Flight Safety Information February 4, 2013 - No. 027 In This Issue Safety-Board Chief Is a Top Pick for Transportation Post NTSB: 'Too Risky' For Lithium Batteries To Fly As Cargo On Planes Air India flew Dreamliners even after jet was grounded on safety fears FAA Mandates Inspections of Older Piper Aircraft Smokers cause expensive diversion after lighting up on flight from Halifax Romanian airplane ends up off runway at Rome airport in heavy wind, 5 injured Truck hits airplane at Salt Lake City airport; driver injured FAA delays new safety rules for airline pilots Fog Forces Delhi Airport to Suspend Flight Departures PROS IOSA Audit Experts 118 fake pilot licenses will be investigated: Civil Aviation (Colombia) Japan Airlines Says 787 Grounding Will Cost It $7.5 Million Etihad Airways to complete due diligence on Jet Airways next week: CEO Centre to slash salaries of Air India pilots by 30% ANA in talks with Boeing to speed up 777 jet deliveries Alaska Airlines promotes von Meuhlen Safety-Board Chief Is a Top Pick for Transportation Post By ANDY PASZTOR and PETER NICHOLAS The head of the National Transportation Safety Board, known for fighting against sleepy pilots and drunken drivers, is a leading candidate to be nominated as transportation secretary, according to people familiar with the matter. Deborah Hersman, a Democrat who is a former congressional staffer for both parties, has won bipartisan praise from lawmakers for increasing the profile of the independent safety board, partly by promoting highway safety and speeding up completion of probes into commercial-aviation accidents and incidents. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman is a candidate for a cabinet post. People close to the White House and familiar with the selection process said Ms. Hersman is a leading candidate to succeed Ray LaHood, who reiterated last week his intention to leave the post. A final decision is pending, though one person said she is expected to get the nod barring a sudden change of direction by the White House. President Barack Obama is under pressure to appoint more women to top White House and administration positions-a political reality that would seem to boost Ms. Hersman's prospects. An NTSB spokeswoman declined to comment on Sunday, as did the White House. Ms. Hersman was appointed to the five-member board in 2004 by President George W. Bush, and then reappointed by Mr. Obama to a term expiring this year. As chairman, Ms. Hersman has been overseeing the NTSB's high-profile probe into burning batteries aboard Boeing Co.'s BA +1.34%new 787 Dreamliner jets. The nomination, if it occurs, isn't expected to significantly affect that investigation, according to industry and government officials, because the work is largely directed by senior staff experts. Seeking to expand the purview of the safety board beyond crash investigations, last year Ms. Hersman persuaded federal aviation regulators for the first time to give the NTSB selective access to certain reports voluntarily filed by pilots. When she embarked on the effort, which was privately criticized as overreaching by government and industry officials, Ms. Hersman said her goal was to become more proactive as an air-safety watchdog in order "to identify safety issues before they result in fatal accidents." Airline- industry groups have challenged some of her other moves as unwarranted. Despite her reputation as an outspoken champion of more-aggressive safety regulation by the Federal Aviation Administration, Mr. Hersman has been known to introduce a softer, more-personal tone to some of her public appearances. At an airline pilots' safety conference in Washington in August 2011, she surprised the audience by showing vacation slides of her husband and three sons struggling through an obstacle course to lead off a presentation about the importance of training and teamwork in preventing plane crashes. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.), outgoing chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said Sunday he would like to see Ms. Herman nominated for the post. For roughly the last half of her 12-year stint as a Capitol Hill aide, she served as a senior adviser to that committee. He said that during her tenure at the safety board, "she has been a constant reassuring presence" during the most difficult transportation accidents. At the NTSB, Ms. Hersman has launched initiatives intended to make the agency more relevant and influential in shaping emerging safety debates. She pushed to hold public sessions broadly exploring safety lapses among medical-emergency helicopters and spotty oversight of aircraft operated by a range of governmental agencies. Ms. Hersman also has been a strong advocate for enhanced professionalism among airline pilots, including stepped-up training in both flying and leadership skills. The board's detailed and relatively speedy investigation of a Colgan Air turboprop crash in 2009 near the airport in Buffalo, N.Y., which killed 50 people, helped spur congressional action for tighter oversight of such regional carriers. