CommercialAirlines Look For Ways To Adopt Aircraft TrackingMystified by the loss of Malaysia Airline flight MH370, some airlines will not wait for an industry-wide solution to keeping track of their aircraft in real time, provided products are offered at the right price. The disappearance of MH370 almost three months ago has prompted calls for real-time tracking of planes and even continuous streaming of black box data. "It must not happen again," Tony Tyler, director general of IATA said at its annual meeting in Doha on Monday. IATA, which brings together over 200 airlines accounting for 84 percent of the world's air traffic, is planning to put aircraft tracking proposals to ICAO in September, which in turn says a standard could be in place in two to three years.
LinkIATA Cuts Global Airline Forecast To USD$18 BlnConcerns over China's economic growth and political risks have prompted the airline industry to trim USD$700 million off its global profit forecast for 2014, IATA said on Monday. The Geneva-based International Air Transport Association now expects airlines to make a profit of USD$18 billion this year, down from USD$18.7 billion in its previous forecast in March, but the economic prospects are expected to improve as the year progresses.
LinkBombardier 'Narrowing Cause' Of CSeries Engine FailureBombardier has narrowed its investigation of an engine failure on its new CSeries airliner to a few possible causes and said the test plane could be back in the air quickly if the cause turns out to be what the company suspects. Guy Hachey, president of Bombardier Aerospace, declined on Monday to describe last week's incident in detail, but said the company hopes to understand more later this week. "We are narrowing it down to a few possible causes and we should hopefully, as the week evolves, get to a most likely, if not a root, cause," he told Reuters. "At that point we will be able to talk more about what is the way forward," Hachey said. News of a problem with the plane's newly developed Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engine had sparked fears of a delay in the already-overdue aircraft.
LinkMalaysia Airlines Seeks More Cost-CuttingMalaysia Airlines is stepping up efforts to cut costs to survive, following the disappearance of its flight MH370 which has resulted in the biggest crisis in its 40-year history, a senior executive said. The Boeing 777-200ER, carrying 239 passengers and crew, vanished from radar screens on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. Before the disappearance management had hoped to break even in 2014 after three years of losses but last month it posted a record quarterly loss of MYR443.4 million ringgit (USD$138 million) for the three months ended March 31. The second quarter this year is "a challenge" but the management wants to implement measures that, if successful, could enable the airline to break even in 2015, Hugh Dunleavy, the carrier's director of commercial operations, told Reuters news agency.
LinkRevived Royal Air Maroc ready for first 787sRoyal Air Maroc has returned to profitability and is in growth mode once again as its prepares to take delivery of its first Boeing 787 later this year. The Moroccan flag carrier, which has undergone a severe reshaping programme over the past couple of years, should achieve its third year of profitability in a row in 2014 with traffic growth hitting 9-10%, explains Habiba Laklalech, senior vice-president of RAM. The carrier will take its first of four 787s in December where it will enter service on flights from Casablanca to New York and Montreal, says Laklalech. RAM will boost frequencies on both routes to double daily as the 787s complement its existing fleet of 767-300ERs.
LinkLATAM will lose money during World CupLATAM Airlines Group will lose money during the FIFA World Cup which starts in Brazil this month, says chief executive of Enrique Cueto. He declines to say how much he expects the group, which includes Brazil’s largest carrier TAM, will lose but cites the fact that the country will be in a veritable “country holiday” during the games. The World Cup kicks off on 12 June, with matches spread throughout Brazil over the following month. “There’s huge reductions in business travellers,” says Marco Antonio Bologna, president of TAM Holdings. These travellers will either be home “watching the World Cup” or out of the country during the month of matches. Despite the expected downturn in business traffic, TAM, as well as Avianca Brazil, Azul and Gol, all plan to run extra flights during the event.
LinkLong-endurance Solar Impulse prototype makes first flightSolar Impulse moved a step closer to a planned round-the-world flight next year with the maiden flight on 2 June of the critical second prototype – the first solar-powered aircraft designed to cross oceans. The roughly 2h flight of the Solar Impulse 2 – registered as HB-SIB – from the Solar Impulse base in Payerne, Switzerland, was described as “successful”. Markus Scherdel, who piloted the first flight of the HB-SIA prototype five years ago, landed the second, significantly larger aircraft at 07:40 at the Payerne airport. The second prototype is designed with a 72m (236ft) wingspan, 13.6% larger than the wingspan of HB-SIA.
LinkCockpit vulnerability remains key flight-track issueCockpit deactivation remains a vulnerability yet to be addressed in the IATA debate over flight-tracking spurred by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777. While the inquiry has yet to locate the aircraft and determine the cause of its loss, investigators already suspect that routine systems used for transmitting identification and position data were deliberately disengaged. Qatar Airways chief Akbar Al Baker, in his role as president of the IATA annual meeting in Doha, said that future precautions would mean “nobody on an aircraft will be able to switch off any [tracking] system”. But a consensus has yet to be reached on tracking requirements and the crucial matter of system deactivation. SITA has been promoting a new flight-tracking capability during the IATA show, but acknowledges that its system “can be switched off in the cockpit” – an option designed to protect against fire. It points out, however, that its system will alert airlines more quickly to the possibility of an unexpected deviation from the flightpath.
LinkHawaiian CEO: We will keep order for Airbus A350-800sMark Dunkerley, the CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, said the carrier plans to keep an order for six Airbus A350-800s. "For now, the A350-800 does three things for us: it has long range, it's slightly larger than the A330-200s which we fly now, so it provides for a bit of growth, and it's more fuel efficient, so it represents a hedge on fuel prices," he said.
LinkDelta Air Lines places order for more A321sDelta Air Lines plans to purchase 15 additional Airbus A321 aircraft, bringing its total number of A321s on order to 45. Delivery of the aircraft is slated to begin in 2018, and the value of the order is estimated at $1.65 billion in list prices.
LinkVa.-based PEOPLExpress to debut in June PEOPLExpress, a new airline reviving the name of 1980s low-cost airline, will begin service in June on routes that have been left behind by the bigger airlines as they consolidate service, CEO Jeff Erickson told CNBC on Friday. Starting June 30, PEOPLExpress will begin service from its Newport News/Williamsburg, Virginia, hub with one round-trip flight daily to Pittsburgh and one to Boston, and two daily to Newark, New Jersey. Additional flights from the hub will be added through the summer: West Palm Beach, Florida (from July 15); Atlanta (from Aug. 1); and New Orleans and St Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida, (from Aug. 28.).
LinkIATA forecasts slim profit margins for airlinesThe International Air Transport Association has lowered its forecast for 2014 profits across global carriers by $700 million, to $18 billion. Airline earnings in North America are forecast to post net income of $9.2 billion, slightly more than 50% of the global total.
LinkBoeing predicts smooth transition to 777XBoeing predicts a smooth transition to the next iterations of its 777 aircraft. Boeing has introduced its 777-300ER to bridge the gap until the 777X's debut in 2020. "We are looking at solid demand for the airplane, and we think we can fill the bridge, and that is my job," said John Wojick, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Boeing.
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