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NEWS

INDuSTRy NEWS AND uPDATES

Bad Dreamliner
Providing some slight consolation for
Boeing, investigators’ initial findings
indicate Boeing’s troublesome
A350 XWB maiden flight lithium-ion batteries were not the
On July 13, just prior to the Paris Air is ready,” asserted Fabrice Bregier, root cause of a fire on an Ethiopian
Show, Airbus’ first A350 XWB took Airbus President and CEO. “It is ready Airlines 787 Dreamliner at Heathrow
off from Blagnac airport outside the to head towards certification and entry- in July. “It is clear that … heat damage
Toulouse factory for a four-hour test into-service in the second half of next is remote from the area in which
flight in clear skies over southern year,” he added. the aircraft main and APU (auxiliary
France. Flown by Peter Chandler, The first flight saw the mainly power unit) batteries are located,”
Airbus’ Chief Test Pilot, and Guy composite aircraft perform up to 20,000 said the AAIB in a statement. It seems
Magrin, Project Pilot for the A350 XWB feet and execute the basic turn, climb, that the more likely culprit is an ELB
project, the flight kick-started a 2,500- descend and land operations without (emergency locator beacon) that was
hour flight test programme which will a hitch, followed a few days later by an stashed in the upper rear ceiling space
see five A350s complete the grueling overfly at the Paris Air Show. The A350, of the unfortunate Ethiopian aircraft.
schedule of flight and capability testing equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent XWB This is the second time the plane has
which will end with the certification turbofans, is Airbus’s answer to the been grounded, the first being for the
of the A350-900 variant by US and highly successful Boeing Dreamliner for lithium battery overheating issues.
European regulators. the rapidly expanding wide-body market, Initial investigation reports suggest
“The A350 XWB is now entering the with over 670 firm orders placed so far, that the ELB (a locator device that
final stage of its development. And it to a value of US$22 billion. assists rescue if an aircraft lands or
crashes in a remote or inaccessible
area) was installed in a hard-to-access
China Trainer heads South area at the rear of the passenger
China-based aviation conglomerate Haite Group (part of the Sichuan High-Tech space. As a result, the relevant
Co Ltd) is to invest US$73million in a new pilot and cabin crew training centre safety boards are investigating the
at Singapore’s Changi airport. The centre, officially flagged off in July at a new likelihood of a repositioning advisory,
7,000-square-metre campus in Changi Business Park, will initially offer two although this kind of fire in an ELB is
Boeing and Airbus simulators, with plans to expand up to an additional five after it extremely rare. Heathrow closed both
becomes operational in 2015. Zheng Gang, Haite’s GM at the company’s Kunming runways as a precaution following the
campus said Singapore was chosen as it was a central location for the Asian market. fire, which caused major disruption to
“The second reason is the investment environment [in Singapore],” he added. “The traffic for several hours. The fire was
government is very efficient and very helpful. And the society and community is another blow for Boeing in its push to
safe, and the people are highly educated.” Once work has been completed, the regain the high-tech aircraft crown
centre will offer its services to a large number of local airline operators from from Airbus, and prompted a 7% drop
across the region. in its share price.

6 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS JULY / AUGUST 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM