CommercialUnited to debut world's longest non-stop 787 routeUnited Airlines plans to launch the longest non-stop route with a Boeing 787 when it debuts its Los Angeles-Melbourne service in October. The flight between California and Australia will cover a distance of 7,927 miles. United plans to offer the flight six days a week.
LinkMH370 search zeroes in on reacquired ‘pings’Australian searchers are cautiously confident that they have located the possible resting site of MH370, as the HMAS Ocean Shield was able to reacquire ‘pings’ consisted with transmissions from a flight data or cockpit voice recorder. In a press briefing, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said that he is optimistic about the potential lead in the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. The Ocean Shield, using a towed ‘pinger locator’ on loan from the US Navy, detected a signal at frequency 37.5Khz twice on Saturday, and was able to reacquire it twice on Tuesday, says Houston. The ship is located west of the Australian town of Learmonth in the Indian Ocean.
LinkTwo More Pings Detected In Search For MH370Australian officials said on Wednesday that two new ping signals had been detected in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, injecting fresh confidence into the search that had been struggling with a lack of information. The signals, which could be from the plane's black box recorders, bring to four the number of overall ping signals detected in recent days within the search area by a Towed Pinger Locator. Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the search, struck an optimistic tone when announcing the information, but urged caution as the task of searching the remote Indian Ocean region remained enormous. "I believe we are searching in the right area but we need to visually identify aircraft wreckage before we can confirm with certainty that this is the final resting place of MH370," Houston told reporters in Perth.
LinkSearch For MH370 Most Expensive In Aviation HistoryThe hunt for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is on track to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, becoming the most expensive search in aviation history with 26 countries contributing aircraft, ships, submarines and satellites to the international effort. A month into the search for the jet, one estimate showed that at least USD$44 million has already been spent on the deployment of military ships and aircraft in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea by Australia, China, the United States and Vietnam. The figure is based on defense force statistics on available hourly costs of various assets, estimates by defense analysts and costs reported by the Pentagon. The figure for the first month of the search is already about equal to the official EUR€32 million (USD$44 million) spent in searches lasting several months spread over a two-year time frame for Air France's flight AF447, which crashed into the mid-Atlantic in 2009.
LinkLufthansa, Pilot Union To Hold Fresh TalksLufthansa will meet its pilots' union on Thursday to discuss union demands for an early retirement scheme and higher pay but had not revised its offer. The aim of the meeting is to lay the groundwork for further negotiations, a spokesman for Lufthansa said on Tuesday. "We will take up talks on the basis of the offer on the table. We are convinced it has enough substance to develop a solution," the spokesman said. Union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), which represents most of Lufthansa's 5,400 pilots, confirmed that the meeting was due to take place but declined further comment. It had previously said it wanted to see a new offer from Lufthansa before starting talks. Lufthansa's pilots staged a three-day strike last week - the longest walkout in the airline's history - to underline their demands.
LinkAmerican Air Q1 Results Hit By CancellationsAmerican Airlines Group on Tuesday said flight cancellations due to bad weather hurt its first-quarter results, joining other carriers that blamed the weather for a drag on business during the period. American grounded more than 34,000 flights in the first three months of this year, reducing quarterly revenue by about USD$115 million and operating profit by about USD$60 million. The carrier cut its forecast for its operating margin to between 5 and 7 percent for the first quarter, compared with a late January view of 6 to 8 percent. Flight cancellations tend to boost airline costs during the first quarter, when winter storms hit the hardest. Five US carriers - American, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United - have said disruptions from snow and ice storms forced them to cancel at least 78,000 flights collectively.
LinkIranair MD In Vienna To Discuss Sanctions ReliefA senior Iranian aviation official has arrived in Vienna to discuss lifting sanctions on the country's aviation sector as part of nuclear talks with world powers, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. Sanctions on the sector have been in place since the 1970s. However, Boeing and engine maker General Electric said on Friday they had received licenses from the US Treasury Department to sell certain spare parts for commercial aircraft to Iran under an interim deal agreed in November that went into effect on January 20. Interaction between Iran and the US companies would be the first acknowledged dealings between the US aerospace sector and Iran since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, when hardline Iranian students seized the American embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
LinkNo massive changes required for 11-abreast A380Airbus insists that a prospective three-five-three 11-abreast economy-class configuration for the A380 is no big deal from an engineering perspective but could boost seat count in a typical multi-class double-decker by 7%. Adding that middle seat would mean taking advantage of some main-deck cabin space that is not yet being used, so Airbus’s “standard” 18in (46cm) seat width would still prevail. “We’re not talking about massive changes – we’re talking optimisation,” says Airbus interiors marketing manager Corrin Higgs.
LinkAmerican upgrades seating configuration for 777-200American Airlines has revamped its seating configurations for the Boeing 777-200, which carries passengers from Los Angeles to several international destinations. "These include a two-class cabin configuration with American's new Business Class seats, complete with fully lie-flat and all-aisle access giving you a spacious, personal and private inflight experience," American said in a statement. "These ultramodern seats are fully adjustable and convert to 6-foot-4.5-inch fully lie-flat beds to ensure a rested journey from beginning to end."
