general

Flying further improved its safety record last year, extending a long-term trend that’s set to to continue despite quality lapses at Boeing Co. and maintenance setbacks in Russia, where sanctions have put decades of progress at risk. There were 124 fatalities worldwide aboard passenger jets in 2023, the fewest in any year other than 2017, based on data compiled by Jacdec, a German consulting firm that tracks aviation safety. Hull losses, where aircraft are damaged beyond repair, totaled 45, a 12% improvement from 2022. One exception was Russia, where US and European Union sanctions have made it hard for airlines to acquire parts needed to maintain aircraft. The number of air-safety incidents there more than doubled to 81 in 2023 from 2022, according to Jacdec. In one instance, an Airbus A320 flown by Ural Airlines was left for dismantling in a Siberian field after an issue with hydraulics forced an emergency landing. A separate Air India flight to San Francisco stranded passengers in Russia’s Far East for two days after engine issues forced it to divert. Yet even in Russia, which has endured sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, fatalities have been well below the norms of earlier years. The economic curbs block Russian operators from gaining access to spare parts and technical updates for planes including those made by Boeing and Airbus. “So far, we don’t see any translation into an uptick of fatal accidents in Russian civil aviation,” said Jacdec founder and CEO Jan-Arwed Richter. “A tech embargo does not result in major crashes overnight, but a slow degradation of operational reliability.” The one deadly Russian crash logged by Jacdec in 2023 likely involved an onboard blast, killing mutinous mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin in late August alongside nine others traveling in the private jet. Moscow lodged a complaint over the sanctions to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency, saying they endanger air safety. In the meantime, Russian aviation officials have turned to “friendly” sources for spare parts in places like Dubai. Outside of Russia, air safety remains an urgent concern after incidents in Japan and the US this year. <br/>

Singapore on Tuesday kicked off Asia's biggest aviation gathering with orders for China's COMAC and Boeing planes as the industry grapples with a rebound in post-pandemic travel demand in the face of severe supply constraints. More than 1,000 companies from more than 50 countries are participating in the biennial commercial and defence-focused Singapore Airshow, led by Western industry giants such as Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin and their Chinese competitors such as COMAC and AVIC. Russian companies such as Russian Helicopters and Irkut that attended past editions of the show are not participating this year amid the war in Ukraine. However, Israeli companies Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which dropped out of the Dubai Airshow in November amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, are in attendance. Trade delegates donned hats and sunglasses on a hot, clear day to watch flying displays featuring military aircraft from Singapore, Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea and the United States, as well as the COMAC C919 commercial jet and an Airbus A350-1000 powered by 35% sustainable aviation fuel. COMAC, which brought its self-developed C919 narrow-body jet outside Chinese territory for the first time to the show, posted the first aircraft orders of the event on Tuesday morning, with China's Tibet Airlines finalising an order for 40 C919 single-aisle planes and 10 ARJ21 regional jets, and China's Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Group ordering 6 ARJ21s. Royal Brunei Airlines later announced a firm order for four Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, while the U.S. planemaker also held a signing ceremony to mark a recently placed order for 45 of the wide-body planes by Thai Airways.<br/>

