Gordon Werner

Canada not further limiting Airbus A330 flights

OTTAWA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Canada said on Tuesday it had no plans to further restrict flights of Airbus A330 jets after imposing limits on those flown by Air Transat, the charter carrier whose A330-200 airliner narrowly averted disaster to land without power in the Azores on Friday.

"We have no reason to believe that there is any problem at this stage with the A330," Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette told reporters.

After Friday's harrowing incident when the Air Transat A330 glided to a tire-bursting landing in the Azores, about 1,450 km (900 miles) west of Portugal, Canada placed restrictions on how the Montreal airline flies its two other A330s.

Air Transat, owned by Transat AT Inc. and Canada's largest charter airline, must fly its A330s on routes that keep it within one hour of an airport. The previous limit was two hours, which let the carrier fly more direct routes to Europe rather than skirting place such as Greenland.

"We felt that given the fact that there were three of these particular planes in the Air Transat fleet that we had to put the restriction on the other two, and we have no plans at this time to extend that restriction to other A330s that are flown by Canada 3000 or Air Canada," Collenette said.

Air Canada is the country's largest airline and world No. 10, while Canada 3000 is a much smaller domestic air service.

Air Transat Flight 236, carrying 291 passengers and 13 crew, ran into fuel and engine troubles on Friday morning while headed to Lisbon from Toronto.

The pilot, Captain Robert Piche, 49, and First Officer **** De Jager, 28, were prepared to ditch the stricken airliner in the Atlantic but managed to glide to land at Lajes.

Setting down hard without power in its two Rolls-Royce engines, the jet ground to a halt on the tarmac as sparks and flames shot from its damaged landing gear. Less than a dozen passengers were treated for minor injuries, most inflicted as they evacuated from the plane.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board is assisting French and Portuguese authorities in a probe into the mishap. Safety board officials said Portuguese officials have highlighted low pressure in a fuel line in the jet's right engine. Part of mystery is why both engines apparently shut down.

"This is the first time that we had a two-engine shutdown over the ocean," said Daniel Verreault, director of air investigations at Canada's safety board.

"We were extremely fortunate, extremely lucky in this case. We are obviously deeply interested in finding out what happened to make sure it does not happen again."

More information on the possible cause of the air emergency is expected to emerge in the coming days. Piche, the 49-year-old pilot hailed by passengers as a hero, was scheduled to speak at a news conference in Montreal later on Tuesday.

Collenette also praised the pilot and first officer, but reiterated that Canadian officials were deeply concerned about the apparent loss of fuel and engine power in the incident.

"You have to understand the enormity of what happened. This is a modern twin-engine jet with no discernible problems, that's been in operation only a few years, and it had two engine failures over the ocean," he said.

Collenette added that there was no reason to believe that Air Transat was unsafe or had hidden problems.

"This is a very good airline that has not had serious problems in the past, and I want to assure the traveling public that Air Transat, like all Canadian airlines, are held to the highest of safety standards," he said.

($1 equals $1.54 Canadian)

Gordon Werner

Press Release

SOURCE: Air Canada

Air Canada Undertakes Precautionary Inspections of Airbus 330-300 Rolls Royce Engines - Safety Reconfirmed Through Engine Records Review

MONTREAL, Aug. 28 /CNW/ - Air Canada will complete today precautionary inspections of the 16 Rolls Royce Trent 700 series engines on its eight two- engine Airbus 330-300 aircraft. Completed inspections have confirmed that the engines are in normal, safe operating condition and meet the manufacturers' most recent modification standards. In addition, Air Canada reviewed today its engine records and confirmed that all of its Rolls Royce A330-300 engines were delivered in the newest configuration.

As safety is Air Canada's first priority, the airline commenced the engine inspections on a proactive basis early this morning. The inspections will be completed by early this evening on all aircraft in the Airbus 330-300 fleet.

This afternoon Rolls Royce recommended that airlines worldwide operating Airbus 330 aircraft with Rolls Royce Trent 700 series engines conduct the same inspection Air Canada undertook proactively, which involves an inspection confirming the integrity of the hydraulic and fuel systems.

Air Canada operates one of the youngest Airbus fleets in the world. The airline took delivery of the first of its eight A 330-300 aircraft in 1999. Air Canada operates the A 330-300 on short, medium and long range flights with a total capacity of 292 passengers.