Aviation Daily Roundup: March 24, 2022

March 25, 2022

Singapore To Scrap Vaccinated Travel Lanes, Fully Reopen Border

Credit: Changi Airport Group



Singapore is ending its vaccinated travel lane (VTL) program and plans to reopen its borders to all vaccinated travelers starting April 1. The move is part of the country’s streamlining of COVID-19 related measures and reclassification of risks. Under the new Vaccinated Travel Framework, all vaccinated travelers are allowed to enter Singapore except those from countries or regions on the Singapore Ministry of Health’s restricted category list, where coronavirus variants of concern are detected.




Credit: Noel Celis / AFP / Getty Images

Alaska Airlines Accelerates Shift To All-Boeing Fleet By End 2023

Credit: Alaska Airlines



Alaska Air Group plans to accelerate its transition to an all-Boeing 737 mainline fleet by year-end 2023, ahead of previous plans for 2024. The airline also announced plans to remove the last De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400s from its regional fleet by the end of 2023, leaving it with an all-Embraer E175 regional fleet.




Ethiopian Airlines Appoints Mesfin Tasew Bekele As Its New CEO

Credit: Ethiopian Airlines



Ethiopian Airlines has appointed its former COO Mesfin Tasew Bekele to take the helm following the departure of former CEO Tewolde GebreMariam, whose early retirement due to health issues was announced March 23. Mesfin’s appointment as CEO took effect March 23.




Eve-Led Consortium Outlines Conops For UAM In London

Credit: Eve UAM



A UK consortium led by Embraer company Eve UAM has completed a concept of operations for urban air mobility (UAM) in London that identifies the near-term challenges and actions required to enable electric air taxi service. The consortium developed a use case involving four vertiports connecting London Heathrow Airport to the west with London City Airport in the east, with two stops in Central London. The team foresaw three stages of development, or horizons, from initial low-density piloted operations using existing procedures to high-density piloted and autonomous UAM requiring new airspace services.




Former 737 MAX Chief Pilot Did Not Deceive FAA, Jury Finds

Credit: Sean Broderick/AWST



Former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Mark Forkner did not intentionally deceive the FAA about the aircraft’s flight control system, a jury determined March 23, clearing him of criminal charges of four counts of wire fraud brought by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). Defense attorneys used their time during three days of testimony to emphasize Forkner was not involved in or immediately aware of critical changes to the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) software that played a key role in two fatal 737-8 accidents, in 2018 and 2019.




Safran Backs Hydrogen Propulsion Developer Cranfield Aerospace

Credit: Cranfield Aerospace Solutions



The UK’s Cranfield Aerospace Solutions has secured £10.5 million ($13.8 million) in investment from HydrogenOne Capital Growth and Safran to develop hydrogen fuel-cell electric propulsion for aviation. UK-based HydrogenOne, established to channel investment into green hydrogen production, is investing £10 million and Safran Capital Ventures £3.5 million. Safran is also partnering with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) on the development of hydrogen-electric propulsion.




Daily Memo: Recovery Remains Elusive For Cathay Pacific Despite Planned April Uptick

Credit: Cathay Pacific



The partial easing of Hong Kong’s entry restrictions will help Cathay Pacific restore some capacity in April, although the growth rate will stay slow as long as the threat of flight suspensions remains. The Hong Kong government plans to remove its suspension of flights from nine countries starting April 1 and will also shorten the quarantine requirements for all vaccinated Hong Kong residents. But Cathay Pacific is still keeping most of its international frequencies at very low levels due to the risk of triggering flight-specific suspensions.




Aeroflot, Subsidiaries, Moscow Airports Face Management Changes

Credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images



The conflict in Ukraine has triggered a serious management crisis within Russia’s largest airline group Aeroflot. Aeroflot CEO Mikhail Poluboyarinov has stepped down, Russia’s transport minister Vitaly Savelyev confirmed on March 23. “It happens that people cannot work in stress conditions,” the minister explained.




Ukraine’s SkyUp Airlines Turns To ACMI As War Continues

Credit: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images



Ukraine’s SkyUp Airlines is adapting its business model following the Russian invasion of its home country, which put an end to the carrier’s scheduled services. As the war continues, SkyUp is looking to puts its fleet and staff to work outside Ukraine by offering aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) services. SkyUp plans to still pay taxes to Kyiv to support the government during wartime.




EASA Certifies Airbus A320P2F Converted Freighter

Credit: ST Engineering



The Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) Airbus A320 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) aircraft has attained EASA supplemental type certificate, around three months after the aircraft conducted its first flight. EFW, a joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, previously secured EASA certification for the A321P2F in February 2020.




Singapore to scrap Vaccinated Travel Lanes, fully reopen border, MU5735 investigators seek evidence from CVR, accident site and more. Take a look at the daily roundup of air transport news.

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