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For the aviation industry, 2024 has been an eventful year.
The first week of the new year has already seen two major aviation incidents, focusing attention on the safety and resilience of aircraft in operation.
The first incident occurred on January 2, when a Japan Airlines (an Airbus A350) collided with a smaller coast guard guard on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
Tragically, five of the six crew aboard the smaller aircraft were killed. However, none of the 379 passengers aboard the aircraft lost their lives despite the plane bursting into flames upon impact.
The team was rightly praised for its decisive efforts to evacuate the plane. Planemaker Airbus also emerged unscathed from the crash, as its new generation of planes, made of fabrics and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, largely withstood the flames.
But while Airbus suffered little damage to its reputation, the same can be said for an incident involving its North American rival Boeing.
On an Alaska Airlines flight, operating a Boeing 737-9 MAX, a component of the plane exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the cockpit. Footage on social media showed terrified passengers breathing through an oxygen mask as the wind from the newly created opening howled. the plane.
The issue, it seems, was caused by the installation of a replacement door, known as a door plug. While most planes include an emergency exit door, the configuration of the aircraft used by Alaska Airlines meant that such an emergency exit was not installed, with a door panel inserted.
The strain due to the altitude caused the fuselage plug to rupture. Fortunately, the injuries were minor and there was no loss of life.
In response, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all Boeing 737-9 MAXs using such a configuration to be grounded pending an inspection.
Boeing said in a statement that it “agrees with and fully supports the FAA’s resolution to require rapid inspections of 737-9 aircraft in the same configuration as the affected aircraft. “
The EU’s FAA counterpart EASA has also grounded Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft in this configuration until an inspection is completed.
However, EASA is more symbolic than significant, since lately no aircraft of this configuration is operational in the EU.
In Europe, on the other hand, planes tend to have more seats (especially budget airlines), and the greater number of passengers requires more emergency exits.
The Boeing 737-9 MAX is also less common on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Although major airlines, such as Lufthansa and Ryanair, have placed significant orders for new Boeing 737 MAXs (100 for Lufthansa, three hundred for Ryanair), they do not relate to the style being analyzed, a fact they were quick to point out.
Ryanair does not have “any MAX nine aircraft in service or on order”, the Irish airline told EURACTIV, adding that it currently operates 737-8 models.
A Lufthansa spokesperson told EURACTIV: “The Lufthansa Group is affected by the current Boeing 737-9 incident, as we operate this type of aircraft on our Lufthansa Group airlines. “
Lufthansa will get the 737-8 variant in 2027, while Ryanair has ordered the 737-10 model.
The latest incident marks a setback for the U. S. automaker, which is still overcoming the reputational damage of its 737 MAX logo following primary crashes in Indonesia (2018) and Ethiopia (2019) that killed 346 people combined.
In an email read through EURACTIV, David Calhoun, Boeing’s chairman and chief executive, said a company-wide webcast on safety would be held at a later date (Jan. 9).
“When it comes to protecting our products and services, each and every resolution and action counts. And when serious injuries like this occur, it’s critical that we work transparently with our consumers and regulators to understand and address the reasons for the occasion and ensure they don’t happen again,” Calhoun wrote.
The fact that those aviation incidents have occurred abroad will bring some relief to the European aviation industry, which is on the verge of returning to pre-COVID-19 passenger levels (and surpassing them soon). But to maintain its position as the safest region in the world, EU regulators and industry will want to maintain their safety measures as flight volumes increase.
– Sean Goulding Carroll
Germany will supply €902 million to Swedish battery maker Northvolt for new production in the northern German city of Heide to breathe life into European production of electric vehicle batteries.
As part of the deal approved by the European Commission on Monday, January 8, the Swedish company will receive €700 million in the form of a direct grant and a state guarantee of €202 million.
The resolution “prepares a strong European production of batteries,” EU festival leader Margrethe Vestager said, stressing the importance of electric cars to the EU’s weather agenda.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck was satisfied. Northvolt’s multibillion-dollar investment in wind-rich northern Germany would show “that climate action and commercial production go very, very well together,” he said in Brussels.
So far, battery production is done through China and, expected to grow especially in the coming years, the International Energy Agency predicts that Europe will only get a small percentage of the new production.
The company called the move “groundbreaking only for Northvolt’s plans to set up shop in Heide, but also for the European battery-powered mobile industry as a whole. “However, a spokesperson for the company added that some building permits issued through the municipality were still being issued.
-Jonathan Packroff
A roundup of the most captivating transport news.
Germany’s surprise intervention to save the combustion engine captivated EURACTIV readers in 2023, as the car giant’s last-minute replacement of the hub saw the same old EU policymaking regulations altered.
Germany will supply €900 million to Swedish battery maker Northvolt and will be the first country to use the European Commission’s new subsidy “matching” program, which will allow EU countries to counter foreign subsidies with their own offers.
On Saturday (Jan. 6), U. S. regulators temporarily suspended the flight of 171 Boeing 737 MAX nine jets for safety checks following a cockpit panel explosion that forced a new Alaska Airlines plane carrying passengers to make an emergency landing.
Japanese investigators are preparing to probe the collision of two aeroplanes at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, weeks after the global airline industry heard fresh warnings about runway safety.
Europe’s ambitious targets of upgrading increasing amounts of fossil kerosene with green aviation fuels will be very difficult to achieve, although, with a broad and scalable mix of fuel sources, as well as sustained political and commercial support, this is within the realm of possibility, according to Dr Schulz. Stephen Dooley, Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]