Air Transport World

By Helen Massy-Beresford
Air France and UK LCC easyJet are among the bidders to express interest in taking over all or part of Aigle Azur, as around 13,000 passengers are stranded after the French airline went into receivership and flights were canceled as of Sept. 7.
Airlines & Lessors

By Bill Carey
The FAA has postponed the release of a draft rulemaking for remote identification of drones by two months until December, delaying definition of a means of identifying small unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) from the ground that is considered essential to expanding their use.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Victoria Moores
All-Boeing operator Icelandair has acknowledged the Boeing 737 MAX grounding as a “big challenge,” impacting the carrier’s financial performance, operational planning and efficiency.
Airlines & Lessors

Taiwanese startup carrier Starlux Airlines will begin commercial operations Jan. 23, 2020, with three Airbus A321neos.
Airlines & Lessors

By Victoria Moores
British Airways’ (BA) flights were virtually grounded Sept. 9, as pilot union BALPA began a two-day walkout over pay and benefits.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Guy Norris
Final loads testing on Boeing’s delayed 777-9 has been suspended while investigations continue into the failure of a cargo door during pressurization evaluations on the static test airframe at Everett, Washington, Sept 5.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Sean Broderick
Air Canada continues to reveal little about its plans for Air Transat beyond keeping the leisure airline’s brand and Montreal headquarters, but a senior executive said that getting its aircraft flying more often will be a near-term focus.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Helen Massy-Beresford, Victoria Moores
Air France has expressed an interest in French leisure carrier Aigle Azur, which is suspending flight operations in the face of financial and operational difficulties.
Airlines & Lessors

By Alan Dron
Saudi LCC flyadeal expects to make an engine decision for its order of Airbus A320neos within the next two months, the airline’s CEO said Sept. 6.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Victoria Moores
IATA DG & CEO Alexandre de Juniac gives three- to five-year timeline for single-token IDs.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Brussels Airlines are altering several North American routes in 2020.
Airports & Networks

By Bradley Perrett
Airbus is expanding the scope of work of the A320-family assembly line in Tianjin, China, adding more equipping of fuselages.
Aircraft & Propulsion

China’s Juneyao Airlines reported a 2019 first-half net profit of CNY578.7 million ($84.3 million), down 6.4% compared to the year-ago half.
Airlines & Lessors

Turkish Airlines lowered its revenue guidance for 2019 in the face of decreasing demand and other factors that have hampered operations.
Airlines & Lessors

By Adrian Schofield
Airbus and Thai Airways plan to begin construction of a new, expanded MRO facility at Thailand’s U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport next year, as part of the airport’s development program.
Maintenance & Training

Russia and China are reportedly close to selecting a location for the Chinese-Russian commercial aircraft consortium (CRAIC) CR929 program’s engineering center, an issue that has been delaying progress in development of the widebody airliner.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Victoria Moores
UK long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic wants changes to London Heathrow’s slot regime that would allow it to grow from 30 to 160 slots when the third runway is built.
Airports & Networks

Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) has finalized an order for six Boeing 777F freighters in a deal worth $2.1 billion at list prices. The new aircraft will replace 747-400Fs currently in service.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Sean Broderick
A forgotten maintenance lockout pin that prevented a Jetstar Airbus A320 thrust reverser from operating has led Qantas and Airbus to change maintenance procedures, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) incident report revealed.
Maintenance & Training

By Sean Broderick
Rolls-Royce is fast-tracking the removal of certain older Trent 1000 intermediate pressure turbine (IPT) blades and modifying its blade-life calculation methods in the aftermath of a Norwegian Boeing 787 engine failure near Rome linked to blades that cracked before established life limits.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group signed an MOU with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. (MITAC) Sept. 5 to enter negotiations to buy 100 SpaceJet M100 aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Victoria Moores
Latvian hub-and-spoke carrier airBaltic will retain four Boeing 737s for summer 2020, delaying a planned November 2019 phaseout following Estonian rival Nordica’s decision to withdraw from its own scheduled services.
Airlines & Lessors

By Alan Dron
The CEO of Kuwaiti LCC Jazeera Airways believes the low-cost model has huge potential in the Middle East, as many of the region’s airlines are failing to grasp opportunities in the market.
Airlines & Lessors

By Sean Broderick
United Airlines, continuing to tweak its hub schedules in search of higher margins, will flip two banks at Denver International Airport (DEN) to accommodate earlier arrivals from the west coast and slightly later arrivals from the eastern US.
Airports & Networks

China Eastern Airlines posted a first-half net income of CNY2 billion ($28 million), down 14.8% from CNY2.35 billion in the year-ago period, as increased fuel costs, fluctuating currency rates and global trade disputes increased expenses.
Airlines & Lessors