A wide range of industry associations are calling on the FAA to expedite regulations governing small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS), and to allow their limited commercial use before final rulemaking is completed. The organizations are concerned the years-long delay in release of the FAA’s SUAS notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), now not expected until late this year, is holding back U.S. industry and encouraging entrepreneurs to operate in the absence of safety guidelines.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Shifting fleet dynamics and global economic trends mean that while the world’s largest maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market isn’t growing anytime soon, opportunistic service providers still have reasons for optimism, the latest MRO forecasts suggest.
LONDON — Japan Airlines (JAL) plans to test a new dual-antenna product from GoGo, named 2Ku, that the supplier claims will give airlines fast, reliable and affordable broadband worldwide.
Delta Air Lines is equipping its 20,000 flight attendants with Nokia Lumia 1250 combination mobile phone-tablet computers beginning in October, in a move to reduce weight on the aircraft and move closer to fleet-wide real-time transaction-processing at the point of sale.
American Airlines is revising its margin guidance for the first quarter down a percentage point due to severe winter weather in the period that affected operations at both it and US Airways. The merged carrier says it now expects its first-quarter margin to be between 5-7%. American cancelled more than 34,000 flights in the first quarter, which could reduce first-quarter revenues by $115 million and operating profit in the quarter by $60 million, the airline says.
The European Commission (EC) is promising tough measures to regulate civil unmanned aircraft operations as it moves to allow their progressive integration into European Union (EU) airspace from 2016. “If ever there was a right time to do this, and to do this at a European level, it is now,” said EC Vice President Siim Kallas, unveiling the proposal to create new standards April 8 in Brussels. “We need a single set of regulations that everyone can work with.”
Slovenia’s Adria Airways is gradually adopting a hybrid business model and moving to a higher seat-density fleet under its highly ambitious “2-220-2020” strategic plan, which targets 2 million passengers and €220 million ($304 million) in revenue by 2020. Management sees that bullish growth despite rising competition from low-cost carriers at Adria Airways’ home base at Ljubljana Joze Pucnik Airport and nearby Treviso Airport in Italy, which is a Ryanair base.
Haeco ITM Ltd. (HXITM), the Hong Kong-based component supply joint venture between Haeco and Cathay Pacific, is teaming up with Thai Airways to source the component repair capabilities of both organizations, the company reports. Under the deal, Thai will overhaul certain components at its Don Mueang International Airport base, while HXITM’s Hong Kong facilities will provide similar services for Thai Airways aircraft.
London’s Gatwick Airport has begun a public consultation over its aspirations to host the first new runway in the southeast of England since the Second World War. Gatwick and Heathrow Airports were both selected by the U.K. government’s Airports Commission in December as possible sites for a new runway to boost capacity. Now, the two airports are putting together detailed plans to present to the commission later this summer, before a final decision on where the runway is to be built is taken after the next election in 2015.
Embraer remains on track to win certification of the delayed Legacy 500 around mid-year and expects to deliver between three and six of the midsize business jets by the end of 2014. Although the rate of initial deliveries is slower than expected, the Brazilian manufacturer says this is a deliberate move to ensure the business aircraft enters service with the maximum possible levels of maturity.
Japan Airlines (JAL) is to trial a new dual-antennae product from GoGo, named 2Ku, which the supplier claims will give airlines fast, reliable and affordable broadband worldwide. 2Ku, which is expected to enter commercial service in 2015, uses two low-profile antennae to increase in-flight data bandwidth and coverage. These are the same antennae as GoGo uses for its Ground to Orbit (GTO) technology, but instead of having a return link to the ground 2Ku will upload and download data from a range of Ku-band satellites, giving global coverage.
Alaska Airlines has applied to U.S. and Mexican regulators to provide seasonal service between its main hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Cancun, Mexico. The airline submitted its application to the U.S. Transportation Department and Mexico’s Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil on April 7 to begin daily, seasonal service between the two cities starting Nov. 6.
United Airlines has won the right to operate a daily flight between San Francisco and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) ruled on April 4. Hawaiian Airlines challenged the DOT’s tentative ruling in February that awarded the slot pair to United. Hawaiian argued its proposed Kona-Haneda service would stimulate U.S. economic growth by increasing inbound tourism from Japan.
Boeing is preparing for two more aircraft to join the 787-9 flight-test and certification program, and says that very few issues have arisen during the test process so far.
Virgin America will add a second daily nonstop flight on July 8 between Austin and San Francisco, re-deploying capacity from its San Jose-Los Angeles route, which the carrier has announced will cease May 14.
Airbus is holding “very preliminary“ talks with some of its A350 customers about a ten-abreast configuration in economy class. The denser layout would allow the manufacturer to add around 25-30 seats and raise overall capacity of the A350-900 to nearly 350 seats. “For now only a small number of customers is interested, but this will increase undoubtedly as the aircraft matures,” Airbus Cabin Marketing Manager Claire Newcombe said on the sidelines of the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.
Comac may not become competitive with Boeing and Airbus even when the Chinese state company produces its next aircraft—a widebody intended for co-development with Russia—says the U.S. think-tank Rand, citing Western industry managers in China.
Singapore Airlines will be the first carrier to fly the Airbus A380 to India, after the government lifted a ban on operating these very large aircraft to the world’s second-most populous country. “We have been keen to operate the Airbus A380 to India and are glad that the Air Services Agreement [ASA] between Singapore and India now allows us to do so,” says Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President-Marketing Planning, Lee Wen Fen.
