NewsCommercial
Rolls-Royce agrees to new Trent 1000 TEN inspection regime
Rolls-Royce has agreed to a new inspection regime for its Trent 1000 TEN engines powering the Boeing 787. The earlier inspections have been prompted by the discovery of deterioration in the high pressure turbine (HPT) blade in what Rolls-Royce calls a “small population” of the TEN engines and follows Singapore Airlines’ decision to ground two of its 787-10s for inspections on the HPT blades.
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MRO Americas: MAX groundings to have aftermarket ramifications
The unexpected removal of more than 400 new narrowbodies from the global fleet via the Boeing 737 MAX grounding is sure to have repercussions in the aftermarket, but predicting them is proving challenging.
Regulators grounded the 376-aircraft MAX fleet in March after the second fatal 737 MAX 8 crash in less than five months.
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L3 Commercial Aviation debuts new line of CVRs, FDRs
L3 Commercial Aviation announced a new line of cockpit voice and flight-data recorders (CVR/FDR) designed to meet the 2021 European mandate for CVRs with a minimum of 25 hrs. of recording time.
L3 said the SRVIVR25 product line includes five models based on functionality, aircraft wiring types and mounting options, and includes CVRs, voice and data recorders and FDRs. The FDR units are capable of 50 hrs. of recording time, the company said.
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Airbus grows BelugaXL fleet to six
Airbus is adding a sixth BelugaXL to its internal fleet of large cargo transports to ensure the system is capable of future production rate increases.
The company is about to introduce the first of the aircraft, a heavily modified A330, to routine operations later this year. The aircraft flew for the first time in July 2018 and is currently undergoing compatibility and verification tests at Airbus’ various sites.
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MRO Americas: Joint efforts needed to attract, retain mechanics
Airline maintenance operations, conscious of the need to keep the pipeline of technical workers flowing, are putting effort into attracting and retaining mechanics, but opportunities exist to expand efforts by combining them, a top Delta executive said.
“Each of us are doing things individually, but I don’t think we’re doing enough as a group,” Delta Tech Ops president-MRO services Jack Arehart said, issuing a call-to-action during a roundtable discussion at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas.
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Investor files class-action suit against Boeing and executives
A Boeing stock-buyer has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the company and two top executives for allegedly misleading investors about issues involving the 737 Max.
The suit says Boeing, chief executive Dennis Muilenburg and chief financial officer Greg Smith touted the 737 Max’s safety, and its sales and growth prospects, following the October 2018 crash of a Lion Air 737 Max.
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VIDEO: Flaris LAR 1 personal jet takes flight
Metal Master's Flaris LAR 1 got airborne for the first time on 8 April and has now completed a number of sorties from the airframer's flight-test base at Zielona Gora airport in western Poland.
The milestone has come just under six years after the launch of the five-seat personal jet, which is the first offering from a family of high-performance, lightweight, low-cost business aircraft planned by Metal Master.
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EASA to order Trent 1000 TEN checks over blade deterioration
Rolls-Royce is to advise Boeing 787 customers of an accelerated inspection regime for Trent 1000 TEN engines, after the discovery of premature blade deterioration on some powerplants.
The Trent 1000 TEN is the latest version of the powerplant – with around 180 in service – and had not been affected by durability concerns on earlier variants of the engine.
LinkAirlines
FDR analysis of Ethiopian MAX crash supports vane detachment, incorrect procedures
As the investigation continues into the causes of last month’s Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX accident, sources close to the probe say flight data recorder (FDR) data firmly supports the supposition that the aircraft’s left angle-of-attack (AOA) sensor vane detached seconds after takeoff and that, contrary to statements from the airline, suggests the crew did not follow all the steps for the correct procedure for a runaway stabilizer.
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Norwegian to delay Airbus deliveries in cost-cutting move
Norwegian Air Shuttle’s leasing arm has reached an agreement with Airbus to postpone deliveries of Airbus A320neo and A321LR aircraft as part of an ongoing drive to reduce costs and boost profitability, cutting capital expenditure by $570 million over two years.
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IAG’s Level opens base at Amsterdam Schiphol
International Airlines Group’s (IAG) Vienna-based LCC Level opened a base at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport April 7, with services to London Luton, Rome Fiumicino and Vienna. All routes will be operated by Austria-registered Airbus A320/A321s.
Level will take over the majority of the current existing LCC Vueling routes from Amsterdam.
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Lufthansa Aviation Training invests $100 million in simulators
Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT) is investing €89 million ($100 million) in pilot training equipment, in response to Lufthansa’s fleet strategy plans.
By mid- to late-2020, two Boeing 777-9 full flight simulators (FFSs) are scheduled to go into service in Frankfurt and one Airbus A350 XWB FFS in Munich.
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Vietjet exceeds net profit target for 2018 on 27% revenue boost
Vietnam’s Vietjet Air has revealed another profit increase the fast-growing LCC says puts it well ahead of its earnings target for the past two years.
Vietjet reported a net profit of VND5.3 trillion ($228.5 million) for 2018, up 4% from VND5.1 trillion in 2017.
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Routes Europe 2019: EasyJet ‘turns Berlin orange’
A rapid expansion effort and high-profile brand campaign is “turning Berlin orange” since European ultra-LCC easyJet—famous for its bright orange livery—acquired the Tegel Airport assets of former airline airberlin.
Since finalizing a €40 million ($45 million) deal in December 2017 for the assets of airberlin, which went into insolvency, easyJet has built two Berlin bases, operating 25 Airbus A320s from Tegel and 12 from Schönefeld.
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Routes Europe 2019: Warsaw remains key to LOT’s network growth
LOT Polish Airlines will launch a number of new long-haul routes this year, including Warsaw-Miami in June, but its strategy remains to focus on Central and Eastern European markets.
