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European Union votes to postpone Brexit until Oct. 31
Britain’s aerospace industry has cautiously welcomed the European Union’s approval to postpone the UK’s exit from the EU, or Brexit, by six months. European leaders backed British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request to push back the Brexit process until Oct. 31 during late night meetings in Brussels April 10. The British parliament has so far been unable to find consensus on the Withdrawal Agreement drawn up between the EU and the British government, prompting the ...
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US Sen. Markey introduces ‘Safety is Not for Sale Act’
US Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) has introduced legislation that would prohibit aircraft manufacturers from charging airlines extra for safety-critical systems.
Known as the “Safety is Not For Sale Act of 2019,” the proposed bill includes two key features that some industry watchers say could have prevented two recent crashes of Boeing 737-800 MAX 8 aircraft that caused international regulators to ground the global fleet of the type earlier in March.
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Chao defends FAA ODA program, MAX certification
US Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary Elaine Chao defended the FAA’s practice of delegating certain safety and certification activities to manufacturers in the wake of the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, telling lawmakers the program is “not a self-certification process.”
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Boeing has completed 96 flight tests of 737 Max software update
Boeing has completed 96 test flights of 737 Max aircraft equipped with the flight control software update it hopes will persuade regulators to lift the aircraft’s grounding.
Chief executive Dennis Muilenburg says those flights equate to 159h of time in the air for the tweaked software.
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Embraer bags MRO deals from African and European carriers
Embraer has won three separate maintenance agreements from Air Botswana, Spanish carrier Binter and Mauritania Airlines.
Binter Canarias has signed a multi-year support agreement for three on-order Embraer 195-E2s, which are scheduled to be delivered from the second half of this year.
LinkAirlines
Jet Airways sees new bidder interest, extends deadline to April 10
Potential bidders have emerged for a strategic stake in India’s Jet Airways, prompting the airline’s creditors to extend a deadline for expressions of interest (EOI).
A consortium of creditors led by the State Bank of India (SBI) issued an EOI invitation for potential investors on April 8 and set a deadline of April 10 for responses.
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JetBlue to fly from New York and Boston to London in 2021
JetBlue Airways intends to launch multiple daily flights to London from its New York and Boston hubs, marking the New York-based carrier’s first foray into the crowded transatlantic market. The new routes, which the airline hopes to launch by 2021, will be served by Airbus A321LR single-aisle aircraft that will enable JetBlue to enter into long-haul markets not previously accessible with its single-aisle aircraft.
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Jet Airways suspends international operations: Reports
Jet Airways has suspended all international operations until further notice, according to Indian media reports citing sources.
Citing Indian channel CNBC-TV18, Moneycontrol said that the airline has suspended international operations. Earlier, flights to Amsterdam, Paris and London had been cancelled for two days due to lack of funds. In a statement to Moneycontrol, Jet denied any suspension of operations.
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MRO Americas: WestJet reshuffles cabin mods to manage MAX groundings
Canadian LCC WestJet Airlines is managing the Boeing 737 MAX grounding in part by re-shuffling its cabin-modification schedule, pulling 737 Next Generation (NG) models out of planned upgrade lines and subbing in MAXs.
The Calgary-based carrier operates 13 of the newest 737s, and like the rest of its Boeing narrowbody fleet, the MAXs are part of a cabin-upgrade program tied to the introduction of its 787s earlier this year.
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Firefly to resume Singapore service from April 21
Malaysia Airlines Group’s LCC subsidiary Firefly will resume commercial operations into Singapore from April 21 following the settlement of an airspace dispute between Singapore and Malaysia government.
In December 2018, the turboprop carrier was forced to suspend its 20 daily flights to Singapore after the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) disputed Singapore Seletar airport’s instrument landing system (ILS) procedure, which CAAM said would disrupt developments over Pasir Gudang.
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Brazil’s Azul to add 21 aircraft in 2019, raising capacity up to 20%
Azul Brazilian Airlines expects a total capacity growth of 18%-20% this year, consisting of a 16%-18% increase in domestic capacity and a 20%-25% rise in international capacity.
