Airbus' A380 superjumbo faces the ignominy of being broken up for spare parts if second-hand operators for the oldest jets can’t be found in coming months. The double-deckers could be “parted out” to recover engines and other spares worth at least US$100 m per plane, according to German fund manager Dr Peters, which owns 4 A380s due to be returned between October and June by SIA following the expiry of 10-year lease deals. At the same time, talks are continuing with 6 potential operators of the jets, including an Asian low-cost airline that would fly them in a 700-seat single-class layout, CE Anselm Gehling said. Prospective users also include carriers in the US, which has so far eschewed the model, and Europe, where IAG is continuing to evaluate deploying used A380s at airlines within the group. <br/>
general
The US Congress is showing an appetite for revisiting the decades-long ban on supersonic travel over land. Both the House and Senate versions of FAA reauthorisation bills include measures directing the FAA to study the regulations surrounding supersonic travel to see if they could be updated. “It is important to create bias for action…so we can lead to certification and safe operation over the domestic US,” said representative Mark Sanford who sponsored the measure as an amendment to the House FAA reauthorisation bill. Civil supersonic travel over land in the US has been prohibited since March 1973. But years of research surrounding sonic booms and the advancement of technologies are giving rise to questions about what could be done to facilitate supersonic travel. <br/>
Mexico's competition watchdog Monday unveiled measures aimed at reducing flight delays and improving service for travellers at Mexico City's crowded international airport. The measures require the airport to provide clear rules for how airlines use slots assigned to them, as well as under what circumstances the airport can take away slots, the head of the watchdog known as Cofece, Alejandra Palacios, said. For example, airlines that regularly delay flights in certain slots may lose them, Palacios said. The regulator introduced the steps to alleviate congestion and improve efficiency at the airport, which sits within the sprawling capital city and has been unable to expand enough in recent years to meet growing demand. <br/>
The British Airline Pilots Association is warning of a looming catastrophe unless drones are subject to tougher regulations. The association demanded the compulsory registration of drones Monday after Gatwick Airport briefly closed its runway over safety concerns when a drone was spotted in the area. The union's flight safety specialist, Steve Landells, says the incident shows "the threat of drones being flown near manned aircraft must be addressed before we see a disaster." There have been several near-misses between drones and aircraft in Britain, with sheer chance averting collision in some cases. Under British rules, a drone operator must be able to see it at all times and keep them away from planes, helicopters, airports and airfields. <br/>
There are indications that Nigerian airlines lose at least US$15m annually to bird strike incidents across the country’s airports and airfields. Bird strike incidents usually affect the engines of aircraft, which cost about $1.5m to replace, depending on the type and capacity of the aircraft involved in the incident. This is apart from the cost of shipping the engine into the country. Nigerian airlines experience at least 10 bird strike incidents annually. In the past 24 months, there have been no fewer than 27 bird strike incidents recorded across the country’s airports. Statistics of the incidents indicate that the airlines encountered 14 bird strikes during take-offs and another 13 on landings, with half of the incidents happening at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. <br/>
Over 6.8m passengers used Dubai International in May, with passenger traffic at the airport rising by 1.9% compared to the 6.7m recorded in May 2016. The figure brings the total number of passengers using the airport in the first 5 months of 2017 to nearly 37m passengers, up 6.7% year-on-year, according to Dubai Airports Monday. South America was the fastest growing region in May, with traffic rising by 60%, followed by routes to Eastern Europe, which recorded a year-on-year rise of 15.5%. In terms of passenger volumes, India topped all countries, with a total of 1.03m passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (508,613 passengers), the UK (451,540 passengers), and Pakistan (354,924 passengers). The top cities for passenger traffic were London, Mumbai and Jeddah. <br/>