US aviation regulators plan to conduct broader safety assessments of new jetliners in an attempt to identify the kind of hidden flaws that led to two Boeing Co. 737 Max crashes. The FAA Wednesday issued proposed regulatory changes requiring more comprehensive and consistent reviews of aircraft technology and how different systems might interact with each other. The proposal, which is open for public comment for the next 90 days, is the latest reform taken by FAA after it and Boeing failed to identify the flaw that contributed to the Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The proposed regulation responds to requirements imposed by Congress and recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board. <br/>
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Passenger numbers on Russian airlines were 25% lower in October 2022 compared with a year earlier, the Rosstat state statistics service said on Wednesday, as the industry continues to be hit hard from the fallout of Western sanctions. Russian airlines carried 8.25m passengers during the month, bringing the total number of passengers carried during the first 10 months of the year to 81m - 14.3% lower than over the same period of 2021, when traffic was still down due to the COVID pandemic. Russia’s aviation industry has been hit hard by Western sanctions, with Russian airlines such as Aeroflot banned from flying in European airspace. Aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing have also stopped selling planes, parts and equipment to Russian airlines, forcing some companies to cannibalise existing jets to get hold of spare parts.<br/>
Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA said on Wednesday it has received an order for five E195-E2 aircraft from an undisclosed airline with “exciting new plans” for future growth. Embraer said that the contract was valued at $389.4m, which will be added to its fourth-quarter backlog. The company is set to deliver four aircraft by the end of 2023 and a final one in early 2024. <br/>
Around 700 Belgians arrived in court on Wednesday for a mammoth process to select a jury for the trial of 10 men accused of involvement in the 2016 bombings in Brussels that killed 32 people. Belgium’s largest ever trial began with hundreds of potential jurors filing through airport-style security checks and into eight waiting rooms with morning rush hour traffic snarled up outside by police searches of vehicles. After a half-hour delay, presiding judge Laurence Massart addressed the court to assign translators and asked the defendants to identify themselves and confirm their lawyers. They are variously charged with murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context and leading or participating in the activities of a terrorist group over the twin bombings at Brussels Airport and third bomb on the metro on March 22, 2016. Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of planning to be a second metro bomber, refused to answer any questions. The eight others present gave the requested information. One defendant, presumed killed in Syria, is being tried in absentia. In accordance with Belgium court procedure, the defendants have not declared whether they are innocent or guilty.<br/>
European regulators believe Armenian authorities have made “limited progress” with improving safety oversight, but stress that more effort is needed to lift a blanket blacklisting of the country’s airlines. Newly-established carrier Fly Arna – a joint venture between Air Arabia and the Armenian National Interests Fund – commenced operations in July, but has automatically been added to the European banned-carrier list. Fly Arna, which uses a fleet of Airbus A320-family jets on a handful of routes from Yerevan, states that safety is “paramount for us” and that it continuously monitors all guidelines provided by the Armenian committee, as well as ICAO and other authorities. European Commission and European Union Aviation Safety Agency representatives visited the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee at the end of September to review progress with addressing safety deficiencies that led to the June 2020 blacklisting, and the regulator’s ability to conduct effective oversight of Armenian airlines. The visit involved reviewing implementation of a state safety programme, quality management, occurrence reporting, and the air operator’s certificate process. It aimed to check not only the committee’s ability to comply with safety regulations but also its capacity to detect and contain any risks within certified operators. The visit confirmed that the committee “made limited progress” in addressing identified safety deficiencies, says the Commission. “While a corrective action plan has been defined and enacted, it should however be re-opened, reviewed and additional actions should be included in order to make [it] fit-for-purpose,” it adds.<br/>
Airbus has started developing fuel-cell engine technology, it said on Wednesday as it reaffirmed plans to introduce a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035. The system is one of several options being considered for a potential zero-emission aircraft based on hydrogen, an effective and clean carrier of energy, Airbus said. It is the first time the world's largest planemaker has branched out into developing engine-related technology, but zero-emission project head Glenn Llewellyn said it would not necessarily go it alone if the system ended up being deployed. Hydrogen flight is one of several potential developments being explored as aviation faces a daunting task of reaching net-zero emission targets by 2050, though there are big transatlantic differences over the path to curbing emissions. Jet engine makers Rolls-Royce, General Electric, Safran and Pratt & Whitney are among its biggest suppliers. Although Airbus once briefly considered buying Britain's Rolls-Royce over a decade ago, planemakers have historically shied away from competing with engine makers whose powerplants fly on multiple platforms to recoup huge development costs. But the increasingly integrated nature of possible future plane designs, which may involve different configurations than in the past, has increased the opportunity for overlap. Experts said Airbus was likely to partner with an engine maker if the project comes to fruition, with Airbus focusing on the fuel cell and the engine industry focusing on their core activity of managing power for flight.<br/>
