All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 77
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NewsFatalities as Precision ATR lands short and sinks in Lake Victoria
Tanzanian carrier Precision Air believes at least 19 fatalities resulted from an ATR 42-500 accident at Bukoba during which the turboprop came to rest submerged in Lake Victoria. The aircraft – identified by the airline as 5H-PWF – had been operating a service, PW494, from Dar es Salaam. Precision Air ...
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NewsIsrair unifying its fleet around A320s after agreeing to sell ATR 72s
Israeli leisure operator Israir has tentatively agreed to sell its pair of ATR 72-500 turboprops, in order to simplify its fleet. Israir intends to unify its fleet based on Airbus A320s. It has six A320s – two owned and four dry-leased – and intends to add a seventh in the ...
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NewsScotland’s Loganair takes more ATRs to replace Saab 340 fleet
Scottish carrier Loganair is to modernise its fleet, phasing out Saab 340B turboprops in favour of additional ATRs. It will introduce eight ATRs for next summer, while shedding its remaining eight 34-seat Saabs by July. The carrier says the Saabs will be replaced with 48-seat ATR 42s. Loganair states that ...
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NewsIsraeli carrier Israir lines up bid for Czech operator Smartwings
Israeli leisure carrier Israir has identified Czech budget operator Smartwings as the target of a takeover offer. Israir, which was acquired by an investment firm last year, had disclosed earlier this year that it was participating in a private process with a view to acquiring the entire share capital of ...
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NewsKenya Airways insists ‘unlawful’ pilot strike will undo efforts to bring down costs
Kenya Airways estimates that a strike by its pilots set to start on 5 November will cost around KSh300 million ($2.5 million) a day. The airline has condemned the industrial action by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association, describing it as “unlawful”. “This unfortunate action may affect both our passengers, who ...
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NewsConfirmation bias over incorrect altitude put executive jet at risk of terrain collision
French investigators have emphasised the risk of confirmation bias following an incident in which a Cessna 525 executive jet suffered a simultaneous failure of an air-data system and the left-side primary flight display. Immediately after take-off from Paris Le Bourget on 14 August 2020 the left-hand primary display blanked, prompting ...
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NewsEmbattled Flyr optimistic of positive earnings from mid-2023
Norwegian carrier Flyr is optimistic that its revised business plan will be sufficient to nurse the airline through the winter season, and that earnings margins will start to turn positive from June next year. Despite a strong summer market, Flyr turned in a third-quarter operating loss of NKr231 million ($22 ...
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NewsFlyr seeks NKr530m through share issues to relieve ‘very strained’ finances
Norwegian budget carrier Flyr is looking to reinforce its financial position with share placements which would potentially raise NKr530 million ($50 million). This scheme comprises a private placement for NKr430 million and a possible subsequent placement, for those unable to participate in the private issue, aimed at raising another NKr ...
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NewsIsrael’s El Al repays $45m state loan
Israeli flag-carrier El Al has repaid a state loan of $45 million advanced to the carrier as part of a financial support package. The airline, which had indicated in September that it would be repaying the loan two years ahead of schedule, says the transaction was completed on 2 November. ...
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NewsGreater consideration of risks might have averted BA 787 nose-gear collapse
UK investigators believe a British Airways Boeing 787-8 nose-gear retraction accident at London Heathrow might have been prevented if health and safety risks in an airworthiness directive had been given greater attention by the operator. The accident occurred when a nose-gear locking pin was inserted in the wrong location on ...
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NewsRussian lessor GTLK renegotiates debts with several carriers
Four Russian carriers have renegotiated lease debts with the state lessor GTLK, in the wake of pressure from sanctions and the aftermath of the pandemic. IrAero and Azimuth, along with the regional operators SiLA and Aeroservis, have settled debts on “mutually beneficial terms”, says the lessor. It adds that the ...
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NewsRolls-Royce to hike spare-engine sales to reinforce fleet resilience
Rolls-Royce large civil engine flying hours are gradually increasing but still remain about one-third down on pre-crisis levels, the company has disclosed. The flying-hours figure reached 65% of 2019 levels in the four months to the end of October, and 62% for the year so far. Rolls-Royce says this is ...
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NewsFuel-price pressure prolongs Royal Jordanian’s financial misery
Royal Jordanian Airlines edged into a third-quarter operating profit, with a surplus of JD5.3 million ($7.4 million), but net losses for the quarter and the nine-month period were worse than last year’s figures. The flag-carrier generated revenues of JD452 million for the nine months to 30 September – including JD363 ...
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NewsPilots did not clarify control after SriLankan A330 inadvertently pushed into descent
Investigators believe a SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-300 lost considerable altitude during an in-flight upset after one of the pilots nudged the sidestick during cruise, disconnecting the autopilot and pushing the jet into a descent. While the inquiry does not specify the reason for the “sharp nose-down input” by the first ...
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NewsSAS seals renegotiated fleet leases with more lessors
Scandinavian operator SAS has secured additional agreements with lessors to change the terms of lease contracts as part of its restructuring programme. SAS is operating under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the court is overseeing progress with the carrier’s ‘SAS Forward’ re-organisation initiative. The restructuring crucially requires amendments to ...
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NewsWizz returns conflict-stranded Airbus to service and awaits return of others
Central European budget carrier Wizz Air has returned to service one of the four Airbus jets stranded in Ukraine as a result of the conflict. The rescued aircraft, an A320, was retrieved from the city of Lviv on 13 September, and flown to Katowice in Poland. Wizz says “no significant ...
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NewsWizz Air seeks to offset choppy currency impact as operations stabilise
Budget carrier Wizz Air has shifted towards euro-denominated lease contracts as part of a strategy to counter the effects of economic conditions. The airline has turned in a first-half operating loss of €63.8 million ($63 million) for the six months to 30 September. But a net foreign-exchange losses amounting to ...
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NewsGovernment pays arrears and takes over fleet loan after Kenya Airways default
Kenya’s government has stepped in to pay Kenya Airways debts after the airline defaulted on a loan agreement for aircraft and engine acquisitions. The government is also set to take over the loan in the current 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the country’s treasury. In an annual public debt management ...
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NewsKuwait Airways looks to acquire freighters as fleet modernisation advances
Kuwait Airways is looking to take advantage of increasing cargo demand with the acquisition of dedicated freighters for its fleet. Speaking to FlightGlobal at the Arab Air Carriers Organization conference in Abu Dhabi, chief executive Maen Razouqi said he believed the airline could support up to five freighters. “We don’t ...
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NewsFinal flights scheduled as Doncaster Sheffield airport nears closure
Attempts to prevent the closure of the UK’s Doncaster Sheffield airport appear to have failed, with the final passenger service set to arrive from Hurghada on 4 November, and a positioning flight departing for Manchester just after midnight on 5 November. Leisure carrier TUI, the airport’s remaining based airline, will ...