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324761004578282364144287452.html Back to Top NTSB: 'Too Risky' For Lithium Batteries To Fly As Cargo On Planes In Seattle, NTSB investigators and Boeing engineers examine the type of lithium ion battery used on the Boeing 787 to start the auxillary power unit and to provide backup power for flight critical systems. WASHINGTON (AP) - At the same time the government certified Boeing's 787 Dreamliners as safe, federal rules barred the type of batteries used to power the airliner's electrical systems from being carried as cargo on passenger planes because of the fire risk. Now the situation is reversed. Dreamliners worldwide were grounded nearly three weeks ago after lithium ion batteries that are part of the planes led to a fire in one plane and smoke in a second. But new rules exempt aircraft batteries from the ban on large lithium ion batteries as cargo on flights by passenger planes. In effect, that means the Dreamliner's batteries are now allowed to fly only if they're not attached to a Dreamliner. The regulations were published on Jan. 7, the same day as a battery fire in a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston's Logan International Airport that took firefighters nearly 40 minutes to put out. The timing of the two events appears coincidental. Pilots and safety advocates say the situation doesn't make sense. If the 787s battery system is too risky to allow the planes to fly, then it's too risky to ship the same batteries as cargo on airliners, they said. "These incidents have raised the whole issue of lithium batteries and their use in aviation," said Jim Hall, a former National Transportation Safety Board chairman. "Any transport of lithium batteries on commercial aircraft for any purpose should be suspended until (an) NTSB investigation is complete and we know more about this entire issue." Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a former US Airways pilot famed for his precision flying that enabled passengers and crew to survive an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York, said in an interview that he wouldn't be comfortable flying an airliner that carried lithium ion aircraft batteries in its cargo hold. "The potential for self-ignition, for uncontained fires, is huge," he said. The new regulations "need to be looked at very hard in the cold light of day, particularly with what has happened with the 787 batteries." The battery rules were changed in order to conform U.S. shipping requirements with international standards as required by Congress, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a statement. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency that sets global aviation standards, adopted the aircraft battery cargo exemption in October 2011, and it went into effect Jan. 1. The organization's standards normally aren't binding. But a provision inserted into U.S. law at the behest of the battery industry and their shippers says the rules can't be stricter than the U.N. agency's standards. Previously, U.S. regulations prohibited the shipment of lithium ion batteries on passenger planes in packages weighing more than 11 pounds, although heavier batteries could be shipped on cargo planes. The new rules allow the shipment of lithium ion batteries weighing as much as 77 pounds, but only if they are aircraft batteries. Shipments of other lithium ion batteries greater than 11 pounds are still prohibited. The 787s two batteries weigh 63 pounds each. It's the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium ion batteries, which weigh less and store more power than other batteries of a similar size. The aircraft battery exemption was created for the convenience of the airline industry, which wants to be able to quickly ship replacement batteries to planes whose batteries are depleted or have failed. Sometimes it's faster to do that using a passenger plane. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the 787 battery fire in Boston. Japanese authorities are investigating a battery failure that led to an emergency landing by an All Nippon Airways 787 on Jan. 16. All Dreamliners, which are operated by eight airlines in seven countries, have since been grounded. The International Air Transport Association, which represents U.S. airlines and other carriers that fly internationally, asked for the aircraft battery exemption at the October 2011 meeting of the U.N. agency's dangerous goods committee. The association argued that the exemption would give airlines "significant operational flexibility in being able to move aircraft batteries on a passenger aircraft where cargo aircraft may not be available over the route, or within the time required if a battery is required at short notice," according to a copy of the request obtained by The Associated Press. Since the batteries have to meet special safety standards in order to be installed on planes, "it is believed that exceeding the (11-pound) limit for passenger aircraft will not compromise safety," the request said. Some members of the committee opposed allowing shipments of lithium ion aircraft batteries on passenger planes, saying safety regulations that let the batteries be used