The U.S. faces “an infrastructure deficit” that could have negative consequences for commercial aviation, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said today. Speaking to the Aero Club of Washington DC, Foxx pointed out that civil aviation contributes $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy annually. “The industry supports more jobs than exist in the whole state of New York,” he said.
Research commissioned by the Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) could help redefine the thresholds for homes and schools that qualify for government-funded soundproofing near large metropolitan airports.
AgustaWestland has begun the certification test phase for its AW609 commercial tiltrotor. The two AW609 prototypes, AC1 in the U.S. and AC2 in Italy, have flown almost 1,000 hr. between them, a third of which were flown in the last two years since AgustaWestland took full control of the program from Bell Helicopter, which was a partner until 2011.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carrier: Las Vegas - Los Angeles, February 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carrier: Las Vegas - Los Angeles, February 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/D
Iberia management concluded an agreement in principle with representatives of four of five of its cabin crew unions on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement through 2017, following a similar deal reached two weeks ago with the pilots’ union Sepla. Both agreements still need to be approved by a vote of the flight attendants who are members of the SITCPLA, CTA Vuelo, UGT, and CCOO unions, and by the pilots. The Stavla union, which represents 30% of the airline’s approximate 3,300 cabin staff, has not signed the agreement.
Even as some Asian flag carriers, such as Malaysian and Thai, are reporting lackluster performance and potential route cuts, Middle East carriers seem happy to continue their push into the regional Asian market. Qatar Airways, currently flying to only three Asia/China destinations—Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing—has signed a “strategic agreement” that will see the airline fly direct for the first time from its base at Doha International to Hong Kong International.
Aer Lingus has defined what now looks like the final version of its long-haul fleet strategy. The airline plans to take delivery of a mix of Airbus A350-900s and A350-900 Regionals between 2018 and 2020. That represents a delay of up to three years compared to earlier scenarios.
Frantz Yvelin, founder of all-business carrier L’Avion, and former Jet Airways COO Peter Luethi have created a French company called Dreamjet as the basis for a new start-up airline slated for launch this year.
With street violence still being reported in Bangkok, Thailand’s aviation and travel sectors are feeling the effects in the form of dramatically lower passenger numbers.
A tail wind and a braking system installation error by the Tashkent Aircraft Production Company were among the causes and contributing factors that led to an overrun of a Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin IL-76D on Runway 11 at the St. John’s International Airport in Newfoundland, Canada in August 2012, according to a final report on the incident by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB).
The FAA today is expected to propose more rigorous inspections of Boeing 737 Classic forward galley service door areas, based on “multiple” reports of operators discovering cracks in areas not currently targeted for checks. The proposed directive, based on a revised Boeing alert service bulletin (ASB) issued in September, targets fuselage skin and bear straps, or skin doublers, around the doors. The checks are a mix of detailed (visual) and low-frequency eddy-current inspections, and the inspection type and intervals vary based on the specific airframe type.
Norwegian Air International (NAI), in its closing salvo arguing for expedited approval from the U.S. DOT to launch service between the U.S. and Europe, laid out more detail about why it sought to base itself in a European Union (EU) country.
Airbus and China’s COMAC are the latest aircraft manufacturers to collaborate on air traffic management and sustainable aviation, with senior executives signing an agreement to pursue joint projects.
Investigators probing the crash of a police helicopter in Scotland are questioning why both engines flamed out despite the aircraft still having 10-15 min. of fuel left. The Airbus—formerly Eurocopter—EC135T2 operated for Police Scotland by Bond Air Services had been on a routine police mission and was returning back to its base at Glasgow City Heliport when it crashed onto the Clutha Vaults public house late in the evening of Nov. 29, 2013. All three crew onboard the helicopter were killed as were six patrons in the bar when the aircraft crashed through the roof.
As the civil helicopter industry everywhere continues to expand and support economic growth, inconsistent safety methods and programs remain a stumbling block in many nations. Too often, growth in helicopter operations also means an increase in accidents.
More than six months after the end of a nine-month halt to flights over hazardous environments by the Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) EC225, all operators of the heavy helicopters, the majority of which are used to support oil and gas platforms, have returned it to the air having implemented a series of interim fixes certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) last July.
As poor countries develop, air travel expands much faster than incomes. But as people become richer, that gearing ratio tends to fall: Air travel still grows faster than incomes, but not so much faster. And then the economy itself slows, as its game of catch-up takes it closer to the leading edge of advanced countries. For Chinese commercial aviation, that may be just as well. After experiencing the most powerful episode of airline expansion in history, the country is straining to provide infrastructure for the sector.
On the back of regional sales at the Singapore Airshow, manufacturer Airbus is putting serious money back into the Asian region with a swathe of support and infrastructure deals valued at some US$70-80 million. With Boeing predicting 12,820 new aircraft and Airbus 10,940 across Asia Pacific over the next 20 years, there is an agreement on the importance of the market. But with—so far—a claimed 80+% market share, Airbus is eager to maintain its lead in the US$1.5+ trillion potential sales bonanza.
Sikorsky Aircraft is bringing oil and gas platform operations into the 21st century with a new satellite-based approach system that takes the human calculation and guesswork out of legacy rig approaches in instrument conditions and at night. The system offers operators an automated arrival tool to reduce crew loading while increasing situational awareness.
Cessna hit another key milestone in its busy development schedule with the first flight of its new Citation Latitude midsize business jet. The aircraft, which was recently rolled out quietly before employees, flew a little more than three years after Cessna unveiled its first all-new Latitude during the National Business Aviation Association’s annual convention, keeping it on schedule for a 2015 certification.
Legacy airlines in Europe and Asia have long recognized the Persian Gulf carriers as a major threat. Now the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are exploring an open-skies agreement that they hope will help defend their position and stop leakage of traffic to the three big Middle East hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Air France-KLM Group’s combined maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit, bolstered by several new ventures, grew third-party revenues 12% in 2013 to €1.2 billon ($1.7 billion) and is in position to deliver more of the same thanks to a swelling order book.
