We Love to Fly and It Shows

In addition to record inflation, sky-high gas and energy prices, supply-chain interruptions, grocery and baby-formula shortages, and a Colorado Rockies Stanley Cup, 2022 will be remembered as the year airline pilots miraculously managed to put in record hours both in the cockpit and on the picket lines. Following similar demonstrations by Alaska, American, Southwest, and FedEx pilots, Delta Airlines pilots—represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA)—will conduct informational picketing at Delta hubs nationwide on Thursday, 30 June to protest protracted contract negotiations.

So This Fiat Hits a Renault …

In an instance that speaks to the set-up of a decent joke, an Italian Airbus was involved in a hit-and-run collision with a French Boeing—in New York. On 17 June 2022, an ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 operating as flight AZ611 from New York to Rome Fiumicino struck an Air France Boeing 777-200 newly arrived from Paris CDG. Acutely aware of the collision, the Air France flight-crew urged ATC to keep the ITA aircraft on the ground.

Frontier Calls JetBlue Bid a “Dead End”

The complexities and intrigues of a deal that would create America’s fifth-largest airline have taken an ignoble turn. Pursuant its likely merger with Spirit Airlines, Frontier Group Holdings, Inc., parent company of Frontier Airlines, issued a statement accusing JetBlue of prevarication, bluster, and predatory fraud. JetBlue, which has repeatedly tendered merger offers of its own to Frontier Group, vehemently opposes the Spirit/Frontier alliance as the resultant hybrid entity would—in words taken directly from JetBlue’s 2021 10-K statement—“the Frontier/Spirit deal is a threat to JetBlue’s “competitiveness”—and an example of a merger that “could cause fares of our competitors to be reduced.”

Cargo Conversion Offers Green All Around

Embraer has received a firm order from an undisclosed customer for up to ten of its E-Jet, Passenger to Freight (P2F) conversions. The aircraft to be converted will come from the customer’s current E-Jets fleet, with deliveries to commence in 2024. Embraer’s E-Jet family is a series of narrow-body (four-abreast) short-to-medium-range, twin-engine, jet airliners. Introduced at 1999’s Paris Airshow, the family of 66 to 124 passenger aircraft has been a commercial success.

Amendments Sweeten Deal

Spirit Airlines has announced the signing of a second amendment to its previously announced merger agreement with Frontier Group Holdings, Inc., parent company of Frontier Airlines. The deal would see America’s two largest discount carriers come together to create the nation’s fifth-largest airline. Spirit’s Board of Directors, after careful review and consideration, concluded that the merger with Frontier is of greater financial and strategic benefit to Spirit stockholders than a rival offer tendered by Jet Blue Airlines.

AD 2022-13-19 ... Also Requires Installing An Updated PRIM Software Standard

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2022-11-03, which applied to certain Airbus SAS Model A350-941 and -1041 airplanes. AD 2022-11-03 required revising the existing airplane flight manual (AFM), and revising the operator's existing FAA-approved minimum equipment list (MEL) by incorporating certain master minimum equipment list (MMEL) provisions, to include limitations and procedures to mitigate the risk of elevator failure during flare. Since the FAA issued AD 2022-11-03, an updated software standard for the PRIMary flight control computers (PRIMs) has been developed to address the unsafe condition. This AD continues to require the actions in AD 2022-11-03, and also requires installing an updated PRIM software standard, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. This AD is effective July 12, 2022.