onboard planes don't necessarily ensure they can be transported safely as cargo, according to a summary of the meeting posted online by the U.N. agency. "One member had discussed this proposal with an engineer in their (country's) airworthiness office who was familiar with standards for batteries installed in aircraft," the summary said. "This colleague did not believe testing standards for installed aircraft batteries warranted special treatment for transport purposes." It was pointed out that the safety standards applied to batteries used in the operation of an aircraft are "narrowly tailored to performance issues and how the battery interacted with aircraft systems," the summary said. The summary doesn't identify the committee member, but a source familiar with the deliberations said it was the U.S. representative, Janet McLaughlin. She abstained from the vote on the standards, said a federal official with knowledge of the meeting. Neither source was authorized to comment publicly and both spoke only on condition of anonymity. The Japan Airlines fire ignited about half an hour after the plane had landed in Boston and nearly 200 passengers and crew members had disembarked. Firefighters were alerted after a cleaning crew working in the plane smelled smoke. It took nearly 40 minutes to put out the blaze. The "multiple systems" that were designed to prevent the 787s batteries from catching fire "did not work as intended," Deborah Hersman, the current NTSB chairman, told reporters recently. The "expectation in aviation is never to experience a fire on an aircraft," she said. Concern about transport of lithium ion aircraft batteries on passenger planes isn't limited to the batteries used in the 787. The Airbus A350, expected to be ready next year, will also make extensive use of lithium ion batteries. Aircraft manufacturers are also considering retrofitting some planes to replace their batteries with lithium ion batteries to save weight, according to the airline association. The less a plane weighs, the less fuel it burns. Fuel is the biggest operating expense of most airlines. Cargo airline pilots long have complained about the dangers of transporting lithium batteries. The batteries are suspected of causing or contributing to the severity of an onboard fire that led to the September 2010 crash of a United Parcel Service plane near Dubai, killing both pilots. The two pilots of another UPS plane barely managed to escape the aircraft before it was consumed by fire moments after landing in Philadelphia in 2006. Fires involving rechargeable lithium-ion batteries can reach 1,100 degrees and are extremely difficult to put out. ___ Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy Back to Top Air India flew Dreamliners even after jet was grounded on safety fears Air India flew some of its Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner aircraft even after US regulators grounded the global fleet last month due to undiagnosed battery problems. Dreamliners operated by India's national carrier were flown to Mumbai for maintenance reasons, Arun Mishra, the head of India's civil aviation regulator, said on Monday. A spokesman for state-run Air India declined to comment. "When the Dreamliners were grounded, they had come to Delhi from Frankfurt and Paris. Air India asked us for permission to take them to Mumbai because they have their maintenance facility there and also they were paying very high parking charges in Delhi," Mishra, director general of civil aviation, told Reuters. "We gave them permission with strict orders that no passenger will be allowed." The 50 technologically advanced Dreamliners in global service have been grounded since mid-January as officials in the United States, Japan and France investigate a battery fire and a battery failure on two separate planes last month. U.S. officials said this week they were making progress in their investigations into the battery issues. India grounded Air India's six Dreamliner jets on Jan. 17 in line with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's advisory to ground the aircraft. The national carrier said last month that Boeing would be liable for compensation. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/air-india-flew-dreamliners-after-grounding- orderofficial/1069104/ Back to Top FAA Mandates Inspections of Older Piper Aircraft By ANDY PASZTOR Regulators on Monday will mandate enhanced inspections and repairs where necessary to cables that control tail surfaces on about 30,000 Piper aircraft, some of the most popular general-aviation planes sold in the U.S. Prompted by at least one accident and a serious incident stemming from such malfunctioning flight-control systems in recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration wants planes that are 15 years or older to be checked for damaged or corroded cables during their next annual inspection. Younger planes are supposed to undergo the same inspection once they reach 15 years. The FAA's safety directive, slated to become final when it is published in Monday's Federal Register, also mandates repetitive follow-up inspections. The move is unusual