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Airbus: Low oil prices will boost airline orders
Airbus predicts low oil prices will boost aircraft orders, as airlines have more cash to spend on new planes. "It's always good for the airlines, because lower oil prices mean they make money, and when they make money then tend to buy aircraft," said John Leahy, sales chief for Airbus.
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A350 enters service as Qatar jet heads for Frankfurt
Qatar Airways has commenced the first commercial operation with the Airbus A350, its initial aircraft having departed from Doha for Frankfurt. The airline confirms that the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered A350-900 is en route. It is operating as flight QR67 and left the Qatari capital at around 08:00.
LinkAirlines
Aeroflot commits to another 20 Superjets
Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot has agreed to take another 20 Sukhoi Superjet 100s, under a tentative agreement with the airframer. Aeroflot chief Vitaly Saveliev has signed a memorandum of intent with Sukhoi covering the deliveries, the airline states. The aircraft will be supplemental to the 30 already ordered by the SkyTeam carrier, which has received 16 of the type. This will give Aeroflot a fleet of 50 Superjets by 2017. Saveliev describes the agreement as a “breakthrough event” in Russian civil aviation.
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Divers deployed to recover QZ8501 fuselage
Divers have been deployed to recover the fuselage of the crashed Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 on the seafloor of the Java Sea. The 30m long and 10m wide aircraft section was located by Singapore vessel MV Swift Rescue on 14 January. Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Barsanas) says the right wing of the crashed jet is still attached to the fuselage.
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American Airlines to pay crews' Global Entry fees
American Airlines will pay the $100 fee for its eligible pilots and flight attendants to enroll in the Global Entry program. "Global Entry is another tool that will make travel easier for our crew members, who work and travel throughout American’s extensive international network. We applaud DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and CBP Deputy Commissioner Kevin McAleenan for their partnership in this effort," said Tim Campbell, senior vice president of air operations for American.
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Cyprus Airways Name, Logo For Sale
Cyprus will put the trade name and logo of now-defunct state carrier Cyprus Airways up for sale after the airline suspended operations on January 9, officials said on Wednesday. Cash-starved Cyprus Airways closed after the European Commission ordered it to repay more than EUR€65 million it received in illegal state aid. Cyprus Airways, which employed 550 people, had been losing money and market share for years, after cheaper competitors started muscling in on its previously lucrative routes. Several attempts to turn it around failed.
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Delta offers bento boxes on flights from Ore. to Tokyo
Over the past month, Business Class travelers headed from Portland to Tokyo have had an extra treat. Naoko Tamura of Chef Naoko, the farm-to-table Japanese restaurant in downtown Portland, has been preparing meals for Delta's daily PDX to Narita airport flights. To get a taste of chef Tamura's bento without going on a trans-Pacific flight, head to Chef Naoko at 1237 S.W. Jefferson St.
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JetBlue traffic rose 5.6% in Dec.
JetBlue Airways Corp on Tuesday said its traffic in December rose 5.6 percent from a year ago to 3.41 billion revenue passenger miles. The airline's capacity in December climbed 7.2 percent from last year to 4.18 billion available seat miles. Meanwhile JetBlue's load factor in December slid to 81.6 percent from 82.9 percent in the prior year.
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United upgrades status match program for corporate travelers
United Airlines on Thursday will loosen some rules related to its corporate status match program, including lengthening the period during which travelers can maintain their matched status. Among the changes to United's program, which offers matched status to employees of United corporate customers from more than 40 frequent-flyer programs, employees who meet requirements now will maintain their status for 22 months rather than 12 months, according to the carrier. Additionally, United reduced the reapplication period—the time employees must wait since they last received a MileagePlus status match—to three years from five years.
