Month: February 2021

HomeFebruary 2021

Piaggio administrator invites five to make bids

Five bidders have been asked to submit formal offers for Piaggio Aerospace. It comes a year after the state-appointed commissioner who has run the ailing Italian airframer since 2018 invited applications of interest. Source: Piaggio Aerospace Piaggio is based at...

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IAG names new Aer Lingus chief

IAG airline Aer Lingus has appointed Lynne Embleton as its new chief executive, effective 6 April, replacing interim head Donal Moriarty. IAG airline Aer Lingus has appointed Lynne Embleton as its new chief executive, effective 6 April, replacing interim head Donal Moriarty. Embleton has been chief...

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Should Ukraine have identified airliner threat before MH17 loss?

Whether Ukraine should have closed upper airspace – saving flight MH17 – depended on its view of separatists’ capabilities. If there is a country that understands the unintentional threat to commercial aircraft from a missile launch, it is Ukraine. Its...

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A321XLR’s rear fuel tank demands special fire-protection conditions

Airbus’s A321XLR will be subject to special conditions proposed for the aircraft’s integrated rear centre tank, intended to ensure adequate protection from fire. The large 12,900-litre centre tank, located in the aft hold of the twinjet, will contain the fuel...

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The unwanted aircraft in aviation’s boneyards

Hundreds of aircraft are sitting in storage across the world, awaiting their fate. Will the rate of retirements pick up in 2021, and what actually happens to an airliner when it is parted out? For admirers of the Queen of...

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Why does aviation still have a man problem?

Competence, not gender, should be the only factor to affect success, says Pilar Wolfsteller. Aerospace and aviation have a serious man problem. Despite support programmes, mentorships, training, resource groups, workshops, outreach efforts and other corporate initiatives that ostensibly strive to improve gender...

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Flight International Letters, March 2021

Your views about the aerospace industry and our reporting Stick to the facts In the ‘Accidents and incidents’ section of your annual airline safety report (Flight International, February 2021), there seemed to me to be a thread of sensationalism creeping...

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Straight & Level, March 2021

The lighter side of Flight International Moon monikers NASA famously named its Space Shuttle test orbiter ‘Enterprise’ in honour of the television show Star Trek, so surely there’s an opportunity for a similar homage via the Artemis programme to return...

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Boeing-Safran APU joint venture Initium frozen due to ‘cancellation’ of NMA

Boeing’s failure to launch its New Mid-market Airplane (NMA) was behind the suspension of the airframer’s auxiliary power unit joint venture with Safran, the French aerospace supplier has confirmed. Boeing’s failure to launch its New Mid-market Airplane (NMA) was behind...

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South Korea grounds PW4000-powered 777s

South Korea has temporarily banned all operations of Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Boeing 777 aircraft within its airspace. South Korea has temporarily banned all operations of Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Boeing 777 aircraft within its airspace. A NOTAM issued on...

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