because it follows a pair of nonbinding recommendations by the agency on the topic going back 10 years, as well as more-recent safety letters and bulletins issues by the manufacturer. The FAA said the move was prompted by "reports of control cable assembly failures that may lead to failure" to control movable tail surfaces that are essential to direct the noses of the planes up or down. The mandate covers more than 34,000 propeller-driven Piper Cherokee, Saratoga, Lance, Seneca and Seminole models, and industry officials said most of them are older than 15 years. In comments submitted to the FAA, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said previously nonbinding government safety bulletins calling for inspections of all cable fittings for corrosion or cracking weren't adequate. Closely held Piper Aircraft Inc., based in Vero Beach, Fla., on Sunday issued a statement noting it "has cooperated fully with the FAA in developing" the safety directive and considers the move "helpful to increase overall flight safety." In the statement, Jackie Carlon, Piper's director of communications, also said the company in 2010 and 2012 told owners and operators of the affected planes to inspect the control cables and associated hardware. In all three hazardous events cited by the safety board, according to Piper's statement, "evidence of approaching failure" of the cable or control systems "should have been clearly observable" during recurrent inspections. Considering the large number of Piper aircraft that have been "in operation in the past 50 years, the historical data demonstrate that trained mechanics can identify these conditions before failure occurs," according to the company. An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment. The agency initially proposed the safety directive last August but then invited comments. In the final version of the directive, scheduled to become effective in early March, the FAA said safety data show "that certain Piper models have multiple reports" of cracked, corroded or frayed cables. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324900204578282483718073260.html Back to Top Smokers cause expensive diversion after lighting up on flight from Halifax Three people were arrested after lighting up cigarettes aboard a flight from Halifax bound for a week-long holiday in the Dominican Republic, forcing the aircraft to land prematurely in Bermuda, a spokesman for Sunwing Travel Group says. Two members of a family of four - consisting of two older adults, a 22-year-old and a 16-year-old - began smoking in the plane bathroom, and three family members later became "verbally abusive", said Daryl McWilliams, the vice-president of media relations for the group. Due to airline safety regulations, the plane was required to land at the nearest airport, L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda, and the disruptive passengers were taken into custody by local police, he added. He did not know what the offending passengers' nationality was, but said they had their travel documents taken away. Mr. McWilliams expected them to appear in court on Monday. "There is a clear-cut [no-smoking] law that has been in place, I think, for at least 20 years, if not more," he said. http://news.nationalpost.com/ Back to Top Romanian airplane ends up off runway at Rome airport in heavy wind, 5 injured ROME - A Romanian airliner ended up off the runway while landing at Rome's main airport during heavy winds Saturday night, injuring a flight attendant and four passengers, aviation officials said.. Vitaliano Turra, an official of Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC, told Sky TG24 TV that the flight attendant aboard the Carpatair airliner and one of the passengers were hospitalized. The Italian news agency ANSA said the injuries consisted of fractures or bruises, and that none was life-threatening. ANSA said the ATR 72 ended up in the grass about 50 metres (yards) beside the runway on a flight from the Tuscan city of Pisa, with 46 passengers and a crew of four aboard. It quoted unidentified passengers as saying the aircraft landed hard on the runway, then appeared to have bounced, winding up off the tarmac and tilted on one side. Turra said the cause of the incident was under investigation but that heavy winds that whipped Leonardo da Vinci airport much of the day might have played a role. http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Back to Top Truck hits airplane at Salt Lake City airport; driver injured An airport truck driver was hospitalized Sunday night after his vehicle collided with the wing of a parked cargo plane. The 6:20 p.m. collision sent fuel stored in the plane's wing spewing onto the tarmac on the east side of the airfield, Salt Lake City International Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said. Part of the plane's wing came through the truck's windshield, injuring the driver, she said. Salt Lake City Fire Department hazardous materials crews were working to clean up the spill, she said. The cause of the accident was unclear Sunday night, Gann said. Fog, which had blanketed the Salt Lake Valley earlier in the day Sunday did not appear to be a factor, she said. The driver's name was not immediately released. He was taken by ambulance to Intermountain Medical Center, but the nature of his injuries and his condition were unknown Sunday night, Gann said. