The Fire Division at Detroit’s Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) has been accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International following a three-year process of compliance with 253 performance indicators. The WCAA division produced a standard of response coverage document and a five-year plan to the international organization. An accreditation team conducted a review of Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports in late august, and the county’s public safety department presented a case for accreditation.
Volvo Aero is starting assembly work on the first parts of Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G engine for the Airbus A320NEO (new engine option) as it readies for an unprecedented production ramp-up across its commercial engine component lines.
A ruling by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on separation distances for Boeing’s new 747-8 will enable the manufacturer to keep a promise to customers that the new airplane will “look and feel” the same as the 747-400 that it replaces. ICAO says the 250-ft.-long 747-8 will be designated with the same “heavy” classification for aircraft separation distances as the 747-400. The newer airplane is 19 ft. longer, has a 13-ft. longer wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of 975,000 lb., which is 100,000 lb. more than the older 747-400.
United Continental Holdings will maintain its stringent hold on global capacity into 2012 by keeping supply at the same level as this year—and as a consequence about the same as 2010—although the operator’s top executive says available seat miles will be cut if demand weakens or costs increase.
As Rolls-Royce prepares for the first flight of its TrentXWB for the Airbus A350, the engine maker says key development test milestones have now been achieved. One of the test engines has undergone the mandated bird-strike evaluation, with four 2.5-lb. birds ingested at maximum takeoff power. The other trial was the 150-hr. endurance evaluation of one of the test turbofans in Spain at the INTA test center. A detailed inspection is now under way.
Tiger Airways has selected Andrew David, a veteran of the local airline industry, as the person to turn around the fortunes of its troubled Australian operation. David served as chief operating officer of Virgin Blue from 2005 to November 2010 and previously held senior leadership roles at Air New Zealand. He was considered a contender to take over at Virgin Blue before current CEO John Borghetti was appointed.
Hawaiian Airlines' services to Japan are contributing to a higher-than-anticipated increase in revenue in the third quarter, the carrier says. In late July, as part of its second-quarter earnings conference call, Hawaiian projected a 6.5-9.5% year-over-year increase in the third quarter on its passenger unit revenue and a 3.5-7.5% increase in its total unit revenue. In an investor update filed Sept. 12, however, the airline says it now expects to report a 12.5-15.5% increase in passenger unit revenue and a 9.5-12.5% jump in total unit revenue.
The U.S. Commerce Department has formed a government/industry group to promote export sales of products and services developed for the FAA NextGen airspace modernization effort.
This week brings a proposal for increased FAA funding and a likely agreement to extend the FAA’s operating authority. President Obama released the American Jobs Act on Monday, which would include $2 billion in grants to airports and $1 billion to fund the Next Generation air traffic control system. It remains to be seen whether congressional Republicans will embrace the $447 billion package at a time when lawmakers are already scouring the federal budget for deficit reduction.
Virgin Atlantic Airways still has “close interest in a combination with BMI,” the airline said in a statement on Monday, raising the number of potential buyers to at least two. The comment comes after Lufthansa said recently that it is looking at partnerships for or an outright sale of BMI. Lufthansa has hired a bank, believed to be Morgan Stanley, as an adviser in the process. It also comes after International Airlines Group (IAG) stated that it “has made no secret of its interest in acquiring BMI,” but that “the ball is now in Lufthansa’s hands.”
Australia’s competition watchdog says Airservices Australia has not sufficiently addressed concerns about how it has calculated an increase in air traffic management fees for airlines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says the price increase proposed by Airservices is too high and would cause Airservices to “over-recover” its costs by AU$35 million ($36.8 million) over five years.
LightSquared has proposed additional changes to its planned broadband wireless network to mitigate expected interference with GPS, but pressure is growing for further testing before a decision is made on approving deployment of the revised system. LightSquared believes sufficient testing has been conducted to show most GPS receivers will not be overloaded by transmissions from its revised terrestrial network, but government witnesses at a congressional hearing Sept. 8 said tests already performed were not enough to ensure GPS would not still be compromised.
ATR is establishing a global network of ATR-recognized maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies, and the first to join will be one from the Asia-Pacific region.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) funding is garnering attention in a Congress concerned about the burgeoning costs of passenger and baggage screening and the Obama administration’s call for raising both passenger and airline fees to help pay the bill. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s transportation security subcommittee, is expected to offer an amendment Wednesday, when the subcommittee meets to mark up the TSA Authorization Act of 2011.
The FAA is proposing a $1.1 million fine for Aviation Technical Services for making improper fatigue crack-related repairs on 44 of Southwest’s Boeing 737-300s, but says the alleged violations are not related to the fuselage rupture on a Southwest 737-300 in April. The FAA alleges that Everett, Wash.-based Aviation Technical Services (ATS) failed to accomplish all the work required by three FAA airworthiness directives calling for five repetitive inspections and a one-time inspection to find and repair fatigue cracks in the fuselage skins of the aircraft.
The FAA is proposing a $590,000 civil penalty against Alaska Airlines for allegedly operating a Boeing 737-400 on 2,701 flights that were not in accordance with the Federal Aviation Regulations.
An aircraft purchase agreement between Air India and Boeing in 2005 was a scripted plan between the U.S. government and the aircraft manufacturer, according to a diplomatic U.S. cable released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
Alaska Airlines is beta testing a new Facebook application that shows users the location of Facebook friends living near airports served by the airline and the lowest fare for traveling there in a given month. But to shop for flights, as well as to book them, users are taken to the airline’s website. Alaska launched the app on Aug. 31.
Keeping up with China Southern Airlines’ rapidly growing fleet and supporting its strategy to grow capabilities and international customers have led Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering (Gameco) to break ground Sept. 8 for a $90 million, eight-bay narrowbody hangar and workshops. The MRO plans to finish the 14,800-sq.-meter hangar at the end of 2012 and start using it in the first quarter of 2013.
