Lufthansa's Eurowings low-cost unit is weighing up flying from Munich, a hub for Lufthansa-branded flights, an executive has told a German magazine, as the overall group looks to defend its market share against rival budget airlines. "We're speaking about it internally. It's an option for 2017," Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Lufthansa group board member responsible for Eurowings, was quoted as saying by WirtschaftsWoche. Munich has traditionally been used by Lufthansa as a hub for long-haul flights and serving business travel demand from southern Germany. Transavia, a unit of Air France-KLM, became the first low-cost carrier to set up a base in Munich this year, while easyJet already flies to the airport and Ryanair has also been looking at it, although the airport's boss has said slots at peak times are hard to come by. Eurowings says it doesn't see itself as competing against the Lufthansa brand, but instead providing flights for more price-sensitive customers who otherwise may not chose to fly at all. "We see ourselves as a defence line for the Lufthansa group ... We don't fly against Frankfurt and Munich but against the competition and we're trying to prevent the competition from getting bigger," Eurowings CCO Oliver Wagner said earlier this month.<br/>
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US regulators Thursday dismissed an initial application from European discount airline Norwegian Air Shuttle A/S to establish a new long-haul operation in the UK. The US DoT will continue to review the controversial carrier's plan and is still to complete its approval for a license for the airline to establish a base in Ireland for long-haul flights. Norwegian Air needs approval from US authorities for overseas bases that operate flights to the US. The UK and Irish bases have come under criticism from some airlines and labor groups. Critics have said the airline is trying to circumvent some labor and tax rules with the overseas bases to lower its costs, charges Norwegian denies. Norwegian Air said it still expected US regulators to ultimately grant its application for the UK operation. "Given Norwegian UK's clear and legitimate right to a Foreign Carrier Permit, we therefore remain confident we will receive final approval," it said. Norwegian Air is the first of the new breed of low-cost airlines to launch flights to Asia and across the Atlantic from Europe. The DoT's decision won't affect Norwegian's current trans-Atlantic services to the US, which it flies using a license granted by Norwegian regulators. US approval would allow it to use the same aircraft for flights to other countries such as Brazil and South Africa, as well as the US.<br/>
Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council has concluded the TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 crash on Feb. 4, 2015 was caused by the crew shutting down the wrong Pratt & Whitney PW127 engine after a technical fault. The ATR 72-600 was operating as flight GE235 between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Kinmen with 58 people on board, when the crew lost control during the initial climb. The aircraft stalled and crashed into the Keelung River in Taipei, killing 43 people and injuring 15. In its final report, released June 30, ASC said: “The accident was the result of many contributing factors which culminated in a stall-induced loss of control.” ASC said engine 2 was automatically shut down during the initial climb, possibly triggered by an “intermittent signal discontinuity” in its auto-feather unit. The pilots did not follow company procedure and incorrectly shut down engine 1. “The flight crew’s non-compliance with TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 standard operating procedures—abnormal and emergency procedures for an engine flameout at takeoff—resulted in the pilot flying reducing power on and then shutting down the wrong engine,” ASC said. The aircraft stalled, but the crew did not respond to warning signals “in a timely and effective manner,” and there was not enough time to restart the healthy engine before impact. “Had the crew prioritized their actions to stabilize the aircraft flight path, correctly identified the propulsion system malfunction—which was the engine number 2 loss of thrust—and then had taken actions in accordance with procedure of engine number 2 flameout at takeoff, the occurrence could have been prevented,” the final report stated. ASC also criticized the pilots for poor communication and coordination. “The pilot flying did not appropriately respond to, or integrate input from the pilot monitoring,” it said.<br/>