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55760794-78/lake-salt-sunday-driver.html.csp Back to Top FAA delays new safety rules for airline pilots Faced with substantial industry opposition, federal regulators are struggling to implement a sweeping aviation safety law enacted after the last fatal U.S. airline crash nearly four years ago, according to a report by a government watchdog. The Federal Aviation Administration is experiencing lengthy delays in putting in place rules required by the law to increase the amount of experience necessary to be an airline pilot, provide more realistic pilot training and create a program where experienced captains mentor less experienced first officers, according to the report by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General. The report was obtained by The Associated Press. The FAA is also running into problems creating a new, centralized electronic database that airlines can check prior to hiring pilots, the report said. The database is supposed to include pilots' performance on past tests of flying skills. FAA facing many issues In each case, the agency has run into significant opposition from the airline industry, the report said. "To effectively implement these initiatives in a timely manner, (the) FAA must balance industry concerns with a sustained commitment to oversight," the report said. Congress passed the law a year and a half after the Feb. 12, 2009, crash of a regional airliner near Buffalo, N.Y., that killed all 49 people aboard and a man on the ground. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the accident highlighted weaknesses in pilot training, tiring work schedules, lengthy commutes and relatively low experience levels for pilots at some regional carriers. The accident was due to an incorrect response by the flight's captain to two key safety systems, causing an aerodynamic stall that sent the plane plummeting into a house below, the NTSB investigation concluded. "The law is only as strong as the regulations that come from it so this (implementation) process is the true measuring stick of how this law will ultimately be viewed," said Kevin Kuwik, spokesman for a group of family members of victims killed in the crash. The family members lobbied relentlessly for passage of the safety law. Kuwik lost his girlfriend, 30-year-old Lorin Maurer, in the accident. Driven by the accident and the new safety law, the FAA substantially revised its rules governing pilot work schedules to better ensure pilots are rested when they fly. It was the first modification of the rules since 1985 and "a significant achievement" for the FAA, the report said. Kuwik said he gives the FAA "a lot of credit" for revising the work schedule rules and for staying in touch with victims' family members. However, he said it's critical that the agency meet deadlines later this year for issuing new regulations on pilot training and qualifications. "If the foot-dragging continues and missing deadlines..., the potentially significant effects of the safety bill will be lost," Kuwik said. Responding to the report, the FAA said in a statement that more than 90 percent of air carriers now use voluntary programs in which pilots and others report safety problems with the understanding that there will be no reprisals for their conduct or computer- assisted programs that identify and report safety trends. "This has led to significant training, operational and maintenance program improvements," the statement said. The agency also noted that it has "delivered seven reports to Congress, initiated five rulemaking projects and continued rulemaking efforts for another four final rules as a result of the" new safety law. The inspector general's report, however, details how FAA has missed deadlines and run into complications trying to issue regulations necessary to implement key portions of the law. For example, the FAA is behind schedule on rules to substantially increase the experience required to become an airline pilot from the current 250 flight hours to 1,500 flight hours. The agency currently estimates it will issue the rules in August, a year after the deadline set in the law. Airlines, worried they won't be able to find enough qualified new pilots, oppose the increase, arguing that a pilot's quality and type of flying should be weighed more heavily than the number of flight hours. FAA compromising The FAA has proposed a compromise that would allow military pilots with 750 hours of flight experience or pilots with 1,000 hours and a four-year aviation degree to qualify to be hired as an airline pilot, but airlines remain opposed. If the FAA doesn't act by the August deadline, the increase to 1,500 hours will take effect without the exceptions offered in FAA's compromise proposals. Yet the FAA and its inspectors haven't taken steps to ensure regional airlines, which will most affected, will be able to