US officials have approved a new US airport security measure that would see all non-US residents being fingerprinted before they could fly home.

Expressed through a 13-5 majority vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee's approval was awarded to an ambitious proposal that would see new security technologies deployed at the top ten US airports, including JFK.

The Department of Homeland Security would be tasked with getting this fingerprinting equipment out to these ten airport hotspots within a two-year timeframe and, thereafter, also deploy it at 20 more airports, including the likes of Newark Liberty and LaGuardia.

US Airport Fingerprinting

It is presently estimated that the United States accommodates some 11 million immigrants, of which 40 per cent possess visas which have expired. The US airport fingerprinting plan represents an attempt to remedy this situation.

Its supporters state that, beyond their intended role, the US airport fingerprint scans would also assist in terrorist detection, while critics query whether they'll really help decrease visa expiration rates and suggest that they could lead to all passengers being fingerprinted over time.

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave its blessing to the airport fingerprinting requirement after last week rejecting a much broader proposal that would have seen international passengers experience much more elaborate biometric checks, including iris scans and facial recognition. According to reports, they chiefly rejected this plan on cost grounds.

Airport Fingerprint Scanners

"This is an agreement that we need to build toward a biometric visa exit system", Senator Jeff Flake said of the US airport fingerprint scanner deployment plan, in comments quoted by the Associated Press.

According to data for 2011, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta is the busiest US airport in terms of passenger numbers, having handled more than 44 million that year. It is followed by O'Hare International, Los Angeles International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International, John F Kennedy International, San Francisco International, McCarran International, Phoenix Sky Harbor International and George Bush Intercontinental, in 2nd-to-10th place respectively.

Fingerprint scanner image copyright US Navy - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Over 700 flight attendants were questioned for the survey, which resulted in a generic profile for the ideal upgrade candidate. The lucky man will possess good manners, be smartly dressed and will be travelling alone.

These are handy hints for anyone wanting to get themselves a premium seat.

Men outscored women by 16 percent (58 percent compared to 42 percent for women) and the age group most likely to be considered was between 30 and 40.

Upgrades for Frequent Flyers

Being a familiar face also seems to help, as being a frequent flyer is high up the list, according to the survey carried out by flight comparison site, Skyscanner.

The research found that businessmen are in good stead to get themselves out of the economy chair, whilst those travelling in a hen party should not expect any favours. The cabin crews' votes showed that late teenage females flying as part of a group and dressed in revealing attire would be the most unlikely to qualify.

Flight attendants from 83 countries were asked for their preferences. The survey found that almost three-quarters of those participating, at 72 percent, were more motivated to upgrade a lone-flying passenger.

Top 10 List

Having an injury also helps, but this isn't something that can be considered in advance. Instead, here is a top ten list of things that you can work on to improve your chances of an upgrade, according to the cabin crews questioned.

Be polite and friendly

• it makes a difference to 82 percent of the crew.

Participate in the carrier's frequent flyer scheme

• 80 percent say that it helps

Travel by yourself

• A lone flyer is most likely to be upgraded by 72 percent of the crews.

Call attention to an injury

• This doesn't mean giving yourself one, but pointing one out if you have one, as 65 percent would factor this in.

Dress well

• almost 60 percent are more likely to upgrade a smartly dressed passenger.

Inform flight attendants that you are on your honeymoon

• 58 percent would upgrade newly wedded couples.

Get to know the cabin crew

• It's not what you know but who you know - 55 percent would happily upgrade a family member or friend.

Fly at unpopular times

• The more premium seats there are to spare, the more likely your request will be accepted, according to 47 percent.

Tell the attendants a sob story.

• playing on their emotions will sway 35 percent.

Make an effort with your appearance

• A well-groomed, good-looking traveller will be more likely to blag an upgrade from 31 percent of the crew.

Passengers booked to fly with easyJet this summer may have to cut down on their carry-on luggage, in line with new rules beginning in July.

According to easyJet, certain flight services simply do not have enough room on board to accommodate all passengers' hand luggage. So, with effect from 2 July 2013, all carry-on luggage will need to be 50cm x 40cm x 20cm, to ensure it falls within easyJet's guaranteed admittance threshold. Those dimensions include all external bag elements, such as pockets, wheels and handles.

Bags measuring 56cm x 45cm x 25cm will still be allowed on board but they will not be guaranteed to remain in cabins. Rather, if appropriate, they will be added to regular hold luggage, instead.

While easyJet has therefore made a significant carry-on luggage size amendment, as now, there are no particular weight restrictions in place. In comparison, other airlines do impose carry-on luggage weight limits including Ryanair and Flybe (10 kilograms maximum), along with British Airways (23 kilograms maximum).

