China and the United Arab Emirates are seeking to increase bilateral air traffic rights after years of stagnant travel growth, a move that would seek to boost trade and tourism between the two nations. Officials from both sides will meet in Beijing in coming weeks to discuss granting airlines increases in flights between the two nations, according to people familiar with the matter. Both China and the UAE want more connections after links were exhausted at 56 flights per country per week, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. No specific increase has been determined, one of the people said, and the exact outcome of the talks isn’t certain. The Civil Aviation Administration of China didn’t respond to a request for comment. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said there are about 100 weekly flights between the two countries and “a long-standing bilateral relationship and a comprehensive economic partnership, reinforced by extensive cooperation and coordination across all sectors, including air transportation.” The authority didn’t comment on future talks with China. Boosting air traffic between China and the UAE would be advantageous for the broader Middle East region as countries like Saudi Arabia experience a surge in Chinese visitors and investment. Emirates, which already operates its maximum of 35 flights a week to China, would be one of the greatest beneficiaries, along with China Southern Airlines Co., which currently flies to the UAE 20 times a week.<br/>
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From strikes to delays, Europe’s airports are usually in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. But the recently announced Best Airport Awards reveal which hubs are leading on efficiency, staff satisfaction and eco-innovation. The awards are presided over by Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators, representing over 500 airports in 55 countries. Taking place in Istanbul, the 34th awards for the European region recognised excellence and outstanding achievements in various areas from across ACI’s members, from busy hubs to tiny regional airports. Story features a rundown of the standout winners.<br/>
The gas leak reported at Sepang Aircraft Engineering’s Southern Support Zone of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has been traced to an abandoned skid tank, left unattended for nine years. KLIA police chief ACP Azman Shari'at (pic) said the leaking gas has been identified as methyl mercaptan or methanethiol, a colourless flammable gas with a distinct odour resembling rotten eggs or cabbage. Azman said exposure to methyl mercaptan was not fatal but caused nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headaches. The Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia and the Hazmat team carried out investigations and inspections at the site and confirmed that the area was safe. "There were no injuries or serious accidents, and as of 6pm, we can confirm that KLIA is safe from any threat of disaster. The public is advised to remain calm and not be alarmed," he told members of the media at the site of the incident on Thursday (June 27). Azman said the leak was from an abandoned skid tank’s valve.<br/>
A Boeing whistleblower has claimed that the company used scrapyard parts on its factory assembly lines for years. Merle Meyers, who worked as a Boeing quality-control manager for 30 years, told CNN that for years workers at the company’s Dreamliner factory in Everett, Washington, routinely took parts that were deemed unsuitable to fly out of an internal scrapyard and put them back on factory assembly lines. Nonconforming parts ended up in the reclamation yard, Meyers said, only after being rejected by three departments: Engineering, procurement, and quality. He alleged that workers would do so to meet production deadlines. “It’s a huge problem,” Meyers told CNN. “A core requirement of a quality system is to keep bad parts and good parts apart.” He alleged that in the early 2000s, for more than a decade, about 50,000 parts, including screws and wing flaps, “escaped” quality control and were used to build aircraft. He added that the lapses he witnessed were intentional because workers would have known the parts were not good to use because parts that were meant to be scrapped were often painted red to signify they were unsuitable for assembly lines. And he said the practice of using other unapproved parts in assembly lines is still going on. “Now they’re back to taking parts of body sections – everything – right when it arrives at the Everett site, bypassing quality, going right to the airplane,” Meyers said.<br/>
US start-up Aerolane is seeking the secret to airborne surfing. Geese already know how to do it. When you see them flying in a v-formation, they are surfing on the air currents created by formation members ahead and around them. At an airfield in Texas, Todd Graetz is hoping to use that concept to disrupt the market for air cargo. Aerolane has been mimicking the tricks used by migrating birds, aided by modified planes towed into the air by another aircraft. Smoke released from the leading plane allowed cameras installed in the towed aircraft to capture vortices in the air that a glider can exploit to stay aloft. Their latest test aircraft is known as the “flying piano” because of its poor gliding characteristics. Its twin engines idle for electrical power while it glides along with propellers turning for purely aerodynamic purposes. Other tests have measured the tension in the towing line. They spotted when the line went slack, indicating the glider is surfing along on currents generated by the aircraft ahead. Aerolane's plan is to feed all this data into a program that will guide an unmanned cargo plane through wakes and turbulence to exploit the possibilities of gliding long distances without burning fuel. One or more such cargo planes could be towed by a jet, also carrying cargo, to their destination where they would land autonomously.<br/>