DOHA, Qatar — Emirates Airline President Tim Clark is demanding more transparency in the investigation of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. “We are the largest operator of the Boeing 777 in the world. I need to know how anybody could interdict our systems,” Clark told Aviation Week in an interview on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) annual general assembly in Doha, Qatar. “Something is not right here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”
DOHA, Qatar — Air France-KLM Group has started talks with Etihad Airways on a joint venture for operations between Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi Airport and has engaged with China Southern to deepen its current revenue-sharing joint venture, Air France-KLM Chairman and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.
DOHA, Qatar — Emirates President Tim Clark believes Rolls-Royce is the most likely provider of a new powerplant for a potential reengined Airbus A380. “I’m not sure GE or Pratt have an appetite,” Clark told journalists on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting in Qatar. From his talks with Rolls-Royce and Airbus, Clark concludes Rolls-Royce is nearest to believing sufficient orders for an A380neo could materialize to make the business case work.
India, taking a significant step toward aiding safe takeoffs and landings when faced with extremely low visibility at airports, is developing a runway assessment system called the Drishti Transmissometer.
Jet Airways named aviation specialist Cramer Ball as its new chief executive officer. Jet’s last CEO, Garry Kenneth Toomey, quit in mid-January, barely seven months after taking charge of the airline. Gaurang Shetty, the airline’s director and manager, will continue to lead it “till the requisite approvals are obtained and Ball assumes charge as the CEO,” a Jet Airways spokesman says.
As Air India prepares to be inducted into one of the largest airline alliances in the world, the new Indian government has indicated that it is not averse to the idea of privatizing the money-losing national carrier. “We are examining and trying to formulate our views ... I am not close to any idea,” says new Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, referring to proposals for privatizing the state-run carrier. But there will be no hasty decision on privatization, the minister said after taking office on May 29.
A new-build airport in the Thames Estuary could supplant London Heathrow and could be built for far less than had been previously forecast, the company behind the plans for the new airport says in a response to the U.K. Airports Commission. Architectural firm Foster and Partners is pushing for the government to develop a four-runway hub airport on the Isle of Grain, a peninsula in the Thames Estuary east of London, which developers say could potentially operate 24 hours a day and open with a capacity of dealing with up to 110 million passengers a year when it opens its doors.
Hard on the heels of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA’s) recent agreement with Airbus to set up a training joint venture for pilots at the country’s Seletar aerospace hub, the company is expanding its local training options through an agreement with Boeing to train its Scoot long-haul subsidiary low-cost carrier pilots.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is making plans for identifying and mapping the debris field from the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean as soon as this summer, despite having found no physical evidence to date of where the 777-200ER came to rest. “The aim of the (underwater) search is to locate the aircraft and any crucial evidence, such as aircraft wreckage and flight recorders,” says the ATSB.
LOS ANGELES — Following a lengthy evaluation, Boeing has received FAA approval for 330 min. extended operations (ETOPS) for the 787-8, enabling operators to maximize the aircraft’s long-range capabilities on a broader network of point-to-point routes.
The bottom-line result showing a slight year-over-year rise in global air freight demand masks the bigger-picture story of de facto volume stagnation so far in 2014, an analysis of International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures reveals. Freight ton kilometers (FTKs) rose 3.2% last month compared to April 2013, IATA figures show. But volumes remain “slightly below” where they were in January after a 1.1% dip compared to last month, IATA says.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is deploying member pilots to Capitol Hill to persuade lawmakers to deny Norwegian Air International (NAI) permission to fly to the U.S., arguing for what the union calls a “level playing field” to protect the U.S. airline industry.
