EgyptAir plane that was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus.

An EgyptAir plane that took off from the coastal city of Alexandria for Cairo has been hijacked and forced to divert to Larnaca airport in Cyprus.

Flight MS181 had 55 passengers on board when it was seized, Egyptian authorities said. Everyone on board has been released except for the captain and co-pilot, a female crew member, a security officer and three passengers. Negotiations with the hijacker are ongoing.

Officials at Alexandria airport told Associated Press that the hijacker was a dual Egyptian-American citizen. Cypriot media said he demanded to speak with a Cypriot woman to whom he claims he was once married. She is now being brought to the airport to participate in the negotiations. There were also unconfirmed reports that he had demanded the release of prisoners in Egypt.

Egyptian authorities said the hijacker had threatened to detonate an explosive belt, but did not know whether the belt was real or fake.

Addressing reporters with the visiting European parliament president, Martin Schulz, the Cypriot leader, Nikos Anastasiades, ruled out terrorism, confirming instead that it had been instigated a man bent on reuniting with his former wife.

“It’s all to do with a woman,” said the Cypriot president. “We are doing everything to release the hostages.”

Cyprus police said the control tower was contacted at 8.30am (5.30am GMT) and the plane was given permission to land at 8.50am.

A statement from the Egyptian civil aviation ministry said foreign nationals on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian. Three other foreigners could not be identified. The nationalities of those who remained on the plane were not given.

The plane was hijacked 30 minutes into its flight, according to officials. Less than an hour later, local TV showed about 40 women and children being allowed to leave the aircraft. The freed passengers were then put on buses and taken to terminal buildings.

Cyprus, the nearest EU member state to the Middle East, immediately declared a state of emergency, with the ministers of defence, foreign affairs and transport all being dispatched to the airport within minutes of the plane making its forced landing.

Airport authorities said all scheduled flights into Cyprus were being diverted to the island’s second international airport at Paphos.

The hijacking is likely to bring to the fore again the question of security at Egyptian airports, five months after a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. All 224 people on board were killed in the crash. Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft and the extremist Islamic State group said it downed the plane.

#GoIndigo flight from #Chandigarh to #Dubai ready for take-off

Your more than six-month-long wait to catch an international flight from the new Chandigarh airport would end this summer. Private airline Indigo has obtained the necessary approval to launch Chandigarh-Dubai flight from Indian as well as Dubai authorities. The timing would be released in the summer schedule to commence from March 27. Highly-placed sources said an aircraft having a capacity of 180 seats would fly daily between the two cities.

Assistant solicitor general Chetan Mittal made a formal communication about the final clearance before the Punjab and Haryana high court through a status report on Monday. Mittal said Indigo currently has an unutilized allocation of seven flights/1,260 seats per week in each direction on Chandigarh-Dubai route and it would commence its operations in the forthcoming summer schedule of flights. The private airline confirmed about the commencement of international flight from Chandigarh to the ministry of civil aviation in its communication on March 18.

The proposal from Indigo was pending for past many years. Recently, the Dubaiairport authorities had allotted a slot to the private airline for operating a Dubai-Chandigarh flight. Regarding the offer of Fly Dubai and Bulgarian airlines to operate Chandigarh-Dubai and Chandigarh-Sofia flights, the assistant solicitor general told the high court that the ministry of civil aviation has no objection but these airlines have to seek permission from their governments. It was stated that their governments should initiate diplomatic talks for amendments in existing bilateral agreement regarding allocation seats to run foreign flights.

Brussels Airport attacked by terrorists

Brussels has been hit by three explosions, the terrorists attacked the airport and the metro. A suicide bomber struck the Brussels airport, fired shots and shouted words in Arabic brfore two blasts were heard near the American Airlines check in desk. This incident took place around 8 am local time. The passengers fled the scene for their lives, the airport is now on lockdown and all flights have been cancelled.

An hour later, an explosion was heard at a city centre metro station, which appears to be a separate attack. The attack has been made strategically four days after Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels in relation to the November’s terror attack in Paris.

There are reports of multiple explosions at different metro stations, all public transport in Brussels has been shut down. Multiple fatalities have been reported with a higher number of injured people. Upto 23 people have been reported dead and a lot many injured.

The American Airlines has confirmed that all its staff are safe. The Belgian national team have cancelled a scheduled training session out of respect for the victims of the Brussels attacks today.

Belgium are set to play Portugal in an international friendly at Brussels’ King Baudouin Stadium next week but the fixture is now in doubt following suspected terrorist bomb attacks.

to read more about airports pls visit- http://www.farehawker.com/airport/europe-rest-airports.php

Plane crashes in Russia, all 61 people on board killed

Russian officials said on Saturday that all 61 people on board a passenger jet flying from Dubai to southern Russia were killed when their plane crashed on its second attempt to land at Rostov-on-Don airport.

Russia's emergencies ministry said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Dubai-based budget carrier Flydubai, crashed at 03:50 (0030 GMT) at the airport in Rostov-on-Don. Officials said there were 55 passengers and six crew on board the plane.

"Unfortunately, they all died," Viktor Yanutsenko, an emergencies ministry official helping coordinate the emergency response, was quoted as saying by Russia's RIA news agency.

Zhanna Terekohova, an advisor to the Russian transport minister, told state television possible causes of the crash included pilot error and poor weather conditions.

Local officials said at the time of the crash, there was strong, gusting wind in the Rostov area.

The aircraft had to abandon an initial attempt to land at Rostov, its scheduled destination, and came down while making a repeat attempt, according to an emergencies ministry statement.

The plane came down inside the airport's perimeter, about 250 meters (yards) short of the start of the runway.

Grainy pictures from a security camera pointing towards the airport, which were broadcast on Russian television, showed a large explosion at ground level, with flames and sparks leaping high into the air.

