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Boeing Delivers 50th Airplane to EL AL
Boeing (BA) and EL AL, the Israeli flag-carrier, celebrated a major milestone today with the delivery of the airline's 50th airplane purchased from Boeing – a Next-Generation 737-900ER. The delivery is the fifth 737-900ER for the airline following an order placed for eight between 2011 and 2013. Since taking delivery in 1961 of its first new Boeing airplane, a 707-420, EL AL's fleet has expanded to include an all-Boeing fleet consisting of 21 737s, seven 747s, six 767s and six 777s.
LinkAirlines
American to offer upgraded aircraft on Manchester-JFK route
American Airlines will roster a newly-retrofitted B767-300ER onto its Manchester-New York JFK route this summer. The aircraft is the first on the daily route to feature the carrier's fully-flat business class product. It will operate between the two cities from March 29. The business cabin has 28 seats, each with direct aisle access and arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration.
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Emirates Expects Drop In Annual Fuel Costs
Emirates expects lower oil prices to translate into fuel savings in the financial year ending this month but is braced for foreign exchange hits in markets such as Europe, India and Russia. Chief operating officer Adel Al Redha did not put a figure on the fuel costs but said their proportion of the company's total costs was expected to fall to 35-37 percent, from 42 percent in the previous 12 months.
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JetBlue predicts higher unit revenue for Q1
JetBlue Airways predicted its unit revenue for the first quarter would rise by up to 4%
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Lufthansa earnings rise amid sharp net profit decline
Lufthansa Group’s operating profit increased around 37% to €954 million ($1 billion) in 2014, but net profit declined 82% to €55 million compared with the previous year. Last June, the German airline group had downgraded its operating profit target from €1.3-1.5 billion to €1 billion, citing lower-than-projected sales in its passenger and cargo businesses. Adjusted operating profit rose just under 13% to €1.18 billion, while revenue remained flat at €30 billion in 2014. The group says it is facing “substantial” yield declines.
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Southwest traffic, PRASM increased in Feb.
Southwest Airlines reported a 6% increase in passenger traffic on a year-over-year basis. Passenger revenue per available seat mile for Southwest also rose 1% for the month.
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Southwest invests $156 million in construction of Hobby terminal
Southwest Airlines is investing $156 million in building an international terminal at Hobby Airport in Houston. Construction on the five-gate terminal is slated to finish in October, and the terminal could eventually expand to 12 gates.
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WestJet provides further update on phone scam
WestJet today provided another update regarding the ongoing telephone scam that continues to implicate WestJet and other prominent Canadian brands. Following the last WestJet news release on this matter in November 2014, the perpetrators appeared to move on and instead use the names of other brands. However, the calls have returned in recent weeks, beginning by suggesting "you have won 999 WestJet dollars."
LinkAirports
Officials evaluate a proposed AirTrain route to LGA
“Maybe here,” Sean Hennessey said, walking in a circle in a snowy parking lot — specifically, Lot P1 at La Guardia Airport. Mr. Hennessey, an assistant professor of tourism and lodging at New York University and a travel industry consultant, was halfway down Aisle 104, guessing where Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed $450 million AirTrain would let its passengers off.
LinkMilitary
E-2D embarks on first deployment aboard USN carrier
Five Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft deployed on board the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier on 11 March, marking the first operational mission for the aircraft. Assigned to Carrier Air Wing 1’s VAW-125 “Tigertails” squadron, based at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia, the aircraft on board the carrier will now embark on a world tour conducting operations in the USN’s 5th, 6th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility.
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First Italian-assembled F-35 rolls off the line
The first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II built outside the USA on 12 March rolled off the final assembly and check out (FACO) line in Cameri, Italy. The F-35A is the first assembled at either of the two international FACOs – the other is in Japan – and is the first of eight on the line overseen by industry partner Alenia Aermacchi. Designated AL-1, it will undergo further check-out testing in preparation for first flight later in 2015.
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RAF Sentinel may be positioning for anti-Islamic State fight
Sources have revealed that the Royal Air Force’s Raytheon Sentinel R1 surveillance aircraft is due to be transferred to an undisclosed base in the Mediterranean, suggesting that it is being positioned to join the coalition fight against Islamic State militants. Other aircraft have been based out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and this is likely to be the base for Sentinel should it join the UK’s “Operation Shader” anti-IS effort.
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Saab upbeat over Gripen E prospects beyond Brazil
Saab’s final assembly work on its first prototype Gripen E/NG fighter is “well under way”, the company says, as officials report unprecedented market interest in the product. The first fuselage sections of test aircraft 39-8 have already come together in Linköping, demonstrating the benefits of its all-digital design, says Jerker Ahlqvist, head of the company’s Gripen business unit.
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Aviation Quote
The cockpit was my office. It was a place where I experienced many emotions and learned many lessons. It was a place of work, but also a keeper of dreams. It was a place of deadly serious encounters, yet there I discovered much about life. I learned about joy and sorrow, pride and humility, fear and overcoming fear. I saw much from that office that most people would never see. At times it terrified me, yet I could always feel at home there. It was my place, at that time in space, and the jet was mine for those moments. Though it was a place where I could quickly die, the cockpit was a place where I truly lived.
— Brian Shul, Sled Driver; Flying The World's Fastest Jet, 1992.
On This Date
---In 1910... The first airplane flight in Switzerland is made by German Capt. P. Englehardt who takes off in a Wright Flyer from a frozen lake in St. Moritz.
---In 1922…The first attempt at crossing the South Atlantic by flight is made by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in a Fairey III. They needed to use three of the aircraft to complete the trip from Lisbon to Rio de Janerio.
---In 1928... The first Canadian woman to obtain a pilot’s license, Miss Eileen M. Vollick, passes her flight test in Hamilton, Ontario on Curtiss aircraft.
---In 1945... U. S. interest in flight is so popular that courses in aviation are being taught at this point in 14,000 of America’s 25,686 high schools.
---In 1945… An Avro Lancaster of No. 617 Squadron RAF drops the first 22,000 lb (9,980 kg) Grand Slam bomb.
---In 1951... The Australian airline Qantas begins a survey flight from Rose Bay, Sydney to Valparaiso, Chile with a Catalina (VH - ASA).
---In 1954…A BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) Lockheed L-749A (G-ALAM) crashes in Kallang Singapore, killing 33 of the 40 on-board. Pilot fatigue is blamed for the aircraft falling short of the runway and striking a concrete wall.
---In 1967…South African Airways Flight 406, a Vickers Viscount 818 (ZS-CVA) crashes into the sea while on approach to East London, South Africa. The Captain suffers a fatal heart attack and the First Officer is unable to regain control of the aircraft. All 25 on the aircraft perish.
---In 1969…Apollo 9 ends after a 10-day test of the Lunar Module in Earth’s lower orbit.
---In 1974…Sierra Pacific Airlines Flight 806 strays off course and collides with terrain in Bishop, California. All 36 aboard perish on the Convair CV-440 (N4819C).
---In 1997…An Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 crashes in Mashhad, Iran after reporting an engine failure.
---In 2002…Thomas Cooke Airlines Belgium commences flight operations.
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