EasyJet: Carry-On Luggage

'The bag guarantee is a way for passengers to gain peace of mind that their bag will travel with them onboard the flight', easyJet explained in an online statement covering its carry-on luggage revision. "The new cabin bag guarantee is transparent and fair to all our customers and the result of in-depth customer research".

The airline added: 'It's a relatively small change but our statistics show that we only need to see a small reduction in the number of larger bags taken onboard to have a big impact on the number of bags we have to offload at the gate'.

Established in 1995, easyJet is Europe's second-placed budget carrier so far as passenger traffic is concerned, second only to Ryanair. Flying to 134 destinations at present, easyJet currently has 188 aircraft in service. These include Airbus A319s and Airbus 320s and no other airline has as many examples of the former (138) in its fleet right now.

An airline mishap sent a US couple to the wrong continent, some 7,000 miles away from their intended destination.

Sandy Valdiviseo and her husband Triet Vo departed from Los Angeles, and were supposed to land in Dakar, Senegal, but found themselves instead in Dhaka, Bangladesh, after their airline got the airport codes mixed up.

The unusual situation became a travel disaster for the couple, who not only found themselves at the wrong airport, but on the wrong continent too. Turkish Airlines had mixed-up the airport codes confusing Dakar, represented by DKR, with Dhaka, which is DAC.

Initially, the couple flew to Istanbul at a four-hour stopover before their flight to their final destination. The couple then boarded their plane without knowing anything was wrong, according to the Los Angles Times.

'When the flight attendant said we were heading to Dhaka, we believed that this was how you pronounced Dakar with a Turkish accent,' Valdivieso informed the LA newspaper.

'Dakar With a Turkish Accent'

It was only when they examined a flight map that they realised the mistake, and that they were not headed to Senegal, but Bangladesh. After arriving in Dhaka, remedying the situation with Turkish Airlines took nine hours, reports said.

Initially, officials insisted on hearing a recording of Valdivieso actually booking the trip to Senegal, in order to confirm that the incorrect airport code had been applied to their tickets.

The couple were subsequently transported back to Istanbul before catching a flight, this time a correct one, for a six-hour trip to Senegal. Their luggage followed them, and arrived in the West African country two days after.

In the LA Times, general manager of Turkish Airlines' West Coast operations, Fatma Yuceler, apologized for the incident.

Couple Gain Compensation for Incident

While the occurrence happened late last year, it is only now hitting the headlines as the couple endeavour to gain compensation.

But their efforts have paid off, as Turkish Airlines has since offered the couple economy-class tickets to any destination they like within the carrier's network.

But founder of travel site www.airfarewatchdog.com, George Hobica, said the couple should bear some responsibility. He said that customers need to know the airport codes, and check they are correct.

Emirates are to introduce a shisha smoking lounge aboard their aircraft.

Premium travellers flying with the Dubai-based carrier will be excused from the no-smoking policy as of next month, when the airline inaugurates a shisha lounge on select jumbo aircraft.

Due to be introduced on the airline's Airbus A380 jet fleet, the new service will be available to Emirates' first-class and business passengers.

A shisha - also called a narghile, hookah, hubble-bubble or waterpipe - will feature in the onboard menu, and travellers can pre-order one before retiring to the lounge for a smoke after their meal, from June.

Shisha Features in Onboard Menu

Waterpipes can loosely be illustrated as the Middle Eastern variant of the after dinner cigar, with flavoured tobacco passing through bubbled water, which is subsequently smoked via a pipe and hose.

Renowned for introducing innovative ways to increase customer loyalty, Emirates are debuting the Signature Shisha Lounge in order to enhance the travelling experience for Middle Eastern fliers, but also to give foreigners a taste of Arabian custom.

However, the new service certainly risks controversy from health professionals, as shisha pipes have what some medical authorities regard as a deceptive reputation for being a harmless and recreational form of smoking.

Shisha Service on Entire A380 Fleet by 2014

In a hookah pipe the tobacco is not any less toxic than in a regular cigarette, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Contrary to popular belief, neither does the water filter through toxic ingredients present in the tobacco smoke.

Indeed, the CDC actually estimates that because of the way shisha pipes are shared and smoked - with the smoking session length, inhalation depth and puffing frequency - an average, 60-minute session could be equivalent to inhaling a smoke volume 100 to 200 times that inhaled from one cigarette.

As with all major airlines, smoking is forbidden on-board flights. If officially commenced, the Shisha lounge will terminate the smoking ban that has been established for several years across the aviation industry.

