Welcome back again to our bi-weekly FAN column! As the festive season rolls into full swing, things have become rather busy at Project Aeroflight. We’ve been hard at work consolidating our efforts this year, planning for the future, thinking of new catchy article introductions, and negotiating the details of an exciting partnership that will take your experience with us to the next level…all of which means that it’s a little boring to settle back into “normal” work and continue churning out regular content. And we confess that yet another slip-up has happened, with our WIX site temporarily malfunctioning and failing to post the article that was originally slated for last Sunday. We extend our sincere apologies, but we’re just prone to mistakes when there’s more to do. And that applies to airlines as well.
By: Gareth
Published On: 18 December 2023, 9.00pm (GMT +8)
Russian man boards SAS flight with no paperwork
The man landed in LAX without a passport and a valid ticket. Photo: Skytrax (skytrax.com)
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Copenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH) have similarly experienced a hiccup this week, when a Russian man boarded a flight to Los Angeles without a passport or a valid air ticket.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava boarded an SAS Airbus A330-300 from CPH to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The Russian and Israeli national had previously worked as an economist in Russia, and was provided with a Russian interpreter during his interrogation by the FBI.
Upon arrival at LAX customs, Ochigava claimed that he had not slept for three days before the flight and was confused about what was going on. He told federal investigators that he had no memory of getting on the plane in Copenhagen and was none the wiser himself on how he had managed to get past security without a passport.
SAS flight attendants noted his unusual behaviour on the aircraft, but had no reason to believe that he was an illegal stowaway. One flight attendant reported that he “kept changing seats” and at one point tried to eat chocolate belonging to the cabin crew. The flight attendants failed to notice that Ochigava was sitting in a seat listed as unoccupied on the flight paperwork, or realise that the total number of passengers was one more than what was listed on the flight manifesto, although all flight attendants conducted headcounts of passengers in their assigned sections before takeoff.
Similarly, CPH has been accused of negligence by failing to notice Ochigava’s lack of valid paperwork during immigration and security checks at the airport and the boarding gate. A spokesperson for airport security told local media that:
"We can see from our surveillance that he has entered without a valid ticket. Copenhagen Airport has provided photo and video material to the authorities who are investigating the case. We take the matter very seriously, and it will be included in the work we continuously do to adjust and tighten our guidelines to improve security."
What remains to be seen is how passengers will respond to this lapse in security protocols. SAS currently flies daily between Copenhagen and Los Angeles with its Airbus A330s, and is the flag carrier of Sweden and Norway in addition to Denmark.
Boeing on a roll with more 737 MAX deliveries; new COO
Boeing delivered a record amount of 737 MAX 8s in November 2023. Photo: Boeing (boeing.com)
Boeing delivered 150% more 737 MAX aircraft to various airline customers in November, in addition to racking up more orders.
45 737 MAXs were delivered to airlines such as Ryanair, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines last month, an astronomical increase from the 18 delivered in October and 15 in September. November was also a successful month in terms of aircraft orders, with Emirates Airlines placing a deal for 90 B777X aircraft and aircraft leasing company Avolon agreeing on a new order for 40 MAXs. The company’s net orders now stand at 945, with a backlog of 5324 orders. These encouraging figures signal renewed interest and trust in the 737 MAX programme after a rocky start in 2018 and 2019 following 2 fatal crashes and a worldwide grounding.
Another update for Boeing is its appointment of long-serving insider Stephanie Pope to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) on Monday (11 December). According to Reuters, Pope holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Southwest Missouri State University and a Master of Business Administration from Lindenwood University.
Pope joined the company in 1994 and has experience in high-ranking roles for all three of the company’s major divisions. She was previously CFO of Boeing Global Services (BGS) from 2017 to 2020 and of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) until June last year, when she was appointed CEO of BGS. Under her leadership, BGS was the only one of Boeing’s divisions to report a net profit in the first nine months of 2023, with a 9% increase in revenue and a 16.3% decrease in operating margins.
