Taiwan’s air force apologized to the public as it announced that it would conduct late-night flight training to counter the increasing threat level posed by the Chinese military in Taiwan’s air and sea space. In a press release issued yesterday evening, March 5, Air Force Command said that it would comply with instructions from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to increase nighttime combat skills and tactical execution experience for pilots of various types of aircraft to enhance preparedness and safeguard airspace security. The late-night missions will span over midnight, and the air force apologized for any impact it may have on the general public. Air Force Command asked for public understanding, saying the missions are necessary for rigorous training to prepare for potential threats and challenges. The announcement comes after an increase in harassments by the Chinese Communist Party via gray zone warfare tactics employed by the Chinese military, and more recently by the Chinese Coast Guard. For decades, military aircraft abided by a tacit understanding that there was a median line in the Taiwan Strait which neither side’s military crossed over. In March 2019, two People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighter jets crossed the mid-strait and flew 43 nautical miles into the Taiwan side, forcing intercepts by Taiwan’s Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF). This was the beginning of an increasing number of incursions, and a declaration by CCP officials that there is no center-line in the Taiwan Strait. Incursions and encirclements by China’s military aircraft have become a daily occurrence, constituting a “new normal” since 2020. Yesterday, March 5, Taiwan’s MND announced that in the 24 hours to 6:00 am, a total of 12 PLAAF aircraft and 6 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships were tracked in Taiwan’s air and sea identification zones, including two aircraft and one balloon that crossed the median line. Also yesterday, March 5, China’s finance ministry announced a 7.2% increase in its military budget while calling for “reunification” with Taiwan. Previous announcements had always used the term “peaceful reunification,” but the word “peaceful” appears to have dropped out of the CCPs political parlance. Among military officials who spoke to the Taiwan Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee this morning, Minister of the Veterans Affairs Council, Feng Shih-kuan, a retired air force general, spoke to public concerns raised by the media about the impact of late night flights taking off and landing at airbases around the island. Feng said that when he was a commander at Tainan Air Base, members of the public had complained about aircraft taking off and landing after 9:00 pm, but the situation has changed now. Shih said that when people hear planes taking off late at night now, they understand that the planes are on an intercept mission, and their thoughts are with the pilots, hoping for a safe return.

A SpaceX capsule flying four people to the International Space Station took off safely from Florida's Cape Canaveral. Alper Gezeravci becomes the first Turkish national to make it into outer space. A private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully launched on Thursday with Turkey's first astronaut on board, US space agency NASA said. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule lifted off on top of a Falcon 9 rocket at 4.49 p.m. local time (21:49 GMT/UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida. NASA said that docking at the ISS was expected early on Saturday morning with the crew expected to stay at the ISS for two weeks. Who is on board? Spanish-born former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria is mission commander and is joined by Italy's Walter Villadei, Sweden's Marcus Wandt and Turkey's Alper Gezeravci — who becomes the first Turkish national to travel into space. Gezeravci served as a fighter pilot in the Turkish Air Force and has 15 years experience on multiple aircraft, according to Axiom Space. He spoke along with the other crew members from on board the vessel in a video shared online by SpaceX. "It was a great feeling, starting from the end of the countdown, all the way to here. A great ride," Gezeravci said, adding that he had dreamed "for so long" of being able to fly without a "ceiling."  Gezeravci will be serving as a mission specialist. People gathered around screens in Turkey where live video of the launch was shown on big screens. Third private mission by Axiom Space The mission has been arranged by private space-flight company Axiom Space and is being conducted in cooperation with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX company. It is the third such flight by Houston-based Axiom over the past two years and they describe the mission as "the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station." A seat on board the space craft costs at least $55 million (€50.5 million). SpaceX said that more than 30 scientific experiments "focused on human physiology and technological industrial advancements" would be conducted during the 14-day mission.

Biman Managing Director and CEO Shafiul Azim today said Biman Bangladesh Airlines will start operating Dhaka-Rome flights from March next year. He revealed this information at the ATJFB dialogue, organised by the Aviation and Tourism Journalist Forum of Bangladesh, at the Biman Training Centre in the capital. On this occasion, Biman director (marketing) Mohammad Salahuddin said, "We discontinued the Dhaka-Rome flight after 2009. Now it will be resumed, for which GSA has been appointed, and ground-handling has been finalised." "We can operate flights to Rome, Italy direct or via another country. We are studying it. It will take 9-10 hours for the direct flight to reach Rome," he added. For possible transition points, he mentioned Kuwait or Dubai. However, nothing is finalised, he said. ATJFB President and Special Correspondent of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Md Tanzim Anwar, moderated the dialogue. ATJFB General Secretary and Bangla Vision Special Correspondent Ziaul Haque Sabuj delivered the welcome speech. Senior officials of Biman and ATJFB members were present in the dialogue.

