26.09.2023 - 15:31 UTC
American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) has become the latest carrier to disclose it has also been caught up in a growing scandal involving fake engine parts supplied by a UK-based entity called AOG Technics. The carrier first confirmed to Bloomberg on September 21 that some of its aircraft were impacted.
"Through the work of internal audits as well as collaboration with our suppliers, we’ve identified the uncertified components on a small number of aircraft. Each were immediately taken out of service for replacement,” an airline spokesperson said. "We’ll continue working with our suppliers and coordinating closely with the FAA to ensure these parts are no longer in our supply or otherwise in use on our aircraft.”
TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) was the first operator to flag the problem in July when it uncovered parts installed on certain CFM International-manufactured engines were supported by fraudulent documentation. Since then, other airlines, including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Virgin Australia have temporarily pulled aircraft from their fleets to verify the integrity...
19.09.2023 - 22:07 UTC
Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) briefly pulled two B737-800s from service after finding engines were fitted with unauthorised parts. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the airline replaced a low-pressure turbine blade on VH-VUT (msn 36608) last week, and at the time of writing VH-YFR (msn 41012) was out of service pending replacement of an inner high-pressure turbine nozzle. United Kingdom-based AOG Technics supplied the parts.
The use of the unauthorised parts, first reported by Bloomberg, was uncovered by Virgin Australia after it began checking AOG Technics-supplied parts in its engines. FlightRadar24 ADS-B data suggests VH-VUT was taken out of service only briefly, having operated several flights over each day in September. VT-YFR's last scheduled flight, on September 16, diverted to the airline's Brisbane base and has remained there since. However, it is expected to return to service later this week. The parts supplied to Virgin Australia were supported by allegedly fraudulent paperwork, which the carrier says rendered the parts unusable. The airline believes no other aircraft in its fleet have been impacted but...
18.09.2023 - 17:03 UTC
A US federal judge has ordered Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) to face a consumer antitrust class action in which they are accused of conspiring to limit domestic capacity to drive up fares between 2009 and 2015.
Columbia District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly concluded the plaintiffs presented enough evidence demonstrating a "pattern of parallel behaviour" and the existence of one or more factors "that tended to exclude the possibility that [the] defendants acted independently". Therefore, in a September 5 decision published on September 12, Kollar-Kotelly denied the airlines' motions for summary judgements in the multi-district class action lawsuit.
American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) settled similar antitrust allegations for USD45 million and USD15 million in 2018 and 2019, respectively, to avoid the cost of more litigation. Reuters reports that payouts will not begin until claims against Delta and United are resolved.
The case dates from July 2015, when three passengers filed an antitrust class...
01.09.2023 - 11:33 UTC
British business accelerator AMG Ventures, led by industry veteran Peter Davies, has taken a minority share in Scottish electric airline startup Ecojet Airlines, being launched by British green energy tycoon Dale Vince.
According to Companies House records filed on August 26, AMG Ventures holds the smallest stake of 2,000 ordinary shares in the nascent green airline, equivalent to around 6%. Davies is a director of Ecojet Airlines and the founder and CEO of airline consultancy Airline Management Group (AMG), which runs AMG Ventures. As the current chairman of US-based Airlink, an aviation industry disaster relief coordination body, Davies previously served as CEO of Air Malta, Air Southwest in the UK, Caribbean Airlines in Trinidad & Tobago, and SN Brussels Airlines in Belgium. He also launched Oman’s first low-cost carrier SalamAir and helped restructure South African Airways.
British green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince holds 8,334 ordinary shares in Ecojet. Vince, the founder of British energy firm Ecotricity, also sits on the boards of a slew of green energy companies in the United Kingdom....
