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Airbus To Launch Complaint In German Spy Scandal
Airbus plans to complain to the German authorities over reports that the country's foreign intelligence agency had helped the United States to spy on it and other European firms. "We've asked the government for more information," an Airbus spokesman in Germany said. "We will launch a complaint against an unknown person on suspicion of industrial espionage."
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Liebherr division to build 777X folding wing-tip systems
German firm Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg is to supply crucial components for the folding wing-tip mechanism on the Boeing 777X. The 3.5m folding tips will reduce the type’s wing span to less than 65m, to stay within the size category of the current 777. Liebherr-Aerospace states that it will provide the fold subsystem as well as latch-pin and secondary-lock actuators.
LinkAirlines
American displays Dreamliner at DFW Airport
American Airlines displayed its Boeing Dreamliner 787 for employees and the media at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday. The carrier plans to deploy the 787 next week on a flight from Dallas to Chicago. In June, the 787 will begin flying international routes.
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Atlas Air posts strong 1Q results
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings reported net income of $29.23 million for the first quarter, an increase from the $7.9 million reported in the same quarter of 2014. First-quarter total revenue also increased to $444.85 million from $403.36 million in the first quarter of last year.
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Delta hones focus of loyalty program, exec says
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines emphasized its focus on the highest-spending passengers during remarks about its frequent flier program at a conference in Atlanta on Wednesday. “Our focus is on keeping our high-value customers,” said Karen Zachary, managing director of Delta’s SkyMiles global program, during a panel discussion at Loyalty@FreddieAwards, a conference focused on loyalty programs. “We don’t want them to shift to our competitors.”
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IAG Swings To Profit In Weaker Season
IAG reported a swing into the black from a seasonal loss for the first time, helped by lower fuel costs and an improvement in performance across its three airlines. The airline group, which is in the process of trying to acquire Aer Lingus to expand its stable of carriers, reported an underlying operating profit of EUR€25 million (USD$28 million) for the three months ended March 31.
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Southwest paints aircraft with Mo. livery to honor state
Southwest Airlines is celebrating more than three decades of service in Missouri with the debut of a plane painted in livery of the state seal. The Missouri One aircraft is the 10th aircraft Southwest has painted in honor of a state.
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Southwest inflight concert features indie rock band
Southwest Airlines marked its debut flight from Dallas Love Field to Memphis, Tenn., with an inflight concert by the Black Cadillacs. The indie rock band performed two acoustic songs for passengers and crew on Tuesday. "We see this continuing," said Michelle Agnew from Southwest. "Our customers love it. Our fans love it."
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Portugal Appeals To TAP Pilots On Eve Of Strike
The Portuguese government has appealed to pilots at TAP to call off a 10-day strike that it says would damage tourism and could ruin the airline, scuppering a sale process scheduled to start next month. The timing of the strike, due to begin on Friday, is doubly sensitive, coming at the start of the tourist season and just ahead of a May 15 deadline for bids to buy a majority stake in what is at present a wholly state-owned company.
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United raises $100M for Nepal earthquake relief in one day
United Airlines raised $100 million in relief efforts for the Nepal earthquake in one day. "This immediate outpouring of support is remarkable and shows a great deal of compassion from our customers and employees," said Mark Anderson, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs at United. The campaign started on Monday.
LinkAirports
Greece Seeks To Change Fraport Airports Deal
Greece is trying to change the conditions of a deal to lease 14 regional airports to a joint venture led by German airport operator Fraport, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal, worth EUR€1.2 billion (USD$1.3 billion), was agreed in 2014 but has been in doubt following the election of the new anti-austerity government in January.
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Minn. airport receives $6M grant for apron improvements
The Department of Transportation gave Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport a $6.2 million grant for improvements to the airport's apron. The airport is in the second phase of refurbishing a 26,200-square-yard apron.
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Military
Russia to reestablish Tu-160 supersonic bomber production line
The Russian defense ministry has confirmed that it will restart the production line for the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-160 “Blackjack” supersonic strategic bomber. In a series of tweets on 29 April, the ministry says it is “necessary to resume production of the Tu-160 missile carriers”, adding that it is “the best aircraft in its class”. Tupolev is in the process of modernising the Russian air force’s Tu-160 to an enhanced Tu-160M standard. The first upgraded example had its first flight on 16 November 2014 and was delivered in December 2014, alongside an upgraded Tu-95MS “Bear” strategic bomber.
