Regulators are worried that faucet leaks in Boeing 787 jets could pose a safety hazard by water seeping into the planes’ electronics during flights. The FAA proposed Friday to order repetitive inspections and, if leaks are found, replacing faucet parts. The move comes after reports of water from lavatories getting under the cabin floor and into electronic equipment bays. The FAA said the leaks could damage critical equipment and lead to a “loss of continued safe flight and landing.” The agency said one airline found wet carpet in the cockpit of a plane and, when it inspected its entire fleet of 787s, found “multiple” planes with leaking faucets. The FAA did not identify the airline. Boeing advised airlines in November about the issue, which has been traced to an O-ring seal and described as a slow leak — about 8 ounces of water per hour. However, Boeing said the issue was limited to certain 787s while the FAA order would cover all of them. The FAA described the extra inspections as a temporary measure while the manufacturer redesigns the faucet modules. A Boeing spokesman said the redesign is complete and the company is working with its supplier and customers to determine when planes can be retrofitted with new parts. There will be a 45-day period for comments before the FAA proposal can become a final order. The inspections would apply to 140 planes in U.S. fleets. Boeing calls the 787 the Dreamliner. It is a bigger plane than the 737 Max and is used extensively on long flights including international ones.<br/>
general
The worst major airlines for flight delays in the last year have been revealed through a new investigation. Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency showed that Wizz Air was the worst for flight delays from UK airports in 2022. The Hungarian carrier’s UK departures were an average of 46 minutes and six seconds behind schedule last year. That was more than three times longer than the previous year, when it was also ranked last for punctuality. Consumer group Which? described the figures as “worrying” and claimed they demonstrate the need for the CAA to be given tougher powers. Tui recorded the second-worst punctuality last year, with an average delay of 40 minutes and 18 seconds. This was followed by Qatar Airways (31 minutes and 48 seconds), Turkish Airlines (29 minutes and 30 seconds) and Pegasus Airlines (27 minutes and 18 seconds). Meanwhile, Norwegian Air Shuttle recorded the best performance with an average delay of just 13 minutes and 42 seconds.<br/>
Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport saw its busiest month in history, the Israel Airports Authority revealed on Sunday, with more passengers passing through it in March 2023 than any other month ever. During this month, a total of 1,983,428 passengers passed through Ben-Gurion Aiport on 13,490 international and domestic flights. This is a 57% increase in passenger numbers compared to March 2022.<br/>
China's civil aviation sector recorded steady growth in March, an industry report showed. Last month, daily domestic flights amounted to about 11,657 on average, surging 133.52 percent year on year, according to a report released by VariFlight, a China-based civil aviation data service provider. The figure also represented a 3-percent increase compared with the same period in 2019. The number of average daily international flights stood at around 589, up 43.07 percent compared to the level registered in February. Among the airports with an annual passenger throughput of more than 10m people, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province handled the largest number of flights last month, while Shanghai Pudong International Airport handled the most international flights, according to the report. <br/>
Airbus deliveries fell by 11% on an industrial basis to 127 jets in the first quarter, underscoring the pressure on global supply chains and paving the way for a 12-week sprint to steady the trajectory by mid-year, industry sources said. Deliveries were down 11% from 142 physical deliveries in the same period last year, or down 9% compared with an adjusted year-ago total of 140. Airbus last year clawed back two deliveries to reflect Western sanctions on Russia. Airbus delivered 11 wide-body jets including 5 A350s in the first quarter of 2023, 10 small A220 jets and 106 of its best-selling A320neo-family aircraft, the sources said. Airbus declined comment ahead of a release due on April 11, when rival Boeing is also scheduled to report deliveries. After starting the year with a one-third drop in deliveries in January, Airbus reduced the cumulative year-on-year deficit to 11% in March from 16% the month before. But hopes of achieving deliveries in the high 130s in the first quarter were hit by continuing industrial and supply chain problems that have most recently spread to premium wide-body cabins, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The quarterly drop was led by the long-haul A350, down to 5 aircraft from an unadjusted total of 16 a year earlier.<br/>
China and France will study the need for cargo planes and long-haul jets "in due course," a joint statement said on Friday, following a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. The comments suggest a more muted stance on the prospect for significant orders of large Airbus jets compared with the planemaker's best-selling A320neo medium-haul model, for which it is doubling production capacity in China. "The two countries will in due course study the freight and long-haul needs of Chinese airlines, depending on the recovery and development of China's air transport market and fleet," the statement wrapping up Macron's visit to Beijing said. It also welcomed an agreement giving delivery clearance for 150 A320neo and 10 A350 jets that Airbus had already sold to China. No new airplane orders were announced during the visit. Airbus is marketing a freighter version of its A350 jet and is keen to sell more wide-body passenger jets to China. It opened an A350 completion centre there in 2021. While domestic traffic has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels after extended COVID-19 lockdowns, international traffic is at about 30% of 2019 levels. Boeing had been expected to secure a large order for its wide-body 787 before a chill in Sino-U.S. relations left the planemaker partially frozen out of China. With international demand still behind the rebound in domestic flying, analysts have said airlines have time to wait for an eventual detente and ensure maximum competition before making major long-haul fleet choices. The statement also said European and Chinese regulators would accelerate certification involving the Airbus H175 helicopter, Dassault Aviation 8X business jet and Harbin Y12F turboprop.<br/>
During the dark days of travel restrictions, European airlines provided a neat demonstration of the limits of virtual meetings. Top airline chiefs on video link at an annual industry summit in 2021 were left bemused when an online panel unravelled as the moderator’s line failed. The host returned after CEOs tried to fill the time talking about their holiday plans, but disappeared again after falling off his chair. It was more engaging than many conferences, but also proved a point: Predictions of the demise of business travel following the rise of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams were off the mark. Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicted that more than 50% of business travel would disappear, and even some senior airline industry bosses thought a significant chunk was gone forever. But in reality, executives have been quick to abandon video calls and get back on the road. Like many changes that seemed permanent during the pandemic, old habits have steadily returned. Most strikingly, InterContinental Hotels Group has reported that corporate travel demand and revenue in the United States has already returned to pre-pandemic levels. At US airline Delta, business travel has recovered to “somewhere in the mid-80s” per cent of normal levels, while the recovery is slower but building in Europe. British Airways owner IAG said corporate bookings had returned to 70% of normal, and it was aiming to get back to 85% this year. Corporates are still lagging behind booming leisure travel, but previous downturns suggest that business trips typically take longer to come back, meaning there should be room to grow further. McKinsey has calculated that international business travel from the US took five years to fully recover from the global financial crisis, while leisure travel was back within two years.<br/>