AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

*KOREAN AIR's 1st A380 was captured for the 1st time this week in Toulouse, France. Engine and taxi tests should be completed by the end of October and the 1st flight will follow about a week later. The carrier is expected to use its A380 fleet on service to San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago.

*DELTA AIRLINES is to launch thrice-weekly direct service from Atlanta to Luanda, Angola via Dakar, Senegal starting January 20. The carrier will deploy Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the new route, and plans to codeshare with TAAG ANGOLAN AIRLINES at a future date. In addition to the new service, SkyTeam alliance partners Delta and AIR FRANCE will continue to provide Air France-operated twice-weekly service between Luanda and Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, using Boeing 777 aircraft. Once the new flights to Angola begin, Delta will operate flights to 8 African destinations including Accra, Ghana; Abuja, Nigeria; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; and Monrovia, Liberia. It also intends to serve Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and Nairobi, Kenya once additional US government approvals are received.

*The French BEA has released its Final Report into an incident involving an ATLAS BLUE Boeing 737 at Metz, France, on May 22, 2006. On that date, Flight 2091 was on International Service from Metz to Marrakesh, Morocco, with 170 passengers and 6 crew members onboard. At the time of departure, the runway 22 at Metz was shortened to 2180 meters due to construction of the threshold runway 04. Flight 2091 took off from runway 22 at 2400 meters and reached 35 feet at 2600 meters. About 2 hours later, the Airline was notified that the 737 had run over the temporary runway end lights and damage to the airframe could not be ruled out. The crew was notified while on approach to Marrakesh, thus they went on to make a safe precautionary landing with Emergency Services on standby. Post flight inspection revealed no damage to the aircraft. In their Final Report, the BEA reports that the Probable Cause of the incident was a delay in supplement information being published regarding the construction and shortened runways. Thus, the information was not readily available to many crews operating out of Metz during May 2006. Contributing to the incident was a slow rotation and a partial application of the brakes during the takeoff run. The full report can be found on the BEA website.

*AER LINGUS Flight 152, on International A320 Service from Dublin, Ireland, to London Heathrow, with 168 passengers and crew onboard, had to divert while enroute, yesterday, September 29. The A320 was diverted to Birmingham, England, about 45 minutes after departing Dublin. According to Aer Lingus, the aircraft was diverted to Birmingham due to an unspecified technical problem. According to media reports, a passenger reported that the Captain told them they were diverting due to a fuel leak and that there may have been water in the fuel. The aircraft was removed from service for inspection and repairs.

*SATA Flight 152, on Domestic A320 Service from Horta/Azores to Lisbon, Portugal, with 119 passengers and crew onboard, had to make an emergency diversion, yesterday, September 29. While climbing out of Horta, the aircraft flew through a flock of birds, a number of which struck the windshield. The A320 was diverted to Ponta Delgada/Azores, where it landed without incident. The aircraft was removed from service for a damage assessment.

*AVIANCA BRAZIL Flight 6186, on Domestic Fokker 100 Service from Porto Velho to Cuiaba, Brazil, with 41 passengers and crew onboard, had to make an emergency landing at Cuiaba, on Tuesday, September 28. Emergency Services were deployed for the landing after the crew reported a hydraulics failure while on approach. The Fokker landed without incident and was removed from service for repairs.

*AIR CANADA JAZZ Flight 8968, on Domestic CRJ100 Service from Toronto, ON, to St Johns, NB, Canada, with 53 passengers and crew onboard, had to make an emergency return, on Monday, September 27. While on their initial climb out of Toronto, a loud bang was heard, which was followed by excessive vibrations and a sharp rise of the inter turbine temp of Engine No.1. The crew halted their climb at 9000 feet, shut down the engine, and requested return. The CRJ landed back at Toronto without incident, about 30 minutes after its initial departure. The aircraft remains out of service. According to the Canadian TSB, the rear turbine failed and the entire engine needs to be replaced. The investigation continues.