LinkDelta further invests in technology with deployment of "phablets" for flight attendantsDelta Air Lines plans to equip flight attendants with Nokia Lumia 1520 phone/tablet devices dubbed "phablets." Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson noted the "huge investment in technology" the company has made with the goal of providing better information to employees. "Ultimately you want every employee at Delta to operate with a handheld device," said Anderson at a summit last month. The phablets will allow flight attendants to sell meals to passengers and quickly access passenger information.
LinkHawaiian Airlines reports March passenger traffic Hawaiian Airlines flew 829,584 passengers in March, a 3.1 percent decrease from the 855,746 passengers flown in March 2013, while traffic, or revenue per passenger mile, decreased 5.3 percent. The airline's capacity, or available seat miles, decreased 1.9 percent, the airline, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: HA), said.
LinkShares of American Airlines poised for growth What: Shares of American Airlines Group, Inc. gained about 1% in premarket trading Monday after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the airline operator with a buy rating. So what: Along with the bullish call, analyst Tom Kim planted a price target of $46 on the stock, representing about 26% worth of upside to Friday's close. So while contrarians might be turned off by American Airlines' price spike over the past several months, Kim's call could reflect a strengthening sense on Wall Street that its turnaround potential still isn't fully baked into the valuation. Now what: Goldman's 2014 and 2015 estimate for American Airlines is about 7% and 11.5%, respectively, above Wall Street's view. "The carrier's margins are poised to expand 2.0 ppts over 2013-16E to 12.7%, which we expect to drive multiple expansion," said Kim. "Meanwhile, earnings growth should accelerate thanks to a favorable airline cycle, which we expect to facilitate AAL's integration initiatives more than the market anticipates.
LinkU.S. airlines receive highest ratings in 2013A report on the quality of U.S. airlines shows that the industry received the highest rating ever in its 24-year-history. Ratings are based on on-time performance, baggage handling, customer complaints and customers being involuntarily bumped from a flight. The report was created by researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Wichita State University.
LinkAirbus makes comfort a priority aboard A350 XWBAirbus offered a sneak peek at the passenger cabins aboard its A350 XWB. Airbus installed all in-flight entertainment boxes under the floor for a roomier cabin, and also deployed LED lighting for a more comfortable flight.
LinkAircraft of tomorrow will keep fliers connected The aircraft of tomorrow won't just take you from London to New York and Tokyo; it should allow you to stay connected all the way. That's not just passengers, but the pilots and ground staff too — a development that's likely to transform air travel, says Honeywell, a technology and manufacturing firm that develops a variety of systems and services for aircraft. "From a passenger perspective, it means you won't see much difference in service from when you walk into an airport on your iPhone at high speed and you walk onto a plane," Jack Jacobs, the vice president for safety and information management at Honeywell Aerospace told CNBC. "That's not the way it is today." He added: "From a pilot and crew perspective, they will be able to rely on much more information on the plane that wasn't there before that allows them to fly safely, avoid bad weather, turbulence — well in advance of what they can do today."
LinkBoeing unveils Wash. configuration studio for 737 interiors Boeing Monday opened a new 'Configuration Studio' where customers can chose interior features for the workhorse 737 single-aisle airliner. "Our customers make a large investment when they choose their interiors," Beverly Wyse, vice president and general manager of the 737 program, said in a news release. "This new studio offers one-stop shopping, eliminating the need for them to fly around the world to meet with different suppliers." The 20,000 square-foot studio is in Renton, near the 737 final assembly plant. It shows various suppliers' products side by side, allowing customers to "see, touch and experience choices in galleys, seats and in-flight entertainment," Boeing said. "They also can select interior colors and decors that highlight and support their brand."
LinkFAA: Key NextGen infrastructure in place by 2015The Federal Aviation Administration says the "foundational infrastructure" for NextGen air traffic control will be in place by 2015. About 90% of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) has been rolled out. The system will be in place nationwide this spring. The agency expects the complete NextGen air traffic control system to be in place by 2025.
LinkOther loyalty programs may adopt Delta strategy, experts sayExperts predict other frequent flier programs may follow Delta Air Lines in switching from miles flown to fares paid as a method of calculating loyalty miles. "Those are very significant changes, and they simply cannot be ignored" by other airlines, said Jay Sorensen, the president of IdeaWorksCompany.
LinkUnited to consolidate into one concourse at Cleveland airport United Airlines will no longer use Concourse D at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, an airport spokeswoman said today. United, which is cutting two-thirds of its daily departures by June, will consolidate its operations on Concourse C, spokeswoman Jackie Mayo said. She did not have word yet on when the change would take effect. United's decision to pull its hub out of Cleveland is heavily affecting its regional flights out of Hopkins, which it said would be reduced by 73 percent.
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