NewsCommercial
Bombardier replaces CSeries marketing executive
Bombardier has replaced another top commercial aircraft executive amidst a broader corporate reshuffling in the wake of CSeries development delays. Philippe Poutissou, former vice-president of marketing, has left the company, says a Bombardier spokesman. Poutissou has been replaced by Ross Mitchell, a former vice-president of sales for Bombardier commercial aircraft in Europe. Mitchell inherits a wider role as the new vice-president of business acquisition, to include marketing, communications and program strategy, a Bombardier spokesman says. The leadership change was first reported by FliegerFaust, a blog focused on CSeries program news.
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Honeywell: 3D weather radar offers greater detail
Honeywell International is touting the advantages of IntuVue, its weather radar system. The 3D system offers more detailed information and scans weather automatically. "Now that we have that information, there's a whole lot we can do to do the analysis for the pilot," said Greg Schauder, a director of product marketing for Honeywell.
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WHO weighs in on air service to East Africa
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has reached crisis proportions but poses no particular risk to air travelers, according to health officials and airlines—and air service should continue to serve affected areas to help combat the disease. That’s the message the International Air Transport Association, a trade group for global airlines, is pressing, bolstered by the World Health Organization, which says there’s no need for travel bans over the virus. “Ebola is a terrible disease, but it is not easy to contract,” IATA’s vice president for Africa, Raphael Kuuchi, said today at an aviation conference in Johannesburg. “It can only be caught through contact with bodily fluids. It is almost impossible to be infected by someone on a flight.”
LinkAirlines
Airline shares on the rise
Airlines shares soared after a drop in crude oil prices on Monday. Fuel costs account for around 35% of operating costs for airlines. Shares of United Continental Holdings rose 4%, while shares of American Airlines gained 3.7%.
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Alaska to offer nonstop service between Las Vegas, Calif. ski resort
Alaska Airlines is adding seasonal nonstop service between Las Vegas and the California ski resort of Mammoth Lakes. Starting Jan. 15, Alaska Airlines sister carrier Horizon Air will fly two times a week on the route, offering one round-trip flight each Monday and Thursday on Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft. The service will run through April 6. Alaska Airlines will be the only carrier to offer nonstop service between the cities.
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Lessons from BA can guide Alitalia comeback
The transformation of British Airways three decades ago from bloated, loss-making industry joke to benchmark network carrier is a seen as the definitive case study in managing a business turnaround. Directed by Margaret Thatcher’s government to prepare the UK’s flagging flag carrier for privatisation, the much-admired double act of John King and Colin Marshall turned BA from “Bloody Awful” into “the world’s favourite airline” in less than a decade. In 1980, BA ranked top of a survey by the International Airline Passengers Association of carriers that should be avoided at all costs. By the time of its privatisation in 1987, the UK flag carrier was trumpeting its “To Fly, To Serve” motto – and boasting more international passengers than any other airline.
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Azul targets business travellers with US flights
Brazil's Azul plans to target the corporate traveller with its inaugural international flights to the USA, and will offer a full-service product with lie-flat business class seats and Skycouches in economy plus, it sadi. "We are a heavily corporate airline today, 65% of our business is business traffic," says Azul's chief executive David Neeleman. Pointing to the two million travellers that are signed up to Azul's frequent flyer programme, Neeleman says it makes sense to target business travellers for Azul's USA flights, regardless of whether they are flying for work or leisure. Azul plans to eventually operate seven Airbus A330-200s and five A350-900s on its international flights. The airline had previously announced it will lease six A330s, but tells Flightglobal it will purchase a seventh from lessor BBAM.
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Delta made right choice in purchasing oil refinery
When Delta Air Lines announced plans to purchase an oil refinery, some industry observers were skeptical. Delta CEO Richard Anderson said the move allowed the carrier to save an average of 15 cents per gallon of fuel in the second quarter. "One penny per gallon is worth $10 million a quarter, so the advantage we've been able to build on fuel costs is large and sustainable," Anderson said.
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Deutsche Bahn Sues Airlines Over Cargo Price Fixing
Deutsche Bahn is suing airlines in the United States for operating a price-fixing cartel affecting its freight business between 1999-2006. The airlines' price fixing was first exposed seven years ago and triggered fines of EUR€800 million in the European Union in 2010 and a fine of USD$1.5 billion in the United States. Victims of the cartel can sue separately for compensation. Deutsche Bahn said the companies targeted by the lawsuit in New York include Air France-KLM, SAS, Qantas, Cargolux, Martinair and All Nippon Airways.
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JetBlue to boost flights from D.C. to Florida
JetBlue announces it will add new flights out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to destinations in Florida. The carrier is battling Southwest Airlines for new business out of Reagan after American left a void when it had to reduce flights from the airport to appease regulators.
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Southwest Airlines explores alternative to ACARS
Southwest Airlines sees potential for data mining in the hours when its Boeing 737s are idle. The airline is considering using the Global Eagle Ku-band pipe to collect airplane information overnight when the jets are not in use.
