News
FAA opens review of Boeing 787 but stands by aircraft’s safety
US regulatory officials have launched a full review of the Boeing 787, with a focus on the aircraft’s electrical power and distribution system, but have not grounded the aircraft. US Dept. of Transportation, FAA and Boeing chiefs emphasized their confidence in the safety of the 787 Friday even as they announced the FAA will lead a “comprehensive review” of the Dreamliner program. A fire aboard a parked Japan Airlines 787 at Boston Logan Airport at the beginning of the week was the latest of a number of safety incidents for which the review will work to find root causes.
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Citilink orders 25 A320neos
Citilink has placed a firm order for 25 Airbus A320neo aircraft, in a deal worth $2.4 billion at list prices. The contract was signed in December 2012 and is the Garuda Indonesia low-cost subsidiary's first direct purchase from the airframer, says Airbus. Airbus did not provide the delivery schedule for the aircraft.
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Singapore Airlines firms A380 and A350 orders
Singapore Airlines has ordered five more Airbus A380s and 20 A350-900s, sealing a deal which was tentatively agreed in October. Airbus says the carrier firmed its commitment in 2012. It raises the A380's backlog to around 165, after the figure dipped to its lowest point in five years. SIA's A380s will be fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.
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USAF committed to new bomber despite declining budgets
Despite a declining budget, the US Air Force is committed to its secretive Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) programme. However, what kind of military capacity the service will be able to offer in the future is an open question. "Long term, we're committed to the long range strike bomber," says USAF Secretary Michael Donley. "We're going to try to keep programmes like that on track. But every programme would be affected if sequestration were to hit."
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JAL's Grounded 787 Leaks Fuel In Tests
Japan Airlines said on Sunday that a Boeing 787 Dreamliner undergoing checks in Tokyo following a fuel leak at Boston Airport last week had leaked fuel during tests earlier in the day. An open valve on the aircraft caused fuel to leak from a nozzle on the left wing used to remove fuel, a company spokeswoman said. The jet is out of service after spilling about 40 gallons (roughly 150 liters) of fuel onto the airport taxiway in Boston due to a separate valve-related problem.
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Two Airlines Suspend Flights To Iran
Two European airlines said they were halting services to Iran, a sign of the crumbling purchasing power of Iranians as their economy buckles under the weight of Western sanctions. Air France-KLM will suspend its Amsterdam-Tehran service starting April 2013, a spokesman for the carrier said. It currently flies to Iran four times a week. Austrian Airlines, a Lufthansa unit, is canceling its services to Iran due to a lack of demand, a spokesman said. The carrier's last flight from Vienna to Tehran will be on January 13.
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Berlin Airport Hits New Snag With Wildlife Threat
The European Commission is considering legal action against Germany over its new airport in Berlin because of environmental concerns, marking a further setback for the project which has been dogged by delays. The European Union's executive, which enforces environmental law, said it had exchanged letters with the German government because the airport's flight paths were different to those endorsed in a EU environmental impact assessment.
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AMR Wants More Time To File Bankruptcy Plan
American Airlines parent AMR has asked a court for more time to file a restructuring plan as part of its exit from bankruptcy. American wants to submit the plan on April 1, twenty days later than the current March 11 deadline, the company said in a Friday filing with the US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
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Air France-KLM hopes to complete A350 deal by 1Q end
Air France-KLM is confident it will complete a long-delayed order of 25 Airbus A350s by the end of the first quarter. “We hope by the end of 1Q 2013, we can make an announcement. The negotiations with Airbus and Rolls-Royce still ongoing,” a spokesperson in Paris said. "We are making good progress in talks with Rolls-Royce and Airbus," CEO Alexandre de Juniac said at news conference earlier this week in Paris. Air France-KLM placed a provisional $7 billion order for 25 widebody A350-900s in September 2011.
