All ON BOARD AIR MOOREA TWIN OTTER FEARED DEAD
ACCIDENT All 20 people on board an Air Moorea de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 are feared dead after the aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Moorea island in French Polynesia on 10 August. The aircraft (F-OIQI) was operating a service to the French Polynesian capital Papeete, on the main island of Tahiti with 19 passengers and one pilot on board. The airline says the twin turboprop crashed 1.85km (1nm) from the end of the runway.
BOEING 787 FIRST FLIGHT DATE SLIP REPORTED
SCHEDULE Boeing has reportedly pushed back first flight of its 787 from the end of September into October, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper. The report cites the complexity of installing and integrating various systems on the 787 as the main issue. Meanwhile Rolls-Royce has received European and US certification for the 787's Trent 1000 powerplant. The engine will power the 787 on its first flight. Meanwhile General Electric says that approval of the 787's alternative engine, the GEnx, is on schedule for September.
AIRLINES WELCOME SCRUTINY OF UK'S BIGGEST AIRPORT OWNER
COMPETITION The International Air Transport Association's director general Giovanni Bisignani has welcomed the news that the owner of almost all the UK's biggest airports BAA is to be investigated by the Competition Commission. He says the commission "has confirmed what every traveller through a BAA airport knows: that it desperately needs fixing, and fast". He adds: "The current airport structure and regulatory system is not working. Lack of investment by the BAA airport monopoly is delivering embarrassingly low service levels on everything from security wait-times to baggage delivery and almost everything in between." Bisignani points out: "We cannot wait a year to start improving. [London] Heathrow traffic is down 1.7% while the rest of the world is growing. The unfortunate reality is that passengers are avoiding the mess at Heathrow and this impacting the UK's competitiveness."
ENDEAVOUR LAUNCHED FOR ITS FIRST MISSION SINCE 2002
LAUNCH Last week NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched successfully from Kennedy Space Center's launch complex 39A at 18:36 local time on 8 August for its first mission since 2002. The 11-day mission, STS-118, will deliver the International Space Station's S5 starboard truss segment, 2,600kg (5,800lb) of cargo and test the orbiter's new Space Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS). The SSPTS was fitted to Endeavour during its 24-month Orbiter Maintenance Downtime Period that started in December 2003. It enables Shuttles to draw 2kW from the ISS, reducing the orbiter's fuel cells' power load, increasing on-station time to 12 days. If Endeavour's SSPTS works STS-118 might be extended. Shuttle Discovery has also had the SSPTS fitted. Endeavour's last mission was STS-113, which took place from 23 November to 7 December 2002.
AGUSTAWESTLAND WORKERS DOWN TOOLS OVER PENSION SCHEME CHANGES
STRIKE Workers at the AgustaWestland UK helicopter plant at Yeovil, Somerset held the first of four planned 24h strikes over company plans to close its final salary pension scheme to new employees and change calculation of pensionable pay due to the scheme's deficit. "We are very disappointed that industrial action is being taken over two remaining issues," says Westland. Colin Rose, regional officer of the Unite trade union, says: "If implemented, these changes would have the combined effect of reducing the value of contributions already made and creating a two-tier workforce at AgustaWestland...our members are determined to protect these two fundamental principles."
ABU DHABI GETS INTO SATELLITE BUSINESS WITH $1.6BN CONTRACT
COMMUNICATIONS A $1.66 billion telecommunications satellite constellation design, construction and management contract has been awarded to a joint team of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. To be launched after the second quarter 2010, the constellation, for the new Abu Dhabi-owned Al Yah Satellite Communications company, will consist of ground infrastructure and two operational satellites, YahSat 1A and YahSat 1B. Expected to operate for 15 years Yahsat will offer broadcasting services, including high definition television, internet trunking via satellite, corporate data networks and back-hauling services for telecom operators in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and south-west Asia.
Source: Flight International
