general

While the US National Transportation Safety Board is satisfied with parts of an FAA proposal to expand cockpit-voice recorder duration to 25h, it is disappointed that the plan does not cover retrofit of older aircraft. The FAA proposal will require the installation of 25h recorders on new-build aircraft across a broad range of operations and model sizes. Retrofitting the current fleet, according to the proposal, would result in “significant” costs, because it would apply to more than 29,500 aircraft – a rise of two-thirds on the 43,470 new-build aircraft to which the proposal will apply over the next 20 years. But the NTSB disputes this figure. The investigation agency – which originally recommended that retrofit apply to all aircraft current required to carry a cockpit-voice and flight-data recorder, to avoid a cost burden – estimates that retrofit would apply to 13,500 aircraft, less than half the FAA figure. “This is a conservative estimate as this population includes many [aircraft] capable of single-pilot operations that would not require a [cockpit recorder],” it adds. The NTSB argues that the FAA’s analysis does not take into account the number of aircraft which would be removed from the US registry – through retirement or scrappage – over the five-year retrofit period the NTSB has recommended. As a result, it says, it “cannot fully support” the FAA proposal because it believes a retrofit requirement should be included. “We believe the FAA has inappropriately estimated the cost of retrofitting the existing fleet and urge the FAA to reconsider its position,” says NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy. According to the FAA the equipment cost to retrofit 25h cockpit-voice recorders would exceed $740m, far higher than the $195m estimated by its proposal to limit the installations to new-build aircraft.<br/>

French airport group ADP posted full-year revenue in line with expectations on Wednesday, as traffic almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ADP posted revenue of E5.50b for 2023, on par with analysts' average estimate in a company-compiled consensus. Traffic at a group last year level reached 98.7% of 2019 levels, before COVID-19-related travel restrictions, and was at 92.3% of pre-pandemic levels for its Paris-region airports.<br/>

Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd said on Wednesday it will set up the first-ever green hydrogen plant inside an airport in the country. BPCL said it would build and operate a 1,000-kilowatt green hydrogen plant inside Cochin International Airport, which will contribute land, water and green energy resources. The initial output will be used to power vehicles in the airport, which is in the southern part of the country, BPCL said. Green hydrogen, which is produced from water using renewable energy sources, is recognised as a future fuel and aligns with carbon-neutral strategies. Indian companies are investing billions of dollars to reduce emissions to meet the country's goal of net zero emissions by 2070. India is also expanding the use of biofuel in its transport sector to achieve this goal. BPCL plans to invest $18.16b over the next five years to grow its oil business and expand its renewable energy portfolio as it aims for a 2040 net zero goal.<br/>

Changi Airport is taking its decarbonisation efforts up a notch and has started work on the installation of a large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roofs of passenger terminals, as well as airfield and cargo buildings operated by Changi Airport Group (CAG). When completed in early 2025, it will be Singapore’s largest rooftop solar PV system in a single location, airport operator CAG and asset manager Keppel announced on Feb 14. Another system will be installed at a 4ha area – the equivalent of nearly six football fields – within the airfield, away from spaces where aircraft operate. This comes after an international panel of experts and business representatives in 2022 recommended that Changi Airport consider installing solar panels on open spaces within the airfield. CAG said on Feb 14 that it has appointed Keppel to design, build, own and operate the solar PV systems at Changi Airport for 25 years. Once ready, the solar PV systems will have a combined generation capacity of 43MW-peak (MWp). Of this, 38MWp will be generated from the system installed on rooftops, while the remaining 5MWp of solar generation capacity will be from the system in the airfield. CAG and Keppel said the new systems would reduce CAG’s carbon emissions by about 10% of its energy consumption levels in 2019, or about 20,000 tonnes every year. The systems will generate enough solar energy to power more than 10,000 four-room Housing Board flats yearly, they added. CAG and Keppel said the installation of solar PV systems in airports comes with unique challenges, compared with conventional installation at commercial, industrial or residential sites.<br/>

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has singled out domestic airline service reliability as a “significant concern”, noting that cancellations and delays remain “persistently high” even as traffic recovery stabilises and airfares decline. In its quarterly domestic competition report – the first in more than half a year – the commission found that about 5% of domestic flights were cancelled in December 2023, more than double the long-term average. It also found that less than two-thirds of flights in December arrived on time, far lower than the long-term average of 81.1%. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb says: “The persistently high rates of cancellations and delays compared to long term averages in the second half of last year were clearly disappointing for consumers.” The watchdog found that a lack of air traffic controllers to have contributed to the poor reliability performance. Airservices Australia, a government agency overseeing air traffic management, said a shortage of manpower was responsible for 6% of flight cancellations and 16% ground delays in December 2023. Other factors include supply chain disruptions and a shortage of pilots, the ACCC notes. In its report, the commission found that passenger volume and capacity have largely stabilised after pandemic-driven “fluctuations”. In December 2023, Australian carriers flew about 4.8m domestic passengers, or about 94% that of pre-pandemic 2019. Capacity recovered to around 95% of pre-Covid-19 levels. <br/>

ATR has fallen short of its delivery target for 2023 but hailed the tally of 36 aircraft – a 44% increase over the previous year – as “a big achievement”. CE Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, who had predicted in September that the Toulouse-based business would ship at least 40 turboprops, blamed the shortfall on lingering supplier challenges and unforeseen problems around the financing of two aircraft at the end of the year. She says that two aircraft expected to be included in the December count were handed over early in the new year, and that ATR would deliver “more than 40” ATR 42-600s and 72-600s in 2024. She adds that after a difficult post-pandemic period, during which annual deliveries fell to just 25 in 2022, the Airbus-Leonardo joint venture was “back on track” and that 2024 would be “a year of stabilization, paving the way for future growth”. With 40 net orders in 2023, a 53% rise from the previous year, Laude says ATR’s problem is not lack of market demand. Instead, raw material and component shortages are hampering the manufacturer’s attempts to ramp up. “We expect it to continue to be intense during 2024, which is why we are being quite cautious on output, but we would hope to start to normalise by the end of the year,” she says.<br/>