Airbus A310-308 carrying 271 people bound from Varadero, Cuba, to Quebec City, Canada, detaches in flight. The aircraft returns to Varadero and makes an emergency landing at Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport without injury to anyone on board. 11 March Jetsgo ceases all operations and declares bankruptcy protection. China's first private airline, Okay Airlines, makes its maiden revenue flight. 14 March – TAP Portugal joins the Star Alliance. 16 March – Regional Airlines Flight 9288, an Antonov An-24RV (NATO reporting name "Coke") carrying oil workers on a non-scheduled passenger flight, crashes five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the runway while on approach to Varandey Airport in Nenetskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia, after the crew allows the aircraft's speed to drop and nose to rise until it stalls. The plane strikes a hill, crashes, and burns, killing 28 of the 52 people aboard (26 of the 45 passengers and two of the seven crew members). Malfunctioning airspeed and angle-of-attack indicators may have contributed to the crash. 17 March – A judge finds millionaire Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik and sawmill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of conspiracy and murder in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people. 23 March – Baku Cargo Terminal was opened and started to operate. 28 March – Chicago Express Airlines, also known as ATA Connection, ceased operations. April 2 April – A Royal Australian Navy Westland WS-61 Sea King helicopter engaged in humanitarian assistance after an earthquake on Sumatra crashes on a sports field on the island of Nias in Indonesia. The crash kills nine – six RAN members and three members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) – of the 11 personnel aboard; one RAN member and one RAAF member aboard the helicopter are injured but survive. 12 April – A GT Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 100 aircraft crashes in Indonesia, all 18 on board die. 14 April – Flying a Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil at Istres, France, French pilot Didier Delsalle, a Eurocopter test pilot, sets three time-to-climb records for helicopters in the take-off-weight class of , climbing to in 2 minutes 21 seconds, to in 5 minutes 6 seconds, and to in 9 minutes 26 seconds, 19 April – The middle section of the Obelisk of Axum is repatriated from Italy to Ethiopia by air from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport to Axum Airport in an Antonov An-124 Ruslan, the largest