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Reports: Nigeria to buy 30 aircraft
The Nigerian government plans to buy 30 aircraft for the nation’s domestic carriers to improve efficiency and lower the cost of air travel, according to media reports. The comments were attributed to Yakubu Dati, corporate communications general manager of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, during an inspection of the renovated Benin Airport Wednesday. Dati said the initiative would replace the former practice of distributing funding direct to airlines, which they had allegedly misused.
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Other News
Russia’s aviation authorities will ban Ukraine’s AeroSvit flights from Jan. 15 because of the carrier’s debt situation. On Jan. 11, Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, said the carrier’s debt for state-owned Air Traffic Management Corp. reached $1.5 million. The agency said the nonpayment cannot be reconciledwith bankruptcy proceedings, which were initiated by the carrier at the end of December, as they do not match Russia’s legislative procedures. Late last year, Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport banned AeroSvit because of the debts but later resolved the conflict.
Boeing has purchased a new site in Salt Lake County, Utah to focus on fabrication of composite horizontal stabilizer components for the 787-9. Boeing Fabrication VP and GM Ross Bogue said the new facility “will provide a real competitive advantage in our supply chain by expanding our internal composite capabilities.” The new site, located 20 miles from Boeing’s fabrication and assembly site in Salt Lake City, was purchased from Masco. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The close proximity of the two facilities will help improve the efficiency from component fabrication to assembly of the 787-9 horizontal stabilizer, Boeing said.
The US FAA is proposing two civil penalties totaling $633,000 against Bridgeton, Mo.-based Trans States Airlines. FAA alleges the airline operated one Embraer E-145 regional jet with improperly installed replacement radio altimeter antenna cables and one E-145 with improperly installed electrical wiring in the fuel supply system. In the first case, the FAA said, “Inspectors found the new cables lying unsecured to the airframe inside each aircraft’s large aft wing-to-fuselage fairing. Inspectors found the old, apparently defective cables still mounted to the walls where the new cables should have been secured to prevent them from chafing.” The proposed civil penalty is $322,000. In the second case, the FAA alleges the electrical wires were spliced too close to the fuel tank. The proposed civil penalty is $311,000. The FAA said it discovered the alleged violations during inspections in 2009, after Trans States returned the leased aircraft to their owner.
Singapore Airlines will invest S$95 million ($77.8 million) to upgrade the interiors of 10 Boeing 777-200ERs with new business class seats and larger inflight entertainment screens. The first upgraded 777 will be deployed on Singapore-Amsterdam service beginning Jan. 13. The second will be deployed on Singapore-Mumbai service starting March 31, with the rest to be gradually introduced throughout fiscal year 2013 and 2014 on service to Auckland, Johannesburg (via Cape Town), Christchurch, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Rome and Sydney. The new Jamco JCL lie-flat business class seats will be fitted in a four-abreast 1-2-1 configuration and are also featured on the carrier’s Airbus A340-500, A380 and Boeing 777-300ER fleets. Singapore will upgrade both its business and economy class with Panasonic’s KrisWorld inflight entertainment systems, featuring a 15.4-in. LCD monitor in business and a 9-in. LCD monitor in economy, up from 6.5 in.
ST Aerospace won $450 million in contracts for airframe, component and engine maintenance and engineering in the 2012 fourth quarter. During the quarter, the company redelivered 165 aircraft for airframe maintenance and modification work and five converted Boeing 757-200 freighters. It processed 9,847 components, 61 landing gears, and 78 engines for both commercial and military customers during the three-month period. The ST Aerospace subsidiary VT Aerospace completed its $13.1 million acquisition of Volant Aerospace during the quarter. The MRO company also broke ground on an $11 million, 3,600 sq. m. narrowbody aircraft hangar at Singapore Changi, which is expected to begin operations by the end of this year’s third quarter.
Lockheed Martin Canada is acquiring parts of Aveos Fleet Performance. It will purchase capabilities to perform “a range of services” on the GE CF34 and CFM International CFM56 engine families from the defunct Canadian MRO provider. “This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of acquiring capabilities that enhance our ability to expand into attractive adjacent market opportunities,” Lockheed Martin CEO and president Marillyn Hewson said. “We … plan to begin engine MRO operations for commercial and military customers later this year.”