LinkRegulatory
FAA orders new 787 electrical fix to prevent power failure
All Boeing 787 operators will be required to periodically deactivate the electrical system to avoid a problem with a newly-discovered software bug that could cause the aircraft to lose alternating current (AC) power, the US Federal Aviation Administration says in a new airworthiness directive. The agency adopted the final rule after Boeing reported the results of a laboratory test showing a total loss of power is possible if the generator control units run continuously for eight months, says the FAA’s 30 April notice in the Federal Register.
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US Switches ATC To New Computer System
The FAA has switched much of the US air traffic control system to a new advanced computer system designed to reduce flight delays and improve aircraft fuel efficiency. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told reporters that the USD$2.5 billion satellite-based En Route Automation Modernization, or ERAM, system has now fully replaced generations-old radar tracking. It was installed a month ago at the 20 FAA air traffic control centers in the continental United States.
LinkSpace
No Progress for Space Station as resupply mission fizzles
An ill-fated Russian mission to resupply the International Space Station is set to end in a high atmosphere streak of fire, with an uncontrolled re-entry expected between 5 and 7 May. Launched from Baikonur cosmodrome on 28 April, the unmanned Progress 59 and its 2.7t (6,000lbs) of food, fuel and other supplies should have reached the ISS after four orbits and 6hrs. But navigational antennae failed to deploy following separation from the main rocket, leaving Russian ground controllers unable to contact the vehicle.
LinkCorporate
Pilatus PC-24 begins taxi runs
Pilatus has begun taxi runs of its PC-24, and says the light business jet remains on target to make its first flight in May. The seven-seat twin was pictured on 29 April on the runway the airframer’s Stans, Switzerland headquarters. Launched in 2012, the PC-24 is the first business jet programme for Pilatus – builder of the PC-series of propeller-driven civil aircraft and military trainers.
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Aviation Quote
When the weight of the paper equals the weight of the airplane, only then you can go flying.
— attributed to Donald Douglas
On This Date
---In 1942... Squadron No. 588 of the Soviet Air Force, an all-woman night-bombing unit equipped with Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes, is formed in the USSR.
---In 1947…Malayan Airways (predecessor to Singapore Airlines) is founded.
---In 1952... Trans World Airways (TWA), British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and Air France launch the world’s first scheduled tourist-class flights on their transatlantic routes from New York, London and Paris.
---In 1954…The Myasishchev M-4, the first Soviet bomber designed to reach the United States and return to the Soviet Union, is displayed to the public for the first time.
---In 1960... A Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, piloted by U.S. Air Force Col. Francis Gary Powers, is shot down over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM).
---In 1960…Thai Airways International (TG) is founded.
---In 1963... Jacqueline Cochran takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, to set a 100-km (62-mile) closed-circuit world speed record for women of 1,203.7mph in a Lockheed Starfighter.
---In 1965… Luna 5, USSR Lunar Soft Lander, launched. The lunar soft-lander failed and impacted the moon.
---In 1982…A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber based on Ascension Island attacks the airfield at Port Stanley on East Falkland Island. It is the first strike of Operation Black Buck, a series of five very-long-range missions to strike Argentinian positions in the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. Each mission requires a 16-hour round trip of almost 8,000 nautical miles (9,200 statute miles; 15,000 km); they are the longest bombing missions in world history up to that time, and are not exceeded in distance and duration until the 1991 Gulf War.
---In 1982…BAE Sea Harriers attack Falklands targets for the first time and shoot down two Argentine Mirage III fighters. They are the first air-to-air kills of the Falklands War.
---In 1982…American Airlines launches AAdvantage, the first frequent flyer program in history. United Airlines launches its own program, Mileage Plus, only a week later.
---In 1990…First flight of the McDonnell Douglas MD 520N.
---In 2006…Song (airline) turned down all operations to Delta Air Lines.
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