Boeing’s 737 Max crisis may turn out to be the long-awaited break for China’s first homegrown jet maker. The unravelling of Boeing’s reputation, following the mid-air blowout of a Max 9 door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight last month, comes just as Comac, also known as Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, prepares to push its business overseas. This week will be big for the company, whose aircraft include the C919 single-aisle jet. Comac on Tuesday made its international air show debut in Singapore and also signed a significant order from Tibet Airlines for 40 C919 jets and 10 of its smaller ARJ21 aircraft. Beijing has long wanted self-sufficiency in key industries, including chipmaking and aircraft manufacturing. It has made significant progress on the latter. After well over a decade of investment and development in the sector, Comac brought the 164-seater C919 jet into service last year. Two models of its jets, the C919 and ARJ21 made flights outside of mainland China to Hong Kong in December. It has received brisk orders from local airlines such as China Eastern Airlines — the first buyer to use the aircraft to fly between Beijing and Shanghai — and HNA Aviation Group, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, which operates 12 airlines. But until now, challenging the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing has seemed remote, if not impossible. For a start, the production of the C919 still relies on some key components made in Europe and the US. Scrutiny of Boeing following January’s incident, and broader concerns about its corporate and engineering culture, may prompt airlines with frequent flights to China to consider Comac. US aviation regulators have increased inspections and blocked Boeing from expanding production of the 737 Max, its most popular plane. US and European airlines are unlikely to buy Chinese planes. But demand for air travel is booming in south and south-east Asia, regions less sensitive to US-China tensions, where budget carriers are expanding rapidly. This means Comac may find buyers outside China faster than expected.<br/>

China’s homegrown airliner may be the latest challenger to Airbus and Boeing’s passenger jets, but an executive from Airbus said he’s not worried. The Comac C919 is “not going to rock the boat in particular,” Christian Scherer, CEO of Airbus’s aircraft commercial business, said at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow. “It looks a bit like an Airbus narrow body,” Scherer said, tongue in cheek, noting that the C919 is “not very different” from what Airbus and Boeing already have in the market. Scherer acknowledged that the C919 was a “legitimate effort” by China — but “the market is large enough for competition, we welcome the competition.”<br/>“We don’t want to stick our head in the sand ... it’s a normal thing to see more competition,” Scherer added. Comac’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Touted as a competitor to Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus 320, the Comac C919 is a narrow body jet developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac. It was certified by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in September 2022 and entered commercial service with China Eastern Airlines in May last year.<br/>

Singapore’s civil aviation chief said the authorities here have no choice but to require airlines to use green jet fuel despite concerns that a planned levy to be imposed on passengers could result in higher air travel costs and reduce Singapore’s competitiveness as an air hub. Han Kok Juan, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), said on Feb 20 that the agency has been asked why it wants to mandate eco-friendly fuel use, which would make air travel more expensive and compromise the competitiveness of airlines and the Singapore air hub. “We have no choice, because if you really think about it... it is really a matter of time that we would have to deploy sustainable aviation fuel in our respective airports,” Mr Han said at a dialogue session at the Singapore Airshow 2024, which runs till Feb 25. He acknowledged that this will make operating out of the Singapore hub “a bit more expensive”, but Singapore will try to be a lot more competitive and attractive in other ways. He did not elaborate. The dialogue, attended by about 70 people, including delegates and exhibitors, was moderated by Oliver Plogmann, a partner at management consultancy McKinsey & Company Singapore. Han was responding to a question from the moderator on how to increase the adoption of eco-friendly jet fuel a day after CAAS launched its sustainable air hub blueprint on Feb 19.<br/>

Airlines will face penalties if they decide to cancel flights at Sydney airport without valid reasons, and could lose their takeoff and landing slots, as the government aims to helping smaller airlines better compete out of Australia’s largest airport. The federal transport minister, Catherine King, on Wednesday revealed proposed changes to the legislation governing Sydney airport, responding to concerns about alleged misuse of airport’s highly valued takeoff and landing slots. Sydney airport is restricted to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour and an overnight curfew exists to minimise noise for residents under the flight paths. The government will crack down on airlines strategically cancelling their flights – but hanging on to valuable slots – by significantly increasing transparency about how slots are allocated and force carriers into providing reasons for cancellations or major delays, with data published regularly. Independent audits of slot usage will “detect and crack down on anti-competitive behaviour”, which will give travellers information about the most reliable airlines but will also allow authorities to take action. The first audit will occur this year. “To ensure slots are not misused, the government will modernise the compliance regime to include penalties that address anti‑competitive behaviours, along with updated and strengthened enforcement tools for the government to watch airlines more closely and take effective legal action where necessary,” King said.<br/>