Russian investigators have disclosed further details about a spate of unreliable airspeed incidents involving Sukhoi Superjet 100s at Moscow Sheremetyevo. All 7 incidents involved Aeroflot flights departing the airport on Feb 4-5. The incidents affected 7 different aircraft, according to an air safety bulletin from the Interstate Aviation Committee and transport supervisor Rostransnadzor. Crews of 3 aircraft aborted their take-off roll, at speeds ranging from 70-120kt. Two other aircraft were climbing at relatively low heights of 600-1,200m, when the pilots experienced unreliable airspeed readings. Sukhoi's civil aircraft division had previously defended the Superjet, stating that Sheremetyevo had been subjected to severe winter weather at the time, and other aircraft types had been affected. <br/>
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The European Regions Airline Association is calling on members to take advantage of European Investment Bank funding for new aircraft purchases. The EIB, which is owned by the EU member states, created the E1b (US$1.2b) fund in 2016 after lobbying from the ERA member airline CFOs, who were struggling to source financing for new regional aircraft orders. Under the facility, the EIB lends the money to local banks, which funds the airline directly at competitive rates. In 2017, Spanish and Dutch regionals Air Nostrum and KLM Cityhopper became the first to use the money, drawing down a total of E500m to fund Bombardier and Embraer aircraft. ERA DG Montserrat Barriga urged other ERA member airlines to make use of the financing, which runs until around 2020. <br/>
Two Qatari fighter jets flew dangerously close to 2 civilian aircraft from the United Arab Emirates while they were in Bahraini airspace Monday, the UAE's state news agency WAM quoted its civil aviation authority as saying. WAM said the General Civil Aviation Authority had condemned the "provocative action," which it said followed 2 similar incidents that had been reported by the UAE to the ICAO. Qatar in June 2017 asked the ICAO to intervene after its Gulf neighbours closed their airspace to Qatar flights as part of the sanctions. Bahrain's civil aviation authority confirmed an incident took place, saying 2 Qatari fighter jets flew under a UAE Airbus 320 en route from the emirate of Fujairah to Rome, forcing the UAE aircraft to fly at a higher altitude. The airline involved was not specified. <br/>