Greece air traffic control strained by tourism boom
Greece's air traffic controllers are under pressure from a summer tourism boom that has pushed flight volumes well above low-season levels and exposed weakness…
Infrastructure & Transport — August 2026
Arctic shipping faces limits despite Suez disruption
Arctic shipping routes are drawing interest as disruption around the Suez Canal lengthens Asia-Europe voyages, but industry experts say the Northern Sea Route…
Norway flights face delays in air controllers strike
Flights in Norway were expected to be disrupted Friday and through the weekend after talks over air traffic controllers' working conditions ended without agree…
Panama Canal to cut ship crossings to 32 a day
The Panama Canal will cut the number of vessels allowed through the waterway from 36 a day to 34 from September 3 and then to 32 from September 15 because of l…
Rhine low water drives up European shipping costs
Rhine low water has disrupted European inland shipping this summer, forcing barges to carry lighter loads, pushing cargo toward rail and road and raising trans…
South Korea to send first Arctic container ship
South Korea was set to send its first container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, with the PanStar Acro due to leave Busan New Port for Europe unless weather or other problems delayed the trial voyage. An oceans ministry official said the ship would depart…
Caracas airport tests quake-damaged terminal plan
Venezuela carried out a readiness drill on Wednesday at provisional terminals at Simon Bolivar International Airport, which serves Caracas, after June earthqua…
Iberia extends Havana flight suspension to June 2027
Iberia has extended the temporary suspension of its route to and from Havana until 30 June 2027, the Spanish airline said on its website. The airline had anno…
Malaysia Airlines cabin crew to face drug tests
Malaysia Aviation Group said Monday it will extend mandatory drug screening to about 2,840 Malaysia Airlines cabin crew after all Malaysia Airlines pilots tested negative following a pilot's arrest in Indonesia. The move follows the arrest last month of a 39-…
Virgin gets 2030 track access for Eurostar rival
Virgin has been granted track access from 2030 to the high-speed rail line linking London to the Channel Tunnel, moving it closer to launching a rival service to Eurostar, Britain's Office of Rail and Road said on August 17. The regulator said the agreement c…
easyJet cancels about 100 France flights in crew strike
easyJet called off about 100 flights from French airports on Saturday and Sunday because of a cabin crew strike over repeated schedule changes. Unions said about half of the British budget airline's 900 French-based cabin crew would join the action, affecting…
Bandar Abbas airport resumes flights, IRNA says
Bandar Abbas International Airport resumed scheduled flights on Saturday after repeated interruptions during hostilities with the United States, Iran's IRNA state news agency reported. Kazem Tavassoli, director general of airports in Hormozgan province, said…
Catania airport reopens after Mount Etna eruption
Catania airport in Sicily reopened on Saturday after suspending flights for a week because a Mount Etna eruption sent ash into the sky. The airport said flights resumed at 2:00pm local time, 1200 GMT, after the volcanic activity alert was downgraded from red…
England train derailments investigated after 20 hurt
Two passenger train derailments in England in less than 24 hours are being investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, after 20 people were injured in the first incident and no passengers were injured in the second, officials said. A passenger tra…
Belgium road tax to start in May 2027
Belgium will introduce a road tax on May 1, 2027, and foreign drivers crossing the country will also have to pay, the country's three regions announced Friday. Drivers will need to register their vehicle and pay for a pass. Day passes will be available for dr…
2030 Paralympics venue plan approved for French Alps
The International Paralympic Committee has approved the venue masterplan for the 2030 Paralympic Winter Games in the French Alps. The IPC said its governing b…
Michelangelo lions restored at French embassy in Rome
Hundreds of lion gargoyles designed by Michelangelo have been restored at Palazzo Farnese in Rome, the Renaissance palace that houses the French embassy, resto…
India footpaths leave pedestrians on deadly roads
India's blocked and poorly maintained footpaths are forcing pedestrians onto busy roads despite a Supreme Court ruling that said citizens have a “fundamental r…
Strait of Hormuz traffic falls, Kpler data show
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen since Wednesday, with six commodity tankers crossing by 1430 GMT on Thursday, according to Kpler data cited by analysts. Kpler data showed 21 such vessels transited the waterway on Wednesday. The only lower dail…
