AZERBAIJAN A319 DAMAGED IN ISTANBUL
No injuries were reported in a runway incident at Istanbul Ataturk airport in which an Azerbaijan Airlines Airbus A319 (4K-AZ04) suffered the loss of its nose-gear. Flightglobal's ACAS database shows that this A319 is a five-year old airframe fitted with CFM International CFM56 engines.
AIR INDIA SEEKS LIFT DURING 787 WAIT
Air India may lease mid-sized aircraft while awaiting the delayed arrival of its Boeing 787s, which are to replace its Airbus A310s. Reports point to a possible lease of 10 A330s, but the carrier says no decision has been made on the aircraft type. Air India has 27 787s on order for delivery from the first quarter of 2011.
AIR LAWS UPDATE BID TO RAISE ISRAEL'S RATING
Safety Israel is legislating to change its safety oversight system structure to regain Category 1 status under the US Federal Aviation Administration's International Aviation Safety Assessment Programme next year. Anachronistic aviation laws are partly to blame for the FAA's January 2009 downgrade to Category 2 (fail).
AUSTRALIA STICKS WITH HERON UAVS
Australia will continue operating Israel Aerospace Industries Heron unmanned air vehicles in Afghanistan until at least December 2011, following extension of a lease contract with Canada's MacDonald, Dettwiler. The Australian Defence Force flew its first Afghan Heron mission for NATO last January.
COLOMBIAN DRUGS COPS EYE BLACK HAWKS
Colombia has made a US Defense Security Cooperation Agency request to buy nine more Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopters in a $162 million deal to support its counter-narcotics and armed forces modernisation efforts.
SAS GROUP SEARCHES FOR NEW CHIEF
SAS Group has started the search for a new chief executive after Mats Jansson steps down in the autumn, ahead of the expiry of his contract next year. He has overseen the restructuring of the group under the "Core SAS" programme which has aimed to stabilise the company after years of losses.
ISRAEL TO ISSUE RFI FOR HEAD-OF-STATE AIRCRAFT
VIP transport Israeli is poised to issue a request for information for a government and head-of-state aircraft. The country is thought to be interested in the purchase or lease of a Boeing 767-sized airliner.
RUSSIAN COMPOSITE VENTURE AIMS FOR EXPORT
In a bid to develop Russian composite technologies to international standards, United Aircraft's AeroComposites unit hopes to launch a $80-100 million composite airframe production centre with a "foreign partner" to produce airframes for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 and Irkut MS-21 from 2012 or early 2013.
CHINESE MRO TO FEATURE AT ASIAN AEROSPACE
China's official industry organisation for air transport maintenance is to support the Asian Aerospace 2011 event in Hong Kong next March through the promotion of a new China MRO pavilion at the show. Asian Aerospace is organised by Reed Exhibitions, a sister company to Flight International's publisher.
Source: Flight International
