Up My Alley

The wreckage of Itavia flight IH870 on display in the Museum for the Memory of Ustica in Bologna, Italy. (Photo: I, Ghedolo / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)) Almost exactly 40 years ago, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, civil aviation experienced what would become one of the most mysterious accidents of its history. On June 27, 1980, Itavia flight IH 870, operated by the private Italian carrier, departing from Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Bologna, Italy, bound for Punta Raisi Airport in Palermo, Sicily, broke up in mid-air at approximately 25,000 feet as it was about to start its descent towards its destination. The aircraft, I-TIGI, a Douglas DC-9 carrying 77 passengers and four members of the crew, eventually crashed into the sea and sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean just off the coast of the tiny island of Ustica. There were no survivors. Read more on Airlinegeeks .

Novak Djokovic - ATP Finals 2019 (foto Roberto Zanettin) “Novak ha tutta la notte per scegliere la tonalità di moquette” aveva postato lunedì su Twitter uno dei fotografi che seguono il tennis in giro per il mondo, richiamando la battuta sarcastica di Maria Sharapova nel suo giorno più nero, quello nel quale in un anonimo hotel di Los Angeles con una moquette “orribile” aveva annunciato al mondo la sua positività al meldonium. Anche Djokovic ha trascorso quello che probabilmente ricorderà come la giornata peggiore della sua carriera sportiva, nel quale ha dovuto ammettere al mondo di aver contratto il SARS-CoV-2 e di aver sbagliato a voler spingere il suo Adria Tour come se fosse il primo evento post-COVID. Niente faccia a faccia con i media, però, sicuramente giustificato dalle sue condizioni di salute: un comunicato stampa che aveva il sapore artificiale della maionese senza grassi è stato il suo unico contatto con il mondo esterno, ammettendo di essere molto dispiaciuto per quanto a...

A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson) A horrifying sight welcomed ground staff that met Ukraine International Airlines flight PS241 at Toronto International Airport on June 13. The flight was coming from Boryspil Airport in Kyiv, Ukraine, and was carrying over 500 live puppies in its cargo hold. On arrival in Canada, 38 of those puppies were found dead, while many others were suffering dehydration and were seriously ill, reports Canadian news outlet CBC. Read more on Airlinegeeks .

Sascha Zvever (left), Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem (right) A Serbian basketball player that met Novak Djokovic last week in Belgrade tested positive for COVID-19. Thiem, Zverev and Dimitrov could have been exposed to the virus as well. The next Adria Tour event in Zadar is going ahead as planned. The first weekend of the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition mini-events organized by Novak Djokovic and his team in several countries of former Yugoslavia, ended with reports from the Serbian media that could cast a shadow over the rest of the competition. Read more on Ubitennis.net .

An Air Canada Boeing 737 MAX taxies to its gate. (Photo: James Dinsdale | AirlineGeeks) Running a commercial airline is a tough job during the best of times, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become even more difficult, especially when operating in an environment that restricts both domestic and international traffic. In a webinar hosted by Aviation Week, Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu has explained some of the unique challenges that his carrier has been facing during the past three months, Air Canada having been the only Canadian airlines to continue operations, even if reduced by 95%, during the peak of the pandemic. On top of the prohibition for all non-essential international travel from Canada and the complete closure of the southern border with the U.S., Air Canada had to survive in an environment that has seen some of the Canadian provinces impose constraints and even quarantines to domestic passengers coming from other provinces, therefore stifling, even more, an already...

Alitalia’s first flight to Washington Dulles in 2019 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Ben Suskind) The new life of Alitalia as an again-state-owned carrier has not even started yet, and there is already a bump in the road ahead for the Italian flag carrier. The European Union Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager appears to be inclined to reject the plan proposed by the Italian government to regain control and ownership of Alitalia through a capital injection of over 3 billion euros ($3.39 billion), Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported last week. Read more on Airlinegeeks .

The Stadium Court at Cincinnati (photo Twitter @cincytennis) The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is continuing to work tirelessly to put in place a health protocol that would allow the US Open to start on 24 August as planned. But another alleged initiative by the USTA, reported by the New York Times reporter Christopher Clarey , is planning another shake-up of the traditional North American tennis summer line-up: some sources internal to the US Tennis Federation have confirmed the existence of a plan to relocate the Western&Southern Open from the Lindner Family Tennis Center of Mason, Ohio to the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City. Read more on Ubitennis.net .

A Wizz Air A321neo taxing at Milan Malpensa Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Fabian Behr) Right in the middle of the pandemic, when his airline’s flying activity had been reduced to a few flights per week, some of which were pure cargo, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi was very bullish about the future of his company. “This crisis will present us with opportunities,” Varadi said a month ago during a webinar hosted by Aviation Week. And while most carriers are evaluating how to restart operations to adapt their route offerings to new levels of demand, last week Wizz Air announced the launch of two new bases in Europe at Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy and in Larnaca International Airport in Larnaca, Cyprus. The two airports will play host to the 27th and the 28th bases for the Hungarian low-cost carrier. Read more on Airlinegeeks .

A roughly 9,000 m2 market square under construction at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2016 (Photo: Flughafen Berlin Brandenurg) The shareholders’ meeting for Berlin Brandenburg and Federal Airports (FBB) decided last Wednesday that Berlin-Tegel Airport will close down for a two-month period starting of June 15. As the set date for reopening approaches, the shareholders will make the decision whether to reopen the airport or whether to keep it closed. Due to the collapse in air traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been decided that all traffic for the German capital will be handled by Berlin Schoenefeld, the former East Berlin airport, before the much-delayed new Berlin Brandenburg airport opens to the public on Oct. 31. Read more on Airlinegeeks .

US Open 2019 (foto via Twitter, @usopen) A questo punto dell’emergenza, si tratta sicuramente della domanda che tutti si pongono con maggiore insistenza: si giocherà lo US Open? Se sì, si disputerà nella data prevista oppure sarà posticipato? E si rimarrà a New York, in questo momento travolta dall’epidemia di COVID-19, oppure si traslocherà? Sarà a porte chiuse? L'articolo completo è su Ubitennis .