Boeing Delivers First 737 With Performance Improvement Engines

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NTSB joins investigation of Boston airport collision

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U.S. court upholds use of airport body scanners

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Hail damage causes more Denver flight cancelations

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US Airways Captain Escorted From Airport

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Spain launches airport sell-off

New General Aviation Terminal at Schiphol-East opened for use

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AMR Announces Largest Aircraft Order in History With Boeing and Airbus 

Agreement includes options and purchase rights for 465 additional aircraft through 2025

American to be first U.S. network carrier to take delivery of Airbus A320neo Family aircraft and first airline to commit to Boeing's expected new 737 family offering

Lufthansa commences daily biofuel flights with A321

Late-night Flights to Bermuda Now Come at a High Price

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Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) has completed the installation of full flat-bed seats

Mach 4 Supersonic Bizjet To Be Revealed at Paris Show

June 16, 2011

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Philippines’ Cebu Air places $3.8 bln Airbus order

 

Philippine budget carrier Cebu Air Inc will buy 37 planes from Airbus for $3.8 billion as it looks to more than double its fleet over the next 10 years and expand its routes, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday.

Lance Gokongwei told reporters Cebu Air has put in orders for 30 new A321neos and seven A320s from Airbus, a unit of France’s EADS , with delivery between 2015 and 2021.

The order is in addition to 18 A320s the Cebu Pacific is set to receive from the second half of this year up to 2014.

“This is the largest single aircraft order ever made by a Philippine carrier,” Gokongwei said, adding it was also the largest firm order for the A321neo in the world.

“We expect to launch a flight using A321 by 2017,” he said. “We will be able to serve cities in Australia, India, and northern Japan, places the A320 cannot reach.”

The airline plans to use internally generated cash and may seek loans from export credit agencies and commercial lenders to fund the purchases.

Cebu Air, which operates the country’s largest budget airline Cebu Pacific, is a unit of Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc .

The airline expects to at least meet its target of flying 12 million passengers this year, up 14 percent from last year, despite rising fuel prices. It currently has 33 jets, of which 25 are A320s and eight are turbo prop planes from aircraft maker ATR, jointly owned by EADS and Finmeccanica .

“With the A321neo, Cebu Pacific will be able to fly more people further at significantly lower cost per seat than any other competing aircraft, and with less impact on the environment,” Airbus chief operating officer John Leah said in a statement.

Cebu Air has yet to make an engine choice for the A321neo, but the choices open to it are CFM International’s LEAP-X and Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower PW1100G.

The A321neo, the largest model in the recently launched A320neo series, uses new engines and large wing-tip devices called sharklets that would allow Cebu Pacific to achieve 15 percent reduced fuel burn, a statement from Cebu Air said.

Airbus presents a panoramic view of 2050

A350-900 first flight pushed back to end-2012

Eritrean volcanic eruption threatens Middle East flights

Air travel disruptions from Chile volcano spread across South Pacific

 

The impact on air transport of the recent eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range was relatively limited and short-lived, compared with the fall-out from an Icelandic volcano’s eruption last year in northern Europe.

Disruption to air traffic in South America caused by the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle range of volcanoes in Chile spread to Australia and New Zealand over the weekend, after shifting winds had initially allowed flight activity to return to normal throughout most of South America within four days of the June 4 eruptions in an area 500 miles south of the capital Santiago.

Airlines started flying a backlog of more than 60,000 passengers into and out of international gateways in Australia and New Zealand today as the ash cloud that had drifted eastward across the Southern Hemisphere began to clear. However, most flights between Australia and New Zealand remained grounded today, while schedules in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil continued to feel the effects of the volcano after airlines there thought they had escaped long-term disruptions by the middle of last week.

By the evening of June 7 the rapid spread of volcanic ash had caused disruptions to flights between Chile and Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. In Argentina, only around 60 flights had to be cancelled at Buenos Aires’s Ezeiza and Aeroparque airports, which lie about 800 miles northeast of the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle range. After resuming normal operations on June 8, however, the Buenos Aires airports had to close again on June 9, forcing more delays and cancellations throughout that region.

Still much more disruptive by comparison, the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano in April and May of 2010 resulted in the cancellation of around 100,000 flights, affecting 10 million passengers and causing a loss in airline revenues of as much as $1.8 billion. Last month’s eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland saw limited impact over a 48-hour period, with 900 flight cancellations. In South America, as of press time, airlines in the region had yet to conduct an assessment of total flights cancelled and loss of revenues. Meanwhile, it remains unclear what safety policy Chile and Argentina followed in deciding which airspace to close and on what basis.

Major carriers affected by the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano include Chile’s Lan Airlines, TAM of Brazil, Jetstar, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Emirates Airline.

