CommercialVietJetAir Orders Up To 100 Airbus AircraftLow-cost Vietnam airline, VietJetAir, placed an order for up to 100 Airbus A320-family aircraft, the latest entrant seeking to tap into a booming Southeast Asian market. The airline placed a firm order for 63 aircraft and 30 options and will lease the remainder, VietJetAir officials said at a signing ceremony with Airbus at the Singapore Airshow on Tuesday.
LinkBoeing Struggling With 787 Production BottlenecksA 787 that rolled out of Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, in January was hailed as an important milestone: the first Dreamliner built at a rate of 10 a month, the fastest for a twin-aisle jet. But some employees who work on the aircraft are calling into question Boeing's ability to sustain that pace. They say the two factories that assemble the 787 are struggling to cope with a ramp-up in production that started late last year, and a huge backlog of unfinished work threatens to slow output. Boeing's plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, cannot finish thousands of work orders and is sending pieces to the larger plant in Everett to be completed so that the company can maintain its 10-a-month rate, according to four employees who spoke on condition of anonymity. A work order can be as simple as attaching a part or as complex as installing a duct system.
LinkEmirates To Ground Planes During Dubai Runway WorkEmirates plans to ground 19 or 20 aircraft from May because of runway construction work at Dubai Airport, the airline's president Tim Clark said on Monday. That number of planes represents around 10 percent of the airline's fleet. The work is expected to be finished by July 20, Clark told reporters.
LinkGuyana Warns Of Caribbean Air Flight ThreatAuthorities in Guyana and the US Embassy there have warned of an unspecified "threat" to Caribbean Airlines flights out of the South American nation. Extra security measures were put in place at Cheddi Jagan Airport outside the capital Georgetown, but the Trinidad and Tobago-based airline was operating normally on Monday with a flight to New York departing at dawn. "The officials assessed the threat and put in place a number of measures to prevent any untoward occurrence," the airport authority said in a statement late on Sunday.
LinkTesting on agenda as A350 makes public debutAirbus has integrated testing and pilot demonstrations into the A350’s excursion to the Singapore air show, which marks the public debut for the big twinjet. The aircraft at the show – MSN3 – is one of the two A350-900s currently engaged in the flight-test programme operating from Airbus’s Toulouse headquarters. The positioning to Singapore flew via Doha in Qatar to enable the aircraft to be shown off to launch customer Qatar Airways, says Airbus chief test pilot Peter Chandler. “We took the opportunity of coming via Doha to spend a few days there as Qatar Airways is the launch customer,” he says. “We did integrate some warm weather tests there and we’re doing a bit of testing here.”
LinkComac to start final assembly of first test C919 this year Chinese airframer Comac is targeting to start final assembly of its first test C919 aircraft by the end of the year. Speaking to Flightglobal on the sidelines of the Singapore air show, Dang Tiehong, its deputy general manager for sales and marketing says aircraft structural data has been distributed to suppliers, and that the aim is for the jet's structure to be delivered to Shanghai for final assembly this year. He adds that most of the aircraft's systems have also gone through the critical design review, and that manufacturing is ongoing. "We aim to finish airframe assembly of the first test aircraft by year end, and next year to start assembly of the systems," says Dang.
LinkVolaris leases 16 A320neo family aircraftMexican low-cost carrier Volaris has leased 16 new Airbus A320neo family aircraft, including its first larger A321neo. The aircraft are split between 10 A320neos and six A321neos with deliveries from 2016 to 2018, according to the carrier. They will be equipped with Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines. “These 16 aircraft together with the existing orders underpin the Volaris growth strategy by having a young, efficient and uniform fleet,” says Enrique Beltranena, chief executive of Volaris, in a statement. “Early delivery of next generation, fuel efficient Airbus A320neo and A321neo will allow us to maximize the use of airport slots in key markets and continue to further reduce our operating costs.”
LinkBoeing predicts strong demand from Asia-Pacific for aircraftBoeing predicts demand for $1.9 trillion worth of jets over the next two decades for the Asia-Pacific region. "Over the next 20 years, nearly half of the world's air traffic growth will be driven by travel to, from or within the region," said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft manufacturer forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 12,820 additional jets over the time period.
LinkIATA urges standard rules on unruly passengers A rare, once-a-generation diplomatic conference is planned for next month in a bid to update international law on dealing with unruly passengers. Likely to be held in Montreal, Canada, the headquarters city of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the diplomatic conference is the culmination of a five-year process to revise the 50-year-old Tokyo Convention, a process triggered by an International Air Transport Association (IATA) proposal in 2009. Reported unruly-passenger behavior incidents have increased dramatically since records started to be kept by IATA in 2007, passing 6,000 incidents in 2011, the most recent year for which IATA has disclosed data. In 2008, barely 1,000 incidents were reported to their Safety Trend Evaluation, Analysis & Data Exchange System (STEADES) database.
LinkUnited, union reach agreement on flight attendantsUnited Airlines and the union representing United flight attendants reached an agreement last week to avoid furloughs. "We are pleased we came to an agreement that will benefit our flight attendants," United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said. More than 675 flight attendants faced furloughs before the deal was struck with the Association of Flight Attendants.
LinkRoomier seats coming to US AirwaysFor an added fee, passengers on US Airways flights will have the option of getting a seat with a little more legroom, thanks to the American Airlines Group's decision to extend that American Airlines practice to US Airways following the two companies' merger.
LinkAmerican Airlines reports traffic increase for Jan.American Airlines Group reported a 3.8% increase in passenger traffic for January on a year-over-year basis. The carrier's load factor also rose to 80.3% for January, compared to 79.1% for the same month last year.
LinkThousands of U.S. airline pilots eager to return to U.S. The largest pilots union in the U.S. wants to refute the supposed myth that there is an airline pilot shortage, and in the process of doing so the Air Line Pilots Association conceded that there is a pilot shortage. In a press release, ALPA made its case for the absence of a pilot shortage by pointing out: 1,154 of its member pilots are currently furloughed from jobs with their former airline employers. Nearly all of the 850 experienced pilots who got their walking papers when Comair Airlines ceased operating in 2012 are seeking employment. 800 pilots became jobless when ASTAR, Evergreen and Ryan airlines recently shut down. So that means some 2,800 formerly employed U.S. pilots are seeking to pick up a paycheck somewhere.
LinkColumn: Southwest trumpets end of Wright AmendmentColumnist Mitchell Schnurman said Southwest Airlines is promoting the end of the Wright Amendment in October. "Travelers and Southwest will benefit from being free to fly anywhere from Love," he writes. However, he notes Southwest has grown from its roots as a "sassy upstart."
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