Boeing found debris that could pose potential safety risks in the fuel tanks of several 737 MAX aircraft that are in storage and waiting to be delivered to airlines, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters Tuesday. Foreign object debris, an industrial term for rags, tools, metal shavings and other materials left behind by workers during the production process, has been a quality control issue for various Boeing aircraft, such as its KC-46 tankers. Mark Jenks, GM of the 737 program, told employees in the memo that such debris was "absolutely unacceptable" and that the company was taking steps to address the issue in its production system. A Boeing spokesman confirmed the memo's authenticity, and said Boeing does not see the debris as contributing to delays in the jet's return to service. <br/>
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Imagine Entertainment and filmmaker Rory Kennedy are working on a documentary about the 2 crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max that killed almost 350 people -- and thrust the airplane maker into a crisis it has yet to recover from. The film will examine the aftermath of the deaths, based on first-hand accounts of those affected by the crashes, according to Imagine Entertainment. <br/>
Air travel and glitch-free internet access are often considered mutually exclusive, thanks to the technical difficulties associated with making WiFi work at 40,000 feet. For the airlines, a satisfying online experience is even more elusive. The hardware, software, maintenance and inability to easily switch service providers combine for a very expensive headache. But there may be some good news on the horizon - a new era of ground-quality internet connectivity that could save carriers billions of dollars. The Seamless Air Alliance, a non-profit group of 30 companies, says its new tech architecture will make in-flight connectivity systems modular, with open interfaces and components that can easily be swapped out. The alliance wants to introduce a global standard, using protocols derived from the cellular and WiFi industries. <br/>
President Donald Trump signalled Tuesday via Twitter that he opposes efforts to block the sale of jet engines to China. Trump's tweets appeared intended to thwart a proposal from within his own administration to limit exports of engines jointly produced by General Electric and a French company. “We don’t want to make it impossible to do business with us," the president tweeted. “That will only mean that orders will go to someplace else. As an example, I want China to buy our jet engines, the best in the World...." Trump’s tweets followed a report in The Wall Street Journal that his administration was weighing a ban on shipments to China of a jet engine produced jointly by GE and the French company Safran. <br/>
The Korean govt will offer up to KRW300b (US$254m) in emergency loans through the state-run Korea Development Bank to low-cost carriers that have suffered a heavy hit to their earnings because of the new coronavirus, officials said Monday. The govt will also allow delayed payment of fees for the use of airport facilities for up to 3 months, and will reduce landing charges by 10% for 2 months from June if demand for flights has not recovered within the later part of the first half of the year. The airline industry has already suffered operating losses for the third consecutive quarter due to nationwide boycotts of trips to Japan, which was a reaction to Japan's restrictions on exports of key industrial materials to Korea, and the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. <br/>
China’s aviation market, projected to overtake the US this decade and become the world’s biggest, has shrunk to such an extent due to the coronavirus outbreak that it’s fallen from third to 25th, behind Portugal. Airlines have slashed capacity because of the epidemic centered in Hubei province, leaving the industry reeling. About 1.7m seats -- almost 80% of capacity -- were dropped from China services from Jan 20 to Feb 17 by global carriers. Meanwhile, Chinese airlines cut 10.4m seats domestically. “No event that we remember has had such a devastating effect on capacity as coronavirus,” John Grant, senior analyst at OAG, wrote in a report. “In many ways it highlights the importance of the Chinese market to aviation and the rapid globalisation of air services as new markets and travellers emerge.” <br/>
Russian safety analysis has revealed a disturbing upward trend in the number of hard landings by large transport aircraft which, it concludes, is not simply the result of a rise in traffic. The federal Aviaregister Russia – through a decision by air transport regulator Rosaviatsia – conducted a study into hard landings over the period from Jan 2009 to Oct 2019. It states that 176 such landings took place in the timeframe but the annual number remained “relatively stable”, at around 14, until 2015. But during the last 3 years, 2017-19, the trend has been increasing by 5 or 6 incidents per year. “The increase in the number of hard landings, starting in 2017, does not correspond to the increasing flight [activity] during this period,” says the Aviaregister analysis, stating that 28 occurred in the space of 10 months last year. <br/>