NewsBoeing starts modifications on ANA and JAL 787s Boeing's maintenance teams started modification works on All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines' (JAL) Boeing 787s on the morning of 22 April. ANA has five Boeing teams at four airports across Japan, each working on a 787 aircraft. Two of these teams are at Tokyo's Haneda airport, where ANA has 10 787s, while the other three teams are each at Narita, Matsuyama and Okayama airports, where ANA has another four 787s in total. The work on another three ANA 787s, one each in Kumamoto, Takamatsu and Frankfurt, is expected to start in May, says an ANA spokesman. The Boeing teams, which have been on standby in Japan since early April, will be installing containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries. They will also replace the batteries and their chargers with modified components, he adds.
LinkLinkFAA clears 787s to re-enter service within a week The Boeing 787 grounding could be lifted with 100 days of the US Federal Aviation Administration's order on 16 January, or within a week. The US FAA approved on 19 April Boeing's solution to the thermal and electrical failures that caused lithium-ion batteries on two 787s to dangerously overheat. Boeing was preparing to release a service bulletin a few hours later that authorised airlines to install an improved battery. Installation kits pre-positioned in bonded Boeing storage facilities around the world could now be released to the 50 787s currently parked in nine different countries. The next step in the process requires the FAA to issue a new airworthiness directive (AD) to supersede the order that grounded the 787s until the battery problem was resolved to the agency's satisfaction.
LinkFAA approves 787 battery changesThe US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Boeing's improved 787 Dreamliner battery design, clearing the way for the twinjet to return to commercial service more than three months after it was grounded. The agency says today it will issue instructions next week to 787 operators for installing the modified battery design on their aircraft. It will publish in the Federal Register the final directive to allow the twinjet to return to service, which will take effect upon publication. "The FAA will require airlines that operate the 787 to install containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries, and to replace the batteries and their chargers with modified components," it says. FAA administrator Michael Huerta says a team of certification specialists from the agency "observed rigorous tests" by Boeing and "devoted weeks to reviewing analysis of the design changes to reach this decision."
LinkBoeing drops 747-8 production to 1.75 per month Boeing has decided to slow production of the 747-8 later this year in response to weak demand for large freighter and passenger aircraft. Monthly output of the 747-8 Freighter and passenger-carrying Intercontinental will slow to 1.75 per month in early 2014, a 12.5% reduction from the current rate of two per month.
LinkLufthansa Cancels 1700 Flights On MondayLufthansa said it will cancel almost 1700 flights on Monday, mostly on domestic and short-haul European routes, as a result of planned strike action by thousands of workers calling for higher pay. Verdi, representing 33,000 staff at the airline, announced the strike action on Friday to put pressure on Lufthansa management to make a better pay offer. The union said the offer put forward by Lufthansa on Wednesday was "scandalous." As with previous strikes, Lufthansa cancelled mainly short-haul flights in order to keep more profitable long-haul flights in the air.
LinkIsraeli Airline Workers Strike Over Open SkiesWorkers at Israel's three main airlines began an open-ended strike on Sunday in protest at the government's plans to ratify an open skies deal with Europe they see as a threat to their jobs. Supporters of the open skies deal say its relaxation of restrictions and quotas on flights between Israel and European Union countries would increase competition, lower prices and boost Israel's tourism industry. But Ofer Eini, the head of Israel's Histadrut union, said the agreement could leave Israel's airlines struggling to compete with their European counterparts and cost about 17,000 jobs.
LinkJFK Terminal Evacuated Over PackageA terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport was evacuated temporarily on Sunday to investigate a suspicious package, officials said. The package, which turned out to be a tube of toothpaste, was found shortly after 4 pm EDT in the baggage room area of Concourse B in Terminal 4, said Chris Valens, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After about 90 minutes, the terminal was re-opened.
LinkIsraeli Cabinet OKs Europe Open Skies DealIsrael's cabinet on Sunday approved an open skies agreement to boost airline traffic to and from Europe, defying a strike by workers at El Al and two smaller airlines who fear the greater competition with foreign airlines will cost them jobs. Israel's flag carrier El Al responded to the strike and government vote by announcing it would ground flights at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, until further notice. Supporters of the open skies aviation deal - which will go into effect in April 2014 - say its relaxation of restrictions and quotas on flights between Israel and European Union countries will increase competition and help Israel's economy.
