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Garuda Indonesia, in an effort to put more Indonesian pilots into the cockpits of its Bombardier CRJ1000s and turboprops, aims to establish a joint venture with CAE to place a CRJ simulator in Jakarta that will serve Garuda and third-party customers, a airline official says. Currently, Garuda is sending pilots to Canada for CRJ simulator training, and as it gets closer to selecting turboprop aircraft for its Citilink subsidiary has decided to use mostly foreign pilots to fly the aircraft for at least two years.
Airports are expected to concentrate their infrastructure development efforts on design standards, reconstruction and capacity as they reallocate their resources in a tight economic climate, creating a dip in overall Airport Improvement Program (AIP) eligible projects over the next five years.
FedEx Express plans to install a 3.5-acre solar electric system at its Newark Liberty International Airport regional hub in an effort to increase efficiency and cost savings. The 9,000 solar panels set for installation across three rooftops at Newark will provide about 15% of overall power at the facility, Mitch Jackson, VP-environmental affairs and sustainability for FedEx Corp., tells Aviation Week. The energy will contribute to lighting and sort belts that process an average of 360,000 packages daily.
The fate of Pluna’s remaining six Bombardier CRJ900ERs is uncertain, as the Uruguayan government determines what to do with the liquidated carrier’s assets. Spanish charter operator Cosmo bought seven of the carrier’s aircraft Oct. 1 and has since announced it will operate them on flights between Spain and Eastern Europe. Uruguay’s government before the auction said its plan was to sell all 13 aircraft in one lot to a bidder that would launch a new airline based in the country.
Despite little change to AMR Corp.’s third-quarter labor costs from the same period in 2011, the latest quarter’s improved financial performance suggests that once new contracts with two of the airline’s three main unions come into force, the company’s operating margin will continue to grow.
NASA is considering a prize challenge to accelerate integration of unmanned aircraft into civil airspace, with two competitions of increasing complexity possibly offered in late 2013 and 2014 with a combined purse of $1.5 million. Under its Centennial Challenge program, NASA has previously staged competitions designed to engage the public in advancing technology for space elevators, electric aircraft, lunar landers and regolith excavation.
A lightweight, high-performance composite fan could be crucial to Rolls-Royce’s chances of meeting the thrust-to-weight ratio targets set by Boeing for its proposed 777X derivative development. Now, more than 40 years after Rolls abandoned a pioneering attempt to develop the world’s first composite fan blade, the U.K. engine maker is honing a design for flight-testing with advanced composites manufacturer GKN Aerospace.
Air India Express (AIE), the budget subsidiary of national carrier Air India, plans to acquire 14 additional aircraft from Boeing by 2017, an airline official says. “Air India Express will acquire 14 Boeing 737-800 aircraft over next four-five years,” Chief Operating Officer Ansbert D’souza says. The decision was made recently by India’s civil aviation ministry as part of the turnaround plan for Air India. The airline will soon decide whether “to go in for leasing or buy the aircraft,” D’souza adds.
The bankruptcy judge overseeing Mexicana de Aviacion’s restructuring has ordered Med Atlantica to withdraw its bid for the carrier as the investment group has taken too long to revive the carrier or prove it has $300 million of the $400 million the consortium initially had pledged.
Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) reached an agreement with Bombardier Aerospace to “explore market interest” in CRJ200 freighter conversions because of the potential to broaden the scope to larger CRJ700s as well as developing a niche cargo market for up to 50-75 cargo variants of the smaller twinjet.
Aeromexico will launch its first flight to the U.K. Dec. 14 with three-times-weekly service between Mexico City and London Heathrow Airport. This is the first flight operated by a Mexican carrier into Heathrow, a spokesman for the airline tells Aviation Week. Mexicana de Aviacion operated a Mexico City-London Gatwick flight before declaring bankruptcy in 2010.
CFM's joint owners are preparing for the biggest transition as it nears milestones for the introduction of its Leap family of engines and increased production rates.
Construction work to expand the apron at Jakarta’s capacity-constrained Soekarno-Hatta Airport has started, the director general of Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) tells Aviation Week. Henri Bakti also says plans for construction of a new concourse building at the airport are in the final stage. The new concourse building—housing customs, immigration and quarantine–will link Terminals 1 and 2 and also create more space for passengers in the terminals.
The U.S. unmanned aviation system (UAS) commercial market could be boosted as the Afghanistan war cools and new federal mandates spur business interest in the platforms, according to a leading aviation law firm. “Today, over 300 businesses produce over a 1,000 different unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) ranging in size from a medium-sized passenger jet to a small winged insect,” notes a paper released this month by Michael Goldman of the firm Silverberg, Goldman and Bikoff. “They are mostly banned in U.S.
An ongoing court case involving Air Wisconsin calls into question the immunity granted to airlines when reporting security risks to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
A research advisory group is cautioning the FAA “to avoid the temptation to compromise safety” as the agency attempts to meet a congressionally mandated 2015 deadline to integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system (NAS). The observation highlights what appears to be growing frustration with the FAA over a range of research and organizational issues as the mandate nears.
