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Airbus Orders Surged In April
Airbus appeared to take the lead in the order race with Boeing last month, leapfrogging its rival with confirmation of a major Latin American order. Airbus won orders for 229 aircraft between January and April and delivered 196 to customers. After cancellations, total net orders stood at 209 aircraft. Boeing started the year with a lead against Airbus in both orders and deliveries in the first quarter.
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An-178 transport makes 1h debut flight
Antonov on 7 May conducted a first flight with its An-178 transport, just three weeks after it staged a roll-out ceremony for the type in Kiev. Two test pilots and one flight test engineer were aboard the twinjet for its 1h debut, says Antonov. The aircraft carries the registration UR-EXP.
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Bombardier confirms Swiss as CSeries launch operator
Bombardier has identified Swiss International Air Lines as the launch carrier for the CSeries twinjet, with the airline taking delivery in the first half of 2016. Its formal declaration confirms remarks made by a Swiss executive to Flightglobal in February this year when the carrier’s Americas head, Patrick Heymann, revealed the company would be the first operator.
LinkAirlines
American Airlines sponsors Chinese arts festival
The Beijing Arts Festival, sponsored by American Airlines for the fifth year, takes place in China during the month of May. "This festival meets the same goals as American Airlines -- promoting cultural ties between countries and peoples," said Suzanne Boda, senior vice president for Asia, Canada and Europe for American.
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American inaugurates 787 in latest step of fleet renewal
American Airlines introduced its first Boeing 787-8 between its Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare hubs today, the latest in a string of new aircraft types at the US mainline carrier. Flight AA2320, the Fort Worth, Texas-based Oneworld Alliance carrier’s first revenue Dreamliner flight, departed Dallas/Fort Worth International airport at 07:31 local time bound for Chicago O’Hare International airport with a water cannon send off.
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Delta loyalty members favor Hawaii as an award destination
According to Consumer Reports, members of the Delta Air Lines loyalty program used their award miles to book travel to Hawaii 18% of the time. Delta offers service to four locations in Hawaii, including Honolulu.
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Southwest, Delta post highest on-time arrivals for April
Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines topped the list of U.S. carriers with the highest on-time arrival rates for April. Delta reported an 83.7% on-time arrival rate for the month, while Southwest posted an 81..3% rate.
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Emirates Group profit surges despite runway interruption
Middle Eastern operation Emirates Group has achieved its second-highest full-year profit, up 34% to Dhs5.5 billion ($1.5 billion). Emirates Group turned in a 10% rise in revenues to DHs96.5 billion despite an 80-day runway closure at its Dubai International hub which cost Dhs1.7 billion in lost income. The company had to ground 19 aircraft and reduce capacity by 9% as a result, while its ground-handling division had to support transfer of services to Dubai World Central’s Al-Maktoum airport.
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JetBlue requests permission for Antigua flights
JetBlue continues to expand its footprint in the Caribbean, filing for the authority to begin service to the island of Antigua. Antigua is one of the two main islands that make up the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. If approved, JetBlue would fly to Antigua three times a week from its main hub at New York JFK starting Nov. 5. JetBlue expects ticket sales for the new flights to begin in May, when the airline publishes its winter schedule.
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Southwest Airlines traffic rose 8.6% in April
Southwest Airlines reported an 8.6% boost in traffic for April, compared to April 2014. The carrier flew 9.9 billion revenue passenger miles during April, compared to 9.1 billion RPMs in the same month last year.
LinkAirports
Dallas Love Field champion Jim Wright dies at 92
Jim Wright, the former Democratic U.S. congressman from Texas, passed away at 92. He represented the Fort Worth district for nearly three decades and was active in airport policy, including a famous legislative battle with Southwest Airlines over limitations at Dallas Love Field. "I profoundly mourn the passing of my friend Jim while saluting his leadership that produced great benefits for both Texas and our nation," said former Southwest chairman Herb Kelleher.
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Miami is ready to roll out eye scan, fingerprint system for passengers
Miami International Airport is planning to launch its CLEAR passenger identification system that relies on fingerprints and iris-scanning technology.
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Rome Fiumicino Reopening After Terminal Fire
Rome's main Fiumicino airport has gradually reopened after a fire badly damaged the main international terminal building and forced the cancellation of dozens of flights, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. The airport, Italy's busiest with 39 million passengers in 2014, was closed when the blaze started in Terminal 3 just after midnight local time. As services slowly resumed, passengers were being sent to other terminals, where they experienced long delays.
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St. Louis airport proceeds with plan for cargo terminal
Plans to build an international air-cargo facility at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport moved forward Wednesday when the airport commission unanimously approved the project, which includes demolishing most of the original McDonnell-Douglas complex to build a new terminal with ramp space for freighter aircraft. The commission gave its support to a 20-year lease with two 10-year extension options with Bi-National Gateway Terminal LLC for 49 acres on the northern part of the airport acquired a decade ago from Boeing Co.
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Military
First overhauled Ka-31s returned to Indian navy
India’s navy has received the first two of its Kamov Ka-31 airborne early warning rotorcraft to undergo repairs at Russian Helicopters company Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise. Russian Helicopters says six aircraft from New Delhi’s initial batch of nine Ka-31s – which were ordered from Moscow in 2004 – “needed comprehensive repairs before their first scheduled overhaul”. This process has involved shipping them to its facilities in Kumertau, where the Indian aircraft had been completed more than a decade ago.
LinkUAV
Lockheed urges more X-47B testing
Lockheed Martin wants to see the continuation of the X-47B demonstrator programme led by Northrop Grumman as the US Navy’s unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) competition enters a “waiting period” with no firm requirements so far revealed. Bob Ruszkowski, Lockheed’s director of advanced air dominance and unmanned systems strategy, says that industry and the navy still have much to learn about unmanned operations within a battle carrier group that is swarming with manned aircraft.
LinkSpace
SpaceX declares success in Dragon launch abort trial
US dreams of regaining self-reliance when it comes to launching astronauts to low-Earth orbit from 2017 came a step closer yesterday with the successful test by SpaceX of the launch abort system for its Dragon crew capsule. The two-minute test from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral facility saw Dragon – mounted atop a short, dummy first stage “trunk” – fire its abort thrusters to rise along a parabolic path to a height of 1,500m. It then jettisoned the trunk and continued to an Atlantic splashdown, slowed on the descent by drogue and main parachutes.
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Aviation Quote
Our headline ran, "Virgin screw British Airways." We'd have rather preferred 'British Airways screws Virgin,' but we had to run with the facts.
— News Editor, 'The Sun' newspaper.
On This Date
---In 1926... The first federal legislation regulating civil aeronautics is passed by the U.S. Congress. The Air Commerce Act authorizes the Weather Bureau to provide meteorological service over routes designated by the Secretary of Commerce.
---In 1935... The U.S. Commerce Department announces in Washington, D.C. that blind-landing radio equipment developed by a U.S. Army Air Corps team under Captain Hegenberger is to be installed at all major airports between New York and Los Angeles.
---In 1945…VE Day; Germany surrenders, ending the Second World War in Europe.
---In 1971… Mariner 8, USA Mars Flyby, launched. Failed to reach Earth orbit.
---In 1973... The Airbus A300B prototype makes the type’s first fully automatic landing in Toulouse, France.
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