FRANKFURT — Even though Norwegian just went through a massively difficult first quarter, the airline is still sticking to its ambitious expansion plans and has signed up for three more Boeing 787-9s on lease.
Europe’s aviation regulator, finalizing the first mandated upgrades influenced by Malaysia Airlines Flight 370’s (MH370)’s disappearance, has fast-tracked and strengthened proposed enhancements to make flight recorders and aircraft easier to locate following overwater accidents.
French safety officials are asking European and U.S. regulators for a range of interventions to prevent pilots from taking off with ice or frost on an aircraft’s wings or tail surfaces.
Hard on the heels of a new office in Singapore, Airbus’s ProSky ATM division has been anointed by IATA to help architect the foundations for what could be a new Asia Pacific Seamless Open Skies regime. The company has been awarded a contract to “develop an Asia Pacific Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Implementation Strategy that supports the collaborative efforts of key aviation States” according to a statement.
Southwest is signaling its international expansion plans by supporting — with caveats — United Airlines’ application with the Transportation Department (DOT) for Houston-Leon, Mexico route authorities. United has asked the DOT to reassign the authority to fly between Houston and Leonfrom ExpressJet, a United regional partner, to SkyWest Airlines, which would operate the flight with United’s code. United currently is the sole U.S. carrier designated for that route.
The FAA has made improvements to the En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) air traffic system after a U.S. Air Force U-2S surveillance aircraft, transiting through Southern California airspace at high altitude, triggered a computer shutdown and forced a temporary ground stop at Los Angeles International (LAX) airport.
Lufthansa warns it may cut down further on its capacity plans for the next winter season if an emerging forward-booking weakness continues. The airline has already revised capacity growth downwards from 5% to 4% for 2014, mainly because of the effects of a three-day pilot strike last month which continues to trim forward bookings. According to Chief Financial Officer Simone Menne, the airline does not yet see the need to adjust its financial targets for the year, which sees the airline posting a €1.3-1.5 billion operating profit.
Brussels Airlines might have to restate its accounts for 2013 to show higher losses than reported last month if the European Commission (EC) concludes that a new financial subsidy to Brussels Airport contravenes European rules on state aid.
Etihad CEO James Hogan is rejecting allegations that the airline is violating European rules on ownership and control at its affiliates Air Berlin, Air Serbia and Darwin Airline (Etihad Regional). “We comply very clearly with the rules of the European Commission, we have to,” Hogan said on the sidelines of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 product presentation in Abu Dhabi. In his view, the notion of Etihad not complying with the rules is “propaganda by our competitors.”
Local Chinese governments have paid subsidies greater than half of the net profit of budget carrier Spring Airlines during the past three years, according to the prospectus for the company’s current initial public offering of shares.
James Oberstar, former chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, died May 3 at age 79, at his home in Potomac, Md. No cause of death was given.
FAA will give industry 60 additional days to weigh in on the agency’s request for information that is expected to help shape a new drug and alcohol testing policy for certain foreign repair stations. Industry representatives, including the Aeronautical Repair Station Association, Airlines For America, the International Air Transport Association, and Lufthansa, asked FAA to add 120 days to the comment period, which is set to expire May 16. FAA split the difference, pushing the comment deadline out to July 17.
Air Canada and AAR Corp. have formalized a deal that will see the carrier’s Airbus narrowbody heavy maintenance work stay at AAR’s Duluth, Minn., overhaul base through late 2017, solidifying the service provider’s plan to open a fourth line at the facility by yearend.
B/E Aerospace, in a surprise move, is exploring “strategic alternatives” that could include divestiture of part of its rapidly growing business or—in what would be one of the largest deals in aerospace history—even an outright sale.
Air India’s Chairman Rohit Nandan says the airline has already completed 45 of the 64 requirements for joining the Star Alliance and will finish the remaining this month, setting the stage for the carrier to be the first Indian airline to be part of a global interlining network. The board of the Star Alliance, a group of 26 global carriers, will meet in London on June 23 to call on a vote of support for the entry of Air India, with a fleet of 123 aircraft, into the group, Star Alliance’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Schwab says.
Norwegian Air International (NAI) is trying to coerce the U.S. government into permitting it to fly to the U.S. by delaying a large aircraft order from Boeing, the Air Line Pilots Association claims. ALPA’s accusation is just the latest salvo in the heated battle over U.S. service approval, and in a letter filed with the Transportation Department (DOT) the union urges regulators not to respond to NAI’s announcement that it may have to delay ordering Boeing aircraft.
