Short Takes
December 4th 2020
American Airlines (AA) this week became one of the first airlines to fly a 737 MAX since the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted its grounding of the type. Read More » The airline conducted a test flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Tulsa with media on board and plans five staff-only “flights to nowhere” as it worked towards returning the MAX to commercial service by December 29.
Turboprop manufacturer, ATR, said this week the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had certified its 72-600F freighter, following a three-month flight test campaign. FedEx is the 72-600F launch customer with a firm order for 30 of the type and options for another 20.
Airports Council International (ACI) World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, has warned a requirement for travellers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before embarking on a flight could have a significant downside. “Just as quarantine effectively halted the industry, a universal requirement for vaccines could do the same,” de Oliveira told Reuters news agency.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has lifted capacity restrictions for the country's domestic carriers to 80%. When the government allowed domestic flights to resume in May, capacity was limited to 33%, then 45% in June, 60% in September and 70% in November. The decision was a response to passenger demand, the DGCA said.
Vietnam has suspended all inbound international commercial flights after cases of community transmission of COVID-19 were detected, but prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said repatriation flights would be able to continue to operate.
Air New Zealand (AirNZ) will up gauge about 350 domestic flights to December 31, from A320s to A321s due to better-than-expected pre-Christmas and business travel demand. The aircraft change represented about 16,000 additional seats. “This will see around 80% of Auckland-Wellington services and around 25% of Auckland-Christchurch services operated by our new and larger A321 aircraft, with 214 seats, compared with the A320's 171,” Air NZ chief customer and sales officer, Leanne Geraghty, said.
Pratt & Whitney has announced MTU Maintenance Zhuhai Co. Ltd has been certified to conduct MRO on its Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engine. The joint venture between MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airline Company Ltd will be MTU’s third facility to serve engines with full disassembly, assembly and test capability in the GTF MRO network, the aerospace company said. MTU Maintenance also will become the second Mainland MRO and the fifth in Asia supporting GTF MRO.
