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After a preliminary onsite exam, the NTSB says the engine failure on a United aircraft on 20 February was likely caused by metal fatigue. Two fan blades of the Boeing 777-200’s right-hand Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine were severed, one at the root and one in mid-span. The aircraft with the tail number N772UA had just departed from Denver International airport and was bound for Honolulu as UA328. The fan blade that was severed at the root “indicates damage consistent with metal fatigue,” NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt says Monday. “This piece is being flown on a private jet tonight to a Pratt & Whitney lab where it will be examined tomorrow under the supervision of NTSB investigators.” A second fan blade, which looks from photographs to have been severed mid-span, “is consistent with being struck with the other fan blade” in what the NTSB calls “overload damage”. “It probably got hit as the other piece was separated,” Sumwalt says. The engine has 22 fan blades. One blade was “embedded in the engine containment ring at about the one o’clock position.” Sumwalt adds. The other was recovered from a soccer field in Broomfield, Colorado. The aircraft rained debris on neighbourhoods below as it returned to Denver for an emergency landing. Sumwalt added that the safety organisation will be examining the blades for “crack arrest marks”, which he compared to marks in the sand similar to when a tide comes in or goes out on a beach, in order to determine how long the blades had been damaged.<br/>

Dozens of Boeing 777 widebody aircraft have been grounded across the world after an engine failure on a United flight caused the plane to shed debris across a Denver suburb. The US FAA Sunday ordered inspections of Boeing 777 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000-112 turbines after an uncontained engine failure resulted in an emergency landing of a United flight on Saturday. The regulator pinpointed issues with the hollow fan blades that were “unique to this engine”. United flight 328 had to return to Denver airport shortly after take-off on Saturday after debris, including parts of the cowling that were designed to contain the engine, fell from the aircraft towards the ground. The US NTSB said initial investigation of the United incident showed two fan blades had fractured — one at the root and another “midspan”. A piece of one blade was embedded in the containment ring of the engine, while the other fan blades showed damage to the tips and leading edges. In December a JAL flight from Naha to Tokyo powered by the same engine suffered a similar failure, with fan blades broken at the root and middle, according to accident tracker Aviation Safety Network. Regulators around the world are taking action to limit the use of the engine given the two incidents involving the same turbine in relatively short succession.<br/>

The dramatic engine failure on a United flight flung debris across neighborhoods outside Denver and caused the airline to ground more than 20 planes out of caution. It's the second time in three years that the right engine failed during a United flight. In 2018, a Boeing 777 bound for Honolulu lost the cover to its right engine mid-flight. Though the plane safely landed, the passengers onboard were terrified. Like the plane involved in Saturday's engine failure, the Boeing in 2018 was headed for Hawaii, too. Both were powered by engines from the same company. Investigators haven't yet determined the cause of Saturday's engine failure. If the outcome is the same as in 2018, the engine's fan blades may have played a part. In February 2018, United Airlines Flight 1175 took off from San Francisco toward Honolulu. More than 370 people were on board. Less than an hour away from the Hawaii capital, passengers heard pieces of metal rattling loudly, and the plane started to shake. Outside, the plane's right engine was exposed, its cover lost over the Pacific Ocean. The plane landed safely in Honolulu. The Boeing 777 involved in the 2018 incident was powered by Pratt & Whitney's PW4000 112-inch engines. The engine damaged on Saturday outside Denver was also a Pratt & Whitney engine, the PW4077. In its final report of the 2018 incident, the NTSB found that an engine blade failed and United mechanics didn't have the proper training to inspect blades.<br/>

EgyptAir announced Monday grounding four of its of its Boeing 777-200 aircraft, two days after a United plane of the same type had an engine failure over Colorado, United States. The Egyptian carrier said it would suspend the Boeing 777-200 aircraft equipped with the Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines, the type of engine involved in the Denver incident. The US FAA Sunday urged "immediate or stepped-up inspections" of Boeing 777 aircraft with the same engine type. Boeing agreed with the decision and urged the temporary suspension of all of its 777 aircraft with that engine. EgyptAir said it would ground the four planes based on the recommendations of Boeing and the FAA, until the appropriate inspection protocol for the engines of this type is issued and implemented.<br/>