Should the trials be successful, Emirates hope to roll out its shisha service across its entire A380 fleet by the end of the year.

An unidentified person has taken a sachet encompassing Rs 4.5 ($941,000 est) crore worth of diamonds from a courier shipment that was recently at the airport, according to a case registered by the Sahar police.

The police are now investigating the suspect behind the robbery, and conducting inquiries with those in the airport complex and people who have access to these sensitive areas, specifically loaders and and courier firm workers. According to airport officials, nobody excluding the airport staff could access to the high-security region.

One such official said the robbery was evidently the work of an insider.

Suspect Possibly Detained

While there have been reports that the Sahar police have detained a suspect already, the officers themselves have not confirmed the development.

A private firm had allegedly dispatched about 24 sachets that comprised diamonds to Belgium via air cargo. A sachet was reportedly stolen by the accused from the shipment during the loading procedure.

The Belgium-based firm's ambassador was due to confirm delivery, but only verified receipt of 23 sachets - one less than the 24-strong consignment.

"The Belgium-based firm got back to the complainant saying the consignment was one packet short of what was decided to be sent. The complainant then approached us and we registered a complaint of theft on May 17," said the Sahar police station's senior inspection.

On Friday, the Indian diamond trading company's employee filed a complaint with the police.

Recent Diamond Heists

This is isn't the first time precious materials have gone missing in a consignment. In December 2011, gold valued at Rs 1.44 crore disappeared. The gold was a segment of a bigger shipment sent from Hyderabad to Mumbai, where it was intended to be collected and delivered to numerous jewelry shops around the city.

The courier's worker, who went to collect the parcel, was informed that no such parcel was there. Two courier boys, who came across the parcel labelled with valuable, resolved to steal it and was later arrested by the Crime Branch.

This is not the first time diamonds have been stolen at an airport, either. In February this year, eight masked gunmen stole around £30 million worth of the precious stones from an aircraft's hold on a runway at Brussels airport.

Image copyright Captain Catan - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The budget airline boasted annual profits of 13% on Monday, but cautioned that this year's growth will be dampened by the recession blanketing much of Europe.

Operating on over 1,600 routes, the Dublin-based firm transported 79.3 million travelers in the year up to March 31 - a 5% increase on the previous year, as revenues rose 13% to €4.8 billion (£4.1 billion.).

Profits after tax increased to €569 million (£481.4 million) and the carrier hoped for further growth this year, although at a more leisurely pace as average fares across the sector are pressured by economic conditions.

Further Increase Expected

Ryanair anticipates traffic to increase by a further two million passengers, totaling 81.5 million in the current year, assisted by the summer's 200 extra routes and seven new locations, including at Marrakech, Krakow and Eindhoven.

The company said that costs will endeavor to rise, with the culprit again being sharp oil prices - Ryanair's fuel bill was up €290 million (£245.3 million) in the previous financial year. Fuel accounts for almost half of the carrier's costs, at 45%.

The airline's average fares were up 6% in the last fiscal year, but this was surpassed by a 20% leap in revenues from extra services including reserved seating, to €1 billion (£846 million), which represents 22% of all the year's sales.

With Ryanair aiming to transport over 100 million passengers each year by 2018's end, the airline recently announced the delivery of 175 Boeing jets, worth £10.3 billion, between 2014 and 2018.

This will increase Ryanair's fleet to 400 aircraft.

Sustained Traffic Growth With Fleet of 400

"Ryanair is now uniquely positioned to offer many of Europe's airports sustained traffic growth in return for low cost, efficient facilities," said Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's Chief executive.

He said he was confident that this order in time would enable the company to expand its traffic leadership over the continent's airlines, and in turn generate more for Ryanair's shareholders.

Back in February, Ryanair's plans to take over rival company Aer Lingus was blocked for the third time, as the commission fears this would damage competition, to the consumers' detriment.

The European Commission has identified Air India and Air China as two airlines that, due to non-compliance with measures designed to regulate air travel emissions, now face being fined and/or barred from all EU airports.

In all, says the EC, there are two Indian and eight Chinese carriers guilty of not supplying authorities with key emissions data and not taking part in an EU airlines emissions permit system. According to information released by the EC, combined, these 10 airlines fleets' generate the same level of emissions as approximately 130 rail cars filled with coal would produce when incinerated.

Now, the two Indian and eight Chinese airlines are set to be fined 30,000 Euros and 2.4 million Euros, respectively.

