US air-safety regulators likely acted improperly in the way they authorised Southwest Airlines to begin flights between California and Hawaii last year, according to the main govt agency that handles federal whistleblower complaints. The preliminary conclusion by the Office of Special Counsel pertains to a FAA employee’s allegations that agency managers gave the carrier preferential treatment by rushing the approval process and cutting corners in other ways. The counsel’s staff “found a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” by FAA employees, according to one document, among several documents and emails between staff and the whistleblower reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The inquiry hasn’t been made public. <br/>
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Flydubai, a major Boeing 737 MAX customer, is considering leasing additional aircraft following the latest setback to the grounded jet's return to service. Boeing said Tuesday it now does not expect to win approval to return the 737 MAX to service until mid-year. The MAX jet had recently been expected to be approved by regulators to return to service in February or March. "We are looking at short to medium-term leasing options to add more capacity for the coming few months," a spokeswoman said Wednesday. Flydubai's order for 250 MAX jets is the second largest for the model after Southwest. Flydubai had received only a fraction of those before the MAX was grounded last March. The airline has warned the grounding is putting significant financial pressure on the airline, and said it could replace MAX jets with aircraft from Airbus. <br/>
A Michigan woman who says she was groped by a male passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight says airline staff asked her to move to another seat after she reported the assault, rather than moving the man. Tia Jackson said she was on a flight from Atlanta to Detroit Tuesday morning when she was groped as she was sleeping. The woman said she was sitting in a middle seat with a friend seated by the window when a man seated in the aisle seat assaulted her just before landing. Spirit Airlines said it takes Jackson's allegation seriously and explained that the staff's rationale in asking her to move was to isolate the man, who would have then not been seated next to anyone. Jackson said she refused to move because she didn't want to leave her friend and she felt like she was being punished for what the man had done. <br/>
Grounded Kazakh operator Bek Air is continuing to defend its operations and practices after being slated by the country’s regulator in the aftermath of the fatal Fokker 100 accident at Almaty. Bek Air is accusing Kazakhstan’s aviation administration of proving “strained and biased” remarks about the airline’s procedures and safety management following an inspection of the carrier. The administration had particularly highlighted missing data plates on engines which, it said, prevented identification of individual powerplants or their usage. Bek Air attributes the loss of some data plates to “vibrations and other loads on the aircraft”, claiming that it chose to remove plates which were “weakly attached” to expensive components. <br/>
The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) has imposed fines on local AirAsia carriers and a Malaysia Airports (MAHB) subsidiary for various infringements. AirAsia and AirAsia X were each fined MYR2m (US$491,000) for charging payment processing fees separately from base fares, which contravenes local laws on consumer protection. This is their second violation, which attracted a tenfold increase on the MYR200,000 they were each fined in Sept 2019. Since the start of 2018, the AirAsia carriers have been involved in a dispute with MAHB over equalising passenger charges for southeast Asian passengers departing from the main and KLIA2 terminals. AirAsia Group CE Tony Fernandes has argued that KLIA2 is a low-cost facility and should have lower passenger charges than the main KLIA terminal. <br/>
Air Niugini is delaying deliveries of four ordered Boeing 737 Max jets until at least 2024, and indicates it might reconsider operating the aircraft at all. MD Alan Milne explains the delay was effected as the Papua New Guinean airline undertook a broader review of its fleet plan, including a study of replacement options for its Fokker regional jets. “This will then determine if the Max is still appropriate for Air Niugini, or whether other Boeing products would better suit as a replacement for the airline’s existing Fokker, Boeing 737 and 767 aircraft types,” states Milne. He says the 737 Max order could be switched to other aircraft from Boeing, or to smaller Embraer E2 jets. However, any such move would be contingent on Boeing’s plans to acquire the Brazilian airframer’s commercial division. <br/>