Engine manufacturer Rolls Royce is working with All Nippon Airways to resolve an engine problem that has prompted the airline to cancel domestic flights so it can replace compressor blades on some of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

ANA, which recently took delivery of 50th 787 and is the world’s biggest operator of the technologically advanced aircraft, cancelled nine flights on Friday as a result of the problem.

The problem with the Trent 1000 engine relates to corrosion found on the blades and could result in at least 350 flight cancellations through to the end of September, according to the Nikkei Asian Report.

There were differing accounts of the cause of the corrosion with Nikkei citing ANA on insufficient anti-corrosion coating and a possible design flaw. Britain’s The Telegraph suggested  the corrosion was related  to the way the airline used the planes and the high number of landing and take-off cycles.

ANA told the Japanese business publication that Rolls had notified other airlines using the same engine type and that the manufacturer would develop and produce an improved part by the end of the year.

It said engine abnormalities found on ANA international flights in February and March had been traced to medium pressure turbine blades and the carrier had been conducting repairs.

It decided to fast- track repairs on 13 planes used for domestic services when a similar problem occurred Saturday on a flight from Tokyo to Miyazaki Prefecture.

The Trent 1000 is one of two engine types used on the 787 and both have had teething problems.

The rival General Electric-built GEnx  was the subject of a US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive earlier this year after icing caused problems  on two Japan Airlines planes.

In one case,   ice-shedding on a JAL 787-8 travelling between Vancouver, Canada, and Tokyo, Japan, resulted in a  fan imbalance that caused substantial damage to the engine and meant the pilots were unable to restart it.

The FAA ordered updates to the flight manuals, an associated mandatory flight crew briefing and the re-working or replacement of at least one engine on Dreamliners with certain power plants.

Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia will be able to continue their alliance for another five years under a draft determination by Australia’s consumer watchdog.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that the airlines’ agreement to co-ordinate their operations and codeshare on each other’s passenger networks had resulted in material public benefits and was likely to continue to do so.

These included enhanced product and services, including new routes and additional frequencies, as well as better online connections, improved lounge access and greater loyalty program benefits.

The alliance also promoted competition in international markets, stimulated tourism and delivered small public benefits in terms of operational efficiencies that may be passed on to consumers as lower fares.

“The ACCC considers that the Alliance has resulted, and is likely to result, in little public detriment,’’ the ACCC said.

The airlines sought reauthorisation for 10 years but the competition body stuck to its position that the ongoing evolution of markets between Australia, and Europe and Australia and Asia meant a five-year term was more appropriate.

It is now seeking submissions ahead of a final determination.

It’s gigantic. It’s part airship, part helicopter, part plane.  It has an intriguing form. And it flew for the first time – with success.

Dubbed the The Flying Bum for its odd shape, the Airlander 10 took off from an airfield north of London, England last week and landed safely after a 15 minutes’ flight. The gigantic Airlander “flew like a dream,” Chief Test Pilot Dave Burns said following the flight. It climbed to a height of 500 ft and reached a maximum speed of 35 knots.

It was a first test flight, and many more are to follow before the behemoth gets the regulatory okay from the authorities for commercial use, but the company behind the initiative foresees a bright future for the Airlander.

However the aircraft’s second flight test however did not fare very well. The Airlander 10 suffered cockpit damage after a hard landing on Aug. 24, although Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) rebuffed media reports it had hit a telegraph pole.

“Airlander sustained damage on landing during today’s flight. No damage was sustained mid-air or as a result of a telegraph pole as reported,” HAV said on its Facebook page.

The company did not say why the incident happened, and said: “We’re debriefing following the second test flight this morning. “All crew are safe and well and there are no injuries.”.

The Airlander 10, made by British company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), is 302 ft (92 m) long, 85 ft (26 m) high and 143 ft (43.5 m) wide.  To compare: The A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner made by Airbus, has a length of 72.7 meters, a wingspan of 79.8 meters and a height of 24.1 meters. The Airbus Beluga, which is used to carry aircraft parts and oversized, voluminous cargo, is only 56 meters long and has a wingspan of 45 meters. Airbus is developing a new version of its Super Transporter, the Beluga XL to replace the type around 2019-2020.

The Airlander 10 also might be world’s t longest aircraft for the moment, however the record holder are the German Hindenburg-class airships. These mid-20th century airships were 804 ft (245 m) long, and thus longer than the current Airlander 10.

The “10” after the name refers to the payload of 10 metric tonnes (22,050 lbs) that the air vehicle is able to carry. HAV is already working on a future version of the Airlander, the Airlander 50, that can move up to 50 metric tonnes of cargo. The big brother for the Airlander 10 will be commercially deliverable in the early 2020s, HAV says.

The Airlander is a hybrid aircraft, combining the best characteristics of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters with lighter-than-air technology to bring brand new capabilities to aircraft. An Airlander produces 60% of its lift aerostatically (by being lighter-than-air) and 40% aerodynamically (by being wing-shaped) as well as having the ability to rotate its engines to provide an additional 25% of thrust up or down. It has a maximum speed of 91 miles (80 knots, 148 km) per hour.

It can hover and land on almost any surface, including ice, desert and even water! It does not need long runways like conventional aircraft.  Its landing system consists of two profiled pneumatic tubes / skids on the underside of the two outer hulls.

It has four 325 hp, 4 litre V8 direct injection, turbocharged diesel engines. Two engines mounted forward on the hull and two on the stern of the hull for cruise operation. All four are configured with ducts with blown vanes to allow vectored thrust for take-off/landing/ground handling operation

It can stay airborne for up to five days at a time if manned, and for over 2 weeks unmanned, according to HAV and its team of developers.

The Airlander has no internal structure but it maintains its shape due to the pressure stabilization of the helium inside the hull and the carbon composite material it is made of. The skin of the hull is a combination of multilayered Vectran® weave, Tedlar® and Mylar™. This provides strength and endurance that past hybrid aircraft prototypes lacked, according Composite Manufacturing magazine. This composite construction allows it to withstand multiple lightning strikes.

The super-strong hull Vectran material – it is five times stronger than steel and 10 times stronger than aluminum— is designed by Warwick Mills (the U.S. company that developed the airbag fabric for the Mars rover landings), and the mammoth hull’s envelope structure was assembled by ILC Dover, the U.S. company who makes the NASA spacesuits.

As a matter of fact, the Airlander –it was not yet called the Airlander at that time, it was called the HAV 304— was designed and built for the U.S. Army as part of its Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) program, in cooperation with Northrop Grumman. The HAV 304 first flew in the U.S.A. in August 2012, but the project was grounded soon after mainly due to defense spending cuts.

The U.S. Army had projected to introduce the LEMV for the combat deployment in Afghanistan in early 2013, but it dropped the idea on operational, technical and safety concerns of sending the airship abroad.

The ready-to-fly aircraft was left redundant at Joint Services Base in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The U.S. military reportedly had spent up to $517 million on the developing the LEMV. Whilst the LEMV was initially designed to loiter over warzones gathering intelligence for weeks on end, it offers other applications as well. Air Force General William Fraser III, Commander of U.S. Transportation Command, told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that hybrid air vehicles have the potential to carry a lot more cargo than a ship and do so faster than the command’s conventional cargo aircraft, such as the C-17. The extreme operational flexibility of the hybrid air vehicles make “factory to foxhole” cargo delivery possible, Fraser said.

Hybrid Air Vehicle bought the airship back, reportedly for $300 million. It revived the project thanks to a €2.5 million grant from the European Union, £5.9 million worth of funding from the of the U.K. government while it also managed to raise over £3.4 million through two crowd funding campaigns.

According to HAV, customer interest for the Airlander is “strong” due to these game-changing capabilities.  The hybrid aircraft is ideal for remote access and carry cargo for sectors such as mining, oil & gas, communications and humanitarian relief. It can also undertake search and rescue operations, or do military and commercial survey work.

In addition, HAV is targeting passenger transport although the passenger market is likely to remain small, Chris Daniels, head of partnerships at Hybrid Air Vehicles, told CNBC. “The passenger market again is a very clear market but it’s relatively niche – luxury tourism, experience flights, that kind of experience rather than getting from A to B,” he said.

Political and economic uncertainty is set to keep a lid on corporate traffic until the middle of next year but the long-term prospects for Cathay Pacific remain bright, according to the Hong Kong carrier’s chief executive. 

Corporates have been travelling less in key markets such as the UK and the US and Cathay boss Ivan Chu believes the industry doldrums are set to continue in the short term.

“At the moment we are seeing some structural and cyclical trends which are impacting on the economy – both economics and politics – and it will be impacting on the airline industry no doubt,’’ he told  AIrlineRatings in Cathay Pacific’s sprawling Hong Kong headquarters. “So cyclically and structurally, I think the next 12 months will be quite tough, it will be quite difficult.’’

The Hong Kong-based carrier this week  reported an 82 per cent drop in half-year profits as it faced tough competition from expanding mainland Chinese and Gulf carriers, grappled with the slowdown in China and faced uncertainty in other markets. 

The airline's net profit in the first half of the year dropped to $HK353 million ($US45.5m) as revenue fell 9.2 percent to $HK45.68 billion.

Other factors affecting the results included fuel hedging losses and weak currencies in some markets.

Chu noted that a number of airline groups —IAG, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM and some major American carriers flying the trans-Atlantic —  were reducing capacity but he still sees the current direction of the industry as healthy .

“Cathay is also reducing our growth from the original four to about 3.2 percent, which is low,’’ he said.  “Normally in the last five years we grew about five per cent, we grow at market, but this year we are also scaling down our growth which is a good thing, I believe, so everybody can consolidate a little. 

“We will work through our cost base, we’re basically going to be looking at our budget and we’ll be looking at our expansion plan.’’

The Cathay boss sees a number of international factors contributing to the weakness, including a reduction in corporate travel linked to political uncertainty accompanying the Brexit vote and the US presidential election.

Elections for the Hong Kong legislature in early September and a March poll to elect the region’s chief executive in March had affected local corporate and government travel, he said. Added to this is the impact on travel of recent acts of terrorism. “When there’s uncertainty, generally corporates travel less.’’

While Chu does not expect a recovery this year, he does see blue sky emerging by the middle of next year. “By the middle of the year, when everything is clearer – clearer for Hong Kong with a new chief executive, clearer in China in terms of new leadership, clearer in America in terms of new president and everything else —I believe things will get on to a normal track,’’ he said.

Founded in Hong Kong in 1946, the Cathay Pacific Group has grown to offer cargo and passenger services to 179 destinations in 43 countries and territories and last year recorded a turnover of HK102.3 billion.

By the end of last year, the group operated 201 aircraft, 146 of them flown by Cathay Pacific and 42 by subsidiary Dragonair to 53 destinations in mainland China and elsewhere.

It also has a 20.13 per cent stake in Chinese flag carrier Air China and is the majority shareholder in cargo operator Air Hong Kong.

Almost 26,000 of its 33,600 employees are based in Hong Kong, which is a major hub in the world’s fastest growing air travel region and transit point for major markets such as India, China, Europe and the US.

So there’s little surprise that Chu remains a “China bull’’ who sees Cathay  as ideally placed to take advantage of the big growth opportunities in the region. He has no doubt Asia is the best place to have an airline “whether it’s passenger or cargo services’’ and is confident Cathay can take on all competitors. 

He notes the Asia-Pacific was where the biggest number of new aircraft were heading and believes the signs continued to look good with a young and growing population, increasing GDP per capita and a rising number of people able to travel by air.

“Last year, Hong Kong did very well with 68 million people coming through our terminal, which is only third to Dubai and Heathrow and we grew actually faster than Heathrow,’’ he said.

“If we look at the medium term, no doubt there is so much potential passenger and cargo (traffic) and I think …  we are quite in the right place at the right time with the right fleet and the right land assets, ready to pick up and meet the market growth as and when it happens.’’