US plans fast-track security checks for low-risk frequent flyers

 

Airline passengers in the US could be handed a shortcut through security checks under a government plan to give favourable treatment to low-risk travellers.

The plan would allow passengers who agree to supply personal data to US officials to receive a less stringent examination at airport departure lounges. The head of the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), John Pistole, said travellers who supplied information such as frequent flyer details and travel records in advance would pass through security areas more quickly.

“We have been working for the last six months in trying to develop a programme that allows us to differentiate between those who are regular travellers and those who are not,” he said.

It is understood that a pilot programme could get under way before the end of the year, involving at least one airport but limited to US passport holders or domestic travellers. The trial is likely to be watched closely in the UK, where the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, has pledged to review airport security.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Singapore, Pistole said treating every passenger with the same level of scrutiny was inefficient. “We recognise that one size does not fit all.”

This week, the IATA unveiled a vision of what the TSA checks could look like, with a “checkpoint of the future” that funnels passengers into three security lanes: enhanced security, normal security and “known traveller”. Passengers are allocated the appropriate lane by an iris-recognition system linked to a government database, with known travellers going via a single, elongated arch through an x-ray check, a metal detector and a check for liquids. Checks that are known to frustrate millions of passengers, such as shoe scans, would be avoided.

Stringent security measures in the US are a source of frustration within the aviation industry, with British Airways among the most outspoken critics of a regime that, owing to the sheer size and profitability of the market, has the power to dictate global trends. For instance, the European commission admitted last month that it had been forced to abandon a partial relaxation of the ban on carrying liquids on to planes after pressure from the US government.

Sir Martin Broughton, chairman of BA, has warned that the industry is “kowtowing” to American security concerns. In a speech earlier this year he said: “The current procedures have grown, Topsy-like, with each new procedure being superimposed on the existing structure every time there is a new security incident.

“Every time, it’s a procedure to stop a repeat of what has already been attempted rather than a programme to prevent the next new attempt by terrorists.”

Backing the use of government data to create passenger watchlists, he added: “We need to be using data better – data that we and governments have.”

Also speaking at the IATA, the secretary general of Interpol warned that air passengers were at risk after the theft of 28m passports and national identity cards. Ron Noble said Interpol was concerned that terrorists could slip into countries undetected because governments were failing to share information on stolen identities.

“The number one risk confronting airlines and countries around the world is the risk terrorists or other dangerous persons will carry a fraudulent identity document and move from one country to another,” he said.

Air France A380 starts service at Washington Dulles

 

Just before two Monday afternoon, the world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A-380, rolled down the runway at Dulles Airport.

The Air France flight from Paris marked the start of daily service in the Washington region for the super jumbo jet.

“I just can’t imagine how it ever gets off the runway,” said Dan Ranard, a passenger.

Rob Yingling, of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said a new fueling pit was installed to accommodate the extra fueling capacity on the Airbus. A few taxi-way signs were moved as well.

One of the things they also had to change here Dulles were the jet ways. Since the Airbus has two floors, there are now two separate jet ways for both the lower and upper levels.

“I think it’s awesome as long as there still some legroom and it’s not shrunk anymore,” said passenger Ben Ranard.

Thomson axes Glasgow flights to Caribbean

 

Korean Air has celebrated the delivery of its first Airbus A380

 

First International GA Terminal Opens in India at Mumbai International Airport Limited

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has formally taken delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet.

The airline on 6 June signed a protocol of aircraft technical acceptance from the manufacturer and applied to register it with regulators.

It is expected to put the aircraft into revenue service between Moscow and St Petersburg on 16 June, ahead of the annual international economic forum in St Petersburg.

Aeroflot will become the second operator of the Superjet 100 after Armenian carrier Armavia, which has been operating the first serially-produced example of the type since 19 April.

Under the delivery schedule agreed with Sukhoi, Aeroflot is to receive 10 Superjets this year, a dozen in 2012 and eight in 2013.

Air India Heathrow Terminal 4 Move

London Heathrow airport has opened an extension to Terminal 5, three years after inauguration of the main building at the British Airways hub.

The £340 million ($554 million) satellite extension, designated T5C, has 12 gates including eight triple-bridged stands for accommodating the Airbus A380.

British Airways is to acquire 12 of the double-deck aircraft from 2013.

The satellite extension is the third section of Terminal 5 to open since operations started with the original main building in March 2008. Terminal 5 has handled over 520,000 flights in that time, says British Airways.

Investigation into the accident sequence of Air France flight AF447 has revealed that the Airbus A330 did not enter the abnormal attitude law after it stalled, despite its excessive angle of attack.

The abnormal attitude law is a subset of alternate law on the aircraft and is triggered when the angle of attack exceeds 30° or when certain other inertial parameters - pitch and roll - become greater than threshold levels.

