General News

The Oslo County Court, has approved Norwegian’s reconstruction plan in Norway. Reaching this milestone means that both the group’s reconstruction processes in Ireland and Norway have now been approved by the courts. The company will now prepare the process of raising new capital.

The court reached a positive conclusion after the creditors approved the Norwegian reorganization plan in a reconciliation period that ended on Friday 9 April.

“We are very pleased with this important positive decision by the court. Once we have passed these two biggest legal milestones we can look forward to continuing the work of raising new equity.” says Jacob Schram, CEO of Norwegian.

“I stand very proud of the achievements that Norwegian has accomplished throughout this period and I am grateful to work alongside so many colleagues that have shown such unwavering commitment and determination for us to succeed. At the same time, I wish to recognise the crucial support that we have received which has enabled us to continue our business.”

The rulings in both Ireland and Norway become final when the planned equity has been obtained. The capital raise is expected to be completed during the month of May.

Several airlines around the globe have temporarily grounded their B737 MAX jets after Boeing identified “a potential electrical issue” in a specific group of the aircraft. The US manufacturer said in a statement on 9 April that it had recommended to 16 unspecified operators that they verify that their B737 MAX have a sufficient ground path for a component of the electrical power system.

“We are working closely with the US Federal Aviation Administration on this production issue,” it said. “We are also informing our customers of specific tail numbers affected and we will provide direction on appropriate corrective actions.”

Sources familiar with developments told Reuters that around 90 MAX around the world are affected. David Seymour, CCO of American Airlines, told staff in an internal memo seen by the news agency that Boeing had traced the issue to a production change made in the installation process.

“[It] occurred after our last aircraft was delivered before the fleet grounding in March 2019,” he said, adding that the issue affected 17 of AA’s most recently delivered B737 MAX.

Southwest Airlines said 30 of its 58 MAX were affected, while United Airlines removed 16 of its 30 MAX from operation. Alaska Airlines has grounded all four of its B737-9s. In Europe, Blue Air has grounded its recently delivered B737-8, Boardingpass.ro reported, as a precaution even though Boeing has yet to notify it on whether its jet is among those affected.

Lufthansa Systems and Emirates Airline have extended their long-standing partnership by signing a seven-year contract for the iPadOS-based charting solution for pilots Lido mPilot – including the Airport Moving Map Lido AMM – and the renewal for the Airport Mapping Database Lido AMDB. The airline and its pilots will continue to benefit from increased situational awareness, safety, efficiency, and a reduction in workload.

“We are happy to continuously support our airline customers with our cutting-edge products and services – especially as flights are slowly starting to pick up again around the world,” said Dr Bernd Jurisch, Head of Flight & Navigation Products & Solutions at Lufthansa Systems. “This contract extension highlights the ongoing trust our customers place in us as a leading provider of aviation IT solutions, and we look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with Emirates.”

Emirates is one of the world’s leading airlines, and it first started using the Lido Flight Planning Solutions in 1996. The airline became an early adopter of the Windows-based charting application Lido eRoute Manual in 2008, and it has now opted to include the iPadOS-based charting application Lido mPilot as part of its flight operations solutions suite. This application optimises workflows for pilots and improves their situational awareness, and most recently, it introduced a built-in dark mode button, a terrain layer on the enroute map, and the depiction of five weather phenomena.

Lido mPilot provides pilots with all necessary navigation charts, documents and messages on their iPads. The application boasts an intuitive user interface, data visualised using the acclaimed Lido Route Manual charting standard, enroute weather and terrain, and more than thirty user configurations. The Lido AMDB is a highly accurate and reliable airport mapping database developed by Lufthansa Systems. The certified database displays the spatial layouts of airports in a geo-referenced manner to enable the onboard EFB airport moving map application and advanced ground avionics functions. It includes the geometry of runways, taxiways and buildings, as well as functional information.

The Lido Flight Operations Solutions product family from Lufthansa Systems offers the aviation industry products and services in three key areas: Lido Data Solutions, Lido Flight Planning Solutions, and Lido Pilot Solutions. With its Lido products, Lufthansa Systems helps its customers increase safety, lower costs, and reduce workloads across the entire mission – both on the ground and in the air.

Causeway Aero Group has acquired Pitch Aircraft Seating Systems for an undisclosed sum. This follows the award, in March 2019, of a contract for Causeway to certify, manufacture and assemble the Pitch PF3000 lightweight, fixed back economy class seat at its facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

Michael Rice, CEO of Causeway Aero Group, commented: “We are delighted to add the Pitch seats to Causeway’s extensive Aero Interiors portfolio as we have been huge fans of them from the outset. The seats provide a comfortable living space for the passenger, even at 28in pitch, with sculptured cushions that suit all shapes and sizes. My personal favourite feature is the fact that finally I can properly open the screen and use my laptop.”

The Causeway team has shown tremendous professionalism and agility as with the engineering, certification, and manufacture of the PF3000 and demonstrated that the company is a true Aero Integrator. There were multiple cases of a test failure on Thursday; seats shipped back overnight; engineering review on Saturday; new designs on Sunday; drawings issued to the supply chain on Monday; new parts received and new test seats produced on Tuesday; shipped on Wednesday; and retested, successfully the next day. That level of agility will be at the centre of the Pitch brand’s success going forward.

Michael added, “Pitch had done an amazing job designing the seat with feng shui style focus for a high-density cabin and delivered a Great British design with wonderful aesthetics, functionality and, most importantly, high levels of durability. Causeway’s focus is to further enhance the cost, durability, and serviceability of the seats to make them the economy seat of choice for operators looking to fix total cost of ownership over the life of the product. Causeway’s strategy is to sell you great quality durable seats, not spare parts for them, we will back this up with a range of new sales packages which will be introduced in the coming months, offering seats and other interiors products.”

