Air France CEO Anne Rigail is considering possible replacements for the French carrier’s Airbus A380s, before turning her attention to a Boeing 777 successor and the remainder of the airline’s medium-haul renewal.
Disruptions caused by Hurricane Dorian created more financial headwinds during an already sagging 2019 third quarter for Spirit Airlines, removing an estimated $25 million in revenue and pushing unit costs up, the Florida-based ULCC calculates.
Air France and UK LCC easyJet are among the bidders to express interest in taking over all or part of Aigle Azur, as around 13,000 passengers are stranded after the French airline went into receivership and flights were canceled as of Sept. 7.
The FAA has postponed the release of a draft rulemaking for remote identification of drones by two months until December, delaying definition of a means of identifying small unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) from the ground that is considered essential to expanding their use.
All-Boeing operator Icelandair has acknowledged the Boeing 737 MAX grounding as a “big challenge,” impacting the carrier’s financial performance, operational planning and efficiency.
Final loads testing on Boeing’s delayed 777-9 has been suspended while investigations continue into the failure of a cargo door during pressurization evaluations on the static test airframe at Everett, Washington, Sept 5.
Air Canada continues to reveal little about its plans for Air Transat beyond keeping the leisure airline’s brand and Montreal headquarters, but a senior executive said that getting its aircraft flying more often will be a near-term focus.
Air France has expressed an interest in French leisure carrier Aigle Azur, which is suspending flight operations in the face of financial and operational difficulties.
Airbus and Thai Airways plan to begin construction of a new, expanded MRO facility at Thailand’s U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport next year, as part of the airport’s development program.
Russia and China are reportedly close to selecting a location for the Chinese-Russian commercial aircraft consortium (CRAIC) CR929 program’s engineering center, an issue that has been delaying progress in development of the widebody airliner.
UK long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic wants changes to London Heathrow’s slot regime that would allow it to grow from 30 to 160 slots when the third runway is built.
Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) has finalized an order for six Boeing 777F freighters in a deal worth $2.1 billion at list prices. The new aircraft will replace 747-400Fs currently in service.
A forgotten maintenance lockout pin that prevented a Jetstar Airbus A320 thrust reverser from operating has led Qantas and Airbus to change maintenance procedures, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) incident report revealed.
Rolls-Royce is fast-tracking the removal of certain older Trent 1000 intermediate pressure turbine (IPT) blades and modifying its blade-life calculation methods in the aftermath of a Norwegian Boeing 787 engine failure near Rome linked to blades that cracked before established life limits.
Latvian hub-and-spoke carrier airBaltic will retain four Boeing 737s for summer 2020, delaying a planned November 2019 phaseout following Estonian rival Nordica’s decision to withdraw from its own scheduled services.
The CEO of Kuwaiti LCC Jazeera Airways believes the low-cost model has huge potential in the Middle East, as many of the region’s airlines are failing to grasp opportunities in the market.
