Aviation Daily Roundup: March 14, 2022

March 15, 2022

Arajet Eyes ULCC Market From Dominican Republic Base

Credit: Boeing



Santo Domingo-based Arajet, billing itself as the Caribbean’s first ULCC, plans to launch services in May and will grow its fleet to as many as 40 aircraft, bolstered by an order for 20 737 MAXs revealed March 14. Backed by investment firm Bain Capital and lessor Griffin Global Asset Management, Arajet will start with services from its Las Américas International Airport (SDQ) base with flights to Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, an announcement by the Dominican Republic’s Junta de Aviation Civil (JAC) regulator said.




Russian Airlines Moving Fleets To Domestic Registry

Credit: Boeing



Russian airlines, bolstered by a new law that permits them to re-register foreign aircraft as their own property, are moving their foreign-made aircraft from foreign jurisdictions to the Russian registry to continue their operations amid Western sanctions. Utair airline announced March 14 it had moved 50 aircraft from the Bermuda to Russian registry, which would be enough to maintain regular and charter passenger service.




GOL To Accelerate 737 MAX Fleet Transition

Credit: Boeing



Brazilian airline GOL, which is working to quickly transition its fleet to the Boeing 737 MAX, believes the next generation narrowbody will represent roughly 30% of its fleet at year-end. GOL ended 2021 with a total fleet of 135 aircraft—23 737-700s, 89 737-800s and 23 737-8 narrowbodies. Its Boeing MAX order book stood at 102 firm orders, 80 for the 7378 and 22 for the 737-10.




Daily Memo: GE Aviation Will Get Lean, For Real

Credit: GE Aviation



Whatever GE Aviation has been doing in recent years, it was not lean, or at least not really lean. That was the admission from General Electric (GE) leaders March 10 as they hosted an investor briefing conference. The implication, of course, was that while other business achievements occurred under former GE Aviation boss David Joyce, the division was just going through the motions of pursuing so-called lean manufacturing process improvements.




European Air Traffic Remains Steady Despite War In Ukraine

Credit: Ryanair



Traffic in the European region reached 73.6% of 2019 levels in the week to March 13, European network manager Eurocontrol said, despite the disruption and uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which is having a significant impact on aviation. Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan tweeted March 14: “Despite the terrible crisis in Ukraine, week 10 traffic was over 20,000 flights/day, 73.6% of 2019; this was depressed by snow in Turkey.”




DOT Seeks Carriers To Take Over SkyWest EAS Routes

Credit: Joe Pries



The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has moved to block SkyWest from ending flights to 29 small communities until a replacement airline is found. The Utah-based regional carrier gave notice to the department on March 10 that it plans to terminate service to the destinations by June 10, blaming “pilot staffing challenges across the airline industry” for the planned cuts.




Etihad Saving Fuel On 787s With New Flight Optimization Tool

Credit: Boeing



Etihad Airways has implemented a tool for pilots that is generating 1.4% fuel savings. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier says it is saving 1.4% fuel burn on its Boeing 787 fleet through a digital tool that analyzes aircraft-specific performance metrics to optimize flights. Etihad says it trialed Boeing’s Jeppesen FliteDeck Advisor (FDA) on more than 2,000 flights over six months




Berlin Brandenburg Second Terminal To Start Operations

Credit: Annika Bauer / Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH



Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) plans to bring its idled Terminal 2 (T2) into operation March 24 to serve the industry’s summer flight schedule. T2 was completed in September 2020. However, it has not been used until now because of low passenger numbers during the pandemic. Ireland-based ULCC Ryanair will be the terminal’s main user.




South African Regulator Suspends Comair, Cites ‘Spate Of Occurrences’

Credit: Boeing



South African airline Comair has canceled all flights for a fourth consecutive day after its air operator’s certificate (AOC) was suspended indefinitely by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on March 13. Comair also operates locally as British Airways under a franchise agreement and under the Kulula.com LCC brand.




FlyZero Unveils Final Hydrogen-Powered Airliner Concepts

Credit: Aerospace Technology Institute



The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) has unveiled three zero-carbon airliner concepts developed under the UK government’s FlyZero project, which aims to support the accelerated introduction of hydrogen-powered aircraft. The three concepts cover the regional, narrowbody and mid-size market sectors.




Arajet eyes ULCC market from Dominican Republic base, Russian Airlines moving fleets to domestic registry and more. Take a look at the daily roundup of air transport news.

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