The first Airbus superjumbo to exit service will be stored minus its engines at a French airfield next week as its owner seeks a new operator for a plane that while still relatively young in industry terms has fallen out of favour with airlines. The A380 will be returned to leasing firm Dr. Peters after 10 years of service with SIA, the model’s first customer. With Airbus struggling to win orders for the double-decker and no second-hand market established, the aircraft will be parked at Tarbes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. Dr. Peters, which owns 4 A380s, said that talks with potential new users of the plane continue and that it remains “optimistic” about agreeing a deal. At the same time, the jet’s engines will be removed and returned to their manufacturer Rolls-Royce for rental to other operators. <br/>
general
In recent undercover tests of multiple airport security checkpoints by the Department of Homeland Security, inspectors said screeners, their equipment or their procedures failed more than half of the time, according to a source. When asked, the source familiar with the report if the failure rate was 80%, the response was, “You are in the ballpark.” In a public hearing following a private, classified briefing to the House Committee on Homeland Security, members of Congress called the failures by the TSA "disturbing." Inspectors "identified vulnerabilities with TSA's screener performance, screening equipment, and associated procedures," according to the Department of Homeland Security. The findings remain classified but 8 recommendations have been made to TSA to improve checkpoint security. It is not clear what those recommendations are. <br/>
EASA is looking to set new emissions standards for aircraft in a bid to curtail carbon dioxide production. EASA has proposed that newly designed aircraft types should meet a CO2 standard from Jan 1, 2020, with types already in production at that date being held to a separate standard from Jan 1, 2023. The aim of the proposal is to incentivise the incorporation of the latest fuel efficiency technology into airplane designs, and to address the predicted increase in CO2 emissions. Although aircraft are becoming steadily “greener” and emitting less pollution, this improvement is being overtaken by the growing size of the world’s airliner fleet. EASA has submitted an “Opinion” to the EC that also includes a new Particulate Matter emissions standard for aircraft engines from the Jan 1, 2020. <br/>
The Kremlin wants to explore the civil aviation market in the Middle East, but the toughening US sanctions and rhetoric have diminished its chances in Iran, which many considered a big market for Russian products in light of the last year’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or so-called Iran nuclear deal. Moscow hoped that easing of the West’s stance toward Tehran would create a more favourable climate for trade and make it possible to place a worthwhile number of Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jets with local Iranian operators. Around the time of the JCPOA’s signing, Dmitry Rogozin, deputy chairman of the Russian govt’s military industrial complex, forecast that Iranian airlines could take about 100 Superjets over the course of the next 5 years. Two years later, his forecast looks unattainable. <br/>