China’s three largest carriers started the year with domestic traffic continuing to decline, amid travel restrictions imposed to curb a resurgence in local coronavirus cases. The ‘Big Three’ — comprising Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — each carried far fewer domestic passengers in January compared to numbers reported a year ago, as well as in December 2020. Capacity and traffic, measured in ASKs and RPKs respectively, also shrank. In January, Air China carried 4.36m domestic passengers, a 41% decline year on year. Domestic RPKs fell 42% year on year, while domestic capacity fell 28% year on year. As for China Eastern, it carried 5.1m domestic passengers, representing a 39% year-on-year drop. Domestic capacity fell 22%, while traffic shrank 37% year on year. China Southern flew 6m domestic passengers in January, a 37% decline year on year. Domestic RPKs for the month declined nearly 40%, with ASKs shrinking by about 30% compared to January 2020. On a month-on-month basis, the ‘Big Three’ also reported declines in traffic and capacity. <br/>

Asiana Airlines has modified two Airbus A350-900 passenger jets for freighter operations as part of plans to grow its cargo business. The conversion of both A350s, completed on 21 February, will enable the airline to transport 23t per aircraft, the airline said in a 22 February statement. The economy section of each aircraft was converted into a cargo hold, with 24 air cargo pallets installed on the cabin floor. The airline says it intends to “strengthen its global cargo network in Asia, North America and Europe by introducing modified cargo planes”, adding that it is “fully prepared for the transportation of various medicines”, including Covid-19 vaccines. The airline adds: “With the innovative strategy of converting passenger planes into freighters, cargo transport capacity has further improved.”<br/>

A Singapore Airlines A380 left the Alice Springs ‘boneyard’ on Monday morning to be fitted with a new cabin allowing it to eventually return to service. The Airbus A380-841, 9V-SKQ msn 079, departed Alice Springs at 10:03 AM and as flight SQ8896 and landed in Sydney at 3:07 PM, where it will undergo checks following it being ‘thawed out’ from its spell in the desert. The carrier, the launch customer for the double-decker, is set to retire seven of its A380 but crucially keep 12 in service. It comes despite speculation the aircraft is nearing the end of its time in the skies, globally. “Singapore Airlines can confirm that one of our Airbus A380 aircraft that was stored in Alice Springs has begun its planned return to Singapore ahead of a schedule retro-fitting and maintenance programme,” said the business. “The aircraft, registration 9V-SKQ, has been moved to Sydney to undergo routine checks following its storage, before returning to Singapore where it will be retro-fitted as part of our plan to have all 12 remaining A380 in our fleet fitted with the latest A380 cabin product.”<br/>

Air NZ will trial a digital vaccine passport in April on flights between Auckland and Sydney. As vaccination begins in Australia, attention has turned to the potential resumption of international travel and how Australia could track whether potential visitors have been vaccinated. Several tech companies have been working with the WHO to develop a secure digital vaccination record system that could be used to prove to airlines and governments that passengers have had a Covid vaccine. One such app, Travel Pass, developed by the IATA, will be trialed by Air New Zealand from April to “streamline the health verification process to help customers know what they need to take their next international trip safely”. When someone is vaccinated or tested, the medical centre or lab can to securely send that information to the app, which can then be cross-checked against the travel requirements for the country they are trying to visit. With the customer’s permission, this health information can then be shared with airlines or border control in order to verify they are eligible to travel. The airline is still in conversations with governments about integrating the app into vaccination and testing procedures. An Australian Department of Health statement said it looked forward to reviewing the outcomes of the trial . “The Australian government is supportive of ways to ensure the safety of the Australian community through the efficient collection and verification of traveller data whilst adhering to strict privacy provisions,” it said.<br/>