The FAA has ended plans to cease funding for 149 contract towers on June 15, after the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) determined that a recently enacted law allows the agency to reallocate funds to the towers program.
Bombardier’s CSeries is progressing towards a first flight at the end of June, but its order book is going backwards. Firm orders have slipped to 145 with the removal of three CS100s due to “financial difficulties” at the undisclosed customer. Firm orders now stand at 63 CS100s and 82 of the larger CS300s, for nine airlines. Bombardier’s goal is to have 300 firm orders by the planned entry into service of the CS100 in mid-2014. Total commitments now stand at 388 aircraft.
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Indonesia’s low-cost carrier Citilink is planning to base some of its ATR 72s turboprop operations at Jakarta’s Pondok Cabe Airport instead of Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The airline’s CEO, Arif Wibowo, says Pondok Cabe Airport in south Jakarta—primarily a military airport—is currently used by charter operator Pelita Air Service, but the two airlines are cooperating to upgrade the airport to handle scheduled passenger traffic. Citilink will not start operations at Pondok Cabe until next year.
Delta Air Lines is pushing for a negotiated, mutually-agreed moratorium on export credit agency (ECA) financing for widebody aircraft sales as an “obvious solution” to its complaints about how ECA support is applied and Boeing’s concerns that the U.S. will “unilaterally disarm.”
SkyWest Inc. managed a $2.3 million profit in the first quarter, describing it as well below expectations, with winter storms exacting a toll and its ExpressJet Airlines subsidiary continuing to depress earnings. The U.S. regional carrier holding company, which also owns the profitable SkyWest Airlines, would not immediately disclose how big a drain ExpressJet was on its earnings in the quarter.
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Mexican airline Interjet remains on schedule to receive the first of its Sukhoi Superjet 100s by June, marking a key delivery milestone for the Russian aircraft manufacturer and its Franco-Russian engine supplier Powerjet.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is adding Juanda International Airport in Surabaya to its mainline network and increasing services to Soekarno-Hatta International in Jakarta and Denpasar-Ngurah Rai Bali International Airport, thanks to a new air services agreement between Singapore and Indonesia.
AirAsia X has issued a prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) of 790.12 million shares, with up to 538.01 million offered to institutional shareholders and a further 252.11 million for general sale. The offers represents 22.7% and 10.6% of the company, respectively.
Air India has decided to sell five of its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and replace 19 aging Airbus A320s with new leased airplanes. The widebodies were procured for ultra-long-range, non-stop operations between India and the U.S. But, due to the steep increase in fuel prices, some of Air India’s ultra-long routes—such as Bengaluru to San Francisco—never began service. “It was found that the yield from non-stop routes of Boeing 777-200LR was poor,” says junior Civil Aviation Minister K C Venugopal.
A new tablet-based electronic flight bag (EFB) for 12 Danish Air Transport ATR 42s and ATR 72s highlights the different approaches some European and U.S. airlines are pursuing for using the tablets. Danish Air Transport recently contracted with Scandinavian Avionics to install a hybrid EFB system that includes two 10.1-in. Panasonic Toughpad tablet computers hard-mounted to window frames in each cockpit, connected to a “data integration center” and a communications module in the electronics bay.
Air India expects to resume commercial operation of its six Boeing 787-8s in June. Late on May 7, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation lifted a grounding order on the type after a joint team of Air India and Boeing officials briefed the regulator on the successful installation of a new battery system on one of the aircraft, a Civil Aviation Ministry spokesman says. Technical experts from Boeing also are making the necessary modifications to the remaining 787 aircraft, the spokesman adds.
Air China remains in negotiations with Airbus for an intended order for 100 aircraft, despite the carrier’s board of directors approval of the deal, says a manufacturing industry official. Announcing the board’s decision, Air China also told the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it will dispose of six Airbus A340s. Affiliate Shenzhen Airlines is part of the discussions for the intended order, which mainly will be from the A320 family, company secretary Rao Xinyu tells the Wall Street Journal.
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Singapore’s Changi Airport is already planning for a fifth passenger terminal, even before it has completed construction of its fourth terminal. The interagency Changi 2036 steering committee, chaired by Minister of State Josephine Teo “has been working hard to develop the long-term master plan for Changi Airport, including a Terminal 5,” Singapore’s Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said at the Changi Airline Awards event on May 8.
Virgin Australia has started repainting the first aircraft acquired in the takeover of regional operator Skywest Airlines and expects to complete the rebranding to Virgin Australia Regional Airlines in 12 months. A Skywest Airbus A320, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 already have been repainted in Virgin Australia colors since the April 11 takeover.
EasyJet has flown a ton of volcanic ash from Iceland to the U.K. in preparation for final tests to gain commercial certification of the Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector (Avoid) ash-detection technology from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The airline is partnering with Airbus and Nicarnica Aviation, a spin-off company of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, to test the infrared Avoid system.
Regional airlines may have shed their humble origins as commuter carriers, but regional aircraft are still best known for their simplicity and economy, rather than their technology. But that must change if the sector is to make its contribution to the aviation industry’s commitment to reduce its environmental impact.
