All Must Read articles
-
News
EASA to order Airbus windshield checks after Sichuan A319 blow-out in 2018
Airbus A320-family operators are set to be instructed to carry out repetitive inspections of windshield components after a main cockpit window on a Chinese A319 blew out in cruise nearly three years ago. About 40min after taking off from Chongqing for Lhasa, the Sichuan Airlines aircraft had been flying ...
-
News
Czech Airlines insolvency petition outlines scale of financial burden
Czech Airlines’ insolvency petition sets out the scale of the company’s financial problems, which it partly attributes to the inability to source rescue funding from the Czech government. The company has 266 creditors, with the total liability to suppliers amounting to Kc809 million ($37.1 million) as of 25 February, ...
-
News
Prior United 777 blade-out might give clues to UA328 engine structure loss
While US investigators disagree with the immediate impression that the recent United Airlines Boeing 777-200 engine incident was one of uncontained failure, the extent of the damage to the powerplant was nonetheless catastrophic. Uncontained failure is defined as the inability of the engine casing to prevent high-energy rotating parts, ...
-
News
A321XLR's rear fuel tank demands special fire-protection conditions
Airbus’s A321XLR will be subject to special conditions proposed for the aircraft’s integrated rear centre tank, intended to ensure adequate protection from fire. The large 12,900-litre centre tank, located in the aft hold of the twinjet, will contain the fuel necessary for the aircraft to achieve its extended range. ...
-
Interview
Women in Aviation International chief McKay on the way ahead
We speak to Allison McKay, the chief executive of Women in Aviation International (WIA): the world’s largest special interest group for women interested in aviation and aerospace. What are some of the most effective ways to inspire young women to pursue a technical or engineering career path? Mentors ...
-
News
Safran targets mid-2030s for next-generation engine with 20% fuel-burn saving
Safran and its partner in the CFM International joint venture GE Aviation are preparing the technologies required for a next-generation commercial aircraft engine to enter service in the mid-2030s that would cut fuel burn by over 20%.
-
News
P&W to perform 777 PW4000 fan blade checks required by FAA
Pratt & Whitney will perform the PW4000 thermal acoustic imaging (TAI) inspections required under the Federal Aviation Administration’s recent emergency airworthiness directive (AD).
-
News
EASA shapes certification basis for Liberty ‘flying car’ gyroplane
European safety authorities have finalised a certification basis for a convertible roadworthy rotorcraft, the PAL-V Liberty gyroplane, enabling its developer to accelerate compliance demonstration. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency says the certification specifications for rotorcraft are aimed primarily at helicopters and are “not fully adequate” to prescribe a ...
-
In depth
Airline Business special: CEOs to watch in 2021
As the Covid-19 crisis moves into its second year, we feature some of the airline chiefs whose success or otherwise will be bellwethers of the industry’s recovery in 2021.
-
News
A320 veered off runway as late hydraulic failure 'surprised' pilots
Pilots of an Airbus A320 were caught out by a hydraulic failure as the aircraft landed at Burgas, their reaction leading the twinjet to veer off the runway and come to rest on rough ground. Operating for Smartwings, the Greek-registered Orange2Fly aircraft had suffered a leak in its green ...
-
News
US Air Force begins retiring group of 17 B-1B bombers
In all, the service plans to retire 17 B-1B supersonic bombers to free maintenance funds and labour for the 45 examples of the aircraft that will remain in the fleet. The reduced fleet should also free up funds for buying the in-development Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
-
News
Universal Hydrogen lands former Airbus chief as advisor, secures funding
Alternative fuel developer Universal Hydrogen has formed an advisory panel composed of former top-level Airbus executives, including former chief executive Tom Enders and former chief commercial officer (CCO) John Leahy.
-
News
Airbus strives for break-even on A220 and low-rate twin-aisles
Airbus is intending to achieve break-even on its twin-aisle programmes at the reduced rate of production, while it acknowledges that a shift in demand mix puts increased pressure on its loss-making A220 lines.
-
News
Airbus aims to match last year’s commercial aircraft delivery figure
Airbus is aiming to achieve at least the same number of commercial aircraft deliveries this year as the 566 it managed over the course of 2020. Its commercial aircraft operation generated a full-year earnings loss of €1.33 billion ($1.6 billion), after a 37% fall in revenues to €34.2 billion, ...
-
News
De Havilland to halt Dash 8 production, exit Downsview assembly site
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada will temporarily stop producing Dash 8s and begin vacating its Downsview Toronto production site in the second half of 2021.
-
Analysis
Covid-hit airlines still seeking the initiative on sustainability
The airline industry could have been forgiven for concentrating on immediate challenges around its very survival during the Covid-19 crisis. But it is a mark of how sustainability has become central to what the European Commission and others have referred to as the sector’s “licence to grow” that already ...
-
Interview
After 2020’s blues, IndiGo boss upbeat on long-term growth
IndiGo proved its mettle in a tough 2020, and chief executive Ronojoy Dutta is optimistic about the low-cost carrier’s outlook in the coming years.
-
Analysis
Airlines anxiously await international rescue as variants trump vaccines
Concerns about variants of Covid-19 are spoiling what was, towards the end of 2020, expected to be a turning point for international air travel.
-
News
After more than $5bn in losses, can KC-46A become profitable?
The KC-46A programme is about $5.1 billion in the hole and there are questions about whether Boeing can make it profitable.
-
News
Bombardier to cease Learjet production at year-end
By the end of 2021 Bombardier will stop producing Learjets, a brand launched in the early 1960s by Bill Lear that quickly became synonymous with luxury travel for stars and business moguls.