Most of the passengers on board were Russian, the regional governor said on television.

"Three foreigners were on the passenger list of the plane, but that information needs checking" an emergencies ministry official said on Rossiya-24 news channel.

Flydubai said in a statement: "We are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft."

"We will do everything we can to help those who have been affected by this accident," said the carrier, which is owned by the Dubai government. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly, Noah Browning and Omar Fahmy; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Michael Perry)

info source : msn.com/en-in/news/world/plane-crashes-in-russia-all-61-people-on-board-killed/ar-BBqDTuo?ocid=spartandhp

Slashing Ticket prices and Increasing Cancellation Charges

Airlines in India are trying to lure in passengers during the off season by offering them discounts and good deals on the tickets. Last week IndiGo began IndiGo began offering air tickets starting from Rs 1,178. This was followed by discounts from other airlines too. GoAir, Vistara, AirAsia, Air India and SpiceJet have all huge discounts to get passengers on board. In the last week of March, GoAir announced fares starting from Rs 1,299 for passengers travelling between June 23 and October 31. This was the second discount offered in the week. The first offer had fares starting from Rs 999. Full service carrier Vistara too offered 20% discount on premium economy and business class, while state-run Air India also participated in the price cut. Even Jet Airways slashed fares up to 50 percent on domestic and international flights.

But on the other hand airlines have increased the cancellation charges by 50-100%. This means passengers now will be charged a higher fee who cancel their tickets 2-48 hours before departure. Cancellation charges of Rs 1,250 per passenger per segment will be charged if the cancellation is made 30 days prior to departure, whereas if you cancel your tickets 7-30 days prior to the departure a cancellation fee of Rs 1,500 will be charged. Cancellation made 48 hours to 7 days before departure will have to shell out Rs 2,000 while for 2-48 hours before departure, a cancellation charge of Rs 2,250 will be charges. (all these will be charge per segment)

Earlier the cancellation charges were Rs 1,500 per passenger on domestic routes.

The above fees will apply for bookings that are made on or after 1 April 2015 only. For any bookings made before this date, the old Fees (Rs 1,500 for Domestic and Rs 2,000 for International) will continue to apply.

Happy Women’s Day Girls & Ladies!!

Let me take this opportunity to wish all you wonderful women a great day ahead. 

I know.. I know we usually don’t make a big deal about women’s day and I’d say why should we ??
Why just celebrate Women’s Day once a year??
Celebrate it every day!!!

#Celebrate yourself, you #womanhood, your strengths, your weaknesses, your life and everything about you, because you my lovely ladies are the reason that society exists. What would men be without women??? Scarce, mighty scarce!!

Being a woman myself I’ve always worried about my appearance, been conscious about my looks, about what I eat, what I wear and a hundred other things. But today I am going to stop worrying about all of this. Eat that cake, it’s not going to kill you rather it will make you happy, but that dress, cry if you are sad, talk your mind out, travel alone and do stuff that makes you happy. Break the stereotypes!!
Travelling alone has always interested me!!

Being a woman my family was always against the idea of me travelling alone for obvious reasons like my safety and the “unpredictability” of people. 

But if done right travelling alone for a women can be liberating in so many ways. Plan your holiday to suit yourself, just you!!! No boyfriend, no spouse, no family needs to be catered to, just you!!!!! I don’t wanna sound like a loner, but all of us need some time off our families. I recently travelled alone to Thailand, it is one of the best places on the face of the earth. I shopped till I dropped, ate the local food, enjoyed booze and music at local bars, got massages at the beach, stayed at a reasonably good hotel in a good neighborhood, the only thing I did not do was to be careless. The most important thing to keep in mind is to be safe at all times. Carry a local guide, a map, a bottle of water and your passport with you at all times. Be wary of the people around you and be cautious. Have fun but be safe.  Keep your folks informed about your hotel and your plan for the day. Travelling alone is safe and no you will not feel lonely, rather you will appreciate that you took the trip.

Parting thought  “You can do almost anything you set your mind to… You can swim the deepest ocean and climb the highest peak… Be a doctor or fly a plane… You can face adversity and still walk tall. You are strong, beautiful, and compassionate and much more than words could ever say! Today is yours and so is every other day”

Happy Women’s Day

Planning to fly in Group? FareHawker is the answer !!!

If you are planning to fly in group on upcoming trip with your extended family, friends, colleagues, college mates or whomsoever and you are wondering whom to contact, which airlines will you best group discounted fare, on which airlines you can rely for avoiding last moment cancellation or delay, in case of over ten passengers, then FareHawker can play major role to the take all your headache.   

FareHawker.com (the Ultimate Travel Jockey) is just an email or call away where you can find answers to any queries regarding any airlines or helicopter or for charter plane. What acts as cherry on the cake is their Airlines Group Booking facility. 

As you know that no airline or travel portal provides booking facility for more than nine passengers, group booking becomes problem when the number crosses 10+. Than FareHawker is here for providing this facility to book more than 10 passengers in one go. Once you have provided them with all the necessary details like number of passengers, destination, journey dates, additional tour or sight-seeing services and so on, they negotiate with all the airlines possible to provide you with the most economical rates. As the airlines also know them for their airfare bulk booking it is easy to book through them. And what is interesting is that their services are free of cost and you just have to pay for your flight!

FareHawker is the best option for airlines group booking because they have a dedicated group of professionals who specialist in handing flight group booking which saves your time and money. As all the hard work is done by them, they keep you stress free and are also open to last minute changes as their services a very flexible. You don’t have to deposit any security money and you can always stay in touch with them through email, quick reply is a guarantee.  

The next time you travel a group trip, FareHawker it is! For more details visit page http://www.farehawker.com/group-booking.php