Australian regional airlines are using an upcoming general election to draw attention to policies they say are strangling the industry. And it appears that a power change is their best hope for seeing at least some of these concerns resolved.
Embraer has selected Moog Aircraft to supply the complete fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system for its second-generation E-Jet family, turning its back on Parker Aerospace, supplier of the FBW system for the current-generation Embraer 170/190 family. Parker was not invited to bid for the Gen 2 E-Jet fly-by-wire, says a source familiar with the selection. This follows a one-year delay to the Legacy 450/500 business jet program after Embraer took back responsibility for the FBW system from Parker because of problems with software development.
Alenia Aermacchi is hoping that within the next seven months EADS, its 50% joint venture partner in regional aircraft-maker ATR, will agree to a business plan for the new 90-seat ATR turboprop program that Alenia wants to launch. Giuseppe Giordo, Alenia’s CEO, tells Aviation Week that talks between the company and EADS are ongoing. He says he hopes the two parties can reach an agreement by year-end on a business plan for the new-generation 90-seat turboprop.
Garuda Indonesia has made Polonia International Airport in Medan its fourth hub after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Denpasar-Ngurah Rai Bali International Airport and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar. CEO Emirsyah Satar says Medan’s domestic services will be supplemented with flights to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as Hajj charter flights to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
A London-based business lobbying group is calling for more night flights and use of mixed-mode operations at Heathrow to increase the airport’s capacity. In its report, Flight Path To Growth, the group London First says that in the absence of a strategy to provide new runway capacity in the next 10 years, it would like to see restrictions at Heathrow lifted, including more flights at night and the introduction of mixed-mode operations.
During the early days of the helicopter, engineers began dreaming of a new age of regional and commuter air transport. They imagined inner-city heliports where large 30-50-seat helicopters or even hybrids such as the rotor tip-jet-powered Fairey Rotodyne could take passengers from the middle of London or Paris to other major cities faster than even the speediest rail service. At a time when fuel prices were low and cities were enjoying major investment, the idea of helicopters operating in and out of city heliports seemed feasible.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s (DOT’s) decision to continue funding contract air traffic control towers until the end of this fiscal year comes as temporary relief for local communities, but backers of the program are continuing their push to preserve contract towers beyond September. The DOT on May 10 announced that the FAA would continue funding the 149 contract towers scheduled to lose federal support as part of the agency’s effort to meet budget cuts imposed by sequestration.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says 52 of its 92 members operating international flights to the U.S. now subscribe to a new web portal that gives the carriers key intelligence to help them minimize service disruptions. Called the IATA tactical operations portal (ITOP), the no-cost, web-based suite of tools—built by data and intelligence provider Passur Aerospace—went operational on April 12.
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes’s attempt to reverse its declining financial performance saw the operator cut first-quarter capacity 15.7%, more than double the industry rate for the period, but an almost equal decline in demand produced little load factor benefit for Brazil’s second-largest carrier.
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Mandating that the U.S.-Export Import Bank (Ex-Im) consider the specific impact on U.S. airlines on every loan guarantee offered to foreign carriers would “gut the ability of the bank” to provide that type of financial assistance, an attorney for Ex-Im argued yesterday to an appeals court panel. “This would have an enormously disruptive effect,” bank attorney Mark Stern told the three judges hearing the challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.
Top Carriers: Durban - Johannesburg, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Durban - Johannesburg, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept. South Afr
Dubai-based Emirates Airline has been named JetBlue Airways’ first bilateral code-share partner. Pending regulatory approval, JetBlue will place its designator code on all Emirates flights between the U.S. and Dubai International Airport, as well as service between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and Milan, Italy. Emirates will place its code on JetBlue services to 28 U.S. destinations, expanding a one-way code-share that started last year and a partnership that dates to a 2010 interline agreement.
India has approved a wide-ranging policy to create international and regional aviation hubs to encourage the development of local airlines and airports. With the policy, an inter-ministerial committee will be established to suggest measures to “remove bottlenecks to the coordination and promotion of the tourism sector, like issuing visas on arrival, currency exchange rules, immigration, and security checks,” says government Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.
Airbus on May 17 will hand over the first A350-900, MSN001, to it’s flight-test department, industry sources tell Aviation Week. Once transferred to the flight-test department, the aircraft will undergo the last phases of ground testing, including high-speed taxi tests. Airbus will not comment on the exact timing of these tests. Sources familiar with the program say that it will take about 20 days to prepare the aircraft for first flight, although Airbus only will say that the aircraft will make its first flight “this summer.”
Air Lease is talking to manufacturers about accelerating the delivery of aircraft the Los Angeles-based leasing company has ordered from Airbus, Boeing and ATR, says CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy.
U.K. regional airline Flybe is in talks with several airlines about the sale of 25 daily slot pairs at London Gatwick Airport. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange on May 13, the Flybe board says it “is in discussions with a number of parties which may or may not lead to a transaction regarding the exchange for compensation payment of the arrival and departure slots at Gatwick Airport.” The airline stresses that there is no certainty that any transaction will be completed.