Growth plans at Cathay include new routes to Europe and what Chu calls a “quiet expansion” in Australia where Boeing 777s are replacing smaller Airbus A330s on some routes.

The airline has been boosting its destinations in Europe, adding Dusseldorf last year, Madrid in June  and starting Gatwick on September 2.  Gatwick will be operated by the A350 and Dusseldorf will join it from September 16. The addition of Gatwick will see Cathay flying 96 services a week to Europe to 10 destinations and Chu wants to add more.

“Despite what has been happening in Europe, we will be sticking to our growth plan,’’ he said. “We believe in terms of whether they are Chinese going to Europe or whether they are Australians going to Europe, the one-stop via HK is still a very good option.’’

One important component of growth for the former British colony will be the construction of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport on Chek Lap Kok and due to open in 2024.

Chu said this was equivalent to building a second airport when assets like the associated terminal, taxiways, underground people mover and baggage systems were included.

“When this is open, we call it the third runway system, will mean we have another airport next to the other one in terms of the handling capacity,’’ he said.

In the meantime, he is optimistic that that more advanced air traffic control technology, particularly a new system being launched at the end of this year, will provide some medium-term headroom needed to lift slot availability from the current 68 per hour.

“I believe there is room for doing a bit more with the new system and better coordination with air traffic control management in the Pearl River Delta,’’ he said “So it’s something I believe the government is working on.’’

Cathay is facing new challenges from mainland carriers expanding their international networks and from Gulf juggernauts moving into Asia. However, Chu is confident his top-tier carrier is up to the challenge and says its young fleet will be a major positive. The carrier is introducing new planes while at the same time upgrading its product with improved, state-of-the-art cabins and striking new lounges.

At the same time, it is retiring older planes such as the Boeing 747 and the A340. The last Cathay 747 flight to Tokyo in October is already booked out and by early next year the A340 will cease operating to Auckland and be replaced by an A350-900.

“This is quite historical for us in terms of retiring two fleets in a matter of six months,’’ Chu said. “Our fleet composition will be the most moderns 330s, The 777s — the 300ERs on the long haul — as well as beginning the introduction of the A350, which will come through very, very fast. “So we are very confident we have the most modern fleet with most modern cabin and world-beating service.’’

The September launch of the Airbus A350 flights to Europe comes after the airline has been bedding them down and training crew on shorter international routes such as Hong Kong-Bangkok.

It will have 12 A350s by the end of the year as it heads to a fleet of 48 by 2020, including 26 bigger A350-1000s. “The 1000 is really a stretch version in terms of seat capacity and in payload range so they will fly further, they will fly the east coast of the US,’’ Chu says.

The airline’s 53 Boeing 777-300ERs that form the backbone of its long-haul fleet, with about half of them leased Chu said the future was about flexibility and agility and noted  Cathay had  the ability to return aircraft to lessors if the market slows or use them for growth if the picture is good. 

Even more exciting, he said, were the 21 B777-9X aircraft which will begin arriving in 2021. The advanced version of the 777 will have a new wings, technology, improved aerodynamics and new engines. “All of these are firm orders so you have, in list price terms, about $HK180 billion (on order), so about $35 billion Australian dollars in all,’’ he said.

Another positive, according to the Cathay boss, is the airline’s expanding collection of lounges. Its latest, The Pier in Hong Kong, is being used as a template for other lounges across the network and flagship lounge in London is opening soon.

A huge amount of planning has gone into the new lounge concept with the aim of eclipsing existing facilities and setting a new standard based around Cathay’s Life Well Travelled concept. Chu says the emphasis is on fresh and healthy offerings as well as on providing frequent travellers with an oasis in which they can relax. Having both new aircraft and ground facilities that meet the needs of frequent passengers was important to Cathay’s competitive position, he said.

“About half of our passengers are transiting through Hong Kong so we know as we serve those passengers we are competing against many carriers, including the Gulf carriers which are a major force.’’ 

Steve Creedy travelled to Hong Kong courtesy of Cathay Pacific.