Pratt & Whitney has suffered a fresh problem during testing of new engines for the Airbus A320neo, but flight trials of the airliner are continuing. The problem occurred when an oil pump failed after an engine had been deliberately shut down in flight and left to turn with the natural airflow, a process known as "windmilling" which is designed to ensure an aircraft can fly on only one engine. "We found a bearing had seized within the main oil pump. We have never seen that anywhere in flight tests," an industry executive with direct knowledge of the matter said. Pratt & Whitney is carrying out an internal investigation into the problem which happened about 2 weeks ago. Early signs point to a manufacturing fault in the broken part, a person close to the matter said. <br/>
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US senator Charles Schumer wants to require the FAA to establish seat-size standards for commercial airlines, which he says now force passengers to sit on planes "like sardines." Schumer says the airlines have been slowly cutting down legroom and seat width. "One of the most vexing things when you travel on an airplane is there's almost no legroom on your standard flight," Schumer said. " He said he will add an amendment to the FAA Reauthorisation Bill pending before Congress that would require the agency to set the seat-size guidelines. Schumer said seat pitch has dropped from 35 inches in the 1970s to a current average of closer to 31 inches, and seat width has gone from 18.5 inches to about 16.5 inches. He argues that the requirement is needed to stop airlines from shrinking those numbers even further. <br/>
Canadian airlines say impending US travel to Cuba could spur cross-border travelling by Canadians in search of cheaper flights from American airports to the Caribbean island. While the low loonie has generally discouraged treks by Canadians to border-area airports in recent months, an eventual rise could prompt them to head once again to the US, especially if those hubs start offering an array of flights to Cuba. “It definitely has the potential to exacerbate the leakage of passengers,” said Marc-Andre O’Rourke, executive director of the National Airlines Council of Canada. That would add fuel to the industry’s long-standing complaint that its competitiveness is hurt by “a Canadian policy framework that treats the aviation industry as a source of public revenue by downloading govt taxes, fees and other charges on airfares.” <br/>
Several months after German officials offered to restart negotiations over the country’s air services agreement with the UAE, both parties are yet to meet to talk over the matter, according to a spokesman from the German embassy at the UAE. Under the agreements currently in place between the UAE and Germany, UAE-based airlines such as Etihad Airways and Emirates can fly to multiple German cities but not Berlin. Asked about updates on whether Etihad and Emirates may be allowed to fly to the capital, Tilman Enders, deputy head of Germany’s mission to the UAE, said, “That would require new negotiations, which we have actually offered way back in August, but the idea was not picked up." Enders did not disclose details on where the negotiations (or lack thereof) were headed. <br/>