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Airlines Prepare To Hedge More Jet Fuel
Global airlines, looking to lock in huge savings, are preparing to hedge more jet fuel to fix prices as they bet a slide in crude oil to six-year lows may peter out near USD$40 a barrel. Some airlines have already stepped up hedging, especially after benchmark Brent crude slipped below USD$50 a barrel earlier this month, fuel traders and brokers said. In Europe, airlines such as Aer Lingus and Ryanair are aiming to take advantage of the low oil prices to lock in fuel costs into 2016 and beyond. Thai Airways plans to hedge 100 percent of its fuel purchases this year. "If you a sensible hedger, you have to look at this as an excellent opportunity," said Robert Campbell, head of oil products research at Energy Aspects.
LinkMilitary
RAF Typhoons arrive for Red Flag test
A squadron-strength detachment of Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons has arrived at Nellis AFB in Nevada, ahead of their participation in a three-week Red Flag-series exercise to be conducted from late this month. Ten Typhoons made the journey from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, with their deployment supported by Airbus A330 Voyager tanker/transports from the service’s 10 and 101 squadrons.
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Aviation Quote
My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home.
— Richard Bach
On This Date
---In 1914... The first regularly scheduled passenger airline in the United States begins service. The Benoist Company, flying its Benoist flying boat, runs a line between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.
---In 1927…In what would later become United Airlines, Boeing Air Transport is established, carrying airmail between San Francisco and Chicago.
---In 1958…4751st Air Defense Missile Wing to develop and conduct training program for Bomarc units, and the 864th Strategic Missile Squadron to be equipped with Jupiter IRBM, were both activated.
---In 1963…First A-12 flight with duel J-58 engines. At speeds of Mach 2.4-2.8 the aircraft experienced such severe roughness that it was looking as if the program could not move forward. The trouble was diagnosed as being in the air inlet system of the engines. After a considerable period of experimentation the problem was solved.
---In 1973…The last mission of a B-52 in the Vietnam War.
---In 1973…Luna 21 lands on the Moon, carrying the Lunokhod 2 rover, the second robotic lunar rover.
---In 1976…US-German Helios B solar probe launched into solar orbit.
---In 1977…Linjeflyg Flight 618, a Vickers 838 Viscount (registered SE-FOZ) crashes on approach to Stockholm-Bromma Airport. The plane entered a steep dive from an altitude of 1,150ft due to ice that had developed on the horizontal stabilizer, killing all 22 aboard.
---In 1982… SR-71B (956) flies its 1000th sortie.
---In 1991... The first hot-air balloon to cross the Pacific Ocean takes off from Japan and eventually lands in Canada.
---In 1992…A Lockheed U-2 belonging to the United States Air Force is lost in the Sea of Japan. FACTOID: The U-2 is still in active service 50 years after development, and has actually out-lived its own replacement, the SR-71, by more than a decade.
---In 1997…Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir Space Station.
---In 2002…First flight of the Airbus A318.
---In 2006…Stardust space mission returns dust from a comet to earth.
---In 2009…US Airways Flight 1549, the “Miracle on the Hudson” Airbus A320 (registered N106US) makes a successful water landing in the Hudson River after Canada geese destroy both engines. All 155 on-board survive one of the few successful ditchings in recent history.
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Trivia
1. What is a deceleron?
2.When air traffic control advises pilots of other traffic, many pilots advise the controller that the traffic is not in sight using the colloquial and unofficial phrase "no joy." From where does this expression originate?
3. The Waco CG-4A glider was used during World War II (especially during the Normandy invasion) as a cargo and troop carrier. Why was it referred to as a "flying coffin"?
4. Almost all general aviation piston engines have a wet sump, a built-in oil reservoir, instead of an external or separate oil tank. How can you determine by looking at the oil dipstick of a wet-sump engine the minimum oil quantity with which the engine can be operated safely?
5. True or False, James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle was the first solo pilot to perform a blind takeoff and landing using only cockpit instruments and radio aids.
6. True or False, Two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses took off from Hilo, Hawaii, on August 6, 1946, without anyone on board. Both landed safely at Muroc Dry Lake, California.