On September 14, Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumes the flight between Dhaka and Guangzhou. Following the resumption, there are now 6 round-trip flights on this route weekly, with a capacity of 900 passengers. The flight had been suspended before due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2023, the cross-border travel has increased sharply between China and Bangladesh. The China Embassy in Bangladesh had been working actively to create favorable conditions and improve efficiency for Visa application and issued over 30,000 visas in the past 6 months. The resumption will increase the total number of weekly flights between China and Bangladesh to 50, including 30 flights to and from Guangzhou, 14 flights to and from Kunming, and 6 flights to and from Hong Kong. And weekly passenger capacity will exceed 10,000, which will further facilitate the people-to-people exchange between China and Bangladesh and enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, culture, education, and more.

Virgin Galactic hopes the inaugural commercial flight could see them operate such flights on a monthly basis, after almost 20 years getting the project off the ground. The crew reached a height of roughly 85 kilometers. Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered plane, VSS Unity, succesfully took three customers and three crew to the edge of space on Thursday, almost 20 years after British billionaire Richard Branson founded the venture in 2004.  The vessel takes off strapped to a support plane, called Eve, then separates in mid-air and fires its rocket to climb almost vertically towards the edge of space.  On Thursday, the plane peaked at an altitude of 279,000 feet (roughly 85 kilometers or 53 miles). That's just a short distance clear of what US authorities consider to be the start of space for the purposes of aircraft (50 miles), although it's quite a way shy of another commonly used benchmark, the Karman line (at about 62 miles). At the apex of the flight, with the rocket shut down, the crew then experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before the Unity shifted into re-entry mode and began its gliding descent back to Earth. The entire flight lasted some 75 minutes. Unity touched down safely at Spaceport America in New Mexico, part of which Virgin Galactic leases. First non-test flight with third party passengers Two Italian air force officers and an aerospace engineer joined as the customers on the flight, along with three Virgin Galactic crew members, two of them piloting the vehicle. Italy's Air Force and National Research Council had paid for a spot on the plane, partly to provide Colonel Walter Villadei with part of his training prior to departure for a stint aboard the International Space Station. Villadei could be seen on the company's livestream of the flight unveiling an Italian flag as the passengers experienced weightlessness. The crew were nevertheless billed as a scientific one rather than a fully commercial one, given the guests' professional connection to space flight and their plans to conduct various experiments on board.  But it was still Virgin Galactic's first flight that also carried third-party passengers, an important milestone for the delayed project.  Billionaire Branson has a waiting list of some 800 customers who have paid between $250,000 (roughly €235,000) and $450,000 for such a trip.  Branson himself made such a flight in July 2021 and had been planning to launch regular commercial flights by the start of 2022. But various setbacks, including the project being temporarily grounded for deviating from its flight plan in Branson's flight, delayed the process.  The company now hopes to carry out one more test flight next month, and to then commence monthly commercial launches. It says it is working on a new aircraft that would be able to make the trip on a weekly basis.  Bezos, Musk and Branson trying to bring fellow billionaires the stars Amazon's Jeff Bezos and SpaceX's Elon Musk are both also trying to monetize providing a nascent taste of 21st century spaceflight to the super rich. Bezos has criticized Virgin Galactic for falling short of the mark, arguing that his vehicle, Blue Origin, does hit the 62-mile Karman line marker that's internationally seen as the start of space. Blue Origin has also already flown several passenger flights, including publicity stunts like taking actor William Shatner, or Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series, into orbit. Elon Musk, meanwhile, plans to usher the world's first ever "space tourist" back into orbit soon.  US engineer-turned-investment banker Dennis Tito paid a reported $20 million back in 2001 for a seat on a Russian Soyuz capsule with two cosmonauts. Last October, Tito said he had signed up to be one of the first passengers on board Musk's "Starship" vessel — which is yet to go into space and is still under development — which intends to take people around the moon. Such tickets are likely to make the cost of entry for Blue Origin and Virgin Galctic look comparatively cheap, though Musk has not floated any possible price range. Thursday's successful flight comes a week after the risks and rewards of so-called "adventure tourism" were thrown into sharp relief by the fatal implosion of the Titan submersible, which was taking wealthy customers to the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean to look at the wreck of the Titanic. 

China's first domestically-made passenger plane flew from Shanghai to Beijing with 130 passengers aboard, as the country seeks a slice of the global plane-building market. China's first domestically produced passenger jet made its maiden commercial flight on Sunday when a China Eastern Airlines C919 flew from Shanghai to Beijing. The journey marks a milestone in the nation's decadeslong effort to compete with Western rivals in the aviation sector. Red tickets, themed meal for passengers The C919 plane took off from Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai at 10:32 a.m. local time (0232 GMT), bound for Beijing Capital Airport, according to flight tracker app Variflight. State broadcaster CCTV said the jetliner was carrying 130 passengers. The broadcaster said the flight "arrived smoothly" in Beijing just after 12:30 p.m., around 40 minutes ahead of schedule. "I'm confident about the plane. The flight was smoother than expected," one of about 130 passengers told CCTV as he disembarked. Passengers received red boarding passes and a sumptuous "themed meal" to commemorate the flight, the TV channel reported. After a turnaround of 1 hour 40 minutes, the plane was scheduled to fly back to Shanghai. From Monday, the C919 will operate on China Eastern's regular route between Shanghai and the southwestern city of Chengdu, CCTV reported. China's aviation ambitions soar The C919 is built by the state-owned Commercial Aviation Corp of China (COMAC). COMAC began developing the C919 15 years ago to rival the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle jet families. Although the jet is assembled in China, it relies heavily on Western components, including engines and avionics. The C919 made its first flight in 2017 after years of delays and has conducted numerous test flights before Sunday's first commercial flight. COMAC has received around 1,200 orders for the C919, mostly from domestic airlines, according to local media. The jetliner is unlike to win significant orders from abroad until it is certified by US or European aviation regulators. State-backed China Eastern Airlines ordered five C919 jets in March 2021 and took delivery of the first plane in December. COMAC expects to be able to produce 150 C919 planes a year in five years, according to local media. China has previously produced a short-haul 90-seater ARJ21 aircraft, which is flown by Chinese airlines and Indonesia's TransNusa. China, Russia plan bigger passenger jet COMAC is also developing a CR929 widebody jet with two passenger aisles in collaboration with Russia, but the company has not issued any recent updates. Asia and China, in particular, are key markets for both Europe's Airbus and its American rival Boeing due to the growing demand for air travel from the region's vast middle class. Airbus said last month it would double its production capacity in China, signing a deal to build a second final assembly line for the A320 in Tianjin.

Carrying 415 pilgrims the first Hajj flight leaves Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Saudi Arabia at 3.20am on Sunday, May 21. The flight which operate by the Biman Bangladesh Airlines to arrive Jeddah at 7:20am local time. Earlier on Friday, May 19, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Hajj Programme-2023 at the Hajj Office in the capital's Ashkona. This year, a total of 122,221 pilgrims are expected to perform the holy Hajj from Bangladesh.  Due to the covid-19 restrictions, last year the number of pilgrims from Bangladesh was 57,585. Before the pandemic, 127,198 people from Bangladesh performed Hajj in 2019.

