Boeing engineers repairing the Ethiopian Airlines 787-8 stranded at London Heathrow Airport for five months since it was badly damaged by an emergency beacon fire have replaced a large section of the upper fuselage structure and refitted the tail unit as part of efforts to return the aircraft to service early next year.
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AirAsia’s Indian joint venture will be delayed a couple of months beyond the planned December launch, says a senior Indian government official. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s Director General Arun Mishra says the airline, AirAsia India, must first take possession of its fleet, which requires an import license. Then “we should be able to give the permit in the next two months,” says Mishra. AirAsia in July announced plans to invest $30 million to start a low-cost airline in India with local investors the Tata Group and Telestra Tradeplace.
Trials with free route operations between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and eight airports in Italy have reduced flights by up to 35 nm each segment, saving 6 min. of flight time, 200 kg of fuel and 600 kg of emissions. The free route operations were part of the Weekend Free Route for Environmental Efficiency, or We Free, project, which was developed within the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) program and the European Route Network Improvement Plan to boost performance of Europe’s air transport system.
NASA’s Langley Research Center in 2015 expects to begin flying a dynamically-scaled jet-powered unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with swept wings and a T-tail similar in form to a MD-90 to gather data to help the FAA create extended stall envelopes for flight simulators. The FAA earlier this month finalized a rule that will require airlines to begin providing stall recovery and other enhanced training to pilots in the simulator in 2018, a capability the devices do not currently have.
The European Commission (EC) is taking Portugal to the EU’s Court of Justice for failing to guarantee independence of the airport slot coordinator which, the EC asserts, may distort fair competition. The Portuguese slot coordinator is part of Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA), the country’s airports operator, slot coordination personnel are employed by ANA and the coordinator’s budget is approved by the ANA board of administration. The EC considers that under these circumstances the slot coordinator “cannot function independently and autonomously from ANA.”
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Statistics: 12 Months Ended June 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Aircraft Stage Seats/ Aircraft Carrier In Fleet
Vueling, taking advantage of Alitalia’s financial problems, is developing Rome Fiumicino Airport into its second largest base in Europe and will locate eight Airbus A320s at the carrier’s first base outside of Spain offering full transfer service. The airline says passengers will have access to 550 “Vueling-to-Vueling” city-pairs through Rome Fiumicino.
Judge Sean Lane, who is overseeing AMR Corp.’s Chapter 11 reorganization, yesterday said a decision on the airline’s proposed merger with US Airways could be made in the next few days and likely before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 28. Approval, which is expected, will allow the two operators to proceed with their consolidation and unite by their new deadline of mid-December. The two companies had planned to complete the merger in August, but this was deferred while the companies settled a dispute with the U.S. Justice Department.
General Electric and Boeing are accelerating efforts to introduce new engine control software to counter core icing following further incidents of power loss in GEnx-powered 747-8s and 787s. Although the two companies remain on track to roll out corrective software to operators in the first quarter of 2014, the increasing number of events affecting the GEnx-powered fleet has prompted Boeing to issue an advisory to operators warning them to avoid conditions where the rare phenomenon has occurred.
A code-share accord between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, one of the driving forces behind bringing Turkish to Star Alliance in April 2008, is ending. The German operator will terminate all bilateral code-shares with Turkish March 31, and will extend this measure to all Lufthansa Group airlines operating within Star Alliance: Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines.
One big trend in recent aftermarket activity has been the increasing importance of OEM support, especially in engine work. For the biggest MRO deals, manufacturers often seem to compete mostly with shops that are part of a global airline, like Lufthansa or Air France.
Japan’s latest low-cost carrier, Vanilla Air, is set to receive its second and third Airbus A320s in the next two months as the new airline prepares to broaden its international and domestic network. Vanilla Air is being established as a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA), replacing the failed AirAsia Japan joint venture. The carrier has already received its first A320 and is scheduled to launch on Dec. 20 with flights from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to Naha Airport in Okinawa and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs, 12 Months Ended March 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Cost Per Block Hour Crew Fuel
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 Mar. 4-5—Defense Technology & Affordability Requirements, Washington, D.C. Mar. 6—57th Annual Laureates Awards, National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. Apr. 8-10—MRO Americas 2014, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Ariz.
U.S. safety officials are expected to raise the Philippine air safety rating back up to category 1 this week, according to the Philippine aviation safety agency. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is telling local media that a delegation of senior FAA officials will be visiting today, and that they will likely make an announcement regarding the Philippine safety rating. A category one classification would allow Philippine carriers to add or expand service to the U.S., which would benefit both Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific.
Lawmakers from the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Aviation Subcommittee late last week sought assurances from Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx that he would protect domestic airlines from the EU’s plan to enforce its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The legislators say Foxx should attempt a negotiated settlements with the EU, but if that fails, “the Secretary should exercise his authority to prohibit U.S. civil aircraft from participating in the ETS.”
