Bristow officials are confident an “interim way to safely fly” Eurocopter EC225s will be found late this spring or early this summer. In a recent fiscal third-quarter earnings conference call, top executives at the helicopter operator said such an interim fix could be tighter oversight of Hums parameters, thus confirming what Eurocopter’s CEO hinted late last month. A shaft redesign, if needed, would take about a year-and-a-half, Bristow officials estimate.
Transport
February 14, 2013 - 3:35pm
Edward Burns, 93, the president of Beech Aircraft from 1981 to 1982 and a 40-year employee at the company, died Friday. Burns, also the nephew of company co-founders Walter and Olive Ann Beech, was the fourth president at the Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer, succeeding Frank Hedrick. Burns retired in 1982, reportedly after clashing with executives at Raytheon, which acquired Beechcraft that year.
February 14, 2013 - 3:25pm
Aircraft detailing firm The Allen Groupe reappointed company founder David Allen as its CEO today. “He returns to this role after a brief time away to successfully address health issues,” the Orlando, Fla.-based company said. The Allen Groupe provides aircraft cleaning, luxury amenity stocking, de-icing and facilities maintenance services in the U.S. and Europe at more than 30 locations. It also provides these services for static display aircraft at business aircraft conventions and international airshows.
February 14, 2013 - 9:41am
The boards of AMR Corporation and US Airways Group have unanimously agreed to move forward with the long-anticipated merger of their American Airlines and US Airways subsidiaries, the companies announced Thursday morning.
February 13, 2013 - 2:49pm
The new director general of Europe’s intergovernmental ATC organization proposes that air navigation service providers (ANSPs) implement Single European Sky improvements at the regional level rather than as individual entities, both to constrain costs and improve operational efficiency.
February 13, 2013 - 12:43pm
Airbus ProSky and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) signed a research and collaboration agreement to jointly develop a concept of operations for air traffic flow management (ATFM) in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region based on “collaborative decision making” among airspace users.
February 13, 2013 - 11:55am
Awash with negative comments regarding its proposed air carrier contract maintenance requirements rules, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has extended the original February 11 comment period to March 13. The proposed rule would change the maintenance regulations for domestic, flag and supplemental operations, and commuter and on-demand operations for aircraft type certified with 10 or more passenger seats (excluding any pilot seat).
February 13, 2013 - 11:45am
Lufthansa Technik Switzerland in Basel has been unable to sustain its operations and will be closing its two line maintenance and logistics services businesses at the end of April.
“We will no longer have any operations at Basel Airport. We’re leaving the facility permanently,” a spokesman for the MRO told AIN. According to the company, the plant closure will lead to 31 job terminations, though another 29 employees will transfer to Swiss at the Basel site.
February 12, 2013 - 4:15pm
While many prognosticators forecast last year as the beginning of a resurgence for business aircraft manufacturers, those hopes will have to move to this year, according to 2012 aircraft delivery numbers released this morning by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. While 2012 saw a modest increase in overall turbine aircraft shipments, the gains were solely in the lower-end, non-pressurized turboprop segment as overall billings decreased by nearly 1 percent from $19 billion to $18.9 billion year-over-year.
February 12, 2013 - 4:10pm
Aircraft manufacturers will deliver an estimated 9,400 business jets worth $253 billion over the next 10 years, according to a forecast released late last week by Montreal-based business aviation services firm Zenith Jet.
