General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
50% of Airbus Rolls-Royce engines need replacing, says Qantas
Date added: 19 November, 2010
Around half Rolls-Royce engines (Trent 900) in service on Airbus A380 aircraft are to be replaced after one broke apart during flight. The airline has grounded its 6 A380s since the incident on 4th November, while
its rival Singapore Airlines, with 11 Rolls-Royce powered A380s, has had to cancel
several flights in order to remove some engines and replace them. There are 37
A380s, in operation worldwide. Some 21 of those are powered by the Trent 900
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Qantas A380 engine blast ‘severed cables’ and had a series of system failures
Date added: 18 November, 2010
Further details have been released of the problems of the Qantas A380 superjumbo
that saw one of its engines explode on 4th November. Airbus say flying debris from the Rolls-Royce engine severed cables in the aircraft's wing.
This caused a series of system failures in the plane. Pilots could not immediately
shut down one of the A380's 3 other engines. Up to 40 Rolls-Royce engines on Airbus
A380 s worldwide need to be replaced.
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Malcolm Robertson is BAA’s new communications director
Date added: 18 November, 2010
He started on his new £400,000 corporate and public affairs job last month, and
says he wants to adopt a more proactive comms strategy to improve the public's
perception of Heathrow. Now that BAA is largely off the main news pages, the
challenge for him is getting the business back onto the news pages in a good way.
His career so far - he started off in BAA Scotland, and was Deputy comms director, BAA in 2007.
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Air India plane crash: ‘Sleepy’ pilot blamed. Pilot fatigue an issue
Date added: 17 November, 2010
A dozing pilot was to blame for a plane crash in May in southern India which
killed 158 people, an official investigation has found. The Air India Express
plane approached Mangalore at the wrong height and angle. The Serbian pilot, Zlatko
Glusica, was "disorientated" having been asleep for much of the 3-hour flight.
The issue of tired pilots is not a new one. Pilots often work long hours, the
job is noisy and tiring, and there are late or night shifts.
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Easyjet profits jump on rising passenger numbers and more business fliers
Date added: 17 November, 2010
Easyjet has seen profits almost triple on rising passenger numbers and cheaper
fuel. It made profits of £154m in the 12 months to September, up from £55m a year earlier.
Passenger volumes rose 8% in the year to 49 million. Easyjet said it would buy
another 24 planes by September 2013, representing a 12% increase. It is launching
a no-frills business class and fares will be "far cheaper" than carriers like
BA. Almost 20% of its passengers are on business.
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Rolls-Royce scrambles for A380 engines to replace faulty ones; delays seen
Date added: 16 November, 2010
Rolls-Royce is preparing to cannibalise several half-built A380s from its production
line, to obtain new engines to help airlines like Qantas that operate A380s.
But both Singapore Airlines and Qantas, with a combined 22 A380s still to be delivered,
said on Tuesday they had not been informed of any delivery delays. All 6 of Qantas' A380s
are still grounded since the incident when part of an engine exploded in mid air.
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Pontin’s goes into administration – they have 5 seaside sites in the UK
Date added: 12 November, 2010
Holiday park operator Pontin’s has been placed in administration. It operates 5 sites in Somerset, Sussex, Suffolk, Wales and Merseyside and employs
around 850 staff across the UK. KPMG has been appointed administrators, and say KPMG all 5 sites continue to trade as normal and no redundancies of park staff
have been made. Pontin's is an iconic British brand which forms the backdrop to thousands of
treasured family holiday memories since 1946.
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Airbus prepares safety warnings after problems with computer controls on a flight in August
Date added: 12 November, 2010
Airbus is drafting a worldwide safety warning about electrical problems on some
of its aircraft. It is investigating a fault that temporarily affected primary cockpit displays and
computer controls on a BMI flight from Khartoum to Beirut in August, when for
several minutes the plane did not respond to controls. The standby instruments on the A321 plane did operate normally. The pilots eventually regained control of the aircraft - but by that time it
was 20 miles off its course.
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DfT work plan published. Aviation scoping document will be published March 2011
Date added: 11 November, 2010
The DfT has produced its Business Plan 2011-2015 which it says will be refreshed
annually. Its Section 5 is entitled "Promote sustainable aviation". It wants to create a "sustainable" framework (definition unclear) for aviation in the UK,
improve passenger experience at airports and maintain high standards of safety
and security for passengers and freight. The scoping document will be published
in Mar 2011 and the consultation will be March to July 2012.
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Demand for the resignation of the directors of Flying Matters over unsubstantiated claims
Date added: 11 November, 2010
The website of the pro-flying pressure group, "Flying Matters" states clearly
that they are: "Committed to to improve fuel efficiency of new aircraft by 50%
by 2020 ". Also they have a "commitment to get emissions down to 2000 levels by 2050 despite a trebling of
passenger numbers". A campaigner is threatening to report Brian Wilson and Michelle Di Leo to the
Serious Fraud Office, for making exaggerated, unsubstantiated and unrealistic
claims to artificially boost their case.
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