South African Airways' maintenance division is undertaking corrective measures following a regulatory inspection which resulted in the grounding of a number of aircraft operated by South African carriers. The South African Civil Aviation Authority says it "sampled a few aircraft" during the inspection of South African Airways Technical, and issued a prohibition order preventing operation of these aircraft until "irregularities" had been addressed. SAA Techincal subsequently submitted a corrective action plan which the authority determined was "acceptable". South African Airways, its Mango subsidiary, and operator Comair have all been told to carry out verification exercises on their fleets, and the airlines involved have self-grounded certain aircraft to ensure they are safe to fly. The regulator says it "appreciates the seriousness" with which the airlines have taken its concerns. South African Airways stresses that there is no link between the issues at SAA Technical and last month's serious out-of-trim incident involving a Mango Boeing 737-800 en route from Johannesburg to Cape Town. The horizontal stabiliser trim motor had been replaced before the 2 September event, but preliminary inquiries could not establish the service history of the replacement part. Adverse publicity over the incident spurred South African Airways to state that SAA Technical had "legitimately procured" the component from the original equipment manufacturer and that it strongly refuted any suggestion that it was supplied with "suspect" parts. The component – fitted to the Mango aircraft on 5 August – failed after 96 cycles and 125h of operation and has been returned to the manufacturer to establish the cause. 'There is no link, direct or indirect between the aircraft incident involving the Mango flight reported on and matters that are currently under investigation at SAA Technical," adds South African Airways. Mango director of flight operations Juan Naude states: "I have never been made aware, nor have I ever heard any rumours of bogus or untraceable parts being used by SAA Technical or in relation to Mango aircraft."

Source: FlightGlobal

Finnair is setting out its sustainability credentials including the aim to halve its emissions by 2050 as pressure in Europe for airlines to tackle their climate change impact increases. The move to halve its emissions is in line with the industry's wider target, set out by IATA, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to half their 2005 level by 2050. In the nearer term, the carrier hopes to be achieving zero-growth in its emission levels by next year. Speaking to FlightGlobal, Finnair regional manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia Sebastian Grossmann acknowledged this is an “ambitious target”, but cites several factors working to the carrier’s advantage. For one, its routes between Finland and Asia are among the shortest for flights to Europe, which equate to lower emissions on average. The Oneworld carrier is also in the process of fleet renewal, moving to a newer, more fuel efficient aircraft, like its Airbus A350 and A320neo family fleet. Finnair also in August undertook its first biofuel flights, between Helsinki and San Francisco, as part of its Push for Change campaign. Grossman tells FlightGlobal that the airline is also working to reduce the overall weight it carries on its aircraft. It has already completely eliminated magazines and newspapers on board, and is cutting back on plastic wrapping and other plastics on flights. For instance, amenity kits are no longer wrapped in plastic, and it has stopped giving out individual milk pods on intra-European flights. The move to cut unnecessary plastic use has seen the carrier shave off 4,500kg in plastic a year.

Source: FlightGlobal

Passengers waiting to board Kulula and British Airways flights were left frustrated on Tuesday morning, when cancellations, emanating from a maintenance report, grounded several aircraft. Comair Limited – which serves as British Airways’ South African operator – released a statement early on Tuesday morning, warning passengers of delays affecting domestic routes. According to Comair, planes were grounded on Monday evening after South African Airways Technical (SAAT) released its finding of an audit. In the wake of the report, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) issued a notice relating to “irregular findings” – effectively halting Kulula and British Airways operations. Comair said:

“Affected aircraft may not be flown until the necessary corrective action has been carried out.

Comair have contingency plans in place and aim to minimise any disruption to its operations. We will keep our customers updated. Customers can check their latest flight status on the relevant websites.”

This isn’t the first that Comair has had a run-in with South African Airways Technical. Last month, during an annual financial report, Comair noted that it had received a significant court settlement from SAAT, which the Kulula and BA operator held accountable for improper maintenance scheduling and parts inventories. Furthermore, Comair lodged a civil claim back in 2006 which alleged that SAA paid travel agents gratuitous amounts to ‘divert’ passengers away from Kulula and British Airways. The Competition Appeal Court ruled SAA’s ‘innovation strategy’ as improper. Comair joint CEO, Glenn Orsmond, confirmed that SAA coughed-up a R1.27 billion settlement.

Source: The South African