Istanbul airport explosions: 28 dead, 60 injured, Turkish official says

At least 28 people have been killed and 60 wounded in a terror attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey, Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said early Wednesday. Three bombers were also killed, the governor said. Another report, from semi-official news agency Anadolu, said six of the wounded are in critical condition. A total of 49 ambulances were sent to the site.

-- There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

-- CNN journalist Joe Duran said from the airport that "Police are not letting anyone in ... Hundreds of people are flooding away from airport... People are trying to get away. They're not saying much -- just the look on their face is enough, shock, some of them bleeding..."

"People are walking away bleeding, with bandages on their head."

-- Traveler Laurence Cameron described what he saw after he stepped off a plane: "It was just a massive crowd of screaming people. Some were falling over themselves. A poor chap in a wheelchair was just left, and everyone just rushed to the back of the building, and then people ran the other way and no one really seemed to know what was going on," he told CNN. "Where you normally hail a taxi, that is where the attack happened. The ground is just kind of shredded. There is bloodstains on the floor as well."

-- Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said one terrorist "first opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated himself."

In total three bombs exploded, the governor said.

-- A video posted to Twitter shows a view from a camera inside an airport terminal. A few dozen people are walking around when a bright flash and fireball erupt in the background.

-- A Turkish official told CNN that police fired shots at suspects near the international terminal in an effort to neutralize them.

-- Videos posted on social media show travelers sitting on the airport floor. A man shouts, "Get down! Get down!" Someone cries as a gunshot rings out.

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, General Hulusi Akar, at the presidential palace upon receiving news of the explosions in Istanbul, the office of the president announced.

The President's office says that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus, Transportation Minister Ahmet Arslan and Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan will travel to Istanbul from Ankara, the Turkish capital.

-- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, referencing the attack in Istanbul, told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday, "We are still collecting information and trying to ascertain what happened and who did it."

-- Ataturk Airport is "one of the most secure airports in the world," CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes says. But the airport has been "very overwhelmed for several decades with terrorism from PKK."

-- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has put in place a ground stop for any U.S. flights that were scheduled to fly to Istanbul and any flights leaving Istanbul for the United States, CNN's Rene Marsh reports.

-- The Ataturk airport is closed until Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time (noon ET), according to airport spokesman Erhan Ustundag. Incoming flights were diverted to Izmir, Ankara and other cities.

-- The U.S. embassy in Ankara is sending consular officers to the airport to account for any potential U.S. victims. But there are no indications of any American casualties at this point, a senior State Department official told CNN's Elise Labott.

-- The attacks happened on a warm summer night at the airport, east of Istanbul, that is the 11th busiest in the world in terms of passenger traffic. CNN's Ali Veshi says it is a modern, sophisticated airport. "There are all of the major European and American boutiques there," said Velshi, who has traveled through Turkey many times. "... You see people of all shapes and colors, in all sorts of dress. If you want to target the cosmopolitan nature of Istanbul, this is possibly the most cosmopolitan, heavily populated part. You can target tourist areas, but this is the part where the world comes together."

Signal Detected From Missing EgyptAir A320

Searchers aboard a French naval vessel said this morning they believe they have found a signal from one of the data recorders aboard EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19. The Airbus A320 vanished from radar during a flight from Paris to Cairo, with 66 people on board. Recovery teams have found some floating debris from the aircraft, but the search is made difficult by the depth of the sea in the area — averaging nearly 12,000 feet — strong currents, and the ruggedness of the sea floor. Another research vessel, the John Lethbridge, based in Mauritius, is expected to join the search team in the next week or so, and it will be able to retrieve the recorders if they are found, officials said. The recorders are designed to emit signals for 30 days after a crash.

An Airbus engineer told Reuters the company is working to develop ejectable or "deployable" recorders that would separate from the tail during a crash and float, emitting a distress signal. Similar technology already is used in some military aircraft, but some in the industry have expressed doubts about their safe use on civil airliners, according to Reuters, saying they could be deployed accidentally and introduce new risks. Airbus said last year it was talking to regulators about adding deployable devices to some of its jets. New European rules set to take effect in 2018 will extend the duration of the pingers in the data recorders to 90 days. Airlines also will be required to track flight positions during ocean crossings.

Solar Impulse Next Stop: New York

As soon as the weather window looks favorable, Solar Impulse pilot Andre Borschberg plans to depart from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and fly about 100 miles to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, according to the support team. The flight path will provide several opportunities along the way for New Yorkers to catch a glimpse of the unique solar-powered aircraft. The plan is for Solar Impulse to cross over the Verrazano Bridge at an altitude of 1,500 feet, at about 5:10 a.m. on the day of the flight. The airplane will then fly over the Statue of Liberty and continue east above Brooklyn on its way to JFK. Liberty State Park, in New Jersey, Battery Park in Manhattan, and several other sites along the coast will provide views of the flight, according to the Solar Impulse team.

