A new supplier of economy-class seats for Boeing's top-selling 737 jetliners has signed its first 2 airline customers, allowing it to begin production, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The agreements with California-based LIFT by EnCore, which are due to be announced as early as this week, are the first in which Boeing buys the seats from the supplier, known as "seller-furnished equipment," essentially guaranteeing they will arrive on time. With other seat makers, which include B/E Aerospace and Zodiac Aerospace, airlines are required to buy the seats and have them delivered to aircraft factories, a process that has led to problems for the plane makers. LIFT's initial orders will equip at least 50 of Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft with seats designed for the Boeing 737 Sky Interior, with deliveries beginning in 2017. <br/>
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Regulatory and voluntary bans on Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones is spreading as airlines and airport authorities around the world are announcing bans or restricted usage on the device, which has been withdrawn by Samsung after some devices caught fire. Ban notices are being issued primarily through airline online check-in pages, as well as via public announcements in airport terminals and on-board aircraft. The US DoT was first to issue a total ban on taking the device on board, as a passenger or as air cargo, when it gave an emergency order Oct 15 with FAA. As of Oct 17, AirAsia, Air NZ, British Airways, Emirates Airline, Qantas, Ryanair, SIA, Southwest Airlines and Virgin Atlantic were among those airlines that had released separate statements alerting customers to the ban. <br/>
FAA is fighting a perception problem over how much progress is being made in implementing the NextGen air traffic control modernisation program, a top agency official said. “There’s just not a recognition of some of the accelerated things that have been happening,” FAA assistant administrator-NextGen Jim Eck said. FAA is about halfway through an 18-year ATC modernisation initiative encompassing a variety of technologies and procedural changes. A number of members of Congress and US airline executives have complained that NextGen has moved too slowly. Part of the problem, Eck said, is that much of FAA’s focus has been on building foundational technologies to make NextGen capabilities possible, and the full benefits will only be realised once all of the elements come together. <br/>
Eurocontrol has received the final approval from its member states to lead the development and deployment of the European air/ground data communication service (EAGDCS). The agency said it will collaborate with the ATC providers of its member states and with aircraft operators within the context of the single European sky air traffic management research (SESAR) project. As an initial step, Eurocontrol is organising a workshop next month to kick off setting up the framework to start delivering the EAGDCS service in February 2018 to ATC providers, with the goal of initial trajectory information sharing by Jan 2025. Air/ground datalink communication allows controllers and pilots to communicate with each other safely by reducing the chance of miscommunication and freeing up radio channels for more urgent messages. <br/>
Heathrow is edging closer to securing govt approval for a third runway after the airport indicated that a last-minute Whitehall study into concerns over pollution will give the all-clear. The airport’s CE, John Holland-Kaye, said he had “no reason to believe” that any issues had been raised in research conducted this year by the Department for Transport into air quality around Heathrow, despite consistent breaches of legal limits. He said: “Everything we have seen suggests that it won’t be an issue. I suspect if it were we would know about that by now.” The comments came as it emerged that a cabinet subcommittee on Heathrow will not make a final decision Tuesday, as previously thought, but Oct 25. The Heathrow boss also claimed that approving a third runway was no longer the difficult political choice for the prime minister. <br/>