US Senator Tammy Duckworth is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to examine why Alaska Airlines pilots were unaware of a critical feature of the 737 Max 9’s cockpit door ahead of the 5 January depressurisation event on Alaska flight 1282. The Illinois senator, who chairs the senate’s sub-committee on aviation safety, operations and innovation, urged FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker in a 4 April letter to “examine why pilots were not aware that the cockpit door of the 737 Max 9 was designed to automatically open” if the cabin loses pressure. “This unknown, undisclosed feature resulted in the flight crew being surprised when the rapid depressurisation event caused the cockpit door to slam open, sucking an emergency check-list out of the cockpit and removing one of the pilots’ headsets,” Duckworth writes to Whitaker. “Keeping pilots in the dark about features on the Max has become a pattern at Boeing,” Duckworth continues. “This is the third time Boeing has failed to disclose a flight deck feature to 737 Max pilots. This is dangerous, and the FAA must not view this latest omission in isolation.” For example, Duckworth points to Boeing previously omitting the presence of the manoeuvring characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), software that was involved in a pair of 737 Max crashes that killed a total of 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The Max 8 flight manual omitted mention of MCAS, which “left the flight crew on Lion Air flight 610 unaware of what was forcing their aircraft into a nose-dive”, Duckworth says. She also points to since-resolved issues with how the 737 Max’s flight computer responds to angle-of-attack (AoA) indicator failures.<br/>
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IAG is weighing the prospect of reinstating dividend payments as soon as this year, people familiar with the matter said, bringing the airline group closer to fully repairing its finances after years of pandemic depression. The owner of British Airways has told investors that payouts could be made before the end of the year, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. One factor for IAG in its decision process is that its investment program — which includes GBP7b pounds to modernize British Airways — is going well, one of the people said. IAG last paid an interim dividend in late 2019, months before the global pandemic grounded airlines around the world and destroyed their balance sheets. While the company has pledged to reinstate dividends soon, it hasn’t provided a time frame for when it might do so. IAG declined to comment. The airline is also looking at share buybacks and special dividends as options, according to a November analyst presentation. <br/>
Qantas Airways will make millions more seats available for frequent flyers, but passengers will need to use more loyalty points to secure their tickets, as the airline overhauls a model that had increasingly frustrated customers. The stock jumped. An extra 20m reward seats a year will be available on all Qantas flights in any class, the airline said Monday. They’re available for booking immediately. CEO Vanessa Hudson is attempting to appease passengers who have struggled to swap their points for flights to the destinations they want. The change, which will cost the airline A$120m in investment next financial year, adds to a growing list of initiatives pushed through by the new CEO since she took over from Alan Joyce in September. The points required to book reward seats under the new program, which Qantas calls Classic Plus, will vary like normal airfares. They will be lower during off-peak periods or when booking early, and higher during peak periods. The revamp of the loyalty business underpins its goal to generate between A$800m and A$1b of operating profit a year from the unit by June 2030. The business is on course to deliver earnings of A$500m to A$525m in the 12 months ending June 2024, Qantas said Monday. The airline’s current Classic reward model remains. It typically requires fewer points for a seat but doesn’t offer the same scope of redemption options. Qantas will continue to offer more than 5m seats under this program. <br/>