meet the new requirements, the report said. At two regional carriers visited by the inspector general's office, 75 percent of the first officers didn't have an air transport certificate - the highest level pilot's license issued by the FAA -which will be required for all airline pilots by the August deadline. http://www.voxxi.com/faa-delays-safety-rules-airline-pilots/#ixzz2Jw03XMq1 Back to Top IG Report: FAA Wildlife Hazard Plans Ineffective Prompted by a scathing audit report by the Transportation Department inspector general about the ineffective implementation of its wildlife hazard plans, the FAA is analyzing comments it received on three draft advisory circulars. One of the ACs is new, but the other two are revisions of existing ACs. The DOT IG had concluded that the FAA's oversight and enforcement activities are not sufficient to ensure that airports fully adhere to program requirements or effectively implement their wildlife hazard plans. In addition, the FAA's policies and guidance for monitoring, reporting and mitigating wildlife hazards are mostly voluntary, thereby limiting their effectiveness. For example, the FAA recommends but does not mandate that airports and aircraft operators report all wildlife strikes to the FAA's strike database. As a result, the agency's strike data are incomplete, which affects its ability to evaluate the effectiveness of its program in reducing wildlife hazards. Finally, the FAA coordinates with the Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services, its main partner in wildlife hazard mitigation, but its efforts to coordinate with other relevant government agencies are limited and infrequent. The IG's report should not have been news to the FAA. In 2009, the NTSB issued a safety recommendation to then-FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt indicating that the FAA should require all Part 139 airports and Part 121, Part 135 or Part 91 Subpart K aircraft operators to report all wildlife strikes, including species identification if possible, to the FAA National Wildlife Strike Database. The new AC is titled "Protocol for the Conduct and Review of Wildlife Hazard Site Visits, Wildlife Hazard Assessments and Wildlife Hazard Management Plans." The two revised ACs are "Hazardous Wildlife Attractants On or Near Airports" and "Reporting Wildlife Aircraft Strikes." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ Back to Top Back to Top 118 fake pilot licenses will be investigated: Civil Aviation (Colombia) Colombia's Civil Aviation Agency has discovered irregularities in 118 pilot licenses and on Sunday ordered an internal investigation to figure out the extent of the fraud. German Ramiro Garcia, secretary of areal security at Aerocivil, said that "with the goal of detecting if there are inconsistencies or falsifications in their proceedings or conductions [or if they have not] complied with all the requisites. This [investigation] is ongoing as of this moment and has to do with the licenses of flight crew, technicians, of pilot students." According to Noticias Uno, Aerocivil was trying to confirm whether members of the Aeronautic Agency had been selling the licenses in an illegal manner. "Information and investigations [have been given to] the Prosecutor [General] to define the level of responsibility and compliance of [certain] functionaries," said Garcia. According to reports handed over to the prosecutor, children of businessmen had paid some $2,800 to receive pilot licenses, without presenting the proper exams of knowledge. Some of the pilots accused of having fake licenses were in the process of becoming civil airline pilots, Noticas Uno reported. http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/27980-118-fake-pilot-licenses-will-be- investigated-civil-aviation.html Back to Top Japan Airlines Says 787 Grounding Will Cost It $7.5 Million TOKYO - Japan Airlines said Monday that the grounding of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet would cost it ¥700 million in earnings through March and that it would seek compensation from the U.S. maker of the aircraft. In announcing the forecast loss of about $7.5 million, the Japanese carrier joined other Dreamliner operators, like All Nippon Airways and United Airlines, in raising possible compensation demands. That adds to Boeing's woes as it struggles to find out why a battery aboard a parked 787 burst into flames and another emitted smoke while a plane was in the air last month. After those incidents, regulators around the world grounded the 50 Dreamliners that were in service. U.S. and Japanese officials investigating the two cases have not determined exactly what caused the lithium-ion batteries, made by a Japanese company, to overheat. Japan Airlines, which operates seven 787s and has placed orders for 38 more, is pushing to get back on track after its emergence from bankruptcy last year and the relisting of its shares, which raised ¥663 billion. In earnings announced Monday, the airline said net profit had fallen 3.7 percent to ¥140.6 billion in the first three quarters, through December, of its financial year. Sales rose 3.6 percent to ¥942 