In observance of Labor Day, the NAS Daily will not be published on Monday 06 SEPT 10
NEWS
Boeing: North American aircraft demand valued at $700 billion through 2029 Boeing forecast Thursday that North American airlines will take delivery of about 7,200 new aircraft valued at $700 billion over the next 20 years. Around 75% of new deliveries will be narrowbodies, it said. Link
787 flight test fleet to expand ANA sources confirmed Thursday that Boeing has informed the airline it will increase the 787 flight test fleet by at least two production aircraft.The additional two aircraft would be used primarily for ground testing and specific flight tests, Boeing spokesperson Lori Guntertold HeraldNet.com Wednesday. Link
US lessor Willis signs MOU for six SSJ100s SuperJet International and US lessor Willis Lease Finance Corporation signed an MOU for the purchase of six Sukhoi SuperJet 100s plus four options. The deal has an estimated value of up to $300 million, Superjet International said. Link
EC adds Meridian Airways to safety blacklist, restricts Airlift International The European Commission Wednesday amended its list of airlines banned from the EU for safety reasons to include Ghana's Meridian Airways. It also placed restrictions on another Ghanaian carrier, Airlift International, banning it from operating three of its aircraft to EU airspace. Link
CSeries aims to be first with live 'black box' telemetry Bombardier intends the CSeries to be the first airliner to provide "live black box" in-flight telemetry data when it enters service in 2013. The discussion of live aircraft telemetry came to the fore following the crash of the Air France Airbus A330 over the Atlantic. The flight data recorder was never located in the June 2009 crash, prompting Airbus to announce the following month it would begin studying a system to transmit flight data via air-to-ground links in a commercially viable way. Link
Boeing continues to wrestle with Alenia 787 workmanship issues While concerns about availability of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines dog its 787 program, Boeing continues to wrestle with workmanship issues on the aircraft's Alenia-built horizontal stabilizer. Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Jim Albaugh says Boeing will have to "do some re-shimming and we'll have to do some analysis" on most of the existing crop of 27 stabilizers already delivered from Italy to final assembly in Everett, though "we're not too worried" about later units, thanks to Boeing personnel at Alenia's Foggia facility. Link
Qatar Airways’ CSeries talks back on as P&W addresses concerns A Farnborough air show outburst by Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al Baker about Pratt & Whitney's intransigence on engine maintenance costs for the Bombardier CSeries has sparked progress in talks that could lead to a substantial surge in the narrowbody airliner's orderbook. Link
Australian authorities probe Qantas engine failure in San Francisco Australian authorities have arrived in San Francisco to investigate an incident involving a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 that experienced an uncontained engine failure during flight. Link
Mexicana's suspension creates remarketing challenges Grupo Mexicana ceasing all operations could create several difficult aircraft remarketing propositions as the company operated niche aircraft types such the Airbus A318 and Boeing 717. Boeing Capital may again need to find new homes for 25 ex-Midwest Airlines Boeing 717s which Mexicana only agreed to lease last year. GECAS will have to remarket 10 Airbus A318s, an unpopular type which is already coming out of the fleets of Frontier Airlines and Chile's LAN. GECAS and Export Development Canada will also have to remarket Mexicana's 15 CRJ200s, another type that has glutted the used aircraft market in recent years, and could see further value erosion following Comair's decision earlier this week to remove 49 CRJ200s from its fleet. Link
Other News
Airlines continued to criticize the German government's decision Wednesday to implement an "ecological air travel levy" on passengers that is intended to raise €1 billion ($1.27 billion) annually. Tax revenues will go into the general treasury and are not dedicated to environmental measures. The new tax, part of the government's austerity measures, puts Lufthansa at "a disadvantage" owing to its escalating scale dependent on distance flown, the airline said. LH said in a statement that its "global connections" will take a hit because passengers will look to avoid transferring at German hubs to bypass the fee. Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold told Reuters, "If a four-member family has to pay €120 more for a holiday in Egypt, then the little man is being burdened again." German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there was no choice but to implement the fee immediately for ticket purchases for flights starting Jan. 1 to avoid "a rush in ticket-buying aimed at pre-empting the tax."
Troubled Malev received a HUF5.7 billion ($25.5 million) loan from the Hungarian government Thursday, according to multiple news reports. Hungary's National Development Ministry, which officially extended the loan, told Reuters that "Malev's situation would have become almost unsustainable" without the financial help. The announcement of the loan came shortly after Figyelo, a Hungarian business publication, reported that the airline was unable to make aircraft lease payments owed to ILFC. The Hungarian government already put HUF25.2 billion ($126.7 million) into the carrier this year. CCO and Deputy CEO Karim Makhlouf resigned from the carrier last month.
