The Microturbo (Safran) e-APU60 is certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The entry into service of the first systems is scheduled during the second semester of 2013.

The e-APU60, which is specially designed to meet the demands of new-generation more-electric aircraft, completed its certification tests on May 31st. Altogether, seven engines took part in the certification tests and seven more engines in the helicopter-integrated tests, totaling over 1,000 hours and 5,000 cycles of testing.

During the tests, the e-APU60 has successfully validated its reliability and its endurance in extreme operating conditions, as well as its impressive performance in normal flight conditions.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started serving notices on private and foreign airlines for the recovery of unpaid Federal Excise Duty (FED), which totals some Rs 2.3 billion deducted from international travellers.
FED rates are fixed at Rs 3,840 for economy class and Rs 6840 for club class and are applicable on all international air tickets issued from Pakistan. However, a number of foreign airlines are reported to have issued tickets from Pakistan to their hubs and collecting applicable FED only for this travel. Tickets for the remaining part of the travel to other destinations in the world were being issued from their hubs. As a result, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) is analysing records of certain private and foreign airlines to ascertain the veracity of information.

LTU Karachi has started issuing notices under sections 14 and 45 of FED Act of 2005 for the recovery of pending dues.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has again failed to meet its deadline to finalize the repair station security rule. This means that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still faces a moratorium on certificating foreign aviation repair stations.

During a March 14 oversight hearing before the House Transportation Security Subcommittee, TSA Administrator John Pistole confirmed that the rule was under a mandatory 90-day examination period by the Office of Management & Budget after work was completed by TSA and the Department of Homeland Security. In response, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) launched a countdown clock to ensure TSA is held accountable to the most recent deadline. ARSA is now working with Congress to resolve the issue.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) granted Kenya Airways IATA Environmental Assessment Programme (IEnvA) Stage 1 certification. The IEnvAprogramme aims at creating an internationally recognized evaluation system designed to assess and improve environmental performance of airlines.
Kenya Airways’ Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Titus Naikuni, described the IEnvA accreditation as a key milestone for the airline, and underlined its commitment to upholding highest possible environmental standards.
“At Kenya Airways, we are committed to meeting our customers’ needs in an environmentally sound and sustainable way in line with relevant national and international laws and regulations as we make our contribution towards developing the different markets that we operate in. We are proud to have been certified in this respect,” Naikuni said.
The IEnvA certification will lead to development of standard environmental reporting format that is compatible with the GHG Protocol, Global Reporting Initiative and Carbon Disclosure Project. It will also help in regulatory assurance compliance, save on costs, and support the aviation industry’s climate change goals.
The IEnvA certification is compatible and complementary to IATA’s safety audit programmes, such as IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO). In addition to this, IEnvA is also designed to be compatible (but not limited) to standards such as ISO 14001, BS8555 and EMAS

Airline taxes under a new White House budget proposal could be increased by up to 29%, although the Obama administration is first pushing for an estimated hike of $14 per flight.
The $14 increase is aimed at raising money to reduce the national deficit and hiring thousands of immigration and customs enforcement officers at airline security checkpoints.

A British couple stranded in Majorca by a 26-hour flight delay of a Monarch aircraft have won a court victory after contesting the airline’s claim that no compensation was due since the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances. The court however found that the airline should have been prepared for technical faults and that EU law applies, which states that airlines must pay compensation for cancelled or heavily delayed flights.
Compensation under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 is set at around €250 (£210) for inter-EU flights of 930 miles or less, €400 (£330) for flights between 930 and 1,860 miles and €600 (£500) for other journeys.
Mr and Mrs Brittain were awarded their full compensation claim of £430, plus legal costs. Monarch has stated that it is considering an appeal against the ruling.

Russia is demanding that all European Union airlines hand over passengers’ personal data, such as credit card details, to Russian security services from July 1 or risk non-compliance that could see EU flights to Russia being grounded. However, if EU airlines do comply, they risk breaching EU data privacy rules.
A meeting between the EU and Russia is expected before the July deadline although top-level talks at an EU-Russia summit last week failed to reach a resolution.

The State Bank of India (SBI) is objecting to the proposal of Captain Gopinath to float a budget airline due to the fact that he still needs to repay loans of about Rs 500 crore to various banks outstanding from Deccan Cargo and Express Logistics which ran Deccan 360.

SBI has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) registering its objections to Gopinath’s proposal.

Gopinath applied for a licence to start another airline in 2012.

Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, has applauded House passage of an amendment offered by Representatives Pat Meehan (R-PA), Candice Miller (R-MI) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) prohibiting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using any taxpayer dollars to conduct Customs and Border Protection (CBP) preclearance operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH). The amendment was unanimously adopted during floor consideration of the FY14 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.

A4A has consistently advocated that DHS use its resources to focus on addressing lengthy wait times at several U.S. gateway airports. Today, customers are experiencing excessive wait times at the busiest domestic ports-of-entry that can exceed four hours, discouraging foreign commercial and tourism travel to the United States. Abu Dhabi ranks 80th among aviation gateways to the U.S., averaging only 573 passenger arrivals per day in 2012.

“This unanimous vote sends a clear message to the administration that using U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit a government-owned foreign competitor is completely unacceptable — particularly when customers traveling into and out of the U.S. continue to endure excessive wait times at our own gateway airports,” said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. “We thank Representatives Meehan, Miller and DeFazio for their efforts to ground the misguided Abu Dhabi agreement, as the ability of U.S. airlines to compete on a level playing field with foreign airlines is critical to ensuring their global competitiveness and economic viability.”

Far Eastern Air Transport could be temporarily barred from access to new cross-strait routes by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) following a series of incidents last month that exposed safety issues with the airline.
Following a CAA inspection of the airline from May 2 to May 8, the body decided to “temporarily freeze the expansion of the airline’s business and restrict the number of charter flights and cross-strait flights it can offer.”
The freeze will take effect from Saturday, with the airline limited to offering no more than five cross-strait charter flights per month and prevent the company from accessing new cross-strait routes.
Lin said that the CAA is scheduled to inspect the airline again on June 14, adding that further measures could be implemented if the airline does not address its safety issues.