Transportation Industry

Aircraft News - Africa / Middle East

AirGuide Business, Sept 8, 2008

Sep 8, 2008

Bell Helicopters

Investigation launched into fatal Dubai helicopter crash. An investigation has been launched by the Dubai police and civil aviation authority in to the cause of a fatal crash on 3 September of a helicopter on an oil rig off the coast of Dubai. Petrofac, which operates the Dubai government's offshore oil fields, says an Aerogulf-owned Bell 212 carrying two crew members and five passengers, was engaged in a routine flight within the Rashid field. During take-off at around 20.20 local time the helicopter crashed on to the deck of the Maersk-owned drilling rig, around 70km (38nm) from the Dubai coast. The aircraft then broke up and plummeted into the sea. There were no survivors. "All operations on the Rashid field have been suspended and the platform and drilling rig have been secured," Petrofac says, adding that the victims were all foreign contractors reported Flight. Sep 4, 2008

Emirates Airlines

Emirates has yet to clarify the nature of an electrical matter which is keeping its first Airbus A380 from returning to service while it undergoes engineering work. The Dubai-based airline is not expecting to return the aircraft to flight operations until at least September 12. Engineers are working on an "electrical issue", says a spokesperson for the carrier, which was "noticed at the end of a training mission when the aircraft was parked in front of the hangars".

The aircraft remains parked in Dubai. The A380, delivered to Emirates at the end of July, has been used for training purposes in between twice-weekly flights on the Dubai-New York JFK route. Emirates admitted last week that it had suspended A380 services, initially stating simply that planned engineering work had overrun.

The airline says its next scheduled commercial flight with the 489-seat aircraft is 12 September. In the interim period it is using Boeing 777-300ER twin-jets twice-daily on the JFK route. The carrier states that it is working to minimise any inconvenience to passengers. Emirates is acquiring 58 A380s in total but delivery of its second, due this month, has been delayed - although there is no indication that this is linked to the engineering work on the first aircraft. Sep 7, 2008

Emirates Airlines

Emirates' second Airbus A380 will be delayed by a "few weeks," the airline said. Emirates Airlines started commercial service with its first A380 on Aug. 1 with a flight from Dubai to New York JFK and now is operating the aircraft on the route thrice-weekly. It planned to take its second A380 this month and upgrade the Dubai-JFK service to daily but that timeline will be pushed back. "We are negotiating with Airbus the delivery date of a second A380," Emirates said. Airbus said that it still is on track to deliver 12 A380s this year; five currently are in service including four with launch customer Singapore Airlines. The manufacturer announced a fourth delay to the program in May, reducing 2008 deliveries from 13 to 12, 2009 deliveries from 25 to 21 and 2010 deliveries from 42 to as few as 30. Sep 3, 2008

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