding. As lava protrudes the Vatnajokull glacier and the ice is melted, water is produced.

There has been some confusion about this eruption. Icelandic authorities have found themselves disambiguating to the global media that Grímsvötn is not the more powerful Eyjafjallajokull, which disrupted air traffic last year. Although Grímsvötn Volcano has interrupted air traffic in the past, it has never downed international flights. This particular eruption is not expected to interrupt European air traffic in the next 24 hours.

Authorities were reportedly reassuring the nearby locals that there is no need for evacuations.

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in 1783 this very volcano's 16.7 mile long fissure system (known as 'Skaftar') "produced the world's largest known historical lava flow during an eruption". It lasted for seven months and damaged crops and livestock. This in turn also caused a famine resulting in the death of one fifth of Iceland's population.

Rail closures to hit travel times

State Transport Minister Terry Mulder said on Tuesday that workers will start moving part of the existing track between Sunshine and Tottenham, in Melbourne's west, to make way for new country tracks into the city.


The Regional Rail Link aims to improve the times of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo regional trains when they make their way through the city, by creating dedicated tracks for them.


"Suburban trains will no longer be stuck behind country trains and vice versa," Mr Mulder said in a statement.


"This will also mean that suburban trains on the Werribee, Sydenham and Craigieburn lines will be more reliable."


Mr Mulder said there will be a two week closure of the Sydenham, Ballarat and Bendigo lines for construction works between July 1-18.


Express buses will carry commuters from Albion and Sunshine railway stations direct to Flemington Racecourse station.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said V/Line trains would have separate tracks from suburban trains for the first time.
"Suburban trains will no longer be stuck behind country trains and vice versa, he said.
This will also mean that suburban trains on the Werribee, Sydenham and Craigieburn lines will be more reliable."
PTUA regional spokesman Paul Westcott said the closure of a suburban stations for more than two weeks was "completely unprecedented".
He said the shutdown of suburban trains would cause "massive disruptions.