NewsAir Asia QZ8501
Tail section of crashed Indonesia AirAsia A320 located
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has located the tail section of the crashed Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320. The agency confirmed the information, though it could not immediately specify the coordinates where the tail was located. The tail section is where the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are located.
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Boeing adds 1,432 net orders in 2014
Boeing closed the books on 2014 with a total of 1,432 new firm orders added to a record backlog, which is about twice what executives forecast last January. "In the face of fierce competition, we had a strong year," says Ray Conner, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Last January, Boeing executives forecasted a book-to-bill ratio of about 1:1, with orders roughly matching deliveries of 723 aircraft in 2014. Airbus plans to release 2014 order totals next week, but reported 1,031 net orders from January to November.
LinkAirlines
Revenue passenger miles rise at Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines saw a 6.1% increase in revenue passenger miles for 2014, according to parent company Alaska Air Group. Meanwhile, Horizon Air reported a 2% increase in revenue passenger miles for the year.
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American, Hawaiian apply for Tokyo Haneda slots
American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have filed applications with the Department of Transportation for slots at Tokyo Haneda airport. U.S. carriers are allowed four daily round-trip flights to Haneda under an agreement with Japan.
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China Southern 6th airline in history to carry over 100m passengers
China Southern Airlines has become the sixth airline group in the world – and the first outside the United States or Europe – to transport over 100 million passengers a year. Founded only in 1988, China Southern reached this milestone in 2014 faster than the other groups carrying over 100m passengers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa Group, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. Ryanair expects to carry 97m passengers in 2015, likely leading it to carry 100m shortly thereafter. The Air China and China Eastern groups are expected also to cross the 100m mark. Fast growth at the HNA Group could also see it carry 100m passengers around the turn of the decade. This would be impressive given the group has limited public capital, but would also give China four groups with over 100m passengers, matching the US.
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Qantas named world's safest airline
Qantas has been named the world's safest airline, after a year when fatal air accidents soared above the 10-year average. In a report published by AirlineRatings.com on Tuesday night, Qantas was lauded for amassing "an extraordinary record of firsts" in safety and operations over its 94-year history. The report comes after what was "in no doubt" a bad year for airline safety, AirlineRatings.com said, adding 2014 included some of the industry's most tragic and bizarre incidents. "Certainly, 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities - higher than the 10-year average - is sickening. However, the world's airlines carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights," the report says.
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Qatar Airways finalizes order for four 777 freighters
Qatar Airways has finalized an order for four Boeing 777 freighters, valued at $1.24 billion at current list prices. The airline also has purchase rights for four additional aircraft, which would bring the combined value to $2.46 billion, Boeing said in a statement. atar first announced an intent to order the four 777Fs at the Farnborough Airshow in July.
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Ryanair Targets Up To 20 Pct German Market Share - Report
Ryanair wants to challenge Lufthansa in Germany, chief executive Michael O'Leary was quoted as saying, as he predicted the German airline would fail in its bid to build a low cost business. O'Leary said Ryanair wanted to grow its market share to 15-20 percent from a current 4 percent in the next three to four years, in an interview with the Handelsblatt business daily. O'Leary dismissed plans approved by Lufthansa last month to expand its own budget flight operations, saying the firm would still have a cost disadvantage, which meant it would not succeed.
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Southwest adds nonstop service from Love Field to Calif. cities
Southwest Airlines finished one phase of its expansion at Dallas Love Field today. The carrier debuted nonstop flights to Oakland, Calif., and San Francisco from Love Field. Since the expiration of the Wright amendment last year, Southwest has boosted its nonstop service by around 30% and plans to add service to additional destinations in 2015.
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Southwest employee entertains passengers
A Southwest Airlines gate agent went above and beyond to entertain passengers and enhance the travel experience. The gate agent sang "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "For Once in My Life" to passengers prior to the flight departing for Phoenix. "It was a fun time for all onboard," wrote passenger Remy Guercio.
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Airlines embrace in-flight technologies
Bring-your-own-device, or BYOD, "is in full effect flying the friendly skies," writes Mike Leibovitz. Airlines continue to make significant investments in technologies, such as in-flight Wi-Fi, that enhance the overall travel experience for customers.
LinkMilitary
Poland confirms three bidders for multirole helicopter contest
As expected, three bidders will fight it out in a contest to supply 70 multirole helicopters to Poland’s armed forces. Warsaw on 30 December confirmed that consortia led by Airbus Helicopters, PZL Swidnik – the Polish subsidiary of AgustaWestland – and Sikorsky had all submitted bids to the nation’s defense ministry.