US carriers reported an on-time performance (OTP) arrival rate of 85.7% in November, up slightly from 85.3% reported in the year-ago month and 80.2% in October. Airlines reported one tarmac delay of more than three hours on domestic flights and one tarmac delay of more than four hours on international flights in November, according to the US Dept. of Transportation (DOT). The two tarmac delays took place Nov. 7 on flights from New York area airports, where a snowstorm affected the area. The international delay (334 min.) involved a British Airways flight departing from New York Newark Airport and the domestic delay (185 min.) involved a Delta Air Lines flight departing from New York JFK Airport.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines, part of Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Group, has taken delivery of its third Boeing 747-8 freighter. The 747-8F will be used to replace older aircraft and will be deployed on the carrier’s existing network from its Moscow hub. AirBridgeCargo’s fleet now comprises five 747-400ERFs, three 747-400Fs and three 747-8Fs.
Skyworld Aviation has arranged the sale of a Saab 340A Cargo on behalf of Siemens Financial Services of Sweden. Serial number 078 was previously operated by Central Connect Airlines and was delivered to its new owner Dec. 28.
Air Berlin will consider Airbus A321 modifications to operate new routes to Abu Dhabi with its Etihad partner.
Thai Smile, a subsidiary of Thai Airways, will become the first Airbus A320 commercial operator to benefit from Airbus’ flight hour services tailored support package following a contract signed between Thai Airways International and Airbus. The 15-year contract provides an extensive scope of A320 line replaceable units (LRUs) and spare parts availability, LRUs repairs, logistics services, tools availability, APU and nacelle services.
Aviation Quote
No one has ever collided with the sky.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1742...Edmund Halley dies.
---In 1909... Wilbur Wright, his brother Orville and sister Katharine, having just arrived from America, move to Pau in the south of France after completing flying demonstrations at Camp d’Auvers.
---In 1935... United Air Lines decides to equip its fleet with a de-icing system for airplane wings, following successful tests on a Boeing 247.
---In 1936… An American Airlines Douglas DC-2 operating as American Airways Flight 1 crashed near Goodwin, Arkansas, killing all 17 people on board.
---In 1958…Qantas becomes the first foreign airline permitted to fly across the United States.
---In 1960…First flight of the Piper Cherokee.
---In 1961…Final assembly of first Saturn flight vehicle (SA-1) was completed.
---In 1973…A U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161)
off USS Midway (CVA-41) flown by Lieutenant V. T. Kovaleski (pilot) and Ensign D. H. Plautz (radar intercept officer) becomes the last American aircraft lost over North Vietnam when it is shot down by antiaircraft artillery near Thanh Hoa while escorting an Operation Blue Tree reconnaissance mission.
---In 1975…the F-16 Fighting Falcon is announced as the winner of the LWF (Light Weight Fighter) competition.
Daily Video
Thanks to ShanwickOceanic for today’s video.
Editor’s Choice
Humor
ATC
Tower: "Airline XXX, it looks like one of your baggage doors is open."
Captain (after quickly scanning the FE panel): "Ah, thanks tower, but you must be looking at our APU door."
Tower: "Okay, Airline XXX, cleared for takeoff."
Captain: "Cleared for takeoff, Airline XXX."
Tower, during the takeoff roll: "Airline XXX, ahh ... it appears that your APU is leaking luggage..."
Trivia
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miamiair wrote:Humor
ATC
Tower: "Airline XXX, it looks like one of your baggage doors is open."
Captain (after quickly scanning the FE panel): "Ah, thanks tower, but you must be looking at our APU door."
Tower: "Okay, Airline XXX, cleared for takeoff."
Captain: "Cleared for takeoff, Airline XXX."
Tower, during the takeoff roll: "Airline XXX, ahh ... it appears that your APU is leaking luggage..."
halls120 wrote:8.
vikkyvik wrote:(thanks Gunship 2000....anyone else ever play that game?)
