Rolls-Royce is looking to an electric future, as its CE, Warren East, positions the company at the forefront of the next revolution in aviation: aircraft powered by fans. East, setting out his plans to return the company to profit after one of the most troubled periods in its history, said Rolls needed to be reshaped so that it could help to lead a number of big technological changes, including one of the most ground-breaking of all, electrically powered aircraft. The idea of jet engines one day being replaced by electric propulsion has long been dismissed because of the limited distance that existing designs are able to travel. However, East has signalled that Rolls was now taking the concept seriously, and not just for small planes. <br/>
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The White House has published a detailed report on “hidden fees” in the price of goods and services, including airline tickets, and is calling for the growth in such fees to be mitigated or eliminated. The 16-page report, titled The Competition Initiative and Hidden Fees, is produced by the Obama Administration’s National Economic Council. Although the White House and US DoT have criticised US airlines before on ancillary fees – and DoT regulates that they must be disclosed – this report appears to be a first attempt to address the practice of such add-on fees by wider service industries. Businesses such as hotels and concert-ticket distributors have been including additional fees for far longer than the airlines, but this is rarely recognised. <br/>
A cut in domestic passenger charges at Heathrow Airport has come into force. Airlines operating UK-bound flights from the west London hub will now pay GBP10 less per passenger, which represents a saving of more than a third compared with last year's price. Heathrow claimed passengers could save more than GBP500m over the next 20 years if the discount is reflected in lower air fares. This reduction is set to last through to 2037 as long as it is "in the public interest and there is a justification", a Heathrow spokesman said. The airport commissioned economic consultancy Frontier to carry out research into the impact of the discount, which revealed that passengers flying to Edinburgh could save the most money at an estimated GBP6.2m each year. <br/>
The Chinese govt disapproved applications for chartered flights departing from Korea, domestic airlines and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport confirmed Sunday. Chinese aviation authorities rejected 8 flights of Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air last week to destinations on the mainland for January. Chartered flights are serviced when there are surplus demands. "There have been cases in which flights of a certain carrier or route were rejected for safety reasons, but it is unprecedented for a whole group of flights of various carriers and routes to be disapproved," said Kim Jung-hee, director of international air transport at the ministry. In addition, it appears Chinese carriers may also withdraw applications for charted flights to Korea. <br/>
China’s Commercial Aircraft Corp (COMAC) is planning a 2017 Q1 inaugural flight for the C919 narrowbody, although no more specific date has been given. The 158-seat airliner has seen several delays. The original schedule would have seen the aircraft make its maiden flight in 2014 followed by delivery to Chengdu Airlines. But program delays meant the aircraft was not rolled out until Oct 2015 and at that point COMAC said it was aiming for a first flight in 2016. China Eastern will now be the launch customer. With the first aircraft delivered to COMAC’s flight test centre, however, the manufacturer is looking to a begin flights in Q1. The C919 has secured 570 orders from 23 Chinese and foreign customers. COMAC has set targets of taking a third of the Chinese narrowbody market and a fifth of the global market by 2035. <br/>