Indonesian investigators say a chronically faulty component and the crew’s attempts to fix the problem contributed to the crash of an AirAsia passenger aircraft last year, killing all 162 aboard. Th e A320 aircraft crashed into the Java Sea less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore in December 2014. Th e report noted that the aircraft’s flight control computer had a cracked solder joint that malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during … [Read more...] about Mech, human factors in AirAsia crash

Southeast Asia’s land-based multimodal network saw the start of a new link that forms part of the Kunming- Singapore Railway project following the start of work on a high-speed 427km rail line from the Laos to China. Th e US$6 billion project will run from the Laotian capital of Vientiane to Boten, a Laos border town on the Chinese border and will form one link in the Kunming-Singapore Railway project, which will eventually stretch 3,000km through China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and … [Read more...] about Laos begins work on part of Kunming-Sing project

Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) said its losses reach around US$1,780 for every 30-minute delay in its flights due to the runway congestion at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Jaime J. Bautista, president and chief operating officer of PAL, made the comments in New Zealand during a ceremony marking the inaugural Philippine Airlines four-times weekly flight from Manila to Auckland on 8 December. “Many times we fly around Metro Manila for additional 20 to 30 minutes - we did … [Read more...] about PAL mulls move to Clark as NAIA congestion losses rise

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has confirmed it is in talks with Airbus and Boeing to buy as many as 12 wide-body aircraft and will decide on the purchase before the end of the year, the flag carrier’s president Jaime Bautista told Reuters, recently. PAL in August had said it was planning to buy eight planes, but Bautista said the amount had increased to cater to growing demand for longhaul flights to the US and Europe. PAL will put firm orders for six aircraft worth around US$1 billion for … [Read more...] about PAL confirms looking to buy 12 B787s or A350s

Preliminary traffic figures for the month of October released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) reveal that growth in international air passenger demand remained encouraging, whilst soft air cargo market conditions persisted. Demand for air cargo shipments fell slightly in October, on the back of continued weakness in export-import activities in major regional economies, including China, India and Japan. Measured in freight tonne kilometre (FTK) terms, air cargo demand … [Read more...] about Oct sees more of same in air cargo markets: AAPA

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded its safety rating of Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) from a ‘Category 1’ to a ‘Category 2’ rating, following earlier findings by the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and its own recent assessment. Th e FAA said its downgrade meant that Thailand either lacked the laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in line with minimum international standards - or that it was deficient in … [Read more...] about US FAA downgrades Thailand to Category 2