Takeoffs and Landings

China, home to the world's fastest growing aviation market, banned airlines from taking part in a European Union carbon-emissions system designed to curb pollution, saying the program violates international rules.

The system contravenes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and international civil aviation regulations, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement posted on its website today. Carriers were also barred from using the EU program as a reason for raising fares, it said.

The EU hopes to resolve the issue through negotiations or it may ultimately be ruled on by the courts, Markus Ederer, its ambassador to China, said at a press briefing in Beijing today. India, the U.S., Russia and global airlines have also objected to the levy, saying it will be less effective than a global solution.

Full Story - Bloomberg News

This entry was posted on February 6, 2012 at 1:39 PM and has received 1 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Commercial airlines often complain about government rules and at times seek to change them, but Spirit Airlines has created turbulence in Washington in response to a new mandate by naming a USD$2 fare increase after the US Department of Transportation.

The low-fare carrier, which has tangled with regulators in the past, struck at the Obama administration after new rules requiring greater transparency in industry fare advertisements took effect last month. Spirit, calling the changes "misguided and expensive," announced that it was adding an additional USD$2 charge per ticket, which it called the "Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee," which took effect on Tuesday.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the regulations common sense and fired back at Spirit saying, "This is just another example of the disrespect with which too many airlines treat their passengers."

Full Story - AIRwise

This entry was posted on February 3, 2012 at 1:31 PM and has received 5 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

House and Senate lawmakers ended more than four years of standoffs by reaching agreement yesterday on a four-year, $63.6 billion U.S. aviation bill that keeps current funding levels and speeds development of new air-traffic technology.

The bill guides Federal Aviation Administration policy, sets its annual budget and contains dozens of provisions on everything from creating the NextGen air-traffic system to the types of musical instruments airline passengers can carry onto flights. The agreement, leading toward the FAA's first long-term authorization since the last one expired in 2007, was announced at a conference-committee meeting of 20 lawmakers.

Full Story - Bloomberg News

This entry was posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:31 PM and has received 3 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

AMR Corp, the parent of bankrupt American Airlines, wants to slash 13,000 jobs and terminate employee pension plans as part of a cost-cutting strategy the carrier says is necessary to compete with rivals.

The cuts detailed by executives on Wednesday would be part of overall efforts to reduce operating expenses by more than $2 billion annually. Layoffs and other employee-related cuts would comprise more than half of the total savings. AMR says it suffers from higher labor costs than its peers and filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in November in New York.

Analysts and industry insiders believe the company's chief priority is to align labor costs, primarily from its heavily unionized work force, with rivals who cut thousands of jobs and pensions in bankruptcy several years ago.

Full Story - Reuters

This entry was posted on February 2, 2012 at 12:17 PM and has received 9 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The US Congress will formally express its opposition to a European law aimed at reducing pollution from airliners, a thorny diplomatic issue that has threatened to escalate transatlantic trade tensions.

House and Senate negotiators have agreed to a provision in sweeping aviation legislation that would put Europe on notice over its mandate for airlines worldwide to pay for carbon emissions from their planes while flying in Europe. The bill is expected to be passed by Congress in the coming weeks.

Compromise language expressing opposition to the law is less strident than a House-passed bill in October that sought to exempt US carriers entirely from the EU measure that took effect on January 1.

The modification is intended to align Congress with Obama administration sentiment and present a unified US position on the politically charged environmental controversy.

Full Story - AIRwise

This entry was posted on February 1, 2012 at 11:38 AM and has received 5 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots, this week filed a court statement challenging the FAA's decision to exclude cargo operators from new pilot fatigue and rest rules. IPA called the FAA's decision "arbitrary and capricious, lacking in substantial evidence in the record or otherwise not in accordance with law." IPA says the FAA failed to provide an opportunity for affected or interested parties to review and comment on the cost-benefit calculations that drove its decision and ignored essential factors specific to cargo carriers. The court has ordered the FAA to respond.

William Trent, IPA general counsel, says the court "has ordered the FAA to file the certified index of the record, essentially a catalog of the regulatory docket, by February 6." IPA believes that cargo carriers operate under conditions that are proven to be more susceptible to pilot fatigue, including night flights and flights across multiple time zones.

AVweb

This entry was posted on January 27, 2012 at 12:50 PM and has received 12 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Airbus acknowledged a combination of manufacturing and design flaws on Wednesday as it confirmed the discovery of more examples of cracks inside the wings of A380 superjumbo jets, while insisting the world's largest airliner is safe to fly.

A senior executive said Airbus had found a solution to the outbreak of cracks on a small number of parts inside the wings, which prompted European safety authorities to order compulsory safety inspections last week.

Airbus confirmed that it had discovered more examples of the cracks during the latest wing inspections, but declined to give further details before Friday's deadline for completing a first phase of checks.

The cracks were caused by a combination of the choice of aluminium alloy for certain wing brackets as well as stresses imposed at two stages of the manufacturing process, he said.

Full Story - AIRwise

This entry was posted on January 26, 2012 at 2:07 PM and has received 7 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth tomorrow (Jan. 24), as the strongest radiation storm since 2005 rages on the sun.

Early this morning (0359 GMT Jan. 23, which corresponds to late Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10:59 p.m. EST), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an extreme ultraviolet flash from a huge eruption on the sun, according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.

ccording to NOAA, this is the strongest solar radiation storm since May 2005, and as a precaution, polar flights on Earth are expected to be re-routed within the next few hours

Full Story - Space.com

This entry was posted on January 23, 2012 at 5:19 PM and has received 11 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

European safety authorities are set to order airlines to carry out checks on almost one-third of the current Airbus A380 fleet after the discovery of new wing cracks, aviation industry sources said on Friday.

The checks on about 20 aircraft must be carried out within six weeks and a handful of aircraft, which have carried out more than 1,800 flights, must be examined within days, the sources said.

No aircraft will be grounded pending the checks, which involve taking an aircraft out of service for about 24 hours.

The one-off inspections are likely to affect A380s operated by Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Air France, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the ruling has not yet been released.

Reuters

This entry was posted on January 20, 2012 at 11:32 AM and has received 13 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

AirTran Airways must reinstate a pilot it fired after he reported numerous mechanical concerns and pay him more than USD$1 million in back wages plus interest and damages, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration said on Tuesday.

The pilot, who OSHA declined to identify citing his status as a whistleblower, alleged he was removed from flight status in August 2007 pending a hearing into a sudden spike in the number of reports he made of mechanical malfunctions. The airline held an internal hearing that lasted 17 minutes two weeks after his flight status was removed. It then fired him a week after that, claiming he did not respond satisfactorily to its questions about the reports, OSHA said in a statement.

Full Story - AirWise

This entry was posted on January 18, 2012 at 12:38 PM and has received 21 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.