The Pitch brand completes Causeway’s ‘nose to tail’ aero interiors capability and represents a unique opportunity for Causeway to have an important role in the recovery of the commercial aviation industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as low-cost carriers will be a key element in regenerating travel. While Causeway will continue to provide integration, engineering, and production support to major interiors manufacturers by providing high quality bespoke components, the well-established Pitch brand will continue and be marketed separately as it has become synonymous with aesthetic appeal, high quality, and high durability in the high-density cabin environment.

ATPL graduates from Skyborne Airline Academy have been hard at work this month, undertaking the first part of their Skills Continuation Training (SCT). The initiative was announced by Skyborne in March 2020 in response to COVID-19, and offers support to graduates in the period between qualifying and securing airline placement to prevent skill fade. The first SCT session involved gentle re-familiarisation with the aircraft and its systems, starting with Visual General Handling, Stalls and Limited Panel (restricted instruments) and Unusual Attitude Recoveries.

London City Airport has welcomed the restoration of key regional routes, with flights to resume to Edinburgh, Glasgow (both with British Airways) and Dundee (with Loganair), re-establishing important domestic connectivity and tourism links between Scotland and the heart of London.

As momentum starts to build ahead of the summer and the potential restart of international travel, British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer (BACF), will resume flying to Edinburgh on 15 April and Glasgow from 17 May. Both routes will start with two rotations per week, but as the UK gears up for the summer holiday, the expectation is that frequencies will increase.

Separately, Loganair has announced that it will resume operating the only direct flight between Dundee and London from 16 April. It too will operate with two rotations per week initially, enabling Dundonians to travel from the Tay to the Thames in less than two hours.

The reintroduction of Scottish flights from London City comes as travel restrictions between the home nations begin to ease, which will open up staycation opportunities in the three Scottish cities as well as nearby holiday destinations such as Loch Lomond, Gleneagles and the Borders.

The restoration of the Scottish services also comes ahead of the much-anticipated England vs Scotland football match at Euro 2020 which is taking place at Wembley on 18 June, enabling fans to travel quickly and safely into the heart of London.

Anne Doyere, Head of Aviation, London City Airport, said: “Regional air connectivity is vital for the recovery of aviation, tourism and the UK economy, which is why we are delighted that our airlines have restored key domestic regional routes with flights resuming shortly to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee.”

“With travel restrictions to ease further in the coming weeks, many people will be eager to embark on a well-earned holiday or staycation within the UK. The speed, safety and convenience of London City Airport means we are well placed to welcome back our passengers when they are ready to fly again.”

Vietjet has resumed regular international flights connecting Vietnam’s major hubs with Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul, and Taipei.

All services from Vietnam will only serve the passengers, who meet the immigration regulations of the arriving countries and territories. They are usually Vietnamese students, working or visiting relatives overseas and/or foreigners returning home from Vietnam. Passengers should actively seek detailed information at the embassies and diplomatic agencies of related countries to complete required procedures and papers to make the immigration process faster and more efficient on arrivals.

The flights carrying passengers into Vietnam will continue to comply with the current regulations of the Government of Vietnam, following the slots allocated by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.

Vietjet is always proactive in all pandemic prevention plans and certified with seven stars, the world’s highest rating for COVID-19 compliance for global airlines. All Vietjet flights are guaranteed to comply with the highest safety regulations of the IATA, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health, etc.

As a member of IATA, Vietjet has also cooperated with Vietnamese and international authorities to implement the IATA Travel Pass or “vaccine passport” to ensure the safety for passengers while effectively controlling the pandemic, simplifying travel procedures, and getting ready for soon-to-be normal travel.

GA Telesis Engine Services (“GATES”) has received certification from the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (“DGCA”) to overhaul CFM56-5B/7B and CF6-80C2B engines. DGCA approval opens access to a key MRO market for CFM56-5B/7B engines in growing Southeast Asia and will allow GATES to develop and expand its customer base in Indonesia. GATES has also been granted certification by the FAA (United States), EASA (European Union), TCCA (Canada), CAAC (China), GACA (Saudi Arabia), DGAC (Mexico), ANAC (Argentina), and ECAA (Egypt).

We are extremely excited about the new opportunities the regionally recognised DGCA certification provides our shop,” commented Russ Shelton, President, Engine Strategy Group, GA Telesis. “We look forward to expanding our world-class engine maintenance solutions to customers in Indonesia while also demonstrating our commitment to being a partner in their success.”

“Over the past several months, we’ve been receiving active inquiries from Indonesian airlines to support their engine maintenance needs,” said Avinash Singh, Director, Business Development, Asia Pacific (“APAC”) for GATES. “We are honoured to receive this milestone approval from DGCA, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This certification is a vital cog in GA Telesis’ new Asia Pacific Ecosystem created to serve customers in the fast-growing APAC engine MRO market,” he added.

CPaT Global, the world’s leading provider of distance learning for the airline and aviation industry, has announced they have been awarded a new contract by Air Tanzania for the provision of distance learning solutions, including Aircraft Systems courses, Interactive Diagrams, Aircraft Procedures, CPaT’s General Subjects library, and Invent, CPaT’s new, software development platform. Air Tanzania will use CPaT’s curriculum to train on the A320, Q300, Q400, and B787 fleets.

“We are very excited to be providing our comprehensive portfolio of distance learning to Air Tanzania,” said Captain Greg Darrow, Vice President of Sales, CPaT. “They will have everything they need at their fingertips to provide enhanced, reliable training—including the ability to self-edit and modify our courses and their own content through CPaT Invent.”