All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 71
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NewsNew lessor AviLease reaches sustainable fuel tie-up with Saudi firm
Newly-established Saudi Arabian lessor AviLease has reached a provisional agreement for production and distribution of sustainable fuel in the kingdom. AviLease emerged in the middle of last year, part of a Saudi government initiative to broaden its air transport reach. The lessor says it has signed a memorandum of understanding ...
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NewsSAS seeks court approval to cut more jets from restructured fleet
Scandinavian carrier SAS is continuing with its fleet restructuring by seeking to cut another pair of leased aircraft. The airline, which is under US Chapter 11 protection, is looking for court permission to shed an Airbus A330-300 and an A321neo. It has identified the A330 in court papers as MSN1660, ...
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NewsAirbus rounds off year with A350 freighter and A330neo orders
Airbus long-haul activity picked up slightly in the closing weeks of last year, with the airframer recording an order for four A350 freighters from an undisclosed customer. It also booked 10 A330neos from lessor Avolon and a pair of A350-900s from a client identified simply as ‘financial institutions’ during December. ...
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NewsAirbus misses full-year delivery target by nearly 40 aircraft
Airbus delivered 661 commercial aircraft last year, falling nearly 40 short of a conservatively-revised target as the airframer grappled with supply-chain issues. The deliveries comprised 60 A350s – after accounting for a pair whose delivery to Russian carrier Aeroflot was cancelled – plus 32 A330s, 516 A320-family jets and 53 ...
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NewsWizz Air UK to axe operations at Cardiff base
Budget carrier Wizz Air UK is to withdraw from its base at the UK’s Cardiff airport before the end of January, closing the only remaining routes to Milan and Bucharest. The airline had already reduced its schedule from the Welsh capital and says its operations will “cease permanently” from 25 ...
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NewsVirgin Orbit begins investigating failed inaugural UK satellite launch
Virgin Orbit has started an investigation after the inaugural UK launch of a satellite from a carrier aircraft ended in failure when the rocket – having been successfully dropped – did not reach orbit. The modified Boeing 747-400 had departed the south-west UK’s Newquay airport, which has been designated as ...
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NewsPobeda 737 suffers runway excursion as it commences take-off from Perm
One of Russian budget carrier Pobeda’s Boeing 737-800s has suffered a runway excursion during departure from Perm. Video footage circulating on social media, purportedly taken during the incident, shows the aircraft – bearing registration RA-73294 – at a standstill on snowy ground, with passengers disembarking by stairs. The aircraft had ...
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NewsEmirates starts returning reconfigured A380s to service
Middle Eastern carrier Emirates has returned to service the first Airbus A380 to undergo an extensive interior retrofit, which will be applied to 67 of the type. The initial airframe (A6-EVM) has been re-introduced to the route from Dubai to London Heathrow. Emirates says the aircraft has been “completely refurbished” ...
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NewsBartini eVTOL undergoes windtunnel tests in Moscow
Russia’s Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute has been supporting development of a tiltrotor eVTOL through windtunnel testing. The Bartini Design proposal has four 10-bladed rotary fans – two fore and two aft – and is intended to convey two to four passengers at speeds up to 160kt, and have a range of ...
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NewsComplexity of eVTOL designs leads EASA to study modelling for certification support
Europe’s safety regulator is to explore the expanded use of modelling and simulation to support certification of future eVTOL aircraft, given that the broad variation in designs makes assessment by flight-testing alone impractical. Part of a wider programme evaluating the effects of digital transformation on aviation processes, the project aims ...
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NewsRussian regulator approves domestic wing and engines for MC-21
Russian civil aviation regulators have approved the switch to a domestically-produced composite wing and engine on the Irkut MC-21. Irkut has developed the -310 variant of the MC-21 which is powered by the Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine, while Russian industry is also supplying composite wing components to replace foreign-built equivalents on ...
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NewsAir Cairo introduces E190s in progress towards 30-aircraft fleet
Egyptian carrier Air Cairo is aiming to build a fleet of 30 aircraft by March this year, having introduced three Embraer 190s as part of its modernisation programme. The airline received the twinjets through Egyptian company CIAF Leasing, based in the country’s capital, which took delivery of the aircraft in ...
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NewsRevised software to curb risk of A220 dual-engine shutdown on landing
Airbus A220 operators are being instructed to update engine-control software which revises logic to prevent a dual-engine shutdown on landing. The revision followed an incident in which an Air Baltic A220-300’s powerplants both shut down automatically as the aircraft landed in Copenhagen on 11 July 2021. According to the US ...
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NewsStick-shaker response shows Ethiopian 737 Max crash crew stressed from outset: BEA
French investigators believe the crew of the Ethiopian Boeing 737 Max which crashed nearly four years ago experienced rapidly-developing stress from a stick-shaker alert on take-off, even before they found themselves fighting against the aircraft’s MCAS stabiliser-trim system. Investigation authority BEA has highlighted crew failings which began when the loss ...
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NewsUncertainty remains over ALAFCO fleet as shareholders back asset sale to Macquarie
Shareholders of Kuwaiti lessor ALAFCO have backed a proposal to sell over 50 aircraft from the company’s portfolio to Macquarie Airfinance Group, as the lessor acknowledges that it could ultimately divest more. The shareholder meeting on 27 December resulted in nearly 88% of interests voting in favour of the transaction, ...
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NewsController cleared 737’s take-off from occupied runway during long solo shift
Portuguese investigators have found that a Boeing 737 was granted take-off clearance on an occupied runway by a controller who had worked alone and uninterrupted, in a unified approach and tower position, for 4h before the incident. The ASL Airlines Belgium 737-400 was departing Porto on 27 April 2021, its ...
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NewsIsrair reaches binding deal to sell ATRs to foreign carrier
Israeli operator Israir has signed a binding agreement to sell a pair of ATR 72-500s, which will leave it with an all-Airbus A320 fleet. The carrier says it sealed the agreement on 29 December, adding that they will be transferred to a “foreign airline”, without elaborating on its identity. Israir ...
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NewsEl Al finance chief stepping down after two years
Israeli flag-carrier El Al’s chief financial officer, Yitzhak Eliav, is to step down from his position by the end of the first quarter of 2023. Eliav was named as the head of the airline’s finances in January last year. He formerly held senior executive positions at fabric specialist Avgol Industries ...
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NewsA330 wing-tip carved into protruding tail after crew tried to skirt round 777
Nigerian investigators have determined that a Middle East Airlines Airbus A330-200 crew vainly attempted to skirt round an incorrectly-parked Boeing 777-300ER, instead of stopping and requesting guidance, before the two aircraft collided. The Turkish Airlines 777 had not been moved to the correct gate position at Lagos, and was left ...
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NewsEthiopian inquiry rejects bird-strike theory for angle-of-attack sensor failure on crashed 737 Max
One of the aspects of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crash which had remained unclear during the investigation was the cause of the original angle-of-attack sensor malfunction that initiated the accident sequence. The sensor suddenly failed during the take-off run from Addis Ababa on 10 March 2019, transmitting flawed ...