United Technologies said Thursday it was working to resolve the issues that led to delays in supplying its Pratt & Whitney engines to Airbus. Deliveries of the newest member of Airbus' narrowbody jet family have been disrupted by delays in engine supply. "It is painful to see so many aircraft on ground. Our first priority is to make sure that we can make the airline that has our engine and use the asset, which, by the way, is performing very well," United Tech CFO Akhil Johri said. Deliveries and reliability have been hit by teething problems with the newly developed Geared Turbofan engine. "We are working right now with Airbus to see whether we want to reallocate or change the mix between engines that go towards new aircraft versus what goes into the lease pool this year," Johri said. <br/>
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Bombardier has taken delivery of the first Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofans fitted with upgraded combustors for the C Series narrowbody as the manufacturer prepares to accelerate production during the second half of the year in an attempt to deliver some 30 airplanes. This year having shipped just 11 CS100s and CS300s to SWISS and Air Baltic, Bombardier has adjusted its delivery ambitions slightly downward from an earlier estimate of between 30 and 35 to account for supply chain interruptions, mainly involving engine supplier Pratt & Whitney. “We’ve always said that our 2017 [deliveries] would be skewed toward the back end of [the year],” C Series program office director Istifan Ghanem said Tuesday. <br/>
For many, flying coach has become downright uncomfortable, with more passengers squeezed into smaller seats. It turns out that may also be putting lives at risk in an emergency. As airlines shrink seats, passenger safety advocates worry evacuations will take even longer. The space between rows has shrunk from as much as 35 inches to 31. In some cases, it's down to just 28 inches. Paul Hudson is president of Flyers Rights, an advocacy group that sued to force the FAA to regulate seat size and update decades-old safety standards. He said that the shrinking of seats is "definitely" making the flying public less safe. Over the summer, an appellate court sided with Hudson's group. It found a "plausible life-and-death safety concern" and "ordered the FAA to look at the issue." The FAA said it is reviewing the judge's ruling. <br/>
An influential industry committee recommended Thursday that the FAA eliminate or scale back dozens of safety rules, including one on airline pilot qualifications. The FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee said the recommendations are a response to an effort by the agency to comply with president Donald Trump's directives to cut govt regulations. The committee approved a report containing the recommendations by a vote of 14 to 4 with 1 abstention. Pilots unions and safety groups oppose the recommendation on pilot qualifications, saying it would undermine safety. Regional airlines have been trying to roll back the pilot qualifications rule since it was adopted by the FAA in response to a sweeping aviation safety law passed by Congress after the last fatal crash of a US passenger airliner. <br/>
Almost 30 flights have been cancelled or delayed Friday as airlines grapple with the fall-out from Thursday's wild weather which caused chaos at Sydney Airport. Queues have been growing at Sydney Airport's domestic terminals since early in the morning as passengers whose flights were cancelled Thursday's attempt to get on re-booked services. Almost 100 flights were cancelled Thursday when strong wind gusts of up to 72 km/h caused the closure of 2 of Sydney Airport's 3 runways. Priority was given to international flights, with thousands of domestic passengers left stranded in Sydney. The cancellations have thrown the domestic flight schedule into chaos with all airlines affected. It is not known how long it will take to clear the backlog but some passengers have been told they may have to wait days to get on another flight. <br/>