billion, Japan Airlines said, but were offset by a nearly 5 percent increase in operating costs as fuel prices climbed. Japan Airlines also said that it would postpone the introduction of service between Helsinki and Narita International Airport near Tokyo, originally scheduled to start Feb. 25. The airline cited "necessary adjustments to JAL's international routes utilizing the Boeing 787 aircraft." Still, it raised its full-year profit forecast through March by 16 percent to ¥163 billion, citing strong demand in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia. Speaking in Tokyo, Yoshiharu Ueki, president of Japan Airlines, said his company was more focused on doing all it could do to help get the 787s safely back in the air. He added, however, that the airline would begin compensation negotiations "once the situation had settled down." http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/business/global/japan-airlines-says-787- grounding-will-cost-it-7-5-million.html?_r=0 Back to Top Etihad Airways to complete due diligence on Jet Airways next week: CEO ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, close to a tie-up with India's Jet Airways, expects to complete due diligence on the deal in the next week, the Gulf carrier's chief executive said on Monday. The Jet deal would be the first foreign investment into India's aviation market after the government relaxed ownership rules in September last year and allowed foreign carriers to buy up to 49 percent in domestic carriers. "We are doing our due diligence in the next week. We will present it to our board and take it from there," James Hogan, speaking at a press conference after the airline reported its annual results. An announcement was expected this week, an official at the Indian airline, who declined to be identified, said in January. Hogan said he had met with senior Indian aviation officials and ministers last week to understand the new rules of India's foreign direct investment scheme. "We also wanted to understand the issues that have impacted Indian civil aviation, how they think this will change in the coming years," said Hogan. The terms of the possible deal have not been disclosed, but a government source said earlier this month Etihad was in talks to pick up a 24-percent stake in Jet for up to $330 million. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ Back to Top Centre to slash salaries of Air India pilots by 30% New Delhi: The pilots of national carrier Air India will soon see their overall pay slashed by up to 30 per cent, compared to what they were getting earlier, well-placed government sources said. The pilots are getting flying allowances as part of overall pay, and these account for about 70 to 80 per cent of their earnings. Last year, the government, after announcing that it was abolishing productivity-linked incentives for Air India employees, said it would put up a note to the Cabinet for flying allowances for certain sections of the staff like pilots, engineers and cabin crew only as per market norms. Since the government found that the pilots were being paid above market norms, it has taken a decision to cut their salaries. According to sources: "The overall wages of pilots are expected to be reduced by up to 30 per cent compared to what they were getting earlier as they were paid flying allowances above market norms. The reduction is expected be the highest for pilots flying on international routes." A few days ago, the government paid 75 per cent of flying allowance arrears to pilots after domestic union pilots (Indian Airlines) threatened a strike. Meanwhile, 5,000 of its employees have yet to accept their transfer orders to new subsidiary AI Engineering Services. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130204/news-businesstech/article/centre-slash- salaries-air-india-pilots-30 Back to Top ANA in talks with Boeing to speed up 777 jet deliveries: Nikkei TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's All Nippon Airways is in talks with U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co to speed up the delivery of three 777 jetliners as its fleet of 787 Dreamliner airplanes remains grounded with undiagnosed battery problems, the Nikkei newspaper said on Sunday. All 50 Boeing 787s worldwide remain grounded as authorities in the United States, Japan and France investigate a battery fire in Boston on January 7 and a separate battery failure that forced a second 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan a week later. Back to Top Alaska Airlines promotes von Meuhlen Constance von Muehlen Constance von Meuhlen was promoted to managing director of Alaska Airline's airframe, engine and component maintenance repair and overhaul, and will lead maintenance teams, supplier operations and Alaska's materials and stores organization. She has spent 20 years in aviation maintenance and was general manager of Pratt and Whitney's Canada service center and director of airframe maintenance at Air Canada. A U.S. Army veteran, von Meuhlen flew Black Hawk helicopters. http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020149313_bizmove04xml.html Curt Lewis