French investigators are seeking assistance to locate engine parts which they believe fell from an Airbus A220-300 as it passed over the east of the country last month. The SWISS aircraft had been operating the LX348 service to London Heathrow from Geneva July 25. While climbing through 32,000ft the aircraft suffered a mechanical failure of its left-hand Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine. The crew shut down the powerplant, says French investigation authority BEA, and diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Inspection of the aircraft subsequently determined that the stage one rotor of its low-pressure compressor was missing. BEA is putting out a public call for witnesses in an effort to find missing parts of the engine which, it say, may have fallen into a forest area some 190km south-east of Paris. <br/>
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Lufthansa and Eurowings plans to expand their leisure long-haul network from their Munich and Frankfurt hubs, starting from summer 2020. The Lufthansa Group carriers will launch new North Atlantic services to Las Vegas (Nevada), Phoenix (Arizona), Anchorage (Alaska), Seattle (Washington), Orlando (Florida) and Detroit (Michigan). In addition, Lufthansa will strengthen Munich hub’s Asia services with new services to Bangalore. Lufthansa executive board member and CCO-network airlines Harry Hohmeister said, “Lufthansa Group is significantly increasing its commitment at the Munich hub and continuing its expansion to a hub for Asia with the addition of Bangalore. Demand in this area in particular is rising sharply.” <br/>
Ocean Air Linhas Aéreas S/A, formerly doing business as Avianca Brasil, will leave Star Alliance Sept 1. Ocean Air’s withdrawal follows several months of bankruptcy protection and the revocation of its air operator’s certificate by Brazilian regulator ANAC. The airline filed for bankruptcy protection Dec 11, 2018. Star Alliance CE Jeffrey Goh said, “Initially joining Star Alliance in 2015, Avianca Brasil made important contributions to our customer proposition in the Brazilian market, and we regret this unfortunate development. I wish to stress that the exit of Avianca Brasil in no way affects the membership of Avianca S.A., our valued member based in Bogotá, Colombia, which continues to be a significant contributor to the Alliance in South America.” <br/>