December 1st 2024

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SEPTEMBER

Cathay Pacific flight CX383, operated by A350-1000 registration B-LXI, suffered an engine component failure en route from Hong Kong to Zurich this month. Read More »

The flight returned safely to Hong Kong but the incident prompted the Hong Kong carrier and other operators of the type to conduct urgent inspections of their A350 fleets. The airline identified 15 aircraft requiring replacement of engine parts.

The cause of the inflight incident was identified as a ruptured fuel manifold hose in the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engine used on the A350. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency ordered one-off inspections of engines powering some A350s to remove “potentially compromised high-pressure fuel hoses”.

It was a busy month for China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., which announced two very aircraft orders. The company signed a purchase agreement with Airbus for 80 A320neo family aircraft and a purchase agreement with Boeing for 50 737 MAX 8s.

In the month, Virgin Australia CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, told an industry conference the airline had converted orders for 12 737 MAX 10s to 737 MAX 8s to introduce more next generation narrow-bodies into its fleet at a faster rate.

In Singapore, the Changi Airport Group said it will cement its reputation as one of the world’s most highly rated airports with the construction on Terminal 5, set to break ground in mid-2025. The project was paused during the pandemic.

Further north, Korean Air confirmed its international network capacity for the northern hemisphere winter scheduling season is expected to match 100% of pre-pandemic levels.

Across the Pacific, Boeing’s difficult year got worse when members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union representing more than 30,000 employees rejected a new work contract and commenced industrial action.

The crippling withdrawal of IAM labor led to a production halt of Boeing’s key commercial aircraft programs - the 737, 777 and 767 - in Washington State and is estimated to have cost Boeing billions of dollars in lost revenue. In November, IAM members approved a new contract and returned to work after a seven week strike.

Sustainability was in the news this month when the International Air Transport Association (IATA) published research that indicated the air transport industry needed to spend about US$128 billion a year in annual capital expenditure for the next 30 years to build the facilities needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In other industry news, Boeing and Embraer closed the book on their unsuccessful attempted merger after Boeing agreed to pay the Brazilian OEM US$150 million after it walked away from an agreement acquire majority ownership of Embraer’s commercial aircraft business in 2020.