[Ref Flight International Magazine 12 – 18 May 2020] Boeing is amending 747-400 flight manuals to clarify unreliable airspeed procedures after a British Airways crew erroneously believed a stall warning was genuine and repeatedly attempted a stall recovery manoeuvre. On 9 June 2019, a BA 747-400 aircraft (G-BNLN) had reached top-of-climb at 33,000ft, during a […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 12 – 18 May 2020] Airbus is offering carriers a modification and regulatory support scheme to convert passenger A350s, A330s and A340s temporarily into main-deck freighters by swapping out seats and fitting pallets onto their floor tracks. Modification is provided to operators under an Airbus service bulletin which sets out not […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 12 – 18 May 2020] In 2019, carriers on average needed load factors of 77% to break even. If regulations to leave seats empty were to be introduced, he expects that “most airlines will really struggle” and ticket prices would be “significantly higher” in the long term, compared with pre-crisis levels […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 12 – 18 May 2020] The situation could hardly be worse for Airbus, Boeing and first-tier suppliers. But for companies further down the supply chain it is as they face a fight for survival as demand dries up. As Covid-19 lockdowns and other restrictions begin to ease, and governments around the […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 5 – 11 May 2020] Investigators have found that a Neos Boeing 737-800 arriving from Verona on 1 June 2019 – had been vectored to a shortened ­arrival route by approach controllers, which left it above 10,000ft with less than 25nm (46km) to touchdown. With the aircraft high and fast on […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 5 – 11 May 2020] After the latest in a string of incidents involving Boeing 787, authorities in Hong Kong have warned operators of possible adverse autopilot behaviour during localiser capture at the city’s international airport. A newly issued NOTAM instructs carriers to check a Boeing flightcrew operations bulletin referring to […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 24-30 Mar 2020] (Last Update: 2020 May 15 0230Z) “This is not a short-term issue – air connectivity will not be back to normal for many months. And for some airlines, things will never be the same again.” – IATA’s regional vice-president for Europe, Rafael Schwartzman. From the moment the World […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 28 Apr – 4 May 2020] Global aircraft grounding hampers weather forecasting, says WMO Sensors, computers and communications systems onboard commercial jets automatically collect and transmit meteorological observations to ground stations. However, this data collection has been curtailed by the sharp decline in air traffic. “In-flight measurements of ambient temperature and […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 28 Apr – 4 May 2020] HAECO’s cabin solutions unit has launched a range of new stowage solutions which will allow airlines to combine carrying passengers and cargo in the main cabin. From concepts to offerable products in under a month, were created in response to airlines looking for new ways […]

[Ref Flight International Magazine 28 Apr – 4 May 2020] On 6 April 2020, Boeing announced the suspension of operations at its 787 final assembly facilities in North Charleston, South Carolina, “until further notice”. From 20 April until May 2020, Boeing’s tier one suppliers in Japan (Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Subaru’s aerospace unit) have suspended […]