Hawaiian Airlines set March 11 as the launch date for its new Ohana turboprop subsidiary, as regulators have finally completed the approval process that delayed its introduction. FAA-required proving flights are finished, and the appropriate certification has been granted, a Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. Two ATR-42s bearing the Ohana livery and configured for 48 passengers have arrived in Honolulu, and a third is due “in the next couple of months.”
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Statistics, 12 Months Ended September 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Aircraft Stage Seats/ Aircraft Carrier In Fleet
The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, are aiming to strengthen their cooperation on civil aviation, with both sides affirming an interest to create an open skies between the regional blocks and ultimately seek convergence of the regulatory frameworks.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs, 12 Months Ended September 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Cost Per Block Hour
ExpressJet has upgraded four Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets with WAAS-equipped GPS units as part of an FAA pilot program to fly localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) instrument approaches on routes between the U.S. and Mexico.
SINGAPORE — Russia ensures a strong presence at the Singapore air show this year as United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) brings the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft and the Yak-130 advanced jet trainer. UAC represnets the merger of Soviet-era legacy Russian aerospace giants into a single, vertically integrated corporation.
The Airbus A350 flight test program is going much better than expected, according to the company’s Senior Vice President Flight and Integration Tests Fernando Alonso, with the two test aircraft flying around 100 hours per month—nearly twice as many as in previous programs.
Bombardier has delivered a third CSeries airliner to the flight-test program as firm orders pass the 200 mark with the purchase of an additional three CS300s by an unidentified existing customer. With the total now standing at 201 aircraft, the company has targeted 300 firm orders by entry into service, planned for the second half of 2015 for the initial 110-seat CS100, and six months later for the 135-seat CS300.
FRANKFURT – Lufthansa has named Carsten Spohr as the new group CEO. Spohr, 47, will replace Christoph Franz who is becoming chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche.
LAM Mozambique is to take four Boeing 737-700s, which could ultimately be used to create LAM International, and is planning to acquire its first dedicated freighter for the launch of joint venture company LAM Logistics. Maputo-based LAM has ordered three Boeing 737-700s and taken purchase rights on a further three, in a deal valued at $228 million at list prices. The order, which was announced on Feb. 5, was signed in November 2013 and allocated to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s order book.
Singapore’s aviation regulator has stepped up inspection of Indian carriers following the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to downgrade India’s air safety rating. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) says that Indian carriers will need to address any major findings of deficiency and safety risks spotted during safety audit operations in order to continue operations in the city state, according to an official of the Indian Civil Aviation ministry.
Rockwell Collins wants to reproduce its joint-venture strategy in new business opportunities with Chinese industry, and views its new Tianjin flight-simulator partnership as a prototype. Opportunities should be created by new and upgraded Chinese civil aircraft, resulting in local development and production before turning to the international market, says Colin Mahoney, senior vice president of Rockwell Collins’s international business.
American Airlines Group (AAG) is sticking with first quarter guidance that has it boosting passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) 2% to 4% in the period after boosting revenue passenger miles (RPMs) 3.8% in January on a 2.3% increase in available seat miles (ASMs). Reporting the combined American Airlines and US Airways operational results, the carrier saw a 2.9% boost in domestic RPMs and a 6.7% increase in international RPMs. The mainline network flew 4.2% more RPMs, while the regionals combined to drop 0.1%.
Singapore-based regional LCC Scoot will use its first 787 aircraft—a 787-9 due for delivery in November—on routes that include Japan, Taiwan and Australia, Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson tells Aviation Week. Wilson adds that the expanding northeast Asia market will suit the new aircraft’s capability—and better help feed into the carrier’s increasingly close ties to its Singapore-based narrow-body LCC cousin, Tigerair. “The links we are establishing with Tiger will take us to a higher level in the region,” he says.
Virgin Australia has signaled that it will record a substantial loss for the six months through Dec. 31, confirming that upcoming earnings reports for this period will make grim reading for both of Australia’s major carriers.
FAA is calling “implausible, if not simply preposterous,” the city of Santa Monica, Calif.’s arguments on why its lawsuit over control of Santa Monica Airport (SMO) should continue. The city on Oct. 31 filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to control the fate of SMO, saying it has “unencumbered title to the airport property and its availability ... to use the airport property as it chooses.” If successful, the city would have the option to close the airport after July 2015.
FAA, which has faced substantial criticism over its lengthy certification processes, released guidance to simplify approvals for a key safety instrument for general aviation aircraft. The new streamlined procedures for angle of attack (AOA) indicators are part of a multi-faceted effort by FAA and the general aviation community to improve general aviation safety. The units, which are not required equipment on general aviation aircraft, measure the angle between the wing and oncoming air, providing a warning of low airspeed and potential for stall.
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is urging FAA to rethink its approach to aircraft weight and balance requirements, saying the new approach is better suited for scheduled carriers.
Ethiopian Airlines is poised to order 20 narrowbodies within six months, which could see it upgrade to Boeing 737 MAXs or switch from its all-737 narrowbody fleet to a dual fleet with the introduction of A320neos.
Allegiant Air, no stranger to the upgauging trend sweeping through U.S. fleets, is giving its Airbus A319s rave reviews, and plans to stick with a fleet growth strategy that will soon see the carrier have more of the smaller Airbus narrowbodies than A320s, executives report. After adding two A320s last month, the carrier is up to seven of the 177-seat Airbus narrowbodies and three 156-seat A319s.
The Transportation Department watchdog is criticizing FAA’s policy on aircraft registration, saying the agency still does not have the information it needs on non-U.S. citizen trusts (NCTs). FAA in June released a policy clarification that culminated a multiyear effort to tighten the use of NCTs to improve the accuracy, transparency and timeliness of aircraft registration information.
DUBAI — Lufthansa Technik and UTC Aerospace Systems have expanded their Boeing 787 component agreement to include work on interior products , sensors and integrated systems. Their MRO cooperation for Dreamliner components started in 2011 when UTC appointed Lufthansa Technik a licensed 787 MRO provider. Then in November 2013 the two companies expanded their long-term agreement with a rotable-provisioning and MRO service agreement for UTC-manufactured nacelle components. That agreement covers nacelles on GE and Rolls-Royce engines.
