You are at netAirspace : Forum : Air and Space Forums : netAirspace Daily News

News

Commercial

Boeing CEO comments on 777X production
Jim McNerney, CEO of Boeing, said the aircraft manufacturer will transition to production of the 777X at the end of the decade "without a hit to production rates" to the 777.
Link

Speculation continues over Boeing's 757 replacement
As Boeing works out a replacement for its 757 aircraft, it has become clear that the company will not opt to refurbish the current aircraft with new engines, according to this article.
Link

Rolls-Royce to fly Trent XWB with largest-ever 3D-printed part
Rolls-Royce will flight-test later this year a Trent XWB-97 engine fitted with what it claims is the largest component ever built using additive layer manufacturing (ALM). The titanium structure is a 1.5m-diameter and 0.5m-thick front bearing housing containing 48 aerofoils, manufactured using the ALM technique, also known as 3D printing. The UK propulsion giant has already ground-tested several XWB-97s – the sole engine for the in-development Airbus A350-1000 – containing the tractor-tyre-sized part, but no engine including such a large ALM component has ever powered an aircraft in flight, says Rolls-Royce.
Link

Russia Considers Superjet Production In India
Russia could assemble the Sukhoi Superjet regional jet in India to take advantage of lower production costs, the president of United Aircraft (UAC) said on Thursday.
UAC executives had visited several Indian aircraft assembly facilities in India and were impressed with their capabilities, Yury Slyusar, UAC's new president, said at a press conference at the Aero India air show in Bengaluru.
Link

Airlines

Air France-KLM Narrows Full Year Loss
Air France-KLM on Thursday reported a narrower net loss of EUR€198 million due to changes in Dutch pension rules and a gain on the sale of shares in the Amadeus booking system. Group revenue fell 2.4 percent in 2014 to EUR€24.912 billion despite a 1.3 percent increase in passenger numbers. EBITDA earnings fell by EUR€266 million to EUR€1.589 billion, weighed down by the impact of the recent pilot strike. Air France-KLM is accelerating cost cuts and deferring debt reduction goals as pressure on revenues and a weak euro threaten to dampen the benefits of lower oil prices this year.
Link

American, Alaska ask DOT for Mexico route transfer
American Airlines plans to take over an Alaska Airlines route from Los Angeles to Mexico City. The route transfer awaits approval from the Department of Transportation.
Link

American weighs economics of 100-seat aircraft
Seat economics will dictate the future of 100-seat aircraft in American Airlines' fleet. "There is room for a 100-seater – we have 20 of them," said the airline's vice-president of fleet planning Peter Warlick earlier this month, at a delivery ceremony for American's first Embraer 175 in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. Warlick was referring to the 20 E190s – with 99 seats – operated by American subsidiary US Airways. The aircraft are largely concentrated at the airline's Philadelphia hub and operate a number of routes, including the Washington National-New York LaGuardia-Boston shuttle, Flightglobal's Innovata schedules shows.
Link

Emirates rejects Delta apology for chief's 9/11 remark
Delta Air Lines has issued an apology for a comment made by chief executive Richard Anderson during a CNN interview focused on US airlines' clash with Gulf rivals over subsidies and open skies. In an exchange with network anchor Richard Quest, Anderson sought to counter the point that US airlines had benefited from huge government subsidies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by citing "the great irony" that the terrorists originated from the same region as the Gulf carriers.
Link

Royal Air Maroc To Launch Dreamliner Service On February 22
Royal Air Maroc, the national airline of Morocco, marks a milestone with the launch of its first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The new, superefficient 274-seat aircraft will depart on its inaugural 6.5-hour flight from Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca (CMN) to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on February 22.
Link

Southwest Airlines Extends Flight Schedule Through Late October 2015
Southwest Airlines today invited Customers to lock-in low-fare travel as it adds more Heart in more cities across the United States. The airline today extended its flight schedule through Oct. 30, 2015. The new schedule will bring more nonstop service and new destinations beginning Aug. 9, 2015, for travelers flying Southwest in Santa Ana/Orange County, Washington, D.C. (Reagan National), and Columbus, Ohio.
Link

United Airlines boosts service from Chicago to Neb., Colo.
United Airlines has added an additional flight from Lincoln to Chicago O’Hare International Airport Sunday through Friday and another flight to Denver International Airport on every day but Tuesday. David Haring, Lincoln Airport executive director, says more improvements are planned to start May 6, when United Airlines will add another flight to Chicago that will depart Lincoln at 5:10 a.m., making a total of five direct flights to Chicago on a normal business day. The additional flights are seasonal and are expected to continue through Oct. 31.
Link

WestJet adds flights between Vancouver and Toronto
WestJet today announced even more non-stop flights between Vancouver and Toronto as Canadians prepare for the busy summer travel season. WestJet, Canada's most-preferred airline, will add nearly two dozen more flights between May 3 and October 24, increasing overall capacity between Vancouver and Toronto by more than 10 per cent. The schedule features up to 10 daily flights in the spring, 11 during the peak travel months of July and August, and nine in the fall.
Link

Airports

Dallas Love Field is ahead of schedule on passenger growth
Dallas Love Field is expected to handle 6.5 million passengers in 2015. The airport was initially estimated to handle up to 6.5 million passengers by 2017 or 2018. "We were somewhat surprised that the impact hit sooner than expected," said Mark Duebner, aviation director for Dallas.
Link