Alternate law allowed AF447's horizontal stabiliser to trim automatically 13° nose-up as the aircraft initially climbed above its assigned cruising altitude of 35,000ft.

The stabiliser remained in this nose-up trim position for the remainder of the flight, meaning that the aircraft would have had a tendency to pitch up under high engine thrust.

Crucially the abnormal attitude law - if adopted - would have inhibited the auto-trim function, requiring the crew to re-trim the aircraft manually.

After stalling, the A330's angle of attack stayed above 35°. But while this exceeded the threshold for the abnormal attitude law, the flight control computers had already rejected all three air data reference units and all air data parameters owing to discrepancy in the airspeed measurements.

Abnormal law could only have been triggered by an inertial upset, such as a 50° pitch-up or bank angle of more than 125°. "That never occurred," says French accident investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses.

The BEA is still attempting to explain why AF447's crew failed to rescue the aircraft after it climbed to 38,000ft and stalled. The pilot's control inputs were primarily nose-up, despite the stall condition.

There has been no indication that the aircraft switched into any other control law, other than alternate, during the accident - suggesting that auto-trim was available throughout the descent.

Failure to realise a need for manual re-trim was central to the loss of an Airbus A320 over the Mediterranean Sea about six months before the AF447 crash.

The auto-trim had adjusted the horizontal stabiliser fully nose-up but, during a flight envelope test involving near-stall, the aircraft switched control laws and inhibited the auto-trim.

Without manual re-trimming, the aircraft pitched up sharply as the crew applied maximum thrust. It stalled and the crew lost control.

In its conclusions over the accident the BEA highlighted the rarity of the need to trim manually, which created a "habit" of having auto-trim available made it "difficult to return to flying with manual trimming".

"One of the only circumstances in which a pilot can be confronted with the manual utilisation of the trim wheel is during simulator training," it said. "However, in this case, the exercises generally start in stabilised situations."

In the wake of the A320 accident, near Perpignan in November 2008, the BEA recommended that safety regulators and manufacturers work to improve training and techniques for approach-to-stall situations, to ensure control of an aircraft in the pitch axis.

Alaska Airlines is not permitting its pilots to use their new iPads to access the Internet in the cockpit after witnessing Wi-Fi interference with Honeywell Phase 3 display units [DUs].

The carrier is distributing iPads to its pilots to replace paper flight manuals, and ultimately intends for the Apple tablets to be used as Class I electronic flight bags (EFBs). But accessing connectivity for real-time EFB applications - or for other uses - in the flightdeck will not be allowed in the near term in accordance with FAA guidance, an Alaska spokeswoman confirmed to ATI and Flightglobal.

Honeywell Phase 3 display units last year showed themselves susceptible to blanking during electromagnetic interference testing of wireless broadband systems on Boeing Next Generation 737s. One of the conditions for 737NG operators to receive FAA supplemental type certification for Aircell's Gogo in-flight Internet solution is they must require that Wi-Fi devices be powered off in the flightdeck.

Alaska, a customer of Gogo, operates an all-737 fleet.

"We have experienced the same thing [interference]," revealed the Alaska spokeswoman, noting that the carrier has Honeywell Phase 3 DUs "in some of our aircraft" and as a result pilots "are not using the Internet with the iPads currently".

A service bulletin to address the problem has not yet been tabled. Sources say the process is taking longer than expected.

"It is our understanding that this [issue] is going to be addressed and it is going to be moved forward but we just don't know when," said the Alaska spokeswoman.

The airline looks forward to eventually allowing pilots to access real-time EFB applications while in flight. "This is Chapter 1 and we're pretty excited about it, and we're hoping there is Chapter 2 for this, and taking it to the next step, but again things have to be rolled out and tested slowly.

"Right now, the [device] is a document reader, and if we are allowed that Internet connectivity we can use it for another whole range of things."

French investigators have disclosed that the crew of Air France flight AF447 maintained nose-up inputs to the aircraft even after the Airbus A330 entered a stall.

The inquiry has also revealed that the pilots set engine thrust variously to go-around power and idle as they battled to rescue the jet.

In an update to the loss of the A330 over the South Atlantic two years ago the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses has detailed the last few minutes of the flight. BEA said the aircraft climbed from its cruise altitude of 35,000ft towards 38,000ft and stalled, but added that the flying pilot "maintained nose-up inputs" to the controls.

BEA confirms that the captain had left the cockpit to rest, about eight minutes before the emergency on 1 June 2009, having discussed with the relief crew possible turbulence ahead of the aircraft.

The pilots altered course slightly, about 12° to the left, and as turbulence increased they opted to reduce speed to Mach 0.8.

