BEIJING — The Comac ARJ21 regional jet project has been delayed again, with the aircraft now due to enter service in April or May 2015, eight years later than scheduled early in the program and 13 years after development began. The first operator, Comac subsidiary Chengdu Airlines, will receive its initial unit from the manufacturer late this year or early next year, says Luo Ning, the carrier’s deputy general manager. After that, further preparations will be made before operations begin in April or May, Luo tells local media.
LOS ANGELES — While the cliff-hanger Boeing machinists vote that cleared the way for 777X production in Washington state took place in early 2014, the company views it as the capstone achievement of a highly successful 2013.
JetBlue Airways could boost capacity by as much at 7% in 2014, but the figure is deceiving—most of the carrier’s growth will come in Latin American/Caribbean markets and its blossoming Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) hub, carrier executives say. The airline, fresh off its most profitable year ever, sees significant opportunity in historically high-fare markets that connect the U.S. with points south.
FAA has combined two divisions—Aircraft Engineering and Production and Airworthiness—to create the Design, Manufacturing, and Airworthiness Division within its Office of Aviation Safety. The new group, which will assume the old engineering division’s AIR-100 designation, has five branches: Certification and Procedures, Technical and Administrative Support, Systems and Equipment Standards, Operational Oversight and Policy, and Systems Performance and Development. The reorganization, announced formally in a Jan.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras and Trip Linhas Aereas could complete the final step of their merger by the end of February, with March 31 being “the worst case” date, according to Evandro Braga de Oliveira, Azul’s technical director.
Europe is planning research across a broad range of technologies to lay the foundation for the next generation of small transports, business and regional aircraft, fast rotorcraft and large commercial aircraft. The airframe, engine and systems integrated technology demonstrations (ITD) planned under the proposed €4.05 billion ($5.55 billion) Clean Sky 2 research program are part of the most coordinated approach yet to ensuring Europe’s aviation sector remains competitive.
Hawaiian Airlines expects to see improved financial performance this year as it looks to fine-tune its network following its recent phase of rapid growth. Hawaiian CEO Mark Dunkerley says that 2014 will be “marked by the maturing of our network.” The carrier added a wide range of international routes over the past 18 months, and this surge in activity had “a dilutive impact” on the carrier’s financial performance. The carrier’s $51.9 million profit for 2013 was down slightly from the previous year’s $53.2 million gain.
Danish Air Transport (DAT) plans to take up to three Airbus A320s for charter and wet-lease work and wants two ATR 72-500s to replace some of its older aircraft. Last summer DAT performed its first holiday charter flights using an MD-83, which had just returned from a four-year military contract in Afghanistan.
LOS ANGELES — General Electric expects the installed base of commercial engines it either builds directly or through joint venture partners to reach 41,000 units by 2017 compared to 34,000 in 2013 as production ramps up to historic highs in the wake of record orders.
Commercialization remains the biggest challenge to achieving the FAA’s target of 1 billion gal. of renewable aviation fuel use by 2018, says Administrator Michael Huerta. “The challenge we face is scaling up production. We need government and industry to continue to work together on this,” he told the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative general meeting in Washington Jan. 28.
A group led by a former Eastern Air Lines and Pan Am executive plans to launch a modern-day Eastern Air Lines out of Miami flying leased Airbus narrowbodies and offering domestic and international charters, the company’s initial Transportation Department filing reveals. Eastern Air Lines Group proposes to launch charter operations with a single aircraft, an A319 or A320 christened “”The Spirit of Eddie Rickenbacker,” as early as this summer, growing to three aircraft within the first year.
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Lion Air’s decision to drop its Boeing 787 orders and instead acquire another twin-aisle type represents a significant shift in how the carrier plans to use its widebody fleet. The Indonesian low-cost carrier is talking to Boeing about converting its five 787-8 orders to 737s, Lion Group CEO Rusdi Kirana said during the Jan. 27 launch of a new maintenance facility on the island of Batam. The carrier intends to order a larger widebody aircraft type in 2015.
Air Greenland is considering replacing its single Airbus A330-200 with two narrowbody aircraft beyond 2015 when the carrier’s leaseback arrangement for the aircraft ends, says Jacob Nitter Sorensen, director of operations for the Nuuk, Greenland-based carrier.
The newly created American Airlines Group’s (AAG) near-term fleet plans don’t include major deviations from pre-merger commitments made by American and US Airways, while revamping cabins on several aircraft types will help boost capacity without adding new metal, AAG executives say.
Gilbert W. Speed, the founder of SpeedNews publications and conferences, a sister business of Aviation Week, died Jan. 27 after a long illness. He was 81. Speed had a storied career in the aviation and aerospace industries that stretched more than 60 years. He started as a student apprentice at The Bristol Aeroplane Company—now part of BAE Systems—in 1952. Five years later, he moved to New York to work for Eastern Airlines as a development engineer for the DC-8 and Lockheed Electra.
The second Airbus A350 prototype to fly, MSN003, just wrapped up cold-weather tests in Iqaluit/Canada after having undergone hot-weather trials and high-altitude performance testing. MSN003 is expected to participate in the flying display at next month’s Singapore Air Show and will also be on static display for several days, marking its first on the ground appearance at an airshow. MSN001 flew over the Paris Air Show a week after its maiden flight in June 2013.
Results from a series of large scale lithium-metal and lithium-ion battery fire tests last year at the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City reveal continued concerns about transporting the batteries as bulk freight in passenger or cargo aircraft. The findings come as the dangerous goods panel of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is set to meet in February in Atlantic City to discuss new restrictions on global protocols for battery shipments.
