Air Transport World

Airbus is reverting to tried and tested nickel cadmium batteries for its A350 XWB family, following Boeing’s problems with lithium ion technology on the 787.

African budget carrier FastJet has raised £4 million ($6.2 million) in fresh working capital.

Spirit Airlines will launch daily Las Vegas service from Baltimore and Philadelphia April 25, daily Houston-Los Angeles service April 25 and seasonal daily Minneapolis-Denver service April 25-Nov. 6. Ethiopian Airlines will launch 3X-weekly Addis Ababa-Ndola, Zambia service March 31. Air China will launch 3X-weekly Chengdu-Frankfurt Airbus A330-200 service May 19.

UK budget carrier easyJet is to trial CTT System’s Zonal Drying on four of its Airbus A320s.

Rolls-Royce Holdings reported an underlying post-tax profit of £1.1 billion ($1.7 billion) for 2012.

Airworthiness certificates for three Sukhoi Superjet 100s (SSJ100s) operated by Aeroflot have been renewed.

German airports Hamburg and Cologne are facing more flight disruptions and cancellations Friday.

Farelogix has pulled together several of its key products to create the Airline Commerce Gateway.

ICAO has adopted a new noise standard with more stringent requirements for future commercial aircraft.

Spanish flag carrier Iberia has canceled 39% of its scheduled flights over the period Feb. 18-22, as it braces for the first wave of staff walkouts in protest against its restructuring.

Arabian low-cost carrier (LCC) Flydubai is in talks with Airbus and Boeing over a major order for single-aisle aircraft.

American Airlines and US Airways aim to complete their merger in the 2013 third quarter and see no regulatory hurdles to finalizing the deal.

Ukraine’s aviation authorities have grounded the operations of local charter carrier South Airlines after a crash Wednesday involving an AN-24 at Donetsk airport left at least five dead.

The boards of directors of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways have “unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine to create a premier global carrier” with an equity value of $11 billion, the two airlines announced Thursday morning.

Agreement has been reached for a merger of American Airlines parent AMR Corp and US Airways and the airlines will make an announcement, news wire services are reporting.

Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES) completed the replacement of the aft pressure bulkhead on one ABX Air Boeing 767-200 freighter. MTU Maintenance won a $400 million contract from GOL Linhas Aéreas for engine overhaul and on-wing support services covering its CFM International CFM56-7B engines for five years.

ICAO Air Navigation Bureau (ANB) Director Nancy Graham has suggested that aviation industry stakeholders should insist on a new partnership status in ICAO rather than the observer status they currently have.

German airports Hamburg and Dusseldorf are facing more flight disruptions and cancellations Thursday as security staff announce a strike over pay.

Russia’s aviation authorities have announced they will permit 200 foreign captains and instructors to work for local airlines over the next five years.

ICAO has called on the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) to consider creating a safety evaluation audit program similar to the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program and a similar initiative by the Airports Council International (ACI).

IATA has warned that it cannot recommend sustaining the current level of investment in the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program if it does not start generating some of the anticipated benefits.

Aeroméxico announced 20.19% of its business has been acquired by a group of Mexican investors.

Icelandair has placed a firm order for 16 Boeing 737 MAXs valued at more than $1.6 billion at list prices.

Arabian Gulf carrier Bahrain Air has filed for voluntary liquidation, squarely blaming the Bahraini authorities for its predicament.