Azul is scheduled add 12 A320neos for domestic routes, three A330neos for international routes and six Embraer E195-E2s in 2019. At the same time, the airline plans to phase out 15 E195s.
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Air Caraïbes to take third A350 as passenger growth increases 7%
Air Caraïbes reported a 2018 net profit of €10.4 million ($11.9 million), down 13% from €12 million in the previous year. Full-year revenue was up 10.9% to €482 million.
The French Caribbean carrier transported 1.6 million passengers, up 7% on 2017. Load factor also improved to 85.9% compared with 84.2% in 2017.
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PICTURES: Smartavia shows off new colours on 737
Newly-rebranded operator Smartavia, formerly Nordavia, has shown off the first aircraft to carry the airline’s revised colour scheme.
The Boeing 737-800 (VP-BEV) arrived at St Petersburg following a service from Arkhangelsk on 10 April.
Smartavia will have seven Boeing jets by mid-summer, says chief executive Sergei Savostin.
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India deregisters first Jet Airways 737s
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has processed the deregistration of seven Boeing 737-800s, while it has received requests to deregister 13 more aircraft.
The deregistered aircraft correspond to two 737s managed by Avolon and five from MC Aviation Partners for which requests were made last week.
LinkAirports
Changi opens Jewel complex, completes Terminal 1 expansion
Singapore Changi International Airport has opened its doors to the Jewel complex, a multi-function facility that links Terminal 1, 2 and 3 into a seamless entity.
The completion of Jewel also marks the end of the Terminal 1 expansion (T1E) project that started in parallel with Jewel’s construction since 2014.
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Air New Zealand to build aircraft hangar at Auckland
Air New Zealand will boost its MRO capabilities at its Auckland hub by constructing another hangar, which the carrier says will be the largest in the world built with a single-span timber arch design.
The 10,000 sq-m hangar will be built at the airline’s engineering base at Auckland International Airport.
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MAG confirms bid to operate Sofia Airport in Bulgaria
Seven months after declaring an interest in Bulgaria's Sofia Airport, Manchester Airport Group (MAG) today confirmed that it has made a bid to operate the gateway.
Its undisclosed offer has been made together with Chinese investment partner, the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG).
LinkMilitary
US Marine Corps to add more autonomy to Kaman K-Max helicopters
The US Marine Corps (USMC) plans to retrofit its two Kaman K-Max helicopters with additional autonomous capabilities to further cargo delivery experimentation with the aircraft.
The USMC’s first experiment with the K-Max was in Afghanistan in 2011, where the helicopter completed the service’s first unmanned air vehicle (UAV) cargo delivery in a combat zone.
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ANALYSIS: Autonomous UH-60A Black Hawk to fly in autumn 2019
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is planning to start autonomous flight tests of a Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk in autumn 2019.
Over the course of 2019 and 2020, the Pentagon’s research agency says it will test fly the US Army helicopter with two pilots, one pilot and no pilots using its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).
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Honeywell eyes Malaysia F/A-18D, C-130 upgrade work
Honeywell is eyeing upgrade opportunities for Kuala Lumpur’s Boeing F/A-18D Hornet fighters and Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules tactical transports.
Honeywell has a significant amount of content on the F/A-18Ds that it could upgrade, says company vice-president Tim Van Luven.
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PICTURE: KAI Light Attack Helicopter in engine ground test
Korea Aerospace Industries has conducted the first engine ground test for its developmental Light Attack Helicopter (LAH).
The test took place at the company’s production centre in Sacheon, and marks the last stage of ground tests, says the company. A first flight could happen before the middle of the year.
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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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Aviation Quote
By further reducing the number of legacy airlines and aligning the economic incentives of those that remain, the merger of US Airways and American would make it easier for the remaining airlines to cooperate rather than compete on price on service.
- US Justice Department, part of a lawsuit filed to stop the AA/US Air airline merger, 13 August 2013.
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