Industry analysts are speculating that Pope is expected to succeed Dave Calhoun as CEO of the whole company when he steps down. Robert Stallard from Vertical Research Partners wrote that:
"Having generated all the company's profits in recent years as head of the Services division, she is now in pole position to succeed Calhoun as CEO."
Calhoun himself noted in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that Pope brings "tremendous operational, financial and customer experience to this (COO) role"
Boeing’s main competitor Airbus has yet to respond to this change in leadership, or comment on Boeing’s success in sales. Looking at the numbers, Airbus remains ahead, with 113 orders in November 2023 alone and 64 total deliveries to 40 customers. But Boeing is rapidly catching up, and it remains to be seen if the aerospace giants will once again tussle for orders.
Qantas’ regional renewal: A new dawn for Australian aviation
QantasLink's first A220 departed from Montreal to Australia. Photo: Airbus (airbus.com)
Australian flag carrier Qantas has begun replacing its Boeing 717 fleet with Airbus A220s, the first A220 taking off from Montreal on Saturday (15 December 2023) en route to its new home in Sydney. Airbus has announced that VH-X4A will be delivered to Australia via Vancouver, Honolulu, and Nadi.
Data from Flightradar24 shows that the aircraft, painted in the Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa livery featuring indigenous artwork, departed Montreal Mirabel Airport (YMX) at 1025 hours local time, touching down at Vancouver International (YVR) around 5 hours later.
The flight path of VH-X4A from YMX to YVR. Photo: Flightradar24 (flightradar24.com)
Other than being aesthetically pleasing, the A220 has several important operational advantages for QantasLink. Firstly, it has a more spacious and comfortable cabin, having the largest seats, windows, and overhead storage space in its class. Secondly, it helps Qantas work towards its commitment to sustainability with its ability to fly with a 50% blend of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), as well as a reduction in carbon emissions by up to 25% compared to previous generation aircraft. Lastly and most importantly, it has twice the range of the 717 and can connect any points on the Australian continent with a non-stop flight.
QantasLink is expected to commence A220 operations in early 2024 with a two-class layout of 10 business class seats and 127 economy class seats. This is the 12th new aircraft delivered to Qantas Group in the past year, after 8 Airbus A321LRs to subsidiary Jetstar and 3 Boeing 787-9s for Qantas International.
Regional aviation is a major market in Australia, which has vast sparsely-inhabited patches of desert covering most of the country. Most of the rural population resides in small desert towns known collectively as the Australian Outback, and rely on a few turboprop or small jet flights to travel to cities.
Hong Kong welcomes their first landing of the COMAC CRJ-21 and C919
The C919 landed in Hong Kong for the first time. Photo: COMAC (comac.cc)
On December 12 2023, Hong Kong International Airport welcomed some new visitors - The COMAC C919 (Registered B-001F) and ARJ-21 (Registered B-3322). The ARJ-21 aircraft touched down at 1.58pm (GMT +8), followed by the C919 at 2.00pm (GMT +8). After the landing, a water salute was given to the two aircrafts.
The water salute given to the C919. Photo: People's Daily Hong Kong on X (x.com/PDChinaHK)
This is the first time either aircraft has touched down in Hong Kong. This was organised by the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR, as well as the Hong Kong Airport Authority. On the 16th of December 2023, the C919 aircraft performed a fly-by above Hong Kong Island, as well as the Victoria Harbour.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Deputy Director Cui Xiaofeng stated that the C919 and ARJ-21 aircrafts are "the prominent representatives of technological innovation in the national civil aviation sector." This particular visit will give Hong Kong residents a more in-depth understanding of the development of China's civil aviation industry.
Only time will tell if Hong Kong will issue a Certificate of Airworthyness to the COMAC aircrafts.
This marks the end of this publication of Fortnight Aviation News! Check back again every fortnight for the latest release of FAN.
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