Weekly Roundup July 11th

 

France announces Eco-tax

Scheduled flights departing from France will be subject to an eco-tax, starting in 2020. The tax will vary on the length and class of the flight. Flights within France or the EU will be taxed €1.50, economy flights out of the EU will be taxed €3. Business Class flights inside the EU will be €9 increasing to €18 for flights outside the EU. The tax is expected to raise around €180 million from 2020 and will affect airlines including Air France, EasyJet and Ryanair.

 

Flyover at the wrong Festival

Swiss festival goers at the Northwest Yodelling Festival received a surprise flyover display from the Swiss squadron. The Patrouille Suisse were supposed to fly over Langenbruck to commemorate the centenary of Swiss flying pioneer Oskar Bider. A military spokesperson said the F-5E Tiger II aircraft were not equipped with GPS technology.

 

British Airways hit with GDPR fine

After a data breach compromised customer information including address and credit card details the UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has issued a £183 million fine to the airline. Hundreds of thousands of customers were affected when hackers diverted users to a fraudulent website. This is the first penalty to be made public since GDPR rules were introduced in 2018 across the EU. The fine represents 1.5% of BA’s 2017 global turnover, the maximum fine being 4% of turnover.

 

Teens fly from Cape Town to Cairo in homemade plane

 A four-seater aircraft built by a group of South African school students in just 3 weeks has completed a flight from Cape Town to Cairo. 6 of the teenagers obtained pilot’s licenses and shared flying duties across the continent. The crew landed in Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania and Uganda during the 12,000km (7,455 mile) trip.

 

Virgin Galactic Goes Public

Merging with capital fund Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH) will make the Virgin company the first publicly traded, human spaceflight company. According to Virgin Galactic more than 6o0 people have paid to reserve spots on future commercial flights — putting down a collective $80 million in deposits. This merger will provide much needed funding to the project, without the need for an initial public offering (IPO).

This week’s why fly private

A woman traveling on an American Airlines flight was briefly removed from the flight as staff deemed her outfit as inappropriate. The woman, traveling from Jamaica was asked to put on a blanket to cover herself and has since raised support from other outraged users on Twitter.