News
First South Carolina Boeing 787 Delivered
Representatives from Air India took delivery on Friday of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner made in South Carolina and the first manufactured outside Washington state.
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American cancels more flights to do more 757 seat work
American Airlines (AA) expects to have all of its Boeing 757s back in service Saturday after taking additional measures to prevent the seats from becoming loose, necessitating cancellation of nearly 100 flights Thursday and Friday for repair work to be done.
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American Says Seats Secured On 40 Of 48 Planes
American Airlines said that by Friday it had repaired seat locks on 40 Boeing 757 jets after some seats came loose during flights.
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London Needs Four-Runway Airport - Study
Britain needs to build a four-runway airport in west London or north of the capital if it wants to compete with other European hubs, according to a report by UK think tank Policy Exchange.
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IAG's Walsh resigned to lack of extra London hub capacity
International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh is resigned to a lack of political consensus that he believes will make additional London hub airport runway capacity unlikely to emerge for decades. Having supported the previous UK Labour government's 2009 plan to add a third runway at London Heathrow, Walsh said he did not believe that the project will ever go ahead. Walsh was responding to comments by London mayor Boris Johnson earlier this week that the current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition's drawn-out timetable for evaluating options, such as building a new four-runway hub in the Thames estuary east of London, sets the UK on a course for "economic catastrophe".
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Converted MD-80 lifts off on maiden flight
Florida's Aeronautical Engineers has performed the maiden flight of its converted Boeing MD-80 freighter, and the modification specialist is optimistic of obtaining a supplemental type certificate for the aircraft by the end of the month. The passenger-to-freight converted twinjet took off on its first flight on 28 September.
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Kingfisher faces potential license withdrawal
India’s Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday issued a show-cause notice to the cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines (IT), requiring it to demonstrate why it should keep its operating license. The carrier stopped flying Monday when employees, who have not been paid for seven months, disrupted flights. The regulator has given the airline 15 days to come up with a plan or its license could be temporarily suspended or canceled.
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Reports: Pegasus Airlines eyes possible IPO, 100 single-aisle aircraft order
Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines (PC) has started talks about a possible initial public offering (IPO) in the first quarter of 2013, Reuters reported. It is expected PC may float less than 25% of the company. It postponed an IPO last year due to weak home market conditions.
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AirBaltic sees scope for Estonian tie-up
AirBaltic (BT) CEO Martin Gauss is keen to explore the potential for regional consolidation with Baltic carrier Estonian Air (OV), although management at the neighboring carrier has been quick to dismiss the idea.
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WTO To Inspect Airbus A350 Loan Funding
The WTO has asked the European Union to hand over documents on the funding of the Airbus A350 in a potential sharpening of a transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies, a US source familiar with the case said.
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Etihad's Passenger, Cargo Revenues Rise
Etihad Airways reported a 19 percent rise in third quarter revenue on Sunday and said it will look to extend its geographical reach to India and other Asian markets.
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China crisis adds urgency to Japanese air force modernisation
The Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) has long been Asia's most capable air force in terms of technology, training and doctrine. In the 1980s it entered the elite group of McDonnell Douglas F-15 operators, alongside USA and Israel. It also operates locally produced fighters in the form of the Mitsubishi F-1 and the F-2, with the latter based on the Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D. While the high cost of these indigenous types raised eyebrows, Japanese technological prowess ensured both are capable platforms. The air force also boasts Asia's leading airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) capability, in the form of its four Boeing E-767s.
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Other News
GE Aviation on Thursday issued a service bulletin calling for one-time fleet-wide borescope inspections of the low-pressure turbine (LPT) stage-one nozzles on all 120 in-service GEnx engines. The approximately one hour-long inspection should ensure the nozzles are properly installed, GE said. The LPT nozzle directs air into the rotating LPT blade. The bulletin follows the Sept. 11 incident in which an Air Bridge Cargo Boeing 747-8 poweredby a GEnx engine powering lost thrust during takeoff in Shanghai
Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance (MUL) has purchased San Francisco-based lessor Jackson Square Aviation (JSA) as it continues it expansion program. MUL’s growth plans involve acquiring international transport assets including aircraft, ships and freight cars. As part of this policy it is buying JSA International Holdings for approximately $1.3 billion. In a statement, JSA said it had 76 aircraft on its books, valued at more than $4 billion. The fleet is primarily composed of narrowbody Boeing and Airbus models, leased to 23 carriers. MUL said JSA’s attractions included the quality of the latter company’s management.
Ethiopian Airlines (ET) on Wednesday took delivery of its second Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It arrived at Addis Ababa Bole Friday and made its first scheduled flight to Paris the same day. ET is the first African carrier to own and operate the 787
AeroSvit (VV) and Ukraine International Airlines (PS) are supporting Kiev Boryspil International’s (KBP) transformation plan into a competitive international hub. KBP handles about 8 million passengers annually. PS and VV combined have nearly 70% of KBP’s passenger traffic. According to a statement, the two carriers are interested in further joint development and growth of transit potential. The Ukraine government will engage a private company to assist with the plan.
Lufthansa is seeking to unify standards across its group of five airlines for the engines and cockpits of planes it would deploy in future as part of efforts to boost its purchasing power over aircraft makers. "It's like buying a car: there is a basic version and then you decide what extras you need," Martin Brodbeck, a pilot at Lufthansa unit SWISS airline, was quoted as saying by company newsletter Lufthansaseat on Friday.
Aviation Quote
I saw the lightnings gleaming rod.
Reach forth and write upon the sky
The awful autograph of God.
— Joaquin Miller, 'The Ship In The Desert.'
On This Date
---In 1883... French brothers Albert and Gaston Tissandier make the 1st flight with an airship powered by electricity.
---In 1967…The first helicopter gunship designed as such to see combat, the U.S. Army's AH-1G Cobra, flies its first combat mission when two AH-1Gs operating over South Vietnam escort U.S. Army trasnport helicopters, then support South Vietnamese troops by destroying four enemy fortifications and sinking 14 sampans.
---In 2001… The aircraft SAS MD87 was taking off from Milan's Linate airport in Italy for a flight to Copenhagen when it collided with a Cessna Citation on the fog-shrouded runway. The airliner then crashed into a nearby hangar and caught fire. All six crew members and 104 passengers on the airliner were killed, as were the four occupants of the business jet and four airport workers on the ground.
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Humor
The Boat Race
Once upon a time BA and Virgin decided to have a boat race on the Thames. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach peak performance. On the big day they were as ready as could be and Virgin won by a length.
BA were discouraged and senior management set up a project to investigate the problem. Its conclusion was that the Virgin team had 8 people rowing and one person steering. The BA team had one person rowing and eight people steering.
Senior management immediately hired consultants to study team performance. Millions of pounds were spent and several months later they concluded that there were too many people steering and not enough rowing. The following year the team structure was changed to 4 steering managers, 3 senior steering managers and one executive steering manager.
A performance/appraisal system was set up to give the rower more incentive to work harder and become a key performer. They concluded he must be given empowerment and enrichment. The next year the big day arrived and Virgin duly won. BA laid off the rower for poor performance, sold off the paddles, cancelled capital investment and halted development of the new boat.
Then they gave high performance awards to the consultants and distributed the money saved among senior management.
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