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SAS, Two Unions Sign Deal In Survival Talks

Scandinavian airline SAS reached agreements with two Norwegian unions on Monday and pushed on with talks with other unions in a bid to ensure the group's survival and avoid bankruptcy.
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SAS - 'A Dinosaur In The Process Of Dying'?

Struggling Scandinavian airline SAS was once a symbol that was about all the best of the Nordic economic model, with high wages, job security and generous benefits. After years of hesitant reform, the state-controlled airline now has to take a hatchet to costs and embrace a market-based transformation that has boosted Nordic firms such as Ericsson and Volvo into competitive world-leaders.
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Discussion

Qatar Airways To Sell Cargolux Stake

Qatar Airways is to sell its stake in Luxembourg's all-cargo airline Cargolux after a disagreement over the future direction of the airline, a Cargolux spokeswoman said. Qatar Airways bought a 35 percent stake from the Luxembourg government and other parties last summer, but has decided to pull out after failing to agree on a strategy for the airline during meetings on Friday.
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Lufthansa Eyes Equal Footing In Any Merger

Lufthansa is shaping up its business to have an equal footing should it take part in any global merger talks in the future, its chief executive told a German paper. "Should there be negotiations over mergers across continents in the future, we want to be at the table, but at eye level," CEO Christoph Franz told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview published on Sunday.
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Ryanair May Go To Court If Aer Lingus Bid Blocked

Ryanair's chief executive said it may mount a legal challenge if its bid to buy Irish rival Aer Lingus is blocked by the European Union but it will not pursue further acquisitions if the merger ultimately fails
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Interjet adds 10 Superjet 100 options; Mexican carrier seen as program’s key customer

Interjet has added 10 options to its firm order for 20 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) aircraft, and Superjet International increasingly believes the Mexican carrier holds the key to the future success of the regional aircraft.
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TNT agrees sale of TNT Airways and Pan Air

TNT Express has agreed to sell its two airlines to ASL Aviation Group to overcome ownership restrictions triggered by its planned merger with UPS.
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Aerolineas considering A350 or 787 order

Aerolineas Argentinas is in preliminary talks with Airbus and Boeing regarding an order for the A350-900 or 787-9, say executives.
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Other News

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) on Friday said that flights at Africa’s Johannesburg O.R.Tambo International Airport (JNB) have not been disrupted by fuel contamination in the airport’s main Jet A1 supply line.

Commercial aviation consultancy ICF SH&E says the global MRO market for 8,500 regional aircraft will be worth $6.7 billion this year.

CSA Czech Airlines (OK) and its pilots have agreed to a year-long pay freeze as it heads toward the end of a three-year restructuring process.

Brazil’s GOL has reported a third-quarter net loss of R$309.4 million ($149.6 million), improved from an R$516.5 million net loss in the year-ago period. The airline cited a 20% fuel increase, a new exchange rate level, an increase in airport fees and a slow pace of economy growth in Brazilas the main causes for the loss.

Air Berlin (AB) reported a third-quarter net income of €66.6 million ($84.8 million), more than doubled from a €30.2 million profit in the year-ago period. The airline said the results were due to external cost increases being partly offset by efficiency improvements.

Air France Industries (AFI) has invested €43 million ($54.7 million) in a new 5,000 sq. m. engine test cell based at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

TP Aerospace won contracts from Bulgarian carrier Cargo Air for Boeing 737-300F wheels and brakes programs. It signed a multiyear brake-for-less program with TP Aerospace Solutions; a three-year wheel maintenance program through TP Aerospace Technics; and an agreement to assist Cargo Air in streamlining the commonality between installed wheels and brakes equipment on its fleet of three 737 freighters.

GA Telesis Engine Services has reached and signed amended five-year collective labor agreements with all of the unions representing the Finnair Engines Services employees, which will become part of the newly formed GA Telesis Engines Services division in Helsinki. FES holds third-party agreements for the repair and overhaul of General Electric CF6-80C2, CFM International CFM56-5B and -5C, and Pratt & Whitney PW2000 jet engines.

A J Walter Aviation opened a new corporate headquarters in West Sussex. The new campus facility is nearly a quarter-of-a-million sq. ft. on a site of over 60 acres.

AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings has BAE Systems’ approval of its Aerowave 2001 coating. The epoxy corrosion inhibiting structural primer can be cured both at ambient temperatures or force cured.

Aviation Quote

When I took over my wing [in Vietnam], the big talk wasn't about the MIG's, but about the SAM's ... I'd seen enemy planes before, but those damn SAM's were something else. When I saw my first one, there were a few seconds of sheer panic, because that's a most impressive sight to see that thing coming at you. You feel like a fish about to be harpooned. There's something terribly personal about the SAM; it means to kill you and I'll tell you right now, it rearranges your priorities ... We had been told to keep our eyes on them and not to take any evasive move too soon, because they were heat-seeking and they, too would correct, so I waited until it was almost on me and then I rolled to the right and it went on by. It was awe inspiring ... The truth is you never do get used to the SAM's; I had about two hundred fifty shot at me and the last one was as inspiring as the first. Sure I got cagey, and I was able to wait longer and longer, but I never got overconfident. I mean, if you're one or two seconds too slow, you've had the schnitzel.

— General Robin Olds, USAF.

On This Date

---In 1938... Construction begins on a new airport serving the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Built in nearby Virginia, this airport will become Ronald Reagan National Airport.

---In 1977… A TAP Air Portugal Boeing 727 overruns the runway at Funchal in the Madeira Islands and explodes, killing 131.

---In 1978…First flight of the Beriev A-50.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

Reports

A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly along it at the water edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the paper reports, "The pilots fly out to sea and directly to the penguin colony and overfly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins fall over gently onto their backs.

Trivia

General Trivia

1. Most pilots likely believe that it is safer to ditch a low-wing airplane with retractable landing gear than a high-wing airplane with retractable landing gear. What are three advantages, however, of ditching a high-wing airplane?

2. A four-engine Avro York, the Ascalon, was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s personal transport and flying conference room. It was supposed to carry “Churchill’s Egg” but never did. What was Churchill’s Egg?

3. What clever ploy is used on some of the Canadian Air Force’s McDonnell Douglas F/A–18 fighters to improve their combat effectiveness?

4. If you place a buzzard in an eight-foot by six-foot pen that is completely open at the top, why, despite its ability to fly, will the buzzard be imprisoned within the pen?

5. It used to be common practice on fighter aircraft for every fifth round of ammunition to be a tracer as an aid in aiming. Provide three reasons why using tracers was not such a great idea.

6. Who invented the conventional four-way control stick and rudder pedals?

7. Pilots often “pickle the trim” when activating an electrically operated elevator trim, and fighter pilots talk about “pickling a round.” How did the word pickle come to be used in reference to pushing an electrical switch?

Zak wrote:---In 1938... Construction begins on a new airport serving the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Built in nearby Virginia, this airport will become Ronald Reagan National Airport.