World's busiest air routes: Tiny South Korean island beats London, New York

The world’s busiest air route isn’t London to Paris or New York to Los Angeles, but the trip between Seoul and a tiny island off the coast of South Korea.

Planes made 65,000 trips between the Korean capital and Jeju island -- a journey of little more than an hour -- in 2017, equivalent to 178 flights a day, according to data from OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd. That’s almost double the 35,000 trips on the busiest North American route: Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Asian cities dominated the list, cementing the region’s status as the world’s fastest-growing travel market. Among the 10 busiest routes in the world last year, Los Angeles-San Francisco was the only North American entry and there wasn’t a single European destination. The top European route in OAG’s rankings was Dublin-London Heathrow with about 14,500 flights.
Jeju-Seoul

The beaches and resorts of Jeju, an island off the southernmost tip of the Korean peninsula, have drawn local holiday-makers for decades. These days, Japanese and Chinese tourists are joining the South Koreans on the sand.

Melbourne-Sydney

Unless you have 10 hours to spare and love driving, a 90-minute flight is the best way to shuttle between Australia’s two biggest population centers. Weekday rush-hour connections are the domain of suited bankers and business travelers. Shoppers, sports fans and tourists take the cheaper seats.

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R-Day closure: 100 flights to be cancelled daily between Jan 18-26 in Delhi

At least 100 domestic flights a day are expected to be canceled between January 18 and 26 from 10:30 am to 12:15 pm as part of annual Republic Day closure, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said.

DIAL said it in a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) on Thursday. The authority which operates Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) said it has sought to minimize the inconvenience to the passengers. Approximately 1,000 flights are likely to be affected over a period of nine days This shutdown will also affect around 15,000 passengers daily.

This is for the first time that domestic airlines have been ordered to cancel their flights as till last year they were asked to reschedule their operations. International flights can reschedule their flights during the nine-day period this year.

On an average, Delhi airport handled 1,350 flights every day in 2017. According to officials, while the number of flight handled by the Delhi airport has been going up by 10-15 per cent every year, and the number of passengers by 20 per cent, there has been no corresponding rise in the airspace and terminal capacity, Hindustan Times said in a report.

According to domestic airlines, the short notice to cancel the flights would anger the passengers and they will have to face the brunt even when it is not their fault. Until last year they only had to reschedule their flight timings which was manageable as passengers could fly, said a senior executive on the condition of anonymity, Economic Times reported
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Typhoon Lan drenches Japan; highways closed, hundreds of flights cancelled

Torrential rains and strong winds from Typhoon Lan's passage across Japan on Monday caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the closing of highways.

Typhoon Lan, the 21st of the 2017 Pacific typhoon season, landed in the eastern prefecture of Shizuoka at around 3 a.m. local time with wind gusts of up to 200 km per hour, according to Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Efe news reported.

Two major Japanese airlines - Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) - cancelled about 170 domestic and international flights scheduled for Monday, which affected around 43,000 passengers.

The high-speed train service Tokaido Shinkansen line - linking Tokyo with the west of the country - was interrupted and different sections of highways have been cut on the main island of Honshu.

Heavy rainfall caused by Typhoon Lan on Sunday mainly affected the western end of the country, where two people were killed in Fukuoka and Yamaguchi prefectures.

According to the public broadcaster NHK, one person reportedly went missing in Wakayama after a house was buried by a landslide and around 89 were injured.

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Belgium to take Ryanair to court over thousands of cancelled flights

Belgium has said it intends to take Ryanair to court, accusing the low cost airline of illegally punishing customers hit by thousands of flight cancellations.

The Dublin-based airline has "shown a lack of professionalism", Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters, who handles the consumer affairs portfolio, said in a statement yesterday.

Ryanair has been plagued by a pilot shortage that has led it to axe thousands of flights in Europe -- and has now extended the wave of cancellations into early 2018.

The firm had already scrapped 2,100 flights in the six weeks to the end of October as it struggled with landing planes on time.

Based on a series of infractions, "I have lodged a cease and desist action against Ryanair, which if accepted will bring fines against the firm if the practices continue," Peeters said.

The minister accused Ryanair of a series of failings, including only communicating with Belgium's French and Dutch- speaking customers in English and a failure to notify them of their rights.

Ryanair last week defended its handling of the problems saying it had emailed all passengers hit by the latest cancellations, offering them alternative flights or a full refund. They have also received a 40 euro travel voucher, it said.
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Flights resume at Islamabad airport after 38-hour internet disruption

Flight operations at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport were restored on Sunday after a 38-hour-long disruption caused by a fault in international submarine internet cable systems, which has since been repaired.

Internet services have been restored across the country after a 38-hour-long disruption caused by a fault in the India-Middle East-Western Europe (I-ME-WE) submarine cable that caused consumers and businesses across Pakistan to experience major internet disruptions, with many customers complaining of slow browsing speeds, a Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) representative said.

The disruption in the India-Middle East-Western Europe submarine cable prevented airport officials confirming flight schedules and ticket bookings, as a result of which at least eight flights domestic and international flights were cancelled earlier today, Dawn news quoted airport officials as saying.

Many domestic and international flights were cancelled. Flights to Medina, Manchester and Karachi have also been cancelled.PI-211, which was scheduled to reach Islamabad from Dubai, was cancelled as well. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, which was to reach Jeddah from Karachi were cancelled.

Pakistan Telecommunications Limited (PTCL) stated the company has successfully arranged for additional bandwidth through our international cable systems & partners.

The loss of these three submarine cables leaves Pakistan relying on SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 5 and the AAE-1 submarine cables, out of which SEA-ME-WE 3 operates in a limited capacity.
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