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January 6, 2024

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January 6, 2024

First City Airlines A319 wears the colors

Amely Mizzi 6 January 2024 21:33

The first Airbus A319 destined for the new Lufthansa flight service City Airlines was given its new livery in a paint shop at Münster/Osnabrück Airport. This is largely identical to the usual crane livery, but with the addition of "City". The medium-haul jet has the registration D-ABGH and is 16,4 years old. The aircraft was originally delivered to Air Berlin in 2007. Before being put into service at City Airlines, this Airbus A319 also flew for Belair and Eurowings. It is the first and currently only aircraft to bear the "Lufthansa City" livery. City Airlines is a new company in the Lufthansa Group, the concept of which is based on the existing sister company Lufthansa Cityline. At first the carrier was colloquially known as Cityline 2.0, which is also due to the fact that CEO Carsten Spohr himself spoke of a clone. The core business will be feeder flights for the parent company. City Airlines will initially launch with a fleet of used Airbus A319s. Later, it will receive new Airbus A220s, making it the second operator of this type in the Kranich group of companies after Swiss. The project is a thorn in the side of unions because it is suspected that existing collective agreements are to be circumvented. City Airlines has had an AOC and operating license issued by the German Federal Aviation Office for several months. The airline has not yet flown commercially. The fleet is currently being prepared. The airline is also looking for staff. City Airlines is expected to become active in the 2024 summer flight schedule and gradually expand.

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FAA responds: Temporary grounding for Boeing 737-Max-9

Jan Gruber 6 January 2024 21:09

The US Civil Aviation Authority (FAA) has ordered that all Boeing 737 Max 9s operated by local carriers or flying in US airspace must undergo an extraordinary inspection. In concrete terms, this means a temporary flight ban. According to the FAA, around 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s worldwide are affected by this airworthiness directive. "The FAA requires an immediate inspection of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9s before they can be returned to flight operations," said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. "Safety will continue to guide our decision-making as we support the NTSB's investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282." The authority has issued a so-called Emergency Airworthiness Directive. This requires operators of Boeing 737 Max 9s to carry out inspections before the next departure. If the steps and cycles specified in the emergency airworthiness directive are not carried out, the model will be grounded. The required inspections will take around four to eight hours per aircraft. The FAA has reacted exceptionally quickly to the latest Boeing 737 Max incident. An aircraft of this type operated by Alaska Airlines lost an entire emergency exit panel during the climb for reasons that are still unknown. Based on the photos and videos available, there seems to be a suspicion, at least not unfounded, that another quality defect may have come to light. In contrast to the fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, the latest incident was not a serious one. The pilots successfully managed the emergency landing and all passengers and crew members were able to leave the B737 Max 9. The FAA was under fire at the time of the two total losses because it did not react quickly enough. Ultimately,

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Alaska Airlines: Boeing 737-Max-9 loses an emergency exit door during climb

Amely Mizzi 6 January 2024 12:09

The Boeing 737 Max 9 with the registration N704AL lost an entire panel of an emergency exit door during the climb of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The crew aborted the climb at an altitude of 15.000 feet and successfully made an emergency landing. The cause of the incident is still unclear. However, Alaska Airlines has decided to remove all Boeing 737 Max 9s from scheduled service as a precautionary measure. The 65 aircraft are to remain on the ground until further notice. There were 704 passengers on board N171AL at the time of the incident. The flight was scheduled to fly from Portland to Ontario. For unknown reasons, one of the panels in which an emergency exit door is mounted came loose. Eyewitnesses say there was a loud bang. This is the additional emergency exit that is required by the FAA for the tight cabin configuration used by Alaska Airlines. Photos and videos taken and shared on social media show the damage. Visually, there is no indication that explosives were involved, but the NTSB's accident investigation is ongoing, so there is no certainty yet. The Boeing 737-Max-9 aircraft in question was not delivered to Alaska Airlines from the factory until the end of October 2023. Given the history of this series, it cannot be ruled out that this could be another quality defect. It is precisely for this reason that the carrier is now carrying out precautionary inspections on all other units in its fleet. As a result, Alaska Airlines is temporarily refraining from using the B737-Max-9.

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