Bamako water returns after power-line sabotage, utility says
Water supply returned in Bamako on July 8 after a power disruption that Mali's drinking water utility said was caused by sabotage on a high-voltage line supplying the capital. Much of Bamako had been without power for several days, and tap water had been unav…
Strait of Hormuz transit should halt, IMO chief says
International Maritime Organization chief Arsenio Dominguez urged ships to avoid transiting the Strait of Hormuz while crew safety cannot be assured, saying nearly 6,000 seafarers remain stranded in the Gulf amid fresh US-Iran attacks. Dominguez, secretary ge…
Strait of Hormuz traffic at third of pre-war level
Daily crossings through the Strait of Hormuz were around a third of pre-war levels in early July, with ships using alternative Iranian and Omani routes as mines and attacks continued to disrupt the waterway between Iran and Oman. Maritime tracking firm Kpler…
Chinese ship starts Arctic route to Europe
A Chinese container ship has left Ningbo for Europe through the Arctic's Northern Sea Route, starting a new weekly service on a route that can cut China-Europe shipment times to about half the Suez Canal route. The Dubai Tower departed the eastern Chinese por…
Air India orders drug tests for all pilots
Air India will require all group pilots to undergo drug screening from Thursday after a captain involved in a serious mid-air incident reportedly tested positive for marijuana, according to an internal memo seen by AFP. “We have decided to undertake a full sc…
Treuchtlingen station object not explosive, police say
Police in Bavaria said a suspicious object found on tracks at Treuchtlingen train station on Thursday did not contain explosives, but they believed it had been deliberately placed to disrupt rail traffic. Middle Franconia police said a bomb squad examined the…
China C919 makes first international commercial flight
China's C919 passenger jet completed its first international commercial flight on August 12, flying from Beijing to Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar on an Air China service. The narrow-body aircraft, produced by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation o…
Hanover Airport runways close for 90 minutes over drone
Hanover Airport runways were closed for 90 minutes early Tuesday, August 11, after a drone overflight, airport officials and police said. An airport spokeswoman said normal operations later resumed at the airport north of Hanover. Six flights, including depar…
Finland-Sweden passenger trains resume after decades
Passenger trains between Finland and Sweden resumed Monday, opening a land rail route from northern Finland toward southern Europe for the first time since the 1990s. The new service runs twice a day from Oulu, on Finland's northwest coast, to Haparanda in Sw…
German transport minister hit by train breakdown
Germany's new transport minister, Steffen Bilger, had to change train carriages on Monday after air conditioning failed during a trip from Berlin to Hamburg, a transport ministry spokesman said. The carriage was closed and passengers had to find seats elsewhe…
Paris e-scooter riders must wear helmets
Electric scooter riders in Paris and its inner suburbs must now wear helmets and reflective gear under new rules introduced after a rise in injuries involving motorised mobility devices, police said on Saturday. The rules took effect on Friday and apply at al…
Malaysia Airlines to test pilots after drug arrest
Malaysia Airlines' parent company will introduce mandatory drug screening for all active pilots after one of its pilots was arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of attempting to smuggle more than 70,000 ecstasy tablets. Malaysia Aviation Group said on Friday th…
Marine One loss of separation investigated in Washington
US authorities are investigating a reported loss of separation between Marine One, carrying Donald Trump, and a commercial aircraft departing Washington National Airport on August 4. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the repor…
Panama Canal reservoir plan draws about 300 protesters
Around 300 people protested in Panama City on Monday against plans for a new Panama Canal reservoir on the Indio River that would require the resettlement of several communities. The Panama Canal Authority plans the reservoir west of the canal route to help g…
Boeing 737 MAX 7 wins long-delayed FAA approval
US regulators have certified the Boeing 737 MAX 7, the smallest version of Boeing's single-aisle MAX aircraft, more than eight years after its first flight. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that the approval followed “almost a decade of extensi…