After the landing in JFK, pilot Bertrand Piccard will fly the next leg, across the Atlantic, when the weather provides an adequate window. Since crossing the Pacific and landing in California, the airplane has landed in Phoenix, Tulsa, and Dayton. The global flight began more than a year ago, in Abu Dhabi, and the team plans to return there later this summer. New Yorkers who want to see the airplane can sign up online to get advance notice of the takeoff.

financial outlook for global air transport-IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) revised its 2016 financial outlook for global air transport industry profits upwards to $39.4 billion (from $36.3 bn last December). It will be generated on revenues of $709 billion for an aggregate net profit margin of 5.6%.

Main Forecast Drivers:

Oil Prices: The outlook is based on oil averaging $45/barrel (Brent) over the course of the year which is significantly lower than the $53.9 average price in 2015. Overall, fuel is expected to represent 19.7% of the industry’s expenses, down from a recent high of 33.1% in 2012-2013.

The Global Economy: Weak economic conditions prevail. GDP is expected to expand by 2.3% in 2016. That is down from 2.4% in 2015 and the weakest growth since 2008 when the global financial crisis hit. 

Passenger Demand: Passenger demand is robust with 6.2% growth expected in 2016. That is, however, a slowdown from the 7.4% growth recorded in 2015. Capacity is expected to grow slightly ahead of demand at 6.8%. Load factors are expected to remain high (80.0%), but with a slight slip from 2015 (80.4%). 

Cargo: The cargo side of the business remains in the doldrums with 2.1% growth in demand. Overall cargo is expected to generate $49.6 billion in revenues, down from $52.8 billion in 2015.

“Lower oil prices are certainly helping—though tempered by hedging and exchange rates. Performance, however, is being bolstered by the hard work of airlines. Load factors are at record levels. New value streams are increasing ancillary revenues,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s CEO.

Regional Diversity:North American carriers are expected have a net profit of $22.9 billion which is an improvement on the $21.5 billion reported for 2015. Passenger capacity is expected to expand by 4.3% in 2016, marginally outpacing an anticipated 4.0% increase in demand, but load factors are forecast to remain well above break-even levels.European airlines are expected to post a $7.5 billion profit in 2016 (up from $7.4 billion in 2015). Passenger capacity is forecast to grow by 5.8%, ahead of expected demand growth of 4.9%. Terror incidents have had a dampening effect on demand in some key tourist centers.Airlines in Asia-Pacific are expected to post a $7.8 billion profit in 2016, up from $7.2 billion in 2015. Capacity is forecast to expand by 9.1% in 2016, ahead of demand which is likely to grow by 8.5%. Asia-Pacific carriers have a 40% share of global air cargo markets. .Middle East carriers are expected to post a $1.6 billion profit, up slightly on the $1.4 billion reported for 2015. Capacity is forecast to grow at 12.2%, outpacing an expected 11.2% expansion of demand. Airlines in Latin America are expected to see a $100 million profit in 2016 after a $1.5 billion loss in 2015. Demand is expected to grow by 4.2% while carriers are forecast to add 3.7% to capacity. The region has been hit disproportionately by the fall in commodity prices and revenues, which led to foreign exchange crises to add to the economic difficulties.African airlines are expected to post a $500 million loss in 2016, a slight improvement on the $700 million that the region’s carriers lost in 2015. Capacity growth (5.3%) is anticipated to outpace demand growth of 4.5%. Carriers in the region continue to confront a plethora of challenges including intense competition on long-haul routes, political barriers to growing intra-Africa traffic, high costs and infrastructure deficiencies.  European airlines are expected to post a $7.5 billion profit in 2016 (up from $7.4 billion in 2015). Passenger capacity is forecast to grow by 5.8%, ahead of expected demand growth of 4.9%. Terror incidents have had a dampening effect on demand in some key tourist centers.Airlines in Asia-Pacific are expected to post a $7.8 billion profit in 2016, up from $7.2 billion in 2015. Capacity is forecast to expand by 9.1% in 2016, ahead of demand which is likely to grow by 8.5%. Asia-Pacific carriers have a 40% share of global air cargo markets. .Middle East carriers are expected to post a $1.6 billion profit, up slightly on the $1.4 billion reported for 2015. Capacity is forecast to grow at 12.2%, outpacing an expected 11.2% expansion of demand. Airlines in Latin America are expected to see a $100 million profit in 2016 after a $1.5 billion loss in 2015. Demand is expected to grow by 4.2% while carriers are forecast to add 3.7% to capacity. The region has been hit disproportionately by the fall in commodity prices and revenues, which led to foreign exchange crises to add to the economic difficulties.African airlines are expected to post a $500 million loss in 2016, a slight improvement on the $700 million that the region’s carriers lost in 2015. Capacity growth (5.3%) is anticipated to outpace demand growth of 4.5%. Carriers in the region continue to confront a plethora of challenges including intense competition on long-haul routes, political barriers to growing intra-Africa traffic, high costs and infrastructure deficiencies.  

