FAA recently warned that “pilot reports of unmanned aircraft have increased dramatically over the past year, from a total of 238 sightings in all of 2014 to more than 650 by Aug. 9 of this year.”
The U.K. Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), which investigated the incident at London’s Heathrow Airport on July 12, said it was caused by the uncontrolled release of stored energy from the lithium-manganese dioxide battery in the Honeywell-produced Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).
Australia’s competition watchdog has approved a closer partnership between Qantas and China Eastern Airlines, reversing an earlier draft ruling that denied the application.
Aer Lingus shares are to be de-listed, and control and ownership of the Irish flag carrier is moving to International Airlines Group (IAG) after Ryanair’s formal acceptance of the IAG offer. Ryanair’s board voted unanimously to sell its near-30% shareholding in Aer Lingus on July 10; however, the LCC refrained from accepting the IAG offer at the Aer Lingus last month. It also deliberately missed the July 30 deadline for Aer Lingus shareholders to accept the offer.
In a note to flight attendants, United executives said they preferred the groups employ independent arbitrators in hopes they could reach a tentative agreement as soon as Sept. 30.
To minimize the impact of any design changes resulting from flight test, “our strategy has been to wait until we were past 80% through certification, to make sure we have a mature aircraft before ramping up,” says Rob Dewar, vice president and general manager for C Series.
The next reauthorization could be a game-changer for the FAA and industry, with Congress mulling a separation of the agency’s safety and air traffic control (ATC) roles, similar to the privatized air traffic control models in Canada and Europe.
The decision comes with significant delay and could, in theory, still be derailed after general elections in Greece that are now believed to be scheduled for Sept. 20.
The carrier has placed an initial order for eight 787-9s: Four of the aircraft will be delivered in its fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017, and the other four will join the fleet in 2018.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx met with Kansas aviation leaders and government officials Aug. 19 in a discussion about FAA reauthorization, drones, certification and other issues facing the industry.
LOT Polish Airlines CEO Sebastian Mikosz has announced his resignation after the government delayed privatization of the airline yet again. The airline said Mikosz will leave Sept. 17 after little over 18 months on the job. The CEO, who has been in the airline’s top job twice, says he is leaving because the Polish government will not go ahead with the planned sale of the national carrier. Mikosz was hired back with a mandate to turn around and sell the airline.
Fast-growing Allegiant Air has finally started keeping its Las Vegas customer service call center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a spokeswoman told Aviation Daily.
The French civil aviation investigative authority, BEA, is asking EASA and Airbus to consider issuing an airworthiness directive that would force operators of hundreds of Airbus A320-family aircraft to replace legacy flight management guidance computer with an updated version.
New Boston-based carrier OneJet is taking a unique approach to filling holes in service at former hub cities, using mass distribution channels to fill seats on seven-seat Hawker 400 jets. Since launching four-times weekly flights between Milwaukee and its main focus city of Indianapolis in April, OneJet has also added service to those cities from Pittsburgh and introduced service to Nashville and Memphis from Indianapolis as well.
Fiji Airways is preparing to expand its long-haul network as the carrier’s recent restructuring continues to yield strong financial results. In a first-half earnings report, Fiji Airways executives said the carrier is “working hard to finalize a new long-haul route.” While the destination is not yet being revealed, former CEO Stefan Pichler previously indicated the carrier was considering Asian markets such as mainland China and Japan (Aviation Daily, Feb. 24).
Cathay Pacific is benefiting from strong demand across most of its international network, although it also faces headaches from declining yields and a slowdown in cargo markets. The carrier reported a dramatic improvement in profit for the six months through June 30. While this was partly due to healthy economy class traffic, it was also boosted by other factors, including declining fuel costs and improvements by subsidiaries and companies in which Cathay holds stakes, such as Air China.
