The NTSB says an urgent procurement request issued May 3 for computed tomography (CT) scans of lithium-ion battery cells used on Boeing 787s was not a signal that it was accelerating its efforts to find the root cause of battery fires. Rather, the agency says the document contained “contracting language” meant to quickly secure funding for the work.
FAA Flight Standards Director John Allen is continuing his effort to change the agency’s approach to enforcement, but the FAA’s general counsel office has yet to approve such a procedure.
SAS and Lufthansa will discontinue their joint venture on flights between Scandinavia and Germany because market conditions and the competitive situation have changed. Lufthansa is transferring all of its European routes that do not touch its Frankfurt and Munich hubs to its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings, and the ”joint venture model in its present form is therefore no longer fully compatible with both parties’ commercial interests,” SAS says. The economic cooperation agreement began in 1995 and will end on June 1.
Regional airlines are undergoing a period of change in everything from ownership and partner relationships to route systems and aircraft fleets, and this is helping trigger a shake-up of maintenance models.
The FAA’s repair station oversight process lacks the ability to identify risk, does not provide enough standardized inspection procedures, and is not training inspectors well enough to ensure they can use the tools they have, a government audit concludes.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber is starting his five-year term as Lufthansa chairman with a heavy burden of mistrust that could make restructuring efforts more difficult to achieve. The airline’s May 7 annual general assembly confirmed Mayrhuber’s nomination to the board of directors, but results of the shareholder’s vote were disconcerting. While all other board candidates received votes in excess of 85%—and in some cases, up to 98%—only 63% of Lufthansa’s investors voted for Mayrhuber.
Fastjet plans to launch domestic services in South Africa at the end of May, and has wet leased a Boeing 737-300 from Johannesburg-based Starcargo Airlines for six months while it gains approval to operate its own Airbus A319s in the country. The African low-cost start-up plans to launch operations between OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and Cape Town International Airport through a joint venture, Fastjet Holdings, in which it holds a 25% stake. The joint venture’s majority owner is local investment firm Blockbuster.
United Airlines plans a phased return of its Boeing 787s to revenue service starting May 20, as modifications on its six widebodies are completed. The airline initially will place the first batch of aircraft into domestic service as additional capacity between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and its hubs at Chicago O’Hare International, Denver International and Los Angeles International Airports before the widebody enters international service in June.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Doha - Dubai, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Doha - Dubai, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures
Austrian Airlines plans to increase its long-haul capacity by adding a fifth Boeing 777-200ER in the second quarter 2014. The airline, which will lease the aircraft for eight years, was granted approval for the transaction yesterday by the board of directors of parent company Lufthansa. Austrian currently operates a fleet of six Boeing 767-300ERs and four 777-200ERs.
A new set of required navigation performance (RNP) routes and an airspace redesign have dramatically improved access to New Zealand tourist destination Queenstown. Queenstown, which is located in mountainous terrain with a difficult approach, was among the first adopters of RNP approaches in 2004. Since then it has often been cited as an example of the potential benefits of these advanced procedures.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker within the next month expects to name the senior management team that will lead American Airlines once he becomes that airline’s top executive sometime in the third quarter. In a joint letter to the staff of American and US Airways, AMR Corp.’s CEO Tom Horton and Parker said “29 integration planning teams and several cross-functional task forces” have been created to determine how the two companies will be combined if their merger plan is approved by regulators.
China appears to be lifting its six-year ban on privately-owned airlines, provisionally approving the establishment of a carrier in Yunnan, a southwestern province, that will have no direct government links. Ruili Airlines, which plans to operate six Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft, will be fully owned by the Yunnan Jingcheng Group, although it initially will use technical staff from Sichuan Airlines and the China Civil Aviation Flight College, says the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in the statement of its provisional approval.
Airport revenue diversion remains an ongoing problem and may become more prevalent as budgets get tighter in local communities, says Randall Fiertz, director of FAA’s Office of Airport Compliance and Management Analysis.
Engine lessor Willis Lease Finance cites “reduced gains on the sale of leased equipment” for a 36% decline in first quarter net income to $1.6 million. Willis ended the quarter with 193 engines, three aircraft parts packages, and seven aircraft in its portfolio. Net book value of the portfolio is $1 billion, a 4.6% increase over the same period last year, when the company had five more aircraft on its books.
India plans to invest over $12 billion by 2017 to improve airport infrastructure and support the country’s rapidly expanding air transport network. “The Indian government has envisaged investment of $12.1 billion in the airports sector during the 12th Plan period [2012-2017], of which $9.3 billion is expected to come from the private sector for construction of new airports, expansion and modernization,” says Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.
The FAA says it is “defining the roles and responsibilities” for its human factors specialists in parallel with a new rule that calls for better man-machine interface design requirements to boost flight deck safety. The changes are intended to avoid delays in flight deck certification and retrofit programs requiring “findings of compliance” with the new regulations, while at the same time helping the FAA understand how to delegate the authority.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al Baker is considering an order for Airbus A330s and the conversion of Boeing 787 options to boost long-haul capacity. Al Baker told reporters in Dubai that he may add more A330s to the carrier’s fleet to counter a capacity shortfall caused by the delay in 787 deliveries. Qatar Airways currently has an order for 30 787-8s, five of which have been delivered. According to al Baker, the airline also could convert 30 787 purchase options, although these would be for the stretched 787-9.
Etihad Airways’ expansion into Africa will be aided by a bilateral alliance with South African Airways (SAA). A memorandum of understanding signed yesterday includes code-sharing between and beyond Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi, reciprocal frequent flyer program recognition and joint initiatives in procurement, training and maintenance. Etihad affiliates Air Seychelles and Jet Airways also signed up for code-sharing with SAA.
