All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 164
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NewsFlydubai counts full-year cost of crisis disruption and Max grounding
Middle Eastern carrier Flydubai has turned in a full-year loss of Dhs713 million ($194 million), but believes its business fundamentals remain strong. The airline’s revenues halved to Dhs2.8 billion in the 12 months to 31 December 2020. Flydubai says its operations were “severely curtailed” for 14 weeks, from 24 March ...
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NewsZeroAvia suffers setback as field landing wrecks Piper test aircraft
Low-emission aviation firm ZeroAvia is investigating the circumstances of an accident which badly damaged its test aircraft. The aircraft, a Piper M350, has been retrofitted with a hydrogen-electric propulsion unit and conducted its first hydrogen fuel-cell-powered flight in September last year. ZeroAvia says it made an “safe, off-airport landing” in ...
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NewsIcelandair Group reaches tentative agreement to sell tour operator
Icelandair Group and tour specialist Nordic Visitor have reached a heads-of-terms agreement over the sale of the group’s entire shareholding in tour operator Iceland Travel. The company, which wholly-owns Iceland Travel, disclosed earlier this year that it would divest the division as part of its focus on core flight operations. ...
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NewsAirbus parks second Beluga as larger XL variant takes over
Airbus has parked a second A300-600ST Beluga transport following the introduction of the higher-capacity BelugaXL. The airframer withdrew one of its five -600STs – the Beluga 2 aircraft, F-GSTB – last October, placing it into temporary storage. Airbus tells FlightGlobal that it has similarly stored another aircraft, Beluga 1 (F-GSTA), ...
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NewsLondon City airport switches to remote digital tower operations
London City airport has switched over to a remote digital control tower, with its operations controlled from a facility located at the southern UK’s en route centre in Swanwick. Controllers at Swanwick, which is 115km south-west of the airport, have access to live video and other information relayed from a ...
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NewsCargo proves strong as Icelandair awaits passenger traffic recovery
Icelandair Group has highlighted cargo activity as a strong performance area in the first quarter, a period in which the company generated a net loss of just over $30 million. Revenues for the first three months of the year reached $57.3 million, a decline of 73%, but the company points ...
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NewsAirbus signals intention to address ‘weak’ presence in freighter market
Airbus has signalled that it intends to reinforce its participation in the freight sector, after admitting that it has a relatively poor presence in the market. The airframer only has a single dedicated freighter, the A330-200F, in its aircraft range, having previously ceased production of the older A300-600F and opting ...
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NewsAirbus yet to decide on future of Cadiz aerostructures site
Airbus is yet to clarify the future of its Spanish plant at Puerto Real in the Cadiz region, following the decision on re-organisation of its aerostructures business in France and Germany. The Puerto Real facility depends heavily on twin-aisle production, manufacturing horizontal stabiliser boxes for the Airbus A350 and A330 ...
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NewsFaradair names former Boeing figure Tinseth to lead hybrid-aircraft advisory board
UK electric aircraft start-up Faradair has recruited former Boeing commercial aircraft vice-president of marketing Randy Tinseth to head its advisory board. It has also signed up former EasyJet executive Tony Anderson to the panel. Faradair says it has made the appointments to “help steer the company through its next phase ...
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NewsAirbus commercial aircraft earnings improve over first quarter
Airbus’s commercial aircraft earnings improved over the first quarter, despite a 4% fall in revenues for the division. The airframer turned in EBIT earnings of €343 million ($416 million) for the three months to 31 March, on revenues of €7.27 billion. Its adjusted EBIT reached €533 million, compared with the ...
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News737 Max operators to check for transducer corrosion after storage
Operators of Boeing 737 Max jets are being instructed to check a subcomponent of the engine control system for potential corrosion, which could result in reduced thrust control. The 737 Max family is exclusively powered by CFM International Leap-1B engines. As a result of the near two-year grounding of the ...
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NewsAvianca Holdings chief Van der Werff selected to lead SAS
Latin American airline operator Avianca Holdings’ head, Anko Van der Werff, is to take up the position of chief executive of Scandinavian flag-carrier SAS by mid-July. Van der Werff will succeed Rickard Gustafson, who will relinquish his position in May and hand control in the interim to chief commercial officer ...
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NewsAirbus and LHT to develop A330 temporary pallet-cargo interior
Airbus is to develop a temporary A330 cargo-transport scheme enabling operators of the twinjets to remove seats and carry industry-standard pallets on the main deck. The scheme will be developed through a supplemental type certificate in co-operation with German maintenance and modification specialist Lufthansa Technik. Airbus says the programme – ...
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NewsFinnair reviewing timeframe for single-aisle modernisation
Finnair intends to adopt temporary measures to manage its single-aisle fleet after putting narrowbody modernisation plans on hold while the pandemic crisis persists. Prior to the pandemic the airline had been discussing particularly the introduction of Airbus A320neos or “similar aircraft” from other suppliers, said chief executive Topi Manner during ...
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NewsUK lifts ban on PW4000-powered 777s
UK regulators have withdrawn an operating ban on Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Boeing 777s, two months after it was imposed following the serious engine failure on a US aircraft. The operational restriction was introduced on 22 February. Two days earlier a United Airlines 777-200 suffered a fan-blade fracture over Denver ...
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NewsBaikal completes airframe of utility aircraft to replace An-2
Russia’s Baikal Engineering has completed manufacture of a prototype airframe for the LMS-901 utility aircraft, which is intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-2. The aircraft is being designed to transport up to 2t of payload with a range of 800nm (1,500km) and a cruising speed of 160kt. It ...
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NewsAirbus formally lists highest-weight A350-1000 at 319t
Airbus has formally listed its highest weight variant for the A350-1000, which will have a maximum take-off weight of 319t. This version of the twinjet, designated as weight variant WV006, is 3t heavier than the previous 316t variants WV002 and WV011. Fuel capacity of the new variant remains the same ...
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NewsFinnair hikes cost-base reduction target for a third time
Finnair is raising a permanent cost-savings target a third time, to €170 million ($205 million), more than double the original figure unveiled last year. The company had stated in May 2020 that it was aiming for €80 million in cost-base reductions from 2022, compared with 2019 levels. Over the next ...
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NewsEASA approves virtual-reality simulation for R22 training
Creators of a flight-simulation trainer for rotorcraft pilots have obtained the first European certification for a virtual-reality system. The trainer is designed to enable pilots to practice risky manoeuvres in a virtual environment, says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. It has been developed by VRM Switzerland for the popular ...
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NewsSaudia and Gulf Air tighten ties with codeshare
Middle Eastern carriers Saudia and Gulf Air are to enter a co-operation agreement which will include a codeshare between the two airlines. The codeshare will take effect during the summer schedule. Saudia says the tie-up will involve placing its ‘SV’ designator on Gulf Air’s services from Bahrain to Riyadh and ...