Amid a climate of tension following the attacks in Paris and the armed attack of a Mali hotel popular with foreigners, a French flight to the US deflected right route to return to Paris .
A Boeing 777-200 of Air France from Paris to San Francisco made a U-turn while flying over the Channel, as revealed air traffic control radars. It made several loops, before returning to France less than an hour after takeoff. The pilot did not report an emergency, it remains unclear why this change of route.
However, the passengers of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris have been warned that all flights between Paris and the United States were canceled following the attack by an armed commando in a hotel in Mali on Friday 20 November. Some 12 members of the French airline staff there were held hostage before being evacuated. Moreover, the flight that would link Paris to Bamako was canceled.
RT en Français (via Google Translate)
3 TSA screeners at San Francisco arrested for smuggling
Three security screeners at San Francisco International Airport took payoffs to wave cocaine smugglers through airport security, federal authorities say in charges against the three.
The U.S. attorney’s office announced the charges of fraud and cocaine smuggling in a statement Friday.
Federal prosecutors allege security screeners Joseph Scott, Michael Castaneda, and Jessica Scott on five occasions took a fee in exchange for allowing through luggage that they were told contained cocaine. Each incident actually was an undercover sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Transportation Security Administration, federal prosecutors said.
The three were responsible for running the airport electronic screening and inspecting baggage. They were employees of security subcontractor Covenant Aviation Security. The company did not immediately return a telephone call Saturday seeking comment.
Authorities released Joseph Scott and Jessica Scott on $50,000 bonds on Friday. Castaneda remains in custody pending a detention hearing Monday.
Conviction on charges of smuggling over 10 pounds of cocaine carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
ABC News
WOW Air to serve Los Angeles and San Francisco
Icelandic airline WOW will launch directs flights between Keflavík International Airport and Los Angeles and San Francisco in the summer of 2016. This will be the first time an Icelandic airline offers direct scheduled flights to Los Angeles.
The carrier will offer four weekly round-trips to Los Angeles and five round-trips to San Francisco, with connections to 18 destinations in Scandinavia, the U.K. and Continental Europe via Keflavík International Aiport in Iceland. WOW already offers direct flights to 3 destinations in North America: Boston, Washington and Montreal.
WOW is a low-cost airline that was founded in November 2011 and began its flight service in May 2012. The airline has grown rapidly and it’s estimated that 800,000 passengers will fly with WOW air in 2015 and double that in 2016.
WOW will use Airbus A330-300 planes for the long flight to the USA’s west coast. Their range is 11,300 km (6,100 mi). The distance between Keflavík Airport and San Francisco is 6.764 km (4.203 mi), and to Los Angeles it’s 6.940 km (4.312 mi).
The Airbus will be the largest plane used for scheduled flights by an Icelandic airline. It’s 63.69 m (208 ft 11 in) long and can carry up to 440 in an all-economy layout. WOW planes will be equipped with 340 seats, for added legroom and comfort, according to the airline’s founder and CEO, Skúli Mogensen.
WOW will start selling tickets to Los Angeles and San Francisco early 2016.
Iceland Magazine