Airbus agreed to pay E15.9m to end French probes into corruption allegations linked to sales campaigns in Libya and Kazakhstan, following a record E3.6b bribery settlement nearly three years ago. The deal was approved Wednesday by Judge Stephane Noel during a court hearing in Paris. Financial prosecutor Stéphanie Paget said that the punitive nature of the record fine in the prior Airbus settlement explained why the Parquet National Financier sought a much more modest penalty, which corresponds to amounts paid by the planemaker to intermediaries in the Kazakh and Libyan cases. PNF boss Jean-Francois Bohnert added that while the allegations in both settlements took place “over the same period and according to the same fraudulent scheme,” all issues couldn’t be dealt with simultaneously for procedural reasons. Under the terms of the agreement, the plane maker made no admission of guilt. “Airbus was already heavily penalized in 2020 by paying a significant fine,” Airbus General Counsel John Harrison said in court. “These behaviors are now a thing of the past and Airbus is today a company that has been profoundly transformed.” The settlement finally brings closure to Airbus after years of investigations into accusations that it used middle men to win over officials with bribes when it entered new markets. The probes culminated in the record coordinated resolution with French, British and American authorities in January 2020. The cases focused on the role of a now-defunct 150-person strategy and marketing department at Airbus.<br/>
Airbus said a lack of so-called green hydrogen and associated infrastructure could push back service entry for a carbon-free aircraft that the manufacturer is readying for the middle of next decade. The European planemaker, which plans to introduce a hydrogen model around 2035, is working with airports, energy companies and infrastructure providers to develop the ecosystem needed to support such an aircraft, CEO Guillaume Faury said Wednesday. With a launch decision on a hydrogen jet required as soon as 2027 or 2028 in order to meet the planned time-line, a lack of certainty about provision of the fuel is a significant issue, Faury said in a briefing on decarbonization efforts. “The availability, or lack of availability, of green hydrogen at the right quantity, at the right place, at the right price in the second half of the decade is a concern for me,” he said. It “could be a reason for delaying the launch of the program, even if the technologies of the planes itself are mature.” The aviation industry is under increasing pressure to reduce fossil fuel use. Toulouse, France-based Airbus, the world’s biggest planemaker, is betting that hydrogen-powered planes could be a solution for zero-emissions flying. Faury also said that there’s no technological barrier to switching to planes 100% powered by sustainable aviation fuel -- seen as a stopgap before the industry is able to offer non-carbon-based propulsion -- but that supply is once again a limiting factor. Current targets are for SAF to make up 10% of fuel needs by 2030, he said.<br/>
European planemaker Airbus announced on Wednesday a partnership with French carmaker Renault to develop a new generation of electric batteries for cars and planes. Engineering teams from both companies will join forces to mature technologies related to energy storage, one of the main roadblocks for the development of long-range electric vehicles, Airbus said. “For the first time, two European leaders from different industries are sharing engineering knowledge to shape the future of hybrid-electric aircraft”, said Gilles Le Borgne, Renault’s EVP for engineering. “Aviation is an extremely demanding field in terms of both safety and energy consumption, and so is the car industry.” The collaboration will focus on energy management optimisation and battery weight improvement while also studying the full life cycle of future batteries and assessing their carbon footprint.<br/>
Air freight capacity in October dipped below 2021 levels for the first time since April, IATA figures released today show, as economic headwinds continue to tighten cargo demand. Airlines reduced global air cargo capacity in October by 0.6% compared with October 2021, while demand (measured in tonnes of cargo carried per kilometre) declined 13.6% from the same month last year. Air freight demand was also around 6% less than pre-pandemic levels for October. IATA’s October figures show continuation of a recent trend of slowing air cargo demand after a bumper performance last year. “Headwinds in the air cargo industry persisted in October, including high inflation rates in advanced economies, weak performance in the global flows of goods and services, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the unusual strength of the US dollar,” IATA notes. ”All of these factors put downward pressure on air cargo growth.” IATA, however, does note some positivity: air cargo demand in October climbed 3.5% on September’s performance. “This indicates that the year-end will still bring a traditional peak-season boost despite economic uncertainties,” says IATA director general Willie Walsh. “But as 2022 closes out, it appears that the current economic uncertainties will follow into the New Year and need continued close monitoring.” Cargo volumes were down in all regions versus 2021 in October, including in Latin America – where carriers have been enjoying a boom in air freight demand since the pandemic. <br/>