The FAA said on Monday that a six-week audit of Boeing and one of it key suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems, found “multiple instances” in which the companies failed to comply with quality-control requirements. As part of the audit, which looked at production of the Boeing 737 Max, the FAA said that it had “identified noncompliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control.” The regulator did not publicly release further details. The FAA initiated the audit after a door panel came off a 737 Max 9 jet while at about 16,000 feet in early January, raising new questions about quality-control practices at Boeing and Spirit, which makes the fuselage, or body, of the 737 Max. Boeing declined to comment on the audit. A spokesman for Spirit, Joe Buccino, said the company was reviewing the findings and was “in communication with Boeing and the F.A.A. on appropriate corrective actions.” The episode involving the door panel, known as a door plug, occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after it took off from Portland, Ore., on Jan. 5. The FAA quickly grounded similar Max 9 jets, though the planes were allowed to return to service later that month after being inspected. In a preliminary report last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said that four bolts used to secure the door plug had been removed from the jet at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash. The report suggested that the bolts may not have been reinstalled before the plane entered service. The FAA’s audit was one of several steps that the regulator took in the aftermath of the door-plug episode to step up scrutiny of Boeing’s manufacturing processes. The agency also opened an investigation into whether the plane maker failed to ensure that its products were safe and conformed to their approved design, and it barred the company from increasing production of the 737 Max series until quality-control issues are addressed.<br/>
general
Airlines canceled flights between South Florida and Haiti on Monday in response to a worsening situation there that has alarmed the White House and led to a new security alert to U.S. citizens issued by the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. American Airlines suspended service between Miami International Airport (MIA) and Toussaint Louverture International Airport (PAP) through Wednesday “as a result of civil unrest,” said Bri Harper, a spokeswoman, in a statement. The carrier has a daily departure and arrival. “We will continue to monitor the situation with safety and security top of mind and will adjust our operation as needed,” she said. JetBlue Airways canceled flights on Monday. It has daily service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port-au-Prince. The decision was due to “recent civil unrest”,” said senior manager of corporate communications Derek Dombrowski in a statement. “We continue to monitor the situation and are working closely with the U.S. Embassy and our team in Haiti to determine next steps.” Arrivals from and departures to Port-au-Prince from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Azul from were all canceled according the airport flight tracker. On Monday afternoon, Spirit Airlines, which also flies out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, suspended flights to and from Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien through March 6, spokeswoman Nicole Aguiar said in a statement. The carrier is “closely monitoring the situation and will adjust our schedule as needed.” It suggested passengers regularly consult its website at spirit.com/flight-status. for updates. On Sunrise Airways’ website, a search for flights between Miami and Haiti came up empty. That carrier had started flying between the two places last year. <br/>
Voters in Switzerland have approved a Swfr250m ($283m) plan to extend two runways at Zurich airport, the country’s busiest, which will allow more types of aircraft to use all three runways, increasing safety, and streamlining operations. Just under 62% of eligible voters in the canton of Zurich on 3 March favoured the plan, which had been put forward by the Zurich cantonal government in 2021. “We are pleased about the clear approval of the important safety project to extend the runways,” Zurich airport chief executive Lukas Brosi, says. “We would like to thank the Zurich electorate for their trust and for their votes for a safe and stable Zurich Airport – also in the future.” Zurich airport has three runways of different lengths. The longest, 16-34, is 3,700m (12,139ft), and primarily used for heavy long-haul aircraft departures. That runway crosses 10-28, which is 2,500m long and accommodates most short-haul and regional aircraft. The third runway, 14-32 is 3,300m and often used for long-haul landings. “Depending on the time of day, weather conditions and size of the aircraft, they must be used in different ways,” Zurich airport says on its website. “With the adapted runways, unplanned runway changes and safety-related crossings on the ground and in the air can be significantly reduced.” The plan calls for runway 14-32 to be lengthened by 280m toward the north, and runway 10-28 by 400m toward the west.<br/>
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is considering raising air passenger duty on business travel as a potential revenue-raising measure to help pay for personal tax cuts in the budget on Wednesday. Air passenger duty on business class travel is currently charged at GBP13 ($16.5) for domestic flights, GBP26 for flights up to 2,000 miles, GBP191 for flights up to 5,000 miles and GBP200 for flights longer than that, with some small increases already due to come in on April 1. But Hunt is now considering a further rise alongside options such as scrapping the non-domiciled tax status and extending a windfall tax on oil and gas company profits, according to people familiar with the matter. The chancellor is having to consider such measures because of a desire to cut personal taxes to give the Conservative Party a poll boost ahead of an election expected later this year. He’s looking for ways to raise funds because he starts from a weak economic position: the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated he has only GBP13b of headroom against his fiscal rule to get the national debt falling within 5 years, a margin near historic lows. Air passenger duty — including that raised from standard-class seats — raised GBP3.2b for the government in 2022-2023 financial year.<br/>
Egypt began the executive process for offering the management and operation of Egyptian airports to the private sector, a cabinet statement said on Monday. Egypt is due to set an international tender for operating Egyptian airports, which include Cairo International Airport, the country's civil aviation minister Mohamed Abbas Helmy has said.<br/>
Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully has branded the threat of increased charges at Auckland Airport as “ridiculous”. The airport has been in a public stoush with Air New Zealand over the scale of development work, with the airline calling for an urgent inquiry into airport regulation. Auckland Airport has proposed what Air New Zealand says is a $7b to $8b development over 10 years. Air NZ CE Greg Foran said the costs associated with the redevelopment will end up being passed on to passengers, and that is something Tully agrees with. “We fully support Air New Zealand in its positioning on this issue. We agree the airport needs some work but what’s proposed is completely overdone for what’s needed,” Tully told Stuff Travel. “For Jetstar being a low fares leader, it’s really important we keep our cost base low, so we can keep offering low cost fares in that market. The design is not fit for purpose for us and for others. It’s completely overdone and we’ve said that directly to the airport and through the various submission processes so we really hope there’s some intervention now on how that can be worked out. We hate to think we’re not growing as fast as we’d like to because we have the threat of ridiculous airport costs.” Tully called on the government to intervene.<br/>
Airbus delivered around 49 aircraft in February, bringing the total for the year so far to 79, industry sources said on Monday. The total leaves deliveries around 20% higher than the European planemaker's performance at the same point last year, which was marked by a particularly weak January. Airbus declined comment ahead of the release of monthly data on Thursday.<br/>