The U.S. civil aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has recently issued proposed fines to U.S. regional operators, SkyWest and Horizon Air, for failing to adhere to U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations. According to the FAA, the two airlines allegedly operated non-compliant aircraft in their scheduled passenger operations. Horizon Air reportedly failed to adequately inspect and test the transponders on six of their Bombardier Dash 8 regional aircraft, while SkyWest reportedly failed to fully carryout required air conditioning maintenance inspections on three Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft. The FAA believes that the failure of SkyWest to adhere to the required air conditioning inspections may have lead to a cabin depressurisation incident. The airlines are currently in talks with the FAA regarding the proposed fines.

US-based airline, Southwest, grounded 128 aircraft after the airline discovered that one of the aircraft’s standby hydraulic systems had not been inspected during scheduled maintenance. The airline discovered the non-compliance in late February and subsequently immediately notified the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the incident. The airline then moved to ground the effected aircraft until a proposed response and operational plan could be approved by the FAA. The FAA subsequently approved the airline’s plan, which involves gradually carrying out the required checks over a 5 day period.

After recently re-commencing operations to the EU, Afriqiyah Airways has now been forced to suspend operations to European destinations after the airline’s leasing provider, which provided Afriqiyah Airways with aircraft and crew for its EU operations, moved to cancel its contract with the Libyan-based airline. Afriqiyah Airways had recently established a wet-lease agreement with a Georgian-based aircraft leasing provider, VistaGeorgia. However, a recent fatal attack on foreign flight crew residing at a Tripoli-based hotel has subsequently prompted AeroVista to terminate its operational contract with Afriqiyah Airways, after significant concerns were raised regarding the security of its crew within Libya.