Speaking at the Routes Europe 2019 conference in Hannover April 10, LOT director network planning and scheduling Robert Ludera said most of its more than 100 routes were from its Warsaw hub and when the airline evaluates new markets, it looks at them on the basis of how they will evolve on a point-to-point basis and for their potential connectivity from Warsaw Chopin International.
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MRO Americas: Spirit Airlines to expand fleet, upgrade interiors
Spirit Airlines is planning a fleet expansion and is “in the market for a fleet order,” according to Spirit VP-technical operations Kirk Thornburg. Speaking at this week’s 2019 MRO Americas conference, Thornburg said the Fort Lauderdale-based ultra-LCC recently completed its first-round of request for proposals for aircraft.
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SilkAir reduces frequencies, postpones fleet plans on MAX groundings
Singapore Airlines (SIA) subsidiary SilkAir is cutting frequencies on two routes this month because of the grounding of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft; the airline is also postponing the transfer of some Boeing 737NGs to LCC Scoot.
SilkAir operated six 737-8s, which were included in the global grounding of MAX aircraft that followed two high-profile crashes.
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JetBlue 'confident' of accessing London airports
JetBlue Airways says it is confident of gaining access to slot-constrained airports in London, as it commits to launching service across the Atlantic in 2021.
The New York-based carrier says it is evaluating "multiple" airports in London for its service. "For commercial reasons we will hold that a bit closer to the vest, but we are confident we have a path into multiple London airports," JetBlue chief commercial officer Marty St George tells FlightGlobal.
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JetBlue converts to 13 A321LRs, commits to London service
JetBlue Airways will convert 13 aircraft in its Airbus A321neo orderbook to the A321LR, and launch its first transatlantic flights to London in 2021.
The New York-based carrier, which announced the plans to employees at an event today, will configure its A321LRs with a larger Mint premium cabin than what it currently offers on the Mint A321s that operate on US transcontinental routes and some Caribbean flights.
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Delta hastens exit of McDonnell Douglas fleet with MD-90 plans
Delta Air Lines is accelerating retirements of its Boeing MD-90s, hastening the exit of the former McDonnell Douglas narrowbodies from US fleets.
"We expect to accelerate the retirement of our MD-90 fleet," says Paul Jacobson, chief financial officer of the Atlanta-based carrier, during a quarterly earnings call today. The move will drive roughly 0.5 percentage points of unit cost (CASM) growth in the second quarter, he adds.
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VIDEO & PICTURES: Emirates completes Expo 2020 Dubai livery
Emirates has finished painting 40 aircraft in bespoke "Expo 2020 Dubai" liveries, rolling out the final Airbus A380 in the eye-catching orange "opportunity" decal from the Emirates Engineering hangar in Dubai.
LinkAirports
UAF: Cutting airport tariffs ‘endangers French airport model’
A body representing French airports has criticized a decision by a French airport watchdog to cut airport charges at Nice Cote d’Azur airport, saying it calls into question the French airport model and regulation of the sector needs to be overhauled.
Airport charges have long been a controversial topic in France, with airlines claiming high costs affect their ability to remain competitive and the airports calling for a revamp of airport regulation during the year-long government summit on air transport that took place last year.
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Monarch's former assets at Birmingham and Luton up for sale
Work has begun to dispose of the aircraft engineering assets at Birmingham and London Luton airports of former UK carrier, Monarch Airlines.
Avison Young has been appointed to market Monarch Aircraft Engineering’s 280,000sqft property portfolio on behalf of the Joint Administrators, David Pike, Ben Leith & David Standish at KPMG.
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Airports demonstrate their commitment to combating wildlife trafficking
Schiphol, Kenya, and Galapagos have signed the Buckingham Palace Declaration to show commitment against one of the five most lucrative global crimes.
Senior representatives of the Royal Schiphol Group, Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Galapagos Airport have demonstrated their commitment to combat wildlife trafficking by signing the United for Wildlife (UFW) Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration.
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Gatwick prepares for the summer rush with 10 new routes
Ahead of the nearly 17 million passenger seats booked from Gatwick this summer, the airport has added 10 new routes to its portfolio.
London Gatwick has revealed the summer travelling trends of UK holidaymakers and this summer’s fastest-growing destinations.
Long-haul destinations making the top 10 fastest-growing list from Gatwick include Doha and Buenos Aires, up 51 per cent and up 68 per cent on summer 2018 respectively.
LinkMilitary
Northrop awarded $3.2bn for 24 additional E-2Ds
The US Navy (USN) has awarded Northrop Grumman a $3.2 billion multiyear procurement contract for the purchase of 24 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) aircraft.
This is the second multiyear procurement contract awarded to Northrop Grumman for the E-2D. The USN awarded the first contract in 2014 for the production of 25 E-2D aircraft, which Congress later increased to 26 aircraft.
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Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme to get new director
President Donald Trump nominated US Air Force Major General Eric Fick for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as director of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme.
Fick currently serves as deputy executive officer for the programme, which is based in Arlington, Virginia. He will replace US Navy Vice Admiral Mathias Winter, who has served as the programme’s director since May 2017. The Department of Defense (DoD) did not say when Fick would take over.
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Aviation Quote
Now, there are two ways of learning to ride a fractious horse: one is to get on him and learn by actual practice how each motion and trick may be best met; the other is to sit on a fence and watch the beast a while and then retire to the house and at leisure figure out the best way of overcoming his jumps and kicks. The latter system is the safer, but the former, on the whole, turns out the larger proportion of good riders. It is very much the same thing in learning to ride a flying machine.
- Wilbur Wright, from an address to the Western Society of Engineers, Chicago, 18 September 1901.
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