Jammu and Kashmir is set to become prime destination for the film industry as the government has identified around 300 unexplored destinations for film shootings. The Union Territory government and Tourism Department have taken this initiative to promote the beauty of Jammu and Kashmir, which was once a prime destination for filmmakers during the 1960s and 1970s. With the revival of film tourism in the state, J-K aims to attract production houses and filmmakers to shoot their movies, web series, and serials in the state. "We are projecting 300 destinations for film shooting so that the production houses can choose any destination for their shooting. The government will facilitate them in all possible ways," said Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Administrative Secretary of the J-K Tourism Department. In the last year, more than 200 films, web series, and serials were shot in J-K, which is a great sign of the revival of film tourism in Kashmir. The government has ensured a proper system in place to facilitate the shooting of films with the permission and regulatory requirements done through a one-stop centre. The government has also developed an online portal to facilitate the production houses for their shooting in J-K. Jammu and Kashmir is set to become prime destination for the film industry as the government has identified around 300 unexplored destinations for film shootings. The Union Territory government and Tourism Department have taken this initiative to promote the beauty of Jammu and Kashmir, which was once a prime destination for filmmakers during the 1960s and 1970s. With the revival of film tourism in the state, J-K aims to attract production houses and filmmakers to shoot their movies, web series, and serials in the state. "We are projecting 300 destinations for film shooting so that the production houses can choose any destination for their shooting. The government will facilitate them in all possible ways," said Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Administrative Secretary of the J-K Tourism Department. In the last year, more than 200 films, web series, and serials were shot in J-K, which is a great sign of the revival of film tourism in Kashmir. The government has ensured a proper system in place to facilitate the shooting of films with the permission and regulatory requirements done through a one-stop centre. The government has also developed an online portal to facilitate the production houses for their shooting in J-K. "Major film stars were recently here in Kashmir for a week and shot across the Valley. I give an open invitation to all of them to shoot their films here," Shah said. "The rising issue of substance abuse is also highlighted in the trailer of the upcoming movie 'Welcome to Kashmir'. Speaking on this, Shah said substance abuse is a social issue that is prevailing at a global level and in J-K as well. "It needs a collaborative approach of the society, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that our society works hard towards the eradication of this menace," Shah added. The movie 'Welcome to Kashmir' aims to promote Kashmiri culture and showcase its beauty and positivity to the world. The director of the movie, Tariq Bhat, wants to take the audience on a journey through Kashmir with his debut movie, where the beauty of the land is surpassed only by the warmth and resilience of its inhabitants. The movie delves into crucial issues that plague Kashmir, such as women's empowerment, women's safety, drug addiction, and the role of the J-K Police. "The movie is a message of hope, positivity, and empowerment for the people of Kashmir. It aims to break stereotypes, presenting a true and positive image of Kashmir, its people, and its culture," Bhat said. With the upcoming G20 summit on tourism to be hosted in Srinagar, Shah said it provides a great opportunity to promote tourism in J-K. "We can promote adventure tourism, film tourism, and relish tourism besides other sectors as well," Shah added. As the UT government takes the initiative to promote film tourism, J-K is poised to attract filmmakers from all over the world to shoot their movies, web series, and serials in the UT With its natural beauty and cultural heritage, J-K is all set to become a prime destination for the film industry. 

As 'Operation Kaveri' continues, 360 Indians left Jeddah Airport on a flight bound for New Delhi and will soon be reunited with their families, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said on Wednesday. As the fighting between the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups intensified in the capital Khartoum, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed on Monday that its 'Operation Kaveri' to evacuate its citizens from battle-torn Sudan is underway. Operation Kaveri is a rescue operation launched by the central government to evacuate stranded Indian citizens from Sudan. "Happy to see off 360 Indians at Jeddah Airport in a flight bound for New Delhi They will be reaching the motherland soon, reuniting with their families Under #OperationKaveri the Government is working relentlessly to evacuate Indian nationals from Sudan & bring them home safely," MoS Muraleedharan tweeted. India has deployed its military planes and warships to rescue Indians from there. Sudan is experiencing bloodshed as a result of clashes between the army and paramilitary forces. Even though there is a 72-hour ceasefire, there have been allegations of violence. Fighting has erupted between soldiers loyal to Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The evacuation operation started in Port Sudan. Till now, an estimated 300-500 Indian citizens have been evacuated by ship and other evacuation processes are going on. The government sources also stated that the INS Teg is stationed at Port Sudan to bring back Indians from there to Jeddah. Earlier, the INS Sumedha has already disembarked 278 Indians from there to Jeddah. INS Tarkash is in the vicinity to take part in the operations there, according to Government sources. Now, private carriers in India are also showing their willingness to operate charter flights from India to Jeddah for evacuation. India's low-cost carrier Indigo has offered its services to the government regarding evacuation under Operation Kaveri. Previously, France Embassy in India informed that their country has evacuated some Indians along with citizens of 27 other countries as part of its evacuation mission from violence-hit Sudan. Earlier, on Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it has evacuated 66 citizens of "brotherly and friendly" foreign countries that included a few Indian nationals from the conflict-hit nation. The evacuation came days after Jaishankar spoke to his Saudi Arabia counterpart. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Sudan. 

As a major milestone in the phase of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas programme, its first ever trainer, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), successfully completed its maiden flight on Wednesday. HAL spokesperson said the first-ever series production standard LCA trainer (LT 5201) took to the skies for its maiden flight on Wednesday from their airport and landed after completing a successful sortie of around 35 minutes. Group Captain Venu and Wing Commander Awasthi flew the trainer aircraft. The Indian Air Force has ordered about 10 twin-seater LCA trainers as part of a LCA Tejas programme for commissioning of a total of 83 Tejas Mk-1As, an upgraded version of Tejas Mark 1, from next year. It was part of a deal that IAF had signed in February 2021 to get LCA Tejas Mk 1As. Of them, 73 will be single-seater aircraft and the remaining 10 will be final operational clearance (FOC) trainers. Ministry of Defence officials consider it as yet another step towards realisation of Atmanirbharta in aerospace sector. Source: www.thehindubusinessline.com