The shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, killing all 298 innocent citizens onboard, never should have happened. Even more awful to contemplate, it could have been worse.

The Korean government has ordered Seoul-based Asiana Airlines to suspend its flights to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for a 45-day period as a penalty for the July 6, 2013 crash of a Boeing 777-200ER at that airport.

Lufthansa pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) has called for its ninth strike action Monday and Tuesday in a series of ongoing protests over transition payments for early retirees.

Switzerland’s civil aviation authority is still not completely happy with Etihad Airways and its plans to take a minority stake in Swiss regional carrier Darwin Airline.

For Star Alliance, the global alliance that started it all, there’s no standing still some 17 years after five founding members signed their game-changing agreement in Frankfurt. Today, Star encompasses 27 airlines serving 192 countries and 1,316 airports via 185,000 daily departures.

FAA is now allowing three parallel “optimized profile descents” into the Washington DC-area’s three major airports, an airspace modification the agency said will save airlines 2.5 million gallons of fuel per year.

Calgary-based WestJet flight attendants did not ratify the tentative agreement reached at the end of October. WestJet flight attendants are represented by the Flight Attendant Association Board (FAAB).

Global international passenger traffic fell 2.3% in September, compared to the year-ago month, according to IATA’s September Premium Traffic Monitor.