News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.
The FAA has hit Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based charter operator Platinum Jet with civil penalties totaling more than $1.86 million for violations involving 49 passenger-carrying flights.
The agency became aware of the violations during its investigation of a February 2 accident at Teterboro Airport in which a Challenger 600 operated by Platinum Jet crashed into a building after an aborted takeoff.
The long-awaited reopening of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to some general aviation aircraft now appears imminent with the Trans- portation Security Administration’s release of an interim final rule last month.
The Sukhoi-led consortium building the Russian Regional Jet got some good news when the RRJ-95B/LR and RRJ-75B/LR passed their critical design reviews (CDR) after some 120 technical specialists from Western program partners joined Sukhoi engineers for a July 11 to 16 “dream team” session in Moscow.
The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General’s Office has launched an investigation into charges of fraudulent financial reporting by Boston-Maine Airways, the Portsmouth, N.H.-based airline that flies regional routes with 13 Jetstream 31s as Pan Am Clipper Connection.
Mesa Air Group has taken responsibility for part of the lease payments on some 30 idle Fairchild Dornier 328Jets as a condition of its new code-share contract with Delta Air Lines. Scheduled to start Delta Connection service with five Embraer ERJ 145s next month, Mesa doesn’t plan to fly the German-built regional jets but sublease them to other airlines.
Colgan Air will take Shuttle America’s place at Washington Dulles Airport as the Saab 340 turboprop provider for United Airlines (UAL) under an agreement-in-principle reached between Colgan and UAL last month. Already flying 10 Saab 340Bs for Continental Airlines from Houston, Colgan will add six more of the 34-seat propjets for United starting October 4.
Strong wind gusts from August 5 thunderstorms collapsed part of the roof of a new maintenance hangar under construction for Chautauqua Airlines at Louisville International Airport. None of the construction workers on the scene at the time sustained injuries. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of up to 53 miles per hour at the airport at the time of the collapse.
Discount-fare Bombardier CRJ operator Independence Air raised “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern” in last month’s quarterly filing with the SEC. The filing said the company cannot secure any more lines of credit and has pledged all its assets as collateral to secure its outstanding debt and other obligations.
The FAA certainly tested its patience, but Republic Airways appeared likely to win an operating certificate for its new Republic Airlines division in time to launch Embraer 170 service for US Airways and Delta Air Lines early this month.
The number of aircraft flying in Europe with controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) equipment has about doubled in the past few months from 152 airplanes to more than 300, according to Eurocontrol officials. By contrast, CPDLC in the U.S. seems stuck in neutral, despite strong demand for the technology among airlines.
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