Aviation Daily Roundup: October 3, 2023

RTX companies Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney have confirmed their combined roles in the propulsion system for Boeing’s X-66A Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) flight demonstrator, which is in development as part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project.

Improperly installed CF6-80C2 bearings have been linked to two incidents, including a January 2023 uncommanded engine failure on a new Boeing 767-300 freighter, prompting the FAA to mandate inspections for affected engines flagged by GE Aerospace.

United Airlines’ latest order for 110 aircraft—50 Boeing 787-9s and 60 Airbus A321neos—fills out the carrier’s order book for the latter part of the decade and furthers its goal of aircraft upgauging in what it deems as a mature domestic market facing persistent multi-year constraints.

The CEOs of large aircraft leasing companies are bullish about their sector’s outlook, despite much higher interest rates and continuing supply chain disruptions.
 

Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine woes have raised some big questions about how airlines will cope with related groundings and whether that will lead to more aircraft coming out of storage.

A consortium including Air France-KLM has been chosen to take a 19.9% stake in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) by the SAS board of directors as part of its ongoing chapter 11 and restructuring process, in a move that the Franco-Dutch airline group says will help it enhance its position in the Nordics.<\/p>

When China releases a policy for the production and use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the country will make it a “very rational” mix of mandates and incentives, the chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways believes.
 

The parent company of All Nippon Airways (ANA) is suspending its cargo partnerships with Lufthansa and United Airlines to help facilitate its acquisition of Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA).
 

Air Austral sees strong demand continuing in the coming months and will look at plans for fleet and network growth once its restructuring is completed in 2025, according to Joseph Brema, chairman of the airline’s management board.