Delta Air Lines said Thursday it will equip all of its 16 747-400s with "new fully horizontal flat-bed seats in the BusinessElite cabin and new economy class seats featuring personal, on-demand entertainment." The installations, which are part of the carrier's plan to invest more than $1 billion through 2013 in improving its products and services, will begin next summer and be completed by 2012. When the program is complete DL will offer fully lie-flat seats on more than 100 aircraft including all of its 777s, 767s and 747s. President Ed Bastian said the investment "to completely revitalize our trans-oceanic fleet speaks to our strong commitment to the Asian market." DL's 747-400s will feature 48 horizontal flat-bed business-class seats manufactured by Weber Aircraft. The seats will be 81.7 in. long and 20.5 in. wide and will include Panasonic's 15.4 in. video monitors "with instant access to 250 new and classic movies, premium programming from HBO and Showtime, video games and more than 4,000 digital music tracks." The 747-400 economy seats will be collaboratively designed by Weber and Panasonic, DL noted. The seats will "fully incorporate seat and entertainment functionality into one product." DL's 747s are mostly used for transpacific and intra-Asia flights to/from Tokyo Narita.
CityJet appointed Christine Ourmieres as its CEO, effective Oct. 1. She replaces Geoffrey O'Byrne-White, who stepped down at the end of August. Ourmieres began her career at Air France in 1988 and most recently was the US GM and VP for AF KLM. CityJet, a fully owned subsidiary of the Air France KLM Group, employs more than 1,100 people and operates a fleet of more than 40 aircraft on flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to various European cities. It also operates a route network in and out of London City, where it is the largest operator following the acquisition of VLM Airlines in 2008. VLM now flies under the CityJet brand.
Kingfisher Airlines said its board this week approved share sales aimed at raising more than $350 million. The carrier said it will "immediately" attempt to raise $250 million by selling global depository receipts. The rest will be raised via an equity offering in India. "The financials of Kingfisher Airlines are expected to be significantly strengthened by these initiatives," the company said.
Polar Air Cargo, a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, said Thursday it reached an agreement with the US Dept. of Justice to plead guilty to antitrust violations related to cargo pricing and pay a $17.4 million fine in installments over five years. Polar becomes the 17th carrier to have pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty in the DOJ's ongoing investigation into air cargo price fixing. "The agreement is related to shipments from the United States to Australia during the period from January 2000 to April 2003, covering conduct by former employees," AAWH said. The conduct relates to "alleged manipulation…of fuel surcharges and other rate components for air cargo services." AAWH President and CEO William Flynn noted the charges involve "conduct that began in 2000, almost two years before [Polar was acquired by AAWH]…The matter occurred before [Polar's] emergence from bankruptcy in July 2004." He added that no "current board or senior management were involved in or are implicated in this investigation." The agreement is subject to court approval.
Emirates successfully completed migration to SITA's Airfare Insight platform, SITA announced. EK implemented the software tool across its global network of sales offices.
Air Berlin extended its agreement with Lufthansa Flight Training to train its pilots exclusively on LFT flight simulators through 2015. Training involves the use of simulators for A320, A330, 737NG and Q400 aircraft. Most of the required simulator training takes place at AB's Berlin base.
Air Arabia appointed Aviareps to serve as its GSA in the Ukraine, Italy and France.
EVA Air reported a 39% year-over-year surge in passenger yield to 8.31 cents and a 36.2% gain in cargo yield to 24.86 cents for July.
Emirates introduced an A380 on one of its double-daily Dubai-Manchester services. The airport invested around £10 million ($15.4 million) to upgrade its infrastructure to handle the aircraft.
Wizz Air will launch A320 service from Belgrade to Rome Fiumicino (thrice-weekly, Dec. 15), Malmo (twice-weekly, Dec. 15), Stockholm Skavsta (twice-weekly, April 3, 2011), Eindhoven (twice-weekly, April 1) and Munich-Memmingen (twice-weekly, April 3). Belgrade will become the carrier's 13th operating base.
JetBlue Airways launched daily Boston-Phoenix service aboard an A320.
Frontier Airlines will launch Embraer 190 service from Omaha to San Diego (thrice-weekly, Jan. 16), and Los Angeles (thrice-weekly, Feb. 14) and will recommence seasonal Omaha service to Orlando (four-times-weekly, Jan. 15-Feb. 13) and St. Petersburg/Clearwater (twice-weekly, Jan. 16-April 17). It said the aircraft will feature inflight Wi-Fi by the end of 2010.
AVIATION QUOTE
Darius was clearly of the opinion That the air is also man's dominion, And that, with paddle or fins or pinion, We soon or late Shall navigate The azure, as now we sail the sea.
— John Townsend Trowbridge, 'Darius Greene and His Flying Machine,' 1869.
ON THIS DATE
September 3, 1924
Regular airmail service in Canada begins with flights between Ontario and Quebec.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
Young Trooper Seeking Info From Wise Sergeant Major
Young SF trooper at the feet of an old wise SGM.
Youngster asks SGM about the officer rank insignia and what is the significance and relationship of insignia to the rank?
SGM says, "Pop me another Bah Muey Bah, there young troop and I'll explain".
"2LT, has a gold bar, soft metal, is easily workable, and needs shining.
1LT, has a single silver bar. Harder, more experienced and easier to shine.
CPT, of course has two silver bars. Twice as good as a 1LT, ready for command of a company.
COL, has an silver eagle, is ready to soar and be a great leader.
Generals, of course have stars. They are up in the firmament. That about covers it youngster."
"Hmmm", says the young-un. "But what about Majors and Lt. Colonels?"
The old SGM takes another pull on his beer and says, "Well, son, ever since Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden, we have covered our pricks with leaves."
TRIVIA
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And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
