Australian safety regulators have issued a final report on the Qantas Airways Airbus A380 engine failure and emergency landing on Nov. 4, 2010, including more details about the incident and a review of manufacturing failings at engine-maker Rolls-Royce.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) fined Delta Air Lines $750,000 after concluding that, for the second time in four years, the carrier violated rules regarding passengers who are bumped from flights. But Delta can offset $425,000 of the fine by investing that money in portable tablets and other improvements to its denied boarding system.
British Airways (BA) yesterday marked the delivery of its first Boeing 787-8 by revealing the first long-haul routes intended for the twinjet. The inaugural international flight is scheduled for Sept. 1, when BA will deploy the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered aircraft on a daily service between London Heathrow Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. The second 787 route will follow Oct. 1, when the airline places the -8 into service between Heathrow and Newark Liberty International Airport.
When Sebastian Mikosz resigned as CEO of LOT Polish Airlines almost three years ago, the airline appeared to be beyond rescue. Mikosz was fed up with politicians and union leaders interfering in what he believed was a necessary deep restructuring. But now he is back and not only plans to turn around the airline, but finally to sell it.
Jakarta-based MRO provider GMF AeroAsia has become Airbus’s approved maintenance training provider in Indonesia. Airbus says the five-year strategic partnership agreement “is aimed at developing the maintenance training capabilities locally in Indonesia, based on respective strengths and assets of GMF and Airbus.”
Air Pacific today will be rebranded Fiji Airways, a name granted the carrier in the 1950s. The rebranding effort is part of a restructuring plan started in 2010 that includes the replacement of Boeing 747s with three Airbus A330s. The restructuring is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
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The Asian Aviation Training Center (AATC) in Bangkok is expanding its Airbus capabilities. L-3 Link Simulation and Training, which purchased AATC in August 2012 from Thales Group’s civil aviation simulation and training business, says the facility now offers a A330 full-flight simulator, an A320/A330 aircrew procedures training device and a pushback and towing training simulator.
Bombardier has pushed back first flight of the CSeries by up to a month to allow for additional software upgrades and ground testing. The first flight-test vehicle (FTV1) is now planned to fly “by the end of July”. This is the second slippage, and follows postponement of first flight to the end of June from December 2012 because of delays in final assembly and system testing for the all-new narrowbody. The latest delay follows completion of ground vibration tests “as well as software updates and corresponding tests,” Bombardier says.
The future of an efficient aviation aftermarket depends on fast, accurate, inexpensive data transfer. That means electronic messaging in standard, machine-readable formats. The industry is making progress, with major airlines and OEMs leading the way. The best small companies are adapting, and many more will need to do so.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives Appropriations Committee is moving to further rein in federal subsidies under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program to local U.S. communities, according to a committee report explaining its markup of next fiscal year’s annual spending. If their provisions are enacted, the spending panel’s markup would prohibit EAS payments to communities requiring a per passenger rate of subsidy in excess of $500, half the $1,000 limit imposed under the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011.
Europe’s goal of developing a database that collects aviation occurrence reports from across the region and helps identify broad safety trends is moving closer to reality as both data quality and reporting consistency improve, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) reports.
Taiwan’s EVA Air is planning to reduce its freighter fleet and phase out its MD-90 passenger aircraft. President Austin Cheng says all 11 of the MD-90s are being sold to Delta Air Lines, with five scheduled to be transferred next year, three more in 2015 and the last three in 2016. Delta repeatedly has espoused the benefits of operating MD-90s and earlier this month said it intended to expand the fleet. Cheng also says the airline is phasing out its MD-11 freighter fleet.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on Aug. 5 is scheduled to resume service between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Dubai International Airport some 19 months after dropping the route as part of a cost cutting initiative. “Dubai was one of the routes that were suspended in our route rationalization exercise in January 2012. We continuously monitor market demand, and are happy to be able to add back Dubai into the MAS network to extend our reach and strengthen our offering to customers,” says CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.
All Nippon Airways and AirAsia are dissolving their low-cost carrier joint venture, a move both carriers have been signaling for weeks following disagreement about how to run the LCC. ANA’s board formalized the decision at a June 25 meeting, and signed an agreement with AirAsia that will see ANA take full control of the AirAsia Japan LCC. It already controls 51% of the share capital. ANA says it will buy AirAsia’s stake in the LCC, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of ANA. The carrier will use the AirAsia brand until Oct. 31.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) plans to ask the U.S. FAA for a supplemental type certificate (STC) covering a 15-pallet freighter conversion program for the Boeing 757. The Singapore-headquartered maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company already has a 14.5-pallet freighter conversion program for the 757, but wants to offer 15 pallets so its program can remain competitive, says a ST Aero spokeswoman, adding that there is already a competitor offering a 15-pallet 757 freighter conversion program.
