Global aviation regulators have yet to formulate a unified approach to getting the grounded Boeing 737 Max airliner back into service, a division that risks undermining public trust in the industry’s safety record, according to Alexandre de Juniac, the head of IATA. “The point on which we have to pay attention is for the regulators to be aligned,” de Juniac said. “Otherwise the certification process will be broken, will be fragmented, and we have built our safety record on the unanimity and reciprocity of the certification process.” While the FAA is expected to wrap up its review at some point this winter, regulators in Europe and China intend to offer their own assessments of the safety of the plane before allowing it to fly in their airspace. <br/>
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US safety regulators have called on Boeing to redesign the protective covering of engines on its older 737 aircraft to prevent a repeat of the fatal accident last year in which a Southwest Airlines passenger was pulled through a window damaged by shattered cowling. The NTSB has recommended that the US FAA require Boeing to replace the fan cowling on all existing and future 737 Next Generation aircraft. Presently there are more than 7,000 737NGs flying. Boeing stressed that the 737NG was still safe to fly and the issue was completely mitigated by inspections of the fan blades. The company said it was working on a design enhancement “that would fully address the safety recommendation from the NTSB”. The news is yet another challenge to Boeing’s reputation. <br/>
Major US airlines expect the Thanksgiving holiday travel season to break records as airlines continue to deal with the fallout of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, A4A said Tuesday. The industry group said that it expects the Sunday after the national Thanksgiving holiday, Dec 1, to be the busiest day in US commercial aviation history, transporting a record 3.1m passengers on that single day alone. For the entire 12-day holiday period which it analyses, A4A expects airlines to transport a total of 31.6m passengers, up 2.7% from the same period a year ago. Load factors will be between 79% and 91%, the organisation adds. The holiday travel period as defined by A4A begins Friday, Nov 22 and ends Tuesday, Dec 3. <br/>
Ghana's govt has signed tentative deals which cover a trio of Boeing 787-9s and 6 De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400s. Disclosing the 787-9 MOU with Boeing at the Dubai air show, Ghana's minister of aviation Joseph Kofi Adda said the widebodies were earmarked for a new home-based carrier in which the govt, holding a 10% golden shareholding, would participate alongside private investors. Adda seeks to differentiate the planned new carrier from "national" or "state-owned" ones – such as Ghana International Airlines, which ceased operations a decade ago, or predecessor Ghana Airways. He stresses that the govt's role will be to "kick-start" the new carrier and then take a back-seat role, leaving strategic decisions to the board. <br/>