Short Takes
May 29th 2020
Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAH), the operator of Hong Kong International Airport, said this week it had awarded a HK$7.2 billion (US$929 million) contract to Gammon Engineering & Construction Company for automated people mover and baggage handling system tunnels and related works for the three runway system project. Read More »
AAH also announced this week it had awarded a HK$9.1 million contract to Teksbotics (Hong Kong) Lt for the provision of an autonomous electric tractor for its SkyPier baggage conveyance facility and a HK$9.3 million contract to CLPe Solutions Ltd for the replacement of road lighting at the airport with an LED system.
Boeing said this week production of the 737 MAX had resumed at its Renton final assembly line in Washington State "at a low rate", after it had introduced about a dozen initiatives to improve workplace safety and product quality. Production of the the MAX was suspended in January. Boeing said the program would "gradually ramp up production” through 2020.
The start of MAX production was overshadowed by the company’s announcement that 6,770 United States-based employees would be made redundant this week as the process of involuntary layoffs began.
Boeing Company CEO, David Calhoun, said in a letter to employees released by the company, job losses at Boeing’s locations outside the U.S. would be "communicated locally on their own timelines in accordance with local laws and benefit terms".
Singapore-based aircraft leasing company, Avation, said this week it had walked away from talks with parties interested in buying part or all of the business amid the disruption and uncertain global economic outlook caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The lessor, listed on the London Stock Exchange, said the board was "mindful of the distraction posed to its day-to-day operational activities by a protracted formal sale process" when it decided to terminate the strategic review and formal sale process that began with an unsolicited offer last January.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said late last week its Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation's regional jet program would close all overseas facilities, including the program's U.S. headquarters in Renton and its flight test facility in Moses Lake, and consolidate operations at its Nagoya base, The Associated Press reported. The decision will lead to hundreds of job losses.
Investigators have located the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A320 AP-BLD, which crashed after a missed approach near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on May 22 on a flight from Lahore.
France’s civil aviation investigation authority, Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile, said on Twitter it had received a request from Pakistan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) to repair and download the data from both the CVR and FDR. There were two survivors of the crash among the 91 passengers and eight crew.
Air Kiribati will resume limited operations with a Dash 8 Twin Otter from Saturday, May 30 after receiving the necessary parts for repairs to the aircraft. The airline said on its Facebook page the replacement part arrived on a special freighter flight on May 24.
