All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 197
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NewsAerospace and automotive firms channel expertise into medical ventilators
Airbus, Rolls-Royce and other aerospace and automotive engineering firms are participating in a consortium to respond to a UK demand for medical ventilators, as part of the effort to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Production is set to commence this week, following development of a design intended to meet high-level medical ...
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NewsEasyJet parks entirety of fleet after completing rescue services
UK budget carrier EasyJet has opted to ground the remainder of its aircraft fleet, after completing hundreds of repatriation flights in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. It has also reached an agreement to furlough cabin crew for a two-month period from 1 April, paying them through a UK government ...
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NewsThai A350 descended below 670ft while still far from Frankfurt runway
German investigators have detailed an approach incident in which a Thai Airways Airbus A350-900 descended to less than 670ft above ground while still nearly 6.5nm (12km) from touchdown at Frankfurt Main. The aircraft (HS-THF) had been inbound from Phuket, at night but in good visibility, on 1 January. While descending ...
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NewsAirbus uses A330 tanker to fly coronavirus air bridge
Airbus is deploying additional aircraft including an A330 tanker conversion airframe to provide flight support for medical supplies from China to Europe. The aircraft, an A330-200 (EC-338), has been undergoing conversion as a multi-role tanker transport, for the French Air Force, according to Cirium fleets data. Airbus says the Rolls-Royce ...
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NewsUK airspace visualisation illustrates coronavirus impact on traffic
UK air navigation service NATS has illustrated the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the country’s air traffic through a comparison with airspace activity a year ago. It has visualised aircraft movements on 25 March 2020, when 1,415 flights were handled, against the 6,224 flights on same date in 2019. ...
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NewsUK ground-handlers urge help to preserve cash-flow and staff
UK ground-handling firms have collectively urged the government to take measures to help them preserve cash and maintain their workforce, warning that they will otherwise be unlikely to maintain operations through the coronavirus crisis period. In a letter to UK chancellor Rishi Sunak and transport secretary Grant Shapps, four major ...
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NewsLanguage barrier highlighted after Hop CRJ incursion averted at Lyon
French investigators have highlighted the part played by language differences during a serious conflict incident in which a landing Hop Bombardier CRJ700 was cleared to cross a runway while an EasyJet Airbus A319 was taking off. The A319 had been cleared, in English, to take off from Lyon’s runway 35L ...
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NewsRolls-Royce cools UK civil aerospace activity for a week
Rolls-Royce is to shut down its UK civil aerospace operations for a week, from 27 March, as part of its response to the coronavirus crisis. The manufacturer says it will “significantly reduce” all but essential activity within its civil aerospace facilities. Workers will continue to be paid, it stresses. Defence ...
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NewsGround-handler Menzies halves active workforce as airline operations evaporate
Ground services firm Menzies has temporarily halved its active global workforce, as it assesses the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on its operations. The company – which has some 32,000 personnel, across 34 countries – says it has reduced its headcount by 17,500, although it stresses that these are not ...
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NewsSafran reinforces finances as outbreak exacerbates Max misery
French aerospace firm Safran has enhanced, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, measures it had already been implementing in response to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. Safran’s activities include production of the CFM International Leap-1B engines for the Max as well as the Leap-1A powerplants for the ...
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NewsEl Al awaits state funding decision after halting passenger flights
Israeli flag-carrier El Al has opted to suspend all remaining passenger flights, as it awaits potential government financial support. El Al says the suspension, on 26 March, will continue until 4 April. It will continue to provide rescue and repatriation services as well as freight flights, some of which will ...
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NewsAn-225 returns to flight after modernisation
Antonov has restarted flights with the An-225 outsize transport, after a period of absence during which the aircraft underwent modernisation. The design bureau says the aircraft has commenced a series of test flights following installation of a domestically-designed power management and control system. Departing from the Gostomel airfield near Kiev ...
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NewsParis Orly to shut as European airports gradually quieten
European air traffic data shows that the coronavirus outbreak has effectively set the continent’s airspace back by more than a quarter of a century, to flight levels not experienced since the early 1990s. Statistics from pan-European air navigation organisation have already shown that daily flight totals have more than halved, ...
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NewsAirbus temporarily cuts wing production at UK and German sites
Airbus is to roll back wing production at its UK and German plants, to bring wing supply into line with demand at its final assembly lines. Production at its UK wing sites at Broughton and Filton, as well as its high-lift operation in Bremen, will be reduced for three weeks, ...
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NewsA320neo overbooking will help steer Airbus through crisis: Faury
Airbus believes its policy of overbooking orders will give the airframer a degree of flexibility to manage the impact of the coronavirus crisis on its production and delivery processes. Chief executive Guillaume Faury says the single-aisle backlog, over 6,200 A320-family jets, includes a “significant level” of overbooking which is “providing ...
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NewsUK air transport representatives try to calm concerns over government aid
UK airline and crew interest groups are trying to allay concerns over planned government support to the industry after confusion emerged over the nature and extent of financial measures for the sector. Pilot union BALPA insists that recent suggestions that the government is backpedalling on plans to assist the industry ...
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NewsSouth African shutdown heaps pressure on bedevilled Fastjet
African budget carrier Fastjet, already under substantial financial pressure, is having to cope with the additional burden of the coronavirus outbreak after the South African and Zimbabwean governments imposed travel restrictions. Fastjet Group, which has been working to sell its Zimbabwean arm, says the South African government is locking down ...
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NewsAutothrottle contributed to Belavia 737's long landing and overrun
Ukrainian investigators have determined that the autothrottle of a Belavia Boeing 737-300 was left active before the aircraft touched down long and overran at Kiev Zhulhany. The jet had been operating from Minsk on 12 July last year, and had been descending in darkness and rain to Kiev’s downtown airport. ...
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NewsAirbus sees indications of gradual Chinese traffic recovery
Airbus believes there are initial signs of air transport recovery from the coronavirus outbreak in China, from where the first contagion wave spread. Its Tianjin facility had briefly shut production when the outbreak emerged, but has since resumed manufacturing, although Chinese airline operations remain significantly affected. Speaking during a briefing ...
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NewsAirbus assessing production impact as outbreak pressure intensifies
Airbus is evaluating potential impact of the coronavirus outbreak on production, particularly for twin-aisle aircraft, and acknowledges that it might have to store aircraft as tightening restrictions obstruct deliveries. But the airframer is emphasising that it retains a strong backlog, especially in the single-aisle sector, which will help to reduce ...