LinkIROPS The New SOP? The U.S.'s largest pilots union is warning its members that "irregular operations" (IROPS) could become the new normal as the FAA pushes ahead with its plan to furlough employees, including air traffic controllers, for a day every other week. The Airline Pilots Association International (ALPA), which filed suit against the FAA Friday, along with industry trade groups, to try to halt the furlough plan's implementation says the FAA itself is saying the furloughs could be more disruptive than a summer cold front barreling into the Eastern Seaboard. "The FAA has told airlines that on average, the furloughs could delay twice as many flights as during the most heavily storm-disrupted days last year," an ALPA memo says (PDF). It also says the reduced staffing could routinely delay 6,700 flights daily at the country's 13 busiest airports, which, of course, can spread to every corner of the air transportation system. It also notes that others are predicting relatively minimal impact on the system as a whole.
LinkPilots And Airlines Sue FAA The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) joined by two airline trade groups Friday filed a lawsuit against the FAA hoping to stop air traffic controller furloughs scheduled to begin Sunday. The FAA believes the furloughs will save $200 million of the $637 million that sequestration requires the agency to cut before November. ALPA, Airlines for America, and the Regional Airline Association believe the cuts will lead to delays that will ripple through the system. The FAA doesn't necessarily disagree.
LinkDoolittle Raiders Share "Last" Public MeetingOf eighty men, three of the four surviving members of Doolittle's Raiders, all now living their ninth decade, met publicly -- and, they say, for the final time -- during the week of April 15, at Eglin Air Force Base, to commemorate the 71st anniversary of their April 18, 1942, one-way mission to bomb Japan. The three members present were 97-year-old Col. Richard Cole; 91-year-old Staff Sergeant David Thatcher; and 93-year-old Lt. Col. Edward Saylor. The fourth surviving member, 93-year-old Lt. Col. Robert Hite, was unable to attend the reunion. All of the men had trained for the mission at Eglin in the winter of 1942. And this year Cole was afforded a flight (and reportedly flew a good portion of it, including the landing) in a B-25 owned by Larry Kelley. The men say they toast each year to the comrades who shared their mission and have since passed. But they have decided a special toast will now come sooner than originally planned.
LinkALPA Fights for FFDO Funding on Program’s 10th AnniversaryAdministration proposal to eliminate funding threatens security for airline passengers, cargo.
April 12, 2013 - The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) is fighting an Administration proposal to eliminate funding for the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, a key layer in aviation security, on the same day the Association commemorates the program’s success on its 10th anniversary.
LinkUS Federal Court denies Beechcraft bid to stop work on USAF Light Air Support contract The US Court of Federal Claims denied Beechcraft's lawsuit seeking to overturn a US Air Force decision to bypass a stop work order on the Afghan Light Air Support (LAS) contract on 19 March. Beechcraft had filed suit in federal court on 21 March after the USAF ordered Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) and partner Embraer to continue working on the LAS programme despite a protest to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Normally, a protest lodged with the GAO automatically freezes work on a contract, however the USAF says that the LAS programme is both "time sensitive" and "crucial" and therefore it had no choice but to proceed.
LinkIndonesia to have 16 Su-27/30s by end of 2013Indonesia plans to have a full squadron of 16 Sukhoi Su-27/30 fighters by the end of 2013. Jakarta received two Su-30MK2s in February 2013, and expects four more by the end of the year, says deputy defence minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. These six were originally ordered in December 2011. The Indonesian air force's current Sukhoi fleet comprises 12 aircraft: two Su-27SKs, three Su-27SKMs, two Su-30MKs, and five Su-30MK2s, with the latter including the two aircraft delivered earlier this year.
LinkAustralian F-35A mock-up to explore electromagnetic issues Australia has unveiled a full-scale model of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter that will be used to study electromagnetic environmental effects on the airframe. The model is located at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's (DSTO) laboratory in Adelaide, Australia's Department of Defence says. "This study is a significant part of ensuring the protection of the JSF against electromagnetic environmental effects such as lightning and static discharge which can impair the performance and safety of aircraft," says Warren Snowdon, minister for defense science and personnel.
LinkUSA to approve V-22 sale to Israel The USA is about to approve the sale of Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor transport aircraft and Boeing KC-135 tankers to Israel, according to industry sources, who indicate that the proposed deals are part of a larger package of agreements which also concern the planned sale of advanced weapon systems to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The wide-ranging deals are designed "not just to boost Israel's capabilities, but also to boost the capabilities of our Persian Gulf partners so they, too, would be able to address the Iranian threat," says one US source. New equipment will "also provide a greater network of coordinated assets around the region to handle a range of contingencies," the official adds.
LinkF-35A operating costs to exceed F-16, official says Operating costs for the conventional take-off and landing version of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are expected to be roughly 10% greater than those of the Lockheed F-16. According to the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan, who leads the tri-service effort, provided some preliminary numbers to the Dutch parliament comparing costs per flying hour between the two aircraft on 18 April.
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