Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said it would acquire Bombardier’s regional-jet business for US$550m in a transaction that puts the companies on different paths in the aviation sector. The deal unveiled Tuesday marks the Canadian company’s exit from the commercial passenger-aircraft business following failed bets that it could compete with Airbus and Boeing in the 100-seat single-aisle plane category. Bombardier has restructured its aviation division over the past 2 years, highlighted by its joint venture with Airbus that put the European plane maker in charge of the production and sales of the 110- to 130-seat planes that the Montreal company had originally conceived as the CSeries. Those jets are now rebranded as the Airbus A220. Bombardier will now focus on its business-aircraft franchise and its rail division. <br/>
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Satellite communications provider Viasat and avionics manufacturer Teledyne Controls have partnered to support inflight streaming of flight deck data for airline operational and maintenance uses. The partnership pairs Viasat’s inflight connectivity (IFC) system with Teledyne’s Aircraft Interface Device (AID) to offload quick access recorder data and stream Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages in real time. “Commercial aircraft generate large volumes of data, and our goal is to help airlines use this data more effectively by removing the expensive manual, post-flight data acquisition process, as well as create an environment where communications and analysis happens between the flight deck and ground operations teams—all in real time,” Viasat VP Don Buchman said. <br/>
The head of the TSA told US House lawmakers that the diversion of agency personnel to the US-Mexico border “will have no effect on aviation security whatsoever,” adding, “We have baseline aviation security that we do not go below.” In remarks made during a June 25 hearing of the House Oversight Committee held to discuss TSA security vulnerabilities, TSA administrator David Pekoske reported that the agency has deployed less than 100 transportation security officers to the Southern border, all of whom are volunteers. Chairman Elijah Cummings said the agency has diverted nearly 200 employees total to the border from more than 50 airports and agency headquarters—a figure that also includes supervisors, inspectors and other personnel, in addition to 172 Federal Air Marshals. <br/>
Greece needs to invest to ensure the viability of its air traffic management system and recruit more air traffic controllers to reduce delays during the summer period, executives from IATA said Tuesday. IATA said Greece must also contain airport charges and expand terminal and runway capacity to maximise the potential of its air transport industry, which contributes about E17.8b, or 10.2%, to gross domestic product. "Air transport is such a lifeline for Greece's economy, a key driver. The potential is enormous but to unleash it, key recommendations must be addressed," IATA CE Alexandre de Juniac said. Greece, which is the eighth-largest aviation market in Europe and has been privatising its airports as it seeks to fully recover from 8 years of recession, grew its air connectivity by 106% from 2013 to last year. <br/>
A new air traffic control training facility has opened in Beirut, Lebanon, to help improve the supply of controllers in the region. Airways International, the commercial arm of New Zealand’s air navigation service provider, has installed a TotalControl LCD tower simulator and 2 radar/non-radar simulators at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International. The contract to build and install the simulator was between Airways International and ICAO on behalf of the DGCA Lebanon. The facility, to be used to train DGCA’s controllers and students using simulated scenarios that mimic the real world, is now fully commissioned after the completion of site acceptance testing last week. The need for ATCOs in the Middle East is urgent. Worldwide growth in air passenger traffic over the next 20 years is estimated at 3.5% annually. <br/>
Operations at Singapore Changi airport operations were temporarily disrupted Monday due to unauthorised drone activities and bad weather. As a precautionary measure, arrival and departure flights were carefully regulated for short periods between 20:07 and 21:07 local time, CAAS said Tuesday. In total, about 15 departures and 3 arrivals were delayed, and 87 flights were diverted. “Authorities take a serious view of errant operations of unmanned aircraft which may pose threats to aviation or endanger the personal safety of others, and will not hesitate to take enforcement action against those who contravene regulations,” CAAS says, adding that investigations into the latest event are ongoing. It is the second time that drone sightings near the airport have caused disruption at the Southeast Asian hub within a week. <br/>