14 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
joint administrators of the company.
While all RPT flights were cancelled,
the administrators said Jetgo was
continuing to operate some limited
charter services. The airline had been
planning to commence Brisbane-
Karratha-Singapore flights with
Embraer E190s later in 2018.- International Airlines Group (IAG)
chief executive Willie Walsh says he is
hopeful British Airways (BA) will be
able to expand its network in Australia
beyond the current sole daily flight to
Sydney. “I fully expect BA to continue
to have a presence here in Sydney. I’d
like to think we could expand back
into Melbourne at some stage,” Walsh
said at the CAPA – Centre for Aviation
conference in Sydney on June 6.- Also at the CAPA conference, Cathay
Pacific chief executive Rupert Hogg
said that with the Australia-Hong
Kong air services agreement full on
the Hong Kong side, his airline was
focused on continuing to upgauge its
services between Australia and Hong
Kong with larger aircraft, with Airbus
A350-900s and Boeing 777-300ERs
replacing Airbus A330-300s.
Two former SIA Airbus A380s
owned by German leasing company
Dr Peters will be broken up and sold
for parts. Dr Peters said it came to
the decision after it was unable to
reach agreements with potential
airline customers following intense
negotiations. “The market for the
A380-800 aircraft type has not
developed positively in recent years,’’
Dr Peters chief executive Anselm
Gehling said in a statement. The sale
of aircraft parts is expected to fetch
US$45 million.
AIRPORT NEWS
Canberra Airport has installed a
new Category II lighting system
featuring new touchdown and runway
centreline lights that it says will allow
pilots to reach 100ft off the ground
before deciding if they have enough
visibility to land, compared with 200ft
previously.- Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff
Culbert told shareholders at the
company’s annual general meeting
on May 25 he believed advancements
in aircraft technology, particularly
the development of ultra long-range
jets such as Boeing’s 777X and Airbus
A350-900ULR would open up new
markets for Kingsford Smith Airport.
“Sydney as a destination only becomes
more attractive as aircraft technology
improves and range increases,” he
said.- A report commissioned by lobby
group Airlines for Australia and New
Zealand (A4ANZ) has found light-
handed regulation of Australia and
New Zealand’s airports has been
ineffective at protecting consumers
from higher charges due to their
monopoly power. “More effective
regulatory pressure is required to
prevent excessive profits by airports
and return more value to consumers
and the economy,” the report
prepared by Frontier Economics
published on May 25 and launched
at Parliament House in Canberra
said. The Australian Airports
Association said in response to the
report the current regulatory regime
for Australian airports has served
airlines, airports, Australian and
overseas travellers and the broader
economy extremely well.
OEM NEWS
Airbus and Bombardier said on
June 8 they had received the necessary
approvals to form a partnership on
the C Series from July 1 2018. The
partnership, which will see Airbus
take a majority stake in the C Series
program, was first announced in
October 2017. It is still unclear
whether the CS100 and CS
narrowbodies will be renamed, as
airbaltic chief executive Martin Gauss
quipped at the CAPA conference. “We
have no idea what our aircraft is called
next week. They said they will send us
stickers to Riga,” Gauss said.- Rolls-Royce said on June 11 it has
found a “similar Intermediate Pressure
Compressor durability issue” on a
small number of high life Trent 1000
Package B engines as had been
previously discovered on the Trent
1000 Package C engines. It said an
airworthiness directive would require
a one-off safety inspection. There were
166 Trent 1000 Package B engines in
service.
Still on Rolls-Royce the engine maker
announced on May 30 there had been
a “trebling of maintenance capacity”
Debrief
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Bombardier Business Aircraft
launched two new jets aimed at
the large category segment of
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