Aviation News in Brief 11 April 2020

Boeing delivers reusable 3D-printed face shields for COVID-19 response: Boeing is delivering reusable 3D-printed face shields to support healthcare professionals working to stop the spread of COVID-19. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accepted the initial shipment of 2,300 face shields and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will deliver the shields to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Centre in Dallas, Texas, which has been established as an alternate care site to treat patients with COVID-19. Boeing is set to produce thousands more face shields per week, gradually increasing production output to meet the growing need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the United States. Distribution of additional face shields will be coordinated with HHS and FEMA based on immediate needs. Boeing has also offered use of its airlift capabilities, including the Boeing Dreamlifter, to help transport critical and urgently needed supplies to healthcare professionals. The company is coordinating closely with government officials on how best to provide airlift support. China Airlines postpones launch of Cebu and Chiang Mai services: In response to ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic and changes in travel demand, the launch date for China Airlines’ Taipei (Taoyuan) – Cebu service has been postponed from 12 June to 1 October with the six times weekly services remaining unchanged. The Taipei (Taoyuan) – Chiang Mai service was originally scheduled to launch on 23 June but this has now been postponed to 2 October with four scheduled services a week. GE Aviation offers Fuel Dashboard at no cost to EMS customers: GE Aviation is offering a new digital fuel dashboard at no cost to commercial airline customers using GE’s event measurement system (EMS), enabled by Microsoft Azure. By making the digital solutions available for free, GE Aviation hopes to provide much needed operational efficiency and agility to their customers who are experiencing unprecedented hardship due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. GE has built a new type of fuel analysis that uses full flight data as its exclusive source. This new fuel dashboard package helps an airline quantify the impacts of their operational behaviour by tracking the adoption rate of fuel savings practices and the fuel savings/emission reductions associated with them. This new technology is an industry first and will be available at no cost for customers of GE’s airline safety solutions. Blue Dart Express reduces retail tariff prices by 25 percent: Blue Dart of India and part of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), is operating six dedicated Boeing 757 freighters each with a capacity of 34 tonnes. In order to provide customers with a solution for their shipping needs during these trying times and to further use our Air Express Logistics service to keep the essential supply chain continuity, Blue Dart Express has reduced its retail tariff prices by 25 percent. This will be applicable to all local retail customers. Jetstar Asia extends temporary suspension of scheduled services: As border restrictions across the region remain firmly in place and with the Singapore government introducing new stricter “circuit breaker” measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Jetstar Asia will extend the suspension of all scheduled services until 19 May 2020. All Jetstar Asia passengers with existing bookings for travel from 15 March to 19 May 2020 will be offered a refund to the full value of their untraveled booking in the form of a travel credit voucher. To download the latest issue of Asian Aviation, click here.