About 2min later the aircraft's autopilot and autothrust disengaged, and remained so for the rest of the flight. This would have put the jet into 'alternate' law, meaning it lost its angle-of-attack protection.

The aircraft began to roll to the right, and as the pilot made a nose-up left input, the A330's stall warning sounded twice - an indication that the aircraft had exceeded a critical angle-of-attack threshold.

The primary flight display on the captain's side showed a "sharp fall" in speed from 275kt to 60kt, and the aircraft's angle of attack "increased progressively" beyond 10°.

While the jet had initially been cruising at 35,000ft, investigators stated that the aircraft climbed, with a vertical speed of 7,000ft/min, heading towards 38,000ft.

The pilot made nose-down inputs as well as inputs for left and right roll. The vertical speed fell back to 700ft/min, the displayed speed "increased sharply" to 215kt, and the angle of attack reduced to 4°.

In its update the BEA said the non-flying pilot "tried several times to call the captain back".

There was another stall warning and the BEA said the stall warning sounded again. The thrust levers were positioned for take-off/go-around power but the flying pilot "maintained nose-up inputs".

Angle of attack continued to increase, it added, and the trimmable horizontal stabiliser increased from a 3° nose-up position to 13° nose-up - where it stayed for the rest of the flight.

The aircraft reached 38,000ft - its maximum altitude - with its angle of attack having increased to 16°.

AF447's captain returned to the cockpit - just 90s after the autopilot had disengaged - by which time the aircraft had started its fatal descent.

As it passed through 35,000ft the angle of attack increased to more than 40° and the A330 was descending at 10,000ft/min. Its pitch did not exceed 15°, its engine power was close to 100% of N1, and the jet oscillated with rolls of up to 40°.

"The [flying pilot] made an input on the sidestick to the left and nose-up stops, which lasted about 30s," said the BEA.

Just 20s after the captain returned to the cockpit, said the BEA, the thrust levers were set to the 'idle' position, with the engines delivering 55% of N1.

Measured angle of attack values, the BEA pointed out, are only considered valid when the measured speed is above 60kt. It said that the angle of attack, when valid, always remained above 35°.

AF447's had turned almost a three-quarter circle to the right during the emergency, and - having descended for 3min 30s - it struck the ocean surface with a ground speed of just 107kt, a nose-up pitch attitude of 16.2°, with a heading of 270°.

BEA stated that the aircraft stalled but that the inputs from the flying pilot were "mainly nose-up". It added that the engines "were operating and always responded to crew commands".

Ref: Flightglobal 27/05/11

 

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Easyjet Ash Detection System Flight Trials

Low-cost airline Easyjet is set to flight-trial advanced ash detection technology.

Last year, it unveiled its Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector (AVOID) system.

Now, it's getting ready to put it through its paces, after the latest Icelandic volcanic eruption which occurred on 21 May 2011.

Easyjet's AVOID system trials will potentially involve a flight through the current ash cloud generated by the new eruption. This eruption originated from Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano and, while its impact on airspace hasn't been as savage as expected, the high-level concentration of ash that's been moving southwards has still been responsible for hundreds of flight cancellations.

AVOID Ash Detection System

The AVOID ash detection system takes the form of a structure intended to be fixed to the outside of an aircraft. The structure features an array of tubes incorporating infrared imaging technology capable of, firstly, identifying ash within a 100 mile range and, then, transmitting the results they collect both into the cockpit and to controllers at ground level.

Equipped with this information, these controllers can piece together a comprehensive 3-D representation of ash levels present in the atmosphere.

According to a representative of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), which developed AVOID, it's based, in part, on a system that's already in use. "This uses technology that has been employed in satellites for 25 years, but whereas they look straight down, this works horizontally which makes it more effective", Senior Scientist Fred Prata explained to CNN, adding: "at cruise altitude, there is really no limit to how far ahead you can detect ash."

The AVOID system is "...an approach we are encouraging", CAA representative, Richard Taylor, added. "We have said all along the airlines have to come up with a solution, in collaboration with aircraft manufacturers."

Easyjet AVOID Flight Trials

Beyond the upcoming Easyjet AVOID flight trials, the ultimate aim is to put AVOID into full-scale commercial production and, to this end, Easyjet has pledged to make the system available to other carriers.

In related news, on 25 May, Irish low-cost airline Ryanair challenged the concerns expressed over the 2011 Icelandic ash cloud.

Describing how it had carried out a flight over Scotland - a part of the UK especially affected by the recent cancellations - it reported that "no visible volcanic ash cloud or evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines" had been recorded.

This flight was reportedly carried out at 41,000 feet but, according to the CAA, it didn't go into what's been dubbed the ‘red zone', where the majority of ash has been concentrating.

Ref: Airport-Int 26/05/11

 

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