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Turkish Airlines Doubles Q2 Profit
Turkish Airlines posted a TRY398.2 million lira net profit in the second quarter, more than double its profit in the same period a year earlier. Revenues in the period rose to TRY6.14 billion lira from TRY4.61 billion the previous year, the airline said in a stock exchange submission.
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United: We plan to keep Houston airport as hub
United Airlines on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport in the wake of an analyst's report suggesting the Chicago-based carrier might reconsider its hub operations to improve its financial position.
LinkAirports
DFW debuts rail line linking airport, downtown Dallas
Dallas/Fort Worth International debuted rail service to downtown Dallas from the airport on Monday. "With the DART Orange Line connecting DFW to downtown Dallas, DFW is now on a par with global hub airports that have integrated rail, which is a major selling point for customers and conventions," said Sean Donohue, CEO of the airport.
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Hamas Threatens Further Attacks On Tel Aviv Airport
The armed wing of the Hamas Islamist militant group that dominates Gaza has threatened to aim more rocket fire at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv and cautioned international airlines to avoid it. Citing Israel's air strikes in Gaza that have killed three people after rockets were fired at Israel in breach of a truce, a Hamas commander said in a statement the group "has decided to respond to the Israeli aggression," by making the airport a "target of attack" for the day.
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TSA plans trial run for E-CAT
The Transportation Security Administration is planning a trial run for ID scanners that will allow airport security screeners to electronically check the validity of passenger IDs. The Electronic Credential Authentication Technology will be rolled out at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this fall and expand to other airports if it proves effective.
LinkMilitary
Two Italian Tornados collide during training flight
Two Italian military jets collided during a 19 August afternoon training flight, the country’s air force has confirmed. A pair of twin-engined Panavia Tornados were “carrying out a training mission” when they collided and crashed, according to the air force’s official Twitter account. Reports say the aircraft were in the vicinity of Ascoli, in eastern Italy north of Rome. Both aircraft were crewed by pilots and navigators, but Italian authorities have not confirmed their fate. Rescue and reconnaissance aircraft were sent to the scene to conduct a search for the pilots, according to the air force.
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USAF grounds 82 F-16Ds due to new cracks
The US Air Force announced late on 19 August the grounding of 82 of 969 Lockheed Martin F-16s still in service after finding structural cracks. The grounding, which involves only the two-seat F-16D, could be lifted to allow aircraft to fly a limited number of flight hours with a temporary fix, the air force says. Engineers are still analysing options for a permanent repair, the air force says. The cracks, which were discovered in post-flight inspections, damage the canopy sill longerons in a space between the front and rear pilot seats, the air force says. Longeron cracking caused a Boeing F-15C to disintegrate in flight in Novemeber 2007. That event triggered a grounding, fleet-wide inspection and lengthy repair.
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Aviation Quote
I could be president of Sikorsky for six months before they found me out, but the president would only have my job for six seconds before he'd kill himself.
— Walter R. 'Dick' Faull, test pilot.
On This Date
--- In 1901... The Wright brothers leave Kitty Hawk, N.C., at the end of their second season of testing gliders and return to Dayton, Ohio.
--- In 1908... The Wright Flyer built for flight trials before the U.S. Army arrives at Fort Meyer, near Washington, D.C., eight days ahead of schedule. Before trials begin, tests to check transportability, another stipulation, start.
--- In 1910... The first U.S. Army experiments with firing a rifle from an airplane takes place when Lt. Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.
---In 1913... French aviator Adolphe Pégoud carries out the first parachute descent ever made whereby the parachute is deployed before the pilot leaves the airplane.
---In 1919... The first regularly scheduled passenger service by airship begins in Berlin with a Zeppelin LX 120 Bodenese.
---In 1963…First flight of the BAC 1-11.
---In 1970…First flight of the Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk.
---In 1978…British Aerospace Sea Harrier XZ450.
---In 1986…The General Electric GE-36 propfan engine makes its first test flight. A hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop, also known as an unducted fan, a number of factors from noise issues to falling fuel prices eventually lead to the abandonment of the program before ever being delivered, despite impressive gains in fuel economy.
---In 1977…he Voyager 2 unmanned interplanetary spacecraft is launched aboard a Titan IIIE/Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, tasked mainly with photographing Venus, Neptune and Saturn. As of today, Voyager 2 is still beaming messages back to Earth from 12 hrs 47 mins 58 secs of light-travel time from Earth.
---In 1986…first test-flight of a propfan engine, the General Electric GE-36.
---In 2008… A Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft, flight number JK 5022, crashed with 165 passengers and nine crew members on board moments after takeoff at Madrid's Barajas Airport on a scheduled flight to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 18 of the 172 on board survived. Initially 19 people survived, but one person died in hospital three days after the crash
---In 2013… The first flight of the production AT-6 Texan II COIN variant(N630LA) at Wichita, KS.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
Can I Borrow The Car?
A son walks into the living room and asks his dad to borrow the car because he has a hot date.
The dad says, ''Sure, as soon as you cut your long hair.''
The boy smiles and thinking he has outsmarted his dad replies, ''Dad, Jesus had long hair...''
And the dad replies, ''Yeah, and Jesus walked everywhere he went too, didn't he?''
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