As investigations continue into the transmitter fire which severely damaged an Ethiopian Airlines 787 at London Heathrow Airport July 12, Boeing is gearing up for the most challenging aircraft repair and recovery operation it has yet faced on the new twinjet—and perhaps one of the most complex ever undertaken on a commercial composite aerostructure.
Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong have traditionally been Asia’s most prominent hubs, and now Taipei is striving to compete more fiercely, although making inroads will be tough. “Taiwan’s geographic location is such that it has the shortest distance to all major cities in the Asia-Pacific region, making Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport an important hub in the region,” said the Star Alliance last month in announcing the new membership of Taiwan’s EVA Air.
Lufthansa Technik has committed to creating a pool of Bombardier Q400 stock in North America as part of a multi-year agreement to support the turboprop fleet operated by WestJet’s recently launch regional unit, Encore. Under the component repair and pool access support contract, Lufthansa Technik will maintain components removed from WestJet Encore aircraft and provide replacements. All logistics and transportation will be handled by Lufthansa Technik. WestJet has a firm order for 20 Q400s.
European hubs are the weakest structurally in the world because airlines in the region face the most low-cost carrier competition and greater pressure in some of their long-haul markets due to the Persian Gulf carriers. Nonetheless, the big European airlines believe they have found ways to stabilize. Structural problems at these hubs are not only the result of competition. “Short-haul-to-short-haul hubs are pretty disastrous,” says John Strickland of London-based JLS Consulting.
Auckland International Airport will soon release a revised master plan that should shed more light on its long-term plans for a new domestic terminal and the construction of a second runway. The airport has been reviewing the master plan during the first half of this year, and is likely to unveil the new version within the next few months, airport CEO Adrian Littlewood tells Aviation Week. The plan will be a 20-30 year view of infrastructure development, although more detailed pricing and timing of each project will be developed separately.
The European Commission (EC) has postponed a decision on the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways after the carriers offered concessions to secure approval. Europe’s competition authority will decide on Aug. 6 whether to clear the merger or proceed with a more in-depth investigation.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has reduced life limits on a batch of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 and RB211-535 turbine disks contaminated with steel “inclusions” during manufacturing by a supplier. The problem affects 20 intermediate and high pressure (HP) disks, 17 of which are installed on Trent 700s powering Airbus A330s.
A $328 million year-on-year decline in second quarter labor costs helped AMR Corp. more than triple its June quarter operating profits to $489 million. The airline, which filed for Chapter 11 in November 2011, says the quarter produced record consolidated passenger revenues of $5.6 billion and the most profitable June in its history, when reorganization costs and special items are excluded. Chief Executive Tom Horton applauded this “momentum” as the company prepares for its merger with US Airways sometime in the third quarter.
SAS made a bold decision to renew its entire long-haul fleet. But whether the airline will actually survive and be able to fund the investments is beyond its control. That decision is made by the European Commission.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of July 17, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
An informal industry working group creating training and materials to help pilots improve flight deck monitoring skills is pushing to have its final product out by year-end, group members say.
The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says the Honeywell emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) in all Boeing 787s should be turned off “until appropriate airworthiness actions can be completed.” The action comes as the AAIB continues to investigate a July 12 “fire event” onboard an Ethiopian Airlines 787-8 that was unoccupied and unpowered on Stand 592 at London Heathrow Airport.
If mandatory federal spending cuts put in place this year carry over into fiscal year 2014, the FAA should not be expected to come through as unscathed as it did this year, a top Senate staffer warns. “Everybody expects we’re going to have another critical point in September” once Congress gets back to work after a summer break and the Oct. 1 start of fiscal 2014 looms, says Senate aviation subcommittee staff member Rich Swayze. As far as FAA’s budget is concerned he notes, “I’m not sure it’s going to be as easy as it was in June.”
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, London Heathrow - San Francisco Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, London Heathrow - San Francisco British Airways United Others 2008Q1 467 372
It was almost exactly 40 years ago that FedEx founder Fred Smith had the idea of flying a small fleet of Dassault Falcon 20s into Memphis, Tenn., from various cities in order to unload and redistribute packages and fly off again. While his idea has long become the dominant paradigm across the legacy airline world, new threats are putting it to the test.
Whether it is the Airbus A380 or Boeing 787, program issues leading to delays and redesigns have some in the aerospace industry arguing that traditional systems engineering is broken. But Dassault Systemes attributes the problem to design tools that have failed to keep pace with program complexity.
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London Heathrow Airport’s owner yesterday unveiled a radical plan to build up to two more runways to address the airport’s capacity issues. In its submissions to the U.K. Airports Commission, Heathrow Airport Ltd. is proposing three options for a third runway placed either to the north, northwest or southwest of the existing airport.
International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) has firmed a letter of intent for 50 next generation Embraer E-Jets. The order, first unveiled in June at the Paris air show is for 25 E190-E2s and 25 E195-E2s. The contract also contains options for an additional 25 E190-E2s and 25 E195-E2s, for a total of 100 aircraft. The first delivery of an E-Jet E2 aircraft will be an E190-E2 in the first quarter 2018. The E195-E2 is scheduled to enter service in 2019, followed by the E175-E2 in 2020. The list price for ILFC’s firm order is $2.85 billion.
