Russian authorities have ordered carriers to conduct a one-time inspection of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 fleet, after the fatal Aeroflot accident at Moscow Sheremetyevo last month. Federal air transport regulator, Rosaviatsia says the work must be conducted "within the shortest possible time", and that findings must be directed to the authority's airworthiness management department. The work covers items which includes as a general check of the aircraft's condition, as well as examination of aircraft and engine logs to check performance of maintenance tasks and implementation of service bulletins. Investigators are still investigating the accident that occurred on May 5th in which a Superjet 100 suffered a hard landing, after returning to Sheremetyevo with degraded flight controls, and caught fire. Rosaviatsia says that the deadline for the review certificate is on the 25th of June.

A manufacturing defect will require the replacement of leading edge slat tracks on a small percentage of the global fleet of Boeing 737NG and Max aircraft. Operators operating affected aircraft have 10 days to identify and remove the discrepant parts, and an airworthiness directive will be issued, says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Boeing has informed the FAA that certain 737NG and 737 Max leading-edge slat tracks may have been improperly manufactured and may not meet all applicable regulatory requirements for strength and durability,” it says. “The affected parts may be susceptible to premature failure or cracks resulting from the improper manufacturing process. Although a complete failure of a leading-edge slat track would not result in the loss of the aircraft, a risk remains that a failed part could lead to aircraft damage in fight.” The FAA adds that Boeing has identified up to 148 parts produced by an unidentified “sub-tier supplier” as being affected. Globally, the defect affects 133 NG and 179 Max aircraft.

Delta Air Lines has selected Boston Logan International airport as newest hub, in a rare growth move by a US network carrier establishing a new connecting complex. "We've been making significant investments in Boston this year… this has really enabled us to graduate Boston from what we consider a focus city to our newest coastal hub," says Amy Martin, managing director of domestic network planning at the Atlanta-based carrier, speaking at the Airport Council International-North America's Jump-start conference in Nashville yesterday. "Boston is actually very well positioned geographically to be a connecting point for US passengers going transatlantic," she says. "As we're getting to kind of our maximum capacity at [New York] JFK, using Boston as a secondary transatlantic gateway makes a lot of sense." "We're really focused on reinforcing our position as the number one global carrier in Boston," says Martin.