New Zealand investigators have closed an inquiry into two incidents involving engine problems on Rolls-Royce-powered Boeing 787-9s operated by Air New Zealand. The country’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission states that the incidents involved fracture of intermediate-pressure turbine blades on Trent 1000 powerplants. Deterioration of these blades was one of several issues affecting various blade types in the engine, and Rolls-Royce has undertaken extensive work to study and correct the problems. The first ANZ incident involved an in-flight engine shutdown – as well as damage to the airframe – resulting in the return to Auckland of a 787-9 service to Tokyo on 5 December 2017. This was followed, just a day later, by an engine anomaly on a second 787-9, bound for Buenos Aires, which also returned to Auckland. Both aircraft were fitted with the Package C version of the Trent 1000. Corrosion fatigue cracking was identified, which had led blades to fracture and separate from the intermediate-pressure turbine disc. The New Zealand commission says Rolls-Royce’s addressing the safety issues identified in its interim report has “satisfied” the investigators. “Further lines of inquiry would be unlikely to identify further circumstances with significant implications for transport safety,” says commission deputy chief Stephen Davies Howard. He says prolonging the probe would not result in additional findings or recommendations. “By the time we published our interim report, Rolls-Royce was already replacing affected [intermediate turbine] blades with a new design that used an established alloy with protective coating,” he adds. “These actions by the engine manufacturer were sufficient to address the safety issues.” Rolls-Royce stated in July this year that the newly-developed blade for the turbine, to overcome the sulphidation corrosion problem, had already been fitted across virtually all of the operational fleet, for all package versions of the Trent 1000.

Source: Cirium

In October, Boeing lost another 12 orders for the 737 and received no new commitments for any commercial aircraft type, while deliveries inched up to 13 jets. The company’s October orders and deliveries figures come amid travel restrictions and sharply reduced demand for new jets. Cancellations of 737s totaled 12 in October, including four aircraft axed by Chinese lessor CDB Aviation, one by Czech carrier Smartwings, three by Oman Air, and four culled by unidentified customers. Boeing also removed a further 25, 737 aircraft from its backlog in October to comply with so-called “ASC 606” accounting standards. Although the company retains contracts for those jets it has less confidence the sales will close. In the 10 months to the end of October, Boeing has lost 1,043 737s from its backlog: 448 customer cancellations and 595 axed due to the accounting regulations. The company has said that cancellations will ease pent-up delivery pressure and give it more “flexibility” to manage its backlog and shipment schedule. The Federal Aviation Administration is in the final days of reviewing Boeing’s modifications to the 737, prior to certificating the jet. In October, Boeing delivered 13 aircraft, up from 11 in September. The latest changes bring Boeing’s backlog to 4,275 jets: 3,365 737s, 10 747s, 80 767s, 349 777s and 471 787s.

Source: Cirium

China Express Airlines became the country’s seventh operator of the Comac ARJ21 regional aircraft programme, after taking delivery of its first example. The aircraft, registered B-650P, is the first of at least 50 examples the privately-owned regional carrier will operate. At the handover ceremony on 10 November, Comac hailed the “important milestone” in the regional jet’s programme, noting that China Express’ massive order represented “a key step in the large-scale…development of domestic commercial aircraft”. In late October, China Express detailed its agreement to take up to 100 domestically-built jets – Comac’s largest single order to date – through 2025. Of these, 50 are orders for the ARJ21, and the remaining 50 are either ARJ21s or the C919 narrowbody, which is still under development. China Express discloses that the remaining 50 aircraft are still subject to negotiations with Comac. In June, the Chongqing-based carrier signed a partnership agreement framework with Comac, covering both the orders, as well as cooperation in other areas like aircraft design, maintenance, as well as market development. Fleet data indicates China Express to have a fleet of 13 in-service Airbus A320s, as well as 38 in-service CRJ900s. The carrier also has one A320neo and three CRJ200s in storage.

Source: Cirium