Aircraft Industry: Dozens of Boeing and Airbus deliveries put back by Turkish Airlines

Airbus A-320

Turkish Airlines said it plans to postpone dozens of Airbus and Boeing narrow-body jets as it contends with a turbulent travel market following terror attacks in Istanbul and Europe.

The carrier is delaying deliveries of 39 of the upgraded single-aisle planes originally scheduled for 2018 to 2020, the company said in a filing at the weekend to Borsa Istanbul. Turkish is raising its 2022 deliveries for the workhorse jets to 30 from the six it had previously planned.

The company did not elaborate on the models that will be deferred, but it has ordered 92 Airbus A321neo, 65 of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 and 10 of the US plane maker’s Max 9 models. Turkish, based in Istanbul, said it was reducing flight frequencies and shifting to smaller planes on "demand-challenged routes" after posting a second-quarter loss of US$215 million in August.

Read more: European Aircraft Industry: Dozens of Boeing and Airbus deliveries put back by Turkish Airlines | The National

Digital Journal: Dutch KLM Boeing 737-800's had 17 altimeter failures in 6 months - by Adriana Stuijt

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Dutch KLM Boeing 737-800's had 17 altimeter failures in 6 months - by Adriana Stuijt

Dutch KLM airlines' Boeing 737-800s recorded 17 radio-altimeter failures over the past 6 months, similar to the problem identified as the most likely cause of the crash of the Turkish Airlines' Boeing 737-800 two weeks ago, in which 9 people were killed.
This important information - indicating that there may be a structural problem with Boeing's 737-800 passenger lines' altimeters - the instruments which record the plane's height from the ground with radio-waves and are directly linked to its automatic pilot system -- was contained in confidential documents published by the Dutch news-radio BNR. The radio station has been unable to get any comment from Boeing about the issue.

AP: Bad altimeter in Boeing 737-800 a factor in Netherlands plane crash - by Toby Sterling

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Bad altimeter in Boeing 737-800 a factor in Netherlands plane crash - by Toby Sterling

A faulty flight instrument aboard a Turkish Boeing 737-800 lowered the plane's airspeed, setting off warning signals in the cockpit and prompting the pilots to try and accelerate before it crashed in the Netherlands, officials said Wednesday. The Turkish Airlines plane carrying 135 passengers and crew crashed less than a mile from the runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport shortly before it was due to land on Feb. 25. Nine people were killed.The Boeing 737-800 had twice before experienced problems with its altimeter, said Dutch Safety Authority chief investigator, Pieter van Vollenhoven, at a news conference at The Hague. He said the Safety Authority has warned Boeing of the problem and asked the company to alert customers that when altimeters are not functioning properly "the automatic pilot and the gas system coupled to them may not be used for approach and landing." Boeing said it was reminding all operators of its 737s to carefully monitor primary flight instruments during critical phases, adding that it was carefully monitoring the fleet.

EU-Digest: Dutch PM Balkenende and Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak visit victims Turkish Airline crash

Dutch PM Balkenende and Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak visit victims Turkish Airline crash victims

PM Balkenende and Dutch Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak - who has joint Dutch/Turkish nationality - visited the hospital were victims were being treated late Wednesday evening. Residents who rushed to the crash site to offer help before the ambulances arrived, said that among the survivors were Dutch, Turkish and US nationals. Queen Beatrix expressed her "great empathy" with the passengers and victims' families, according to the Royal Information Service, while Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was being kept up to date with details of the crash. Balkenende said his thoughts were with the families of the passengers. He added he spoke by phone with Turkish primes minister Tayyip Erdogan and gave him his condolences. Among the 80 injured, six were in a critical condition and may not survive, the head of the emergency team told reporters. The condition of a further 25 passengers was described as "serious", 24 passengers sustained light injuries, while the condition of 31 passengers still had to be established.

The plane was built in 2002 and its last technical inspection was in December 2008. According to the European Commission, Turkish Airlines underwent 100 ramp inspections in 2008, where "the results for safety and security have always been good." The last major air crash in the Netherlands was on October 4, 1992, when an El Al cargo Boeing 747F 4X-AXG hit several high rise buildings south Amsterdam's Bijlmer area, killing 43 people.