EgyptAir's A320 made 3 emergency landings before its last flight

EgyptAir's Airbus A320, that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in May, was forced to make at least 3 emergency landings 24-hours prior to its last journey, the French media reported. Aircraft's warning systems signaled a malfunction on board after the take-off on three several occasions. The alert messages were investigated every time but the plane was cleared to take off.

Routine maintenance checks were performed on the plane before the final flight from Paris to Cairo, officials told CNN.

Former aviation security official, Jean-Paul Troadec, commented on the alerts: “These new findings are an important element for the investigators. We cannot presume to know exactly what happened on board but it’s not entirely normal to turn around several times after a technical incident without finding anything.”

In the meantime, the hunt for the plane’s black boxes received a boost. The French vessel Laplace has detected signals in the Mediterranean Sea, that are assumed to be sent from the black boxes from the EgyptAir's A320 aircraft, according to France’s air accident investigation agency BEA.

The French naval forces are waiting for the second vessel to arrive to the wreckage search area that has been narrowed down to 5 km, in order to take pictures and retrieve the objects from the bottom of the sea. 

Egypt’s armed forces are racing against time along with support from France, Greece, the U.S and the U.K. to find the aircraft's black boxes as they send a transmission signal only for 30 days - until their batteries run out of power. From a maximum depth of 4,200 meters they send a signal from an underwater locator beacon that is activated as soon as it comes into contact with water.

Airbus senior engineer commented that the crash has strengthened the case for black boxes, that could eject from the tail of the aircraft before the accident removing the need for similar searches altogether. “If we have a deployable recorder it will be much easier to find,” said Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice-President for Engineering.

The idea was highly recommended before the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 two years ago. Ejectable black boxes are used in the military, but some industry experts are critical about their implementation on commercial planes as they could pop out by accident and introduce new risks. 

The cause of the crash remains a mystery and the finding of the black boxes is crucial for putting together the puzzle of the last moments of the EgyptAir's flight.

EGYPTAIR PLANE CRASH-CONFIRMED, SAR ONGOING

An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea off the Greek island of Crete early Thursday morning, Egyptian and Greek officials said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to say whether a technical problem or a terror attack caused the plane to crash. "We cannot rule anything out," he told reporters at Cairo airport.

EgyptAir Flight 804 was lost from radar at around 2:45 a.m. local time when it was flying at 37,000 feet, according to the airline. It said the Airbus A320 vanished 10 miles (16 kilometers) after it entered Egyptian airspace, around 280 kilometers (175 miles) off Egypt's coastline north of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Egyptian aviation officials said the plane crashed and that a search for debris was now underway.

The "possibility that the plane crashed has been confirmed," as the plane hasn't landed in any of the nearby airports, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Konstantinos Lintzerakos, director of Greece Civil Aviation Authority, gave a roughly similar account to that given by EgyptAir. In comments to the private Antenna television, he said Greek air traffic controllers were in contact with the pilot who reported no problems as the aircraft cruised at 37,000 feet, traveling at 519 mph (830 kilometers per hour).

The controllers tried to make contact with the pilot 10 miles (16 kilometers) before the plane exited the Greek Flight Information Region, or FIR. The pilot did not respond, he said, and they continued to try to speak to him until 3:29 a.m. local time (2:29 a.m. Egyptian time) when the plane disappeared from the radar inside Egypt's FIR, 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the island of Crete.

Egypt's state-run newspaper Al-Ahram quoted an airport official as saying the pilot did not send a distress call, and that last contact with the plane was made 10 minutes before it disappeared from radar. It did not identify the official.

Egyptian military aircraft and navy ships were taking part in a search operation off Egypt's Mediterranean coast to locate the debris of the plane, which was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, and 10 crew members. The pilot had more than 6,000 flight hours.

Greece also joined the search and rescue operation, officials at the Hellenic National Defense General Staff said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault offered to send military planes and boats to join the Egyptian search for wreckage.

"We are at the disposition of the Egyptian authorities with our military capacities, with our planes, our boats to help in the search for this plane," he said. He spoke after French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace.

Later, the French military said a Falcon surveillance jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants had been diverted to help search for the EgyptAir plane. Military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron told The Associated Press that the jet is joining the Egypt-led search effort, and the French navy may send another plane and a ship to the zone.