According to the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, the airlines' actions are inexcusable. "It's not so that when we make our European laws, then we say they count for everybody except for Chinese and Indians - and that is no different in the aviation sector", Hedegaard explained in a statement. "It shows how controversial and difficult it is to get to the adequately ambitious outcome we need in global aviation."

EU Air Travel Emissions Rules

To date, neither of the named airlines has issued an official statement in relation to its non-EU aviation emissions compliance.

The EU air travel emissions rules relate solely to flights that start and end within Europe. They've been adhered to by European carriers and the majority of airlines based outside Europe but still to come is a proposed expansion, widening the rules' scope to also encompass international flights originating from outside Europe and flights starting in Europe but finishing beyond its boundaries.

When this expansion was first proposed, many nations objected. China and India were among them and also included were Russia, the United States and Japan.

Air India is India's flagship carrier and it was originally established in 1932. Equipped with a mixed fleet of Boeing and Airbus airliners, it currently flies to 55 airports around the world.

Air China is the national airline of China and also operates an Airbus/Boeing fleet. With 272 aircraft in service, it's got the world's 10th-largest airliner fleet.

Image copyright Kentaro Lemoto - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The King Khalid International Airport Terminal 5 design and build contract has been awarded to TAV Construction, it's been announced.

The third such Saudi Arabian airport tender won by TAV Construction, it takes the firm's combined Middle Eastern contracts value to $16+ billion dollars.

King Khalid International presently boasts four terminals, a pair of 13,796 foot-long runways, a mosque and one of the tallest control towers at any airport. Of its current terminals, Terminal 4 is an inactive structure but Terminals 1 and 2 handle international flights, leaving Terminal 3 to handle the airport's domestic traffic. There's also a Royal Terminal, used exclusively by VIPS and members of the Saudi Royal Family.

Terminal 5 Build Contract

TAV Construction was announced as the contract winner on 13 May 2013 by GACA - the Saudi Arabian Civil Aviation Authority.

The Terminal 5 build contract will see King Khalid International Airport gain a new 100,000 square metre passenger terminal, a linked 90,000 square metre car park able to accommodate 3,000 vehicles and various other infrastructure elements linking up Terminal 5 to the rest of the airport.

King Khalid Terminal Contract

In a press release on its King Khalid terminal contract win, TAV Construction stressed that the new structure would meet international standards and be sympathetic to the 'local culture' with an 'authentic architectural design'. The envisaged construction timeframe is 18 months and the approximate cost will be $400m.

"This is a very important project", said the CEO of TAV Group, Sani Sener. "Airport privatizations are continuing in Saudi Arabia. This airport is also one of those which will be privatized soon. In the meantime, our investment and operation in Medinah is also ongoing. Our 800 million dollar hangar construction project at Jeddah Airport also continues.

He concluded: "We are now happy to be undertaking an airport construction project in the country's third largest city and capital."

Image copyright US Department of Defense

An Air India flight between Delhi and Bangalore had to land at Bhopal Airport when its pilot couldn't get back into the cockpit, it's emerged.

Having just been on a toilet break, the Air India pilot was preventing from returning to his station by a jammed door. Consequently, the aircraft's co-pilot assumed control and, once having landed at Bhopal, the airliner resumed its intended journey several hours later, after maintenance engineers had rectified the door fault.

Referring to the episode, Air India admitted it had taken place but stressed that at no point was the safety of those onboard compromised. "The commander had left the cockpit for a short while to visit the toilet", officials explained in a statement. "On returning, he found the door locked. All efforts to open it even from inside failed.

"The co-pilot, after taking permission from ground control, diverted the flight to Bhopal and landed at 5.55pm. The flight took off from Bhopal at 8.45 pm after clearance and reached Bangalore at 10.30pm.

They concluded: "All precautions and procedures regarding safety were observed during the entire process. The incident posed no danger to the aircraft passengers and the crew."

Air India Pilot Lock-Out

The Air India pilot lock-out affected Air India Flight 403 and it was the second major incident experienced by the carrier in recent weeks. In April 2013, an Air India stewardess was permitted to sit in the captain's chair while he was on a break. In error, the lady deactivated the aircraft's autopilot system and, as a result, four Air India staff are now on suspension while investigators explore how this situation could ever have been allowed to occur.

In other Air India news, Ajit Singh - India's Civil Aviation Minister - has confirmed that the airline's six Boeing 787 Dreamliners will be back in the air by 31 May. Along with all other operational Dreamliners, the Air India 787s had been grounded in connection with two instances earlier this year in which the aircraft's batteries had caught fire.

Air India received its first Dreamliner in September 2012 and should ultimately operate 27 examples.

Image copyright Anirudh Emani - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons