Czech leisure carrier Travel Service will acquire 34% of Czech Airlines from Korean Air, prompting the departure of Czech Airlines Chairman and President Philippe Moreels. Korean Air acquired 44% of Czech Airlines from Czech Aeroholding in April 2013 and is now planning to buy a further 34%. It will then sell the shares on to Travel Service, which will reinforce its European operations.
Following on the heels of FAA action on portable electronics, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has modified its rules and given airlines updated guidance on the use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) on-board the aircraft. An operator may now allow the use of all PEDs—such as smartphones, tablets, MP3 players and e-readers—during any phase of flight so long as transmitting connections such as mobile phone network, wi-fi and Bluetooth are disabled and switched to “flight mode” or “airplane mode.”
Boeing kicked off a five-month wind tunnel test phase for the 777X on Dec. 5, marking the first major development milestone for the newly-launched twinjet program. The initial test campaign will focus on the low-speed characteristics of the design, which is a derivative of the existing 777 configured with an all-new, large span composite wing and new General Electric GE9X engines.
Kuwait Airways and Airbus have inked a memorandum of understanding for 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft and 10 A350-900s. The confirmation follows on from comments made in May by Kuwait Airways chairman Sami al-Nasef, who said at the time that his carrier had “signed a letter of acceptance with Airbus” to purchase 25 aircraft.
Aviation Week Laureate Awards March 6, 2014 National Building Museum Washington, D.C. Join Us! Aviation Week’s 57th annual Laureate Awards will recognize individuals/teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation, vision or any combination of these attributes that inspire others to strive for significant, broad-reaching progress in aviation and aerospace.
All Nippon Airways has revealed the first wave of international routes that it is adding from Tokyo Haneda Airport, thanks to a slot windfall provided by the Japanese government.
Aer Lingus, which has nine Airbus A350s on order, has opted to take the lower-weight A350-900 Regional to meet its reduced range needs. Earlier this year, Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller told Aviation Week affiliate Air Transport World that he was considering whether to roll over to an all-A350 fleet or go into a mixed fleet with the A330 high-gross-weight variant (HGW). However, responding to a question from ATW at the London Aviation Club last week, Mueller confirmed that Aer Lingus now plans to go for an all-A350 long-haul fleet.
Darren Shannon, editor-in-chief of Aviation Daily, is leaving Aviation Week after five-and-a-half years to start a public relations consultancy. Today is the last issue of Aviation Daily to be edited by Shannon. Future editorial submissions and enquiries should be addressed to Executive Editor Jim Mathews, who can be contacted at [email protected]. Shannon can be reached at [email protected].
Details of Boeing’s requirements for a site suitable for assembly of the 777X and its large composite wing show the company is searching for new facilities costing up to $10 billion, access to transportation infrastructure and a 9,000-ft. runway.
Jan. 21-22, 2014—MRO Latin America, Rio de Janerio, Brazil Feb. 4-6—MRO Middle East, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, UAE Feb. 10—Air Transport World’s 40th Annual Airline Industry Achievement Awards, Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel, Singapore March 4-5—Defense Technology & Affordability Requirements, Washington, D.C. March 6—57th Annual Laureates Awards, National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. April 8-10—MRO Americas 2014, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Ariz.
The U.S. Commercial Service—the trade promotion arm of the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration—will host a webinar Dec. 12 to provide U.S. companies with an overview of India’s civil aviation sector, export opportunities and background information on the 2014 India Aviation trade show coming up in March.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: San Francisco, December 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers: San Francisco, December 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs
The FAA, going beyond NTSB recommendations, is giving Boeing 757 and 767 operators five years to modify their aircraft to prevent inadvertent battery depletion when a particular backup power mode is activated.
Skyrocketing numbers of narrowbody aircraft orders have turned attention to Southeast Asia—and its burgeoning low-cost carriers (LCCs), in particular. Twenty-seven percent of the world’s narrowbody aircraft—half the global fleet—are operated in the Asia-Pacific region, estimated Lufthansa Technik Philippines in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. More than 37% of the total commercial fleet will soon be based there, many of them in service with low-cost carriers, it also projects.
The FAA last week codified a long-underway fix to Boeing 737 seat track attachment joints that cause cracking in related parts and compromise crashworthiness standards. The airworthiness directive (AD 2013-24-13) mandates repairs contained in a series of Boeing service bulletins issued during the last decade. The issue affects all 737s, including an estimated 1,280 on the U.S. registry, though many carriers have accomplished the work.
Spirit AeroSystems is “deep” into the process of selling its Tulsa, Okla. production facility, a move that should mean significant bottom-line improvement as the supplier shifts focus to growing airliner programs and tackles issues uncovered in a sweeping strategic review, say analysts at Canaccord Genuity.
Although Qantas Airways’ dire earnings predictions have triggered a damaging credit downgrade, it appears that it has not spurred the Australian government into bailout mode. Qantas has been lobbying the government for some form of financial or regulatory assistance. However, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated that direct government subsidies or loan guarantees are unlikely.
Chinese investigators credit Airbus’s envelope protection system in averting the crash of a Sichuan Airlines Airbus A319 when the crew tried to land during a September 2010 thunderstorm at Sunan Shuofang International Airport in Wuxi. According a recently published report by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the automatic protection system, which commands full nose-down elevator control for high angle-of-attack (AOA) conditions, “saved the plane from the stall condition.”
The owner of a new airline to be based in eastern China will order 30 Bombardier Q400s with the aim of setting up a regional network for the province of Jiangsu. The carrier, Sutong Airlines, will begin operations in 2015 with an all-Q400 fleet, says Bombardier, announcing the signature of a letter of intent for the order. No options are mentioned.
The transfer of 34 slots at LaGuardia Airport in New York from American Airlines to Southwest Airlines and Virgin America will further diversify one of the more competitive U.S. large hubs, government data suggest. U.S. Department of Transportation data show that the top five carriers by market share for the 12 months ended Aug. 31 controlled about 59% of the market—one of the lowest figures among U.S. large hubs.