Hollande spoke with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on the phone and agreed to "closely cooperate to establish as soon as possible the circumstances" surrounding the incident, according to a statement issued in Paris.

In Cairo, el-Sissi convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, the country's highest security body. The council includes the prime minister and the defense, foreign and interior ministers, in addition to the chiefs of the intelligence agencies.

Those on board, according to EgyptAir, included 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and one Canadian. Ayrault confirmed that 15 French citizens were on board.

Around 15 relatives of passengers on board the missing flight arrived at Cairo airport Thursday morning. Airport authorities brought doctors to the scene after several distressed family members collapsed.

In Paris, relatives of passengers on the EgyptAir flight started arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside the French capital, where their loved ones were last seen alive.

A man and a woman, identified by airport staff as relatives of the flight's passengers, sat at an information desk near the EgyptAir counter at Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 1. The woman was sobbing, holding her face in a handkerchief. The pair were led away by police and airport staff and did not speak to gathered journalists.

The Airbus A320 is a widely used twin-engine, single-aisle plane that operates on short and medium-haul routes. Nearly 4,000 A320s are currently in use around the world. The ubiquity of the A320 means the plane has been involved in several accidents over the years. The last deadly crash involving the plane was Germanwings Flight 9525, in which all 150 onboard died when one of the pilots intentionally crashed it in the French Alps.

Airbus said the aircraft was delivered to EgyptAir in 2003 and had logged 48,000 flight hours before it "was lost" over the Mediterranean. The European plane-maker said in a statement Thursday that it had engines made by Swiss-based engine consortium IAE, and had the serial number 2088.

An EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus in March. A man who admitted to the hijacking and is described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable" is in custody in Cyprus.

The incident renewed security concerns at Egyptian airports after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for planting it.

In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic near the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, killing all 217 people aboard. U.S. investigators filed a final report that concluded its co-pilot switched off the autopilot and pointed the Boeing 767 downward. Egyptian officials rejected the notion of suicide altogether, insisting some mechanical reason caused the crash.

FlyDubai crash may have been caused by conflict between pilots

The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 may have crashed at Rostov-on-Don airport because of a disagreement between the pilots when the aircraft was picking up altitude to make another go-around, reports Russian daily Kommersant, citing sources close to the investigation.

According to Russian business daily Kommersant, pilot error is emerging as the likeliest cause of the crash of a FlyDubai airliner in southern Russia on March 19.

Having deciphered the flight recorder of the crashed Boeing 737-800, Russian investigators have been able to recreate the last moments before the disaster.

While trying to land the aircraft at Rostov-on-Don airport in adverse weather, the crew had to abort the first landing attempt to try and make another go-around.

Kommersant reports that because of a strong and constantly changing wind, the Boeing's autothrottle, which ensures an aircraft's descent or ascent in autopilot mode, did not function properly. The captain took the decision to switch off autopilot and steer the aircraft himself.

According to the flight recorder data, six kilometers from the runway at an altitude of 270 meters, one of the pilots pressed the TOGA (“Take-off/Go around”) button, which aborts a landing attempt and sends the aircraft on another circuit.

Autopilot off

Then one of the members of the crew switched off the autopilot and took control of the aircraft. That meant that the pilots had to set the aircraft’s angle of pitch themselves on the basis of the readings on the control panel.

Investigators believe that the crew made a mistake when switching between the landing and ascent modes.

Kommersant points out that the aircraft was in a complex configuration during its descent in the autopilot mode. Its elevator was set to nose-down, while the fin was working in the opposite direction, tipping the nose of the aircraft up.

When an aircraft makes another go-around in autopilot mode, the system simultaneously changes the position of all the tillers. However, the autopilot was switched off and one of the pilots pulled the steering column towards him.

Disagreement in the cockpit

As a result, the Boeing headed upwards. When the aircraft reached a critical angle, the speed began to drop and a disagreement between the pilots erupted. 

Kommersant says that the pilot who was at the controls at the time revved the engines as the aircraft was ascending, while the co-pilot began to tip the nose of the aircraft down. The other pilot began shouting: "Stop. Where? Stop! Stop!" At the same time, he was trying to push the tiller away to stop the ascent.

Experts explain that the conflicting actions at the two tillers resulted in a "break-up" in command and sent the Boeing into a nosedive.

The pilots managed to coordinate their actions only as the aircraft was coming down at a speed of 325 kph at an angle of about 45 degrees.

However, by then it was too late and the last sounds on the recording are the pilots’ shrieks of horror as the aircraft plunges to the ground. 

Identity of speakers unclear

According to Kommersant, investigators have not yet been able to establish which of the pilots made the fateful mistake: The intonation and timbre of their voices on the recording blend together.

Law-enforcement agencies are planning to seek the help of the pilots' families in order to help them identify the speakers.