LinkRegulatory
NTSB blasts FAA for US1702 disclosure
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has rebuked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for publicly releasing internal documents relating to an ongoing aircraft accident investigation. The FAA’s disclosure – first reported by Flightglobal – violated a prohibition on releasing information during an active investigation, the NTSB says. “The NTSB has shared its strong concern about this matter with the FAA,” the NTSB statement says. The controversy stems from the investigation of an accident involving US Airways flight 1702 on 13 March. The landing gear of the Airbus A320 collapsed during take-off, causing the aircraft to slide 2,000ft down the runway, causing minor injuries to passengers. The FAA subsequently released preliminary information related to the investigation, following a request under the Freedom of Information Act. These documents were later obtained by Flightglobal, which reported on them in a news article on 12 December. Several Philadelphia and national media outlets then picked up the story about three weeks later.
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FAA releases runwaySimulator program to the public
The Federal Aviation Administration is making its runwaySimulator airport capacity program available publicly for aviation applications. The program simulates airport operations including arrivals and departures, flight operations and runway assignments, generating a mix of airplane types and variable demand.
LinkUAV
France's La Poste adds its offering to UAV parcel delivery dream
Joining a succession of companies envisioning delivering parcels using unmanned air vehicles, France’s La Poste mail service claims it has successfully completed a delivery using a UAV. Following in the footsteps of Amazon, DHL and Google, all of which are endeavoring to expand delivery operations by using UAVs to deliver small parcels, La Poste announced that through its GeoDrone project it tested the domestic delivery of a 4kg (9lb) parcel in December.
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Small UAV market to be worth $8.4 billion by 2019
Market analysts predict that the value of the small unmanned air vehicle market will surpass $8.4 billion by 2019, with commercial usage of the technology dominating the market. ABI Research on 5 January claimed that revenues for commercial use of small UAVs will be in excess of $5.1 billion by 2019, which is a compound annual growth rate of some 51% from 2014 to 2019. By 2019 the commercial market for these small unmanned air systems (SUAS) will be 2.3 times larger than the military market and 5 times larger than the hobbyist market, the company says.
LinkCorporate
Piaggio readies Avanti Evo for service entry
Piaggio Aerospace is readying the first two Avanti Evos for delivery to their Indian owners this month following certification in late December by the country's civil aviation authority. The announcement comes as joint venture partners AirGo Flugservice and Fractional Jet Europe prepare to launch an Avanti-based fractional ownership program, Route 1 Aviation. "We plan to buy our first aircraft in the next few weeks and then launch services in April," say FJE founder and chief executive Chris Moody.
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Aviation Quote
A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the study of so vast a subject. A time will come when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them.
— Seneca
On This Date
---In 1642…Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist/astronomer, dies at age 77.
---In 1760…Comet C/1760 A1 (Great comet) approaches within 0.0682 AUs of Earth.
---In 1785... The English Channel is crossed for the first time by air as Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries fly their hydrogen balloon from Dover, England to a forest near Calais, France.
---In 1910…French aviator Hubert Latham becomes the first to fly above 1,000 meters.
---In 1931…Australian aviator Guy Menzies made the first solo nonstop flight from Australia to New Zealand in 11 hours and 45 minutes. His flight ended in a crash landing, however, from which he survived.
---In 1963… Aeroflot launches its service from Moscow to Havana (Cuba), using Tu-114 turboprop aircraft.
---In 1963…First flight of the Short Skyvan.
---In 1966…The SR-71 Blackbird enters operational service with the US Air Force.
---In 1972…An Iberia Sud Aviation SE210 Caravelle (registered EC-ATV) crashed while on approach in Sierra de Atalayasa, Spain, killing all 104 aboard. The air crew was blamed for the crashed, since they did not abort landing after entering clouds on a visual approach to Ibiza Airport.
---In 1973... Cameron Balloons Ltd. of Bristol, England, flies for the first time the world’s only hot-air airship (G-BAMK) from Wantage, Berkshire.
---In 1973…Launch of Luna 21 carrying the Lunokhod 2 rover, the second robotic lunar rover. Made lunar landing with an automated Lunokhod 2 rover.
---In 1980... In San Francisco, a single-engined Mooney 231 sets a nonstop coast-to coast record in 8 hours 4 minutes using only 105 gallons of fuel.
---In 1981... A Boeing 747 of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), China’s state airline, arrives at JFK Airport, N.Y., from Beijing via Shanghai and San Francisco; this is the first scheduled flight between these two countries since 1949 and inaugurates a weekly CAAC service.
---In 1987… French Air Force jets attack the Libyan Air Force base in Ouadi Doum to avenge a raid by Libya against the French military three days before.
---In 1994…Russian manned space craft TM-18, launches into orbit.
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