Miami airport launches bilingual digital magazine
Miami International Airport on Wednesday will debut a new digital magazine — MIA Connections, which will offer travelers information on the best dining, shopping and entertainment options in the airport and Miami. MIA Connections will be available free of charge via the airport's wireless network -- MIAConnex.com for laptop, tablet and smartphone users to tap into during a layover or extended stay, airport officials said.
Link

Fla. airport to improve customs wait times
The operator of the Orlando International Airport in Florida has signed a deal with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to pay overtime for customs workers. The move will allow faster processing of international passengers going through customs. "With our record growth in international passenger traffic, it is important we take advantage of opportunities to improve our customer service," said Phil Brown, executive director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
Link

Military

Airbus sole bidder for Indian AWACS project
Airbus Defense & Space appears to have emerged as the sole bidder for a global tender put out by New Delhi's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for an "AWACS India" program. The tender – for six airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system aircraft – was issued in March 2014. Airbus submitted its proposal last October, an Airbus official confirms. Other sources indicate that the European company is the lone party to have responded to a request for proposals linked to the project.
Link

Lockheed prepares to usher F-16 through 12,000h service life
The US Air Force has all but scrapped a plan to install advanced radars on its Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters, but Lockheed is pressing forward with plans to outfit other nations’ aircraft with the capability in hopes the US will eventually purchase the capability. USAF officials scrapped a comprehensive upgrade effort for F-16 Block 40 and 50 aircraft called the combat avionics programmed extension suite (CAPES) in its current fiscal year budget but preserved money over five years to replace the aircraft mission and display computers.
Link

Lockheed teams with Raytheon for JSTARS replacement
Lockheed Martin has leaped into the competition to replace the US Air Force Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS fleet, forming an alliance with radar and battle management and control specialist Raytheon, says Rob Weiss, head of the Skunk Works. The pair – along with L-3 Communications – unites the technology developed by Raytheon for the active array sensor (AAS) program with Lockheed’s open systems expertise demonstrated a year ago under Project Missouri.
Link

Lockheed reveals small self-defense weapon for fighters
The US Air Force is considering a Lockheed Martin proposal to adapt technology used for a ground-based missile defense system to protect fighters under attack in the air. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has invited proposals for a miniature self-defense munition concept study, seeking to develop a concept for a weapon to be dispensed from a fighter jet, hone in on an incoming missile and destroy it with a direct hit.
Link

SDB II undergoes live fire testing on F-15E
The US Air Force and Raytheon have conducted live fire flight tests of the Small Diameter Bomb II precision-guided weapon onboard the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle. Two successful tests firing against moving targets took place– one in September 2014 and one in early February – at White Sands Missile Test Range in New Mexico, which qualifies the weapon for USAF to make a “milestone C” decision on production. This would then ultimately lead onto it entering low-rate initial production (LRIP).
Link

Corporate

Pilatus begins engine ground runs on PC-24
Swiss airframer Pilatus is progressing towards the maiden sortie of its new PC-24, the first business jet it has ever produced, with a prototype aircraft photographed performing engine ground runs at the company’s Stans facility on 18 February. First flight of the Williams International FJ44-4A-powered type is scheduled for May this year, ushering in a two-year-long certification campaign using three flight-test articles.
Link

Aviation Quote

When I'm up in the air, it's like I'm closer to heaven; I can't explain the feeling.

— First Officer Jeffrey Gagliano, who died on AA 4184.

On This Date

---In 1915... During the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, Allan Loughead is allowed to launch an air service and flies 600 passengers across the bay during 50 days. The 10-minute flight costs $10 per passenger.

---In 1924... In Dakar, Lieutenant-Colonel Tulasne, Captain Gama and Lieutenant Michel complete the first trip across the Sahara desert and back, piloting Breguet-14 airplanes.

---In 1942…Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace after shooting down five Japanese heavy bombers.

---In 1959…The Avro CF-105 Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is canceled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

---In 1962…Piedmont retires the last of its DC-3 aircraft on the 15th anniversary of its first scheduled flight.

---In 1962…John Glenn becomes the first US astronaut to orbit the earth in Mercury Atlas 6 program on the “Friendship 7” spacecraft.

---In 1963…Austrian Airlines receives the first of five Sud-Aviation SE.210-VIR Caravelles, their first jet aircraft.

---In 1968... A standard Learjet 25 sets a new “time-to-climb” record by climbing to 40,000 feet in 6 minutes 29 seconds.

---In 1972... A USAF Lockheed HC-130H Hercules piloted by a crew commanded by Lt. Comdr. Ed Allison sets a new world record for unrefuelled flight by turboprop aircraft. It flies a distance of 14,052.94 km (8,732.5 mi.) between the Taiwanese base of Ching Chuan Kang AB and Scott AFB, Illinois.

---In 1986…Japan launches Tenma satellite to study x-rays (450/570 km).

---In 1998…TWA retires the last of its Boeing 747 “jumbo jets” The newer and more efficient Boeing 767 is now the airline’s main intercontinental aircraft.

---In 2005…British Airways Flight 268, a Boeing 747-400 departed Los Angeles enroute to London Heathrow, experiences failure of the #2 engine just after takeoff. Instead of returning to the airport, they continued on, making it all the way to England where emergency was declared and a landing in Manchester took place. Though the FAA was upset about their flying an “unairworthy” aircraft, all is forgiven.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Trivia

Google Airports

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.