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Commercial

All hands on deck as Toulouse battles A350 backlog
At the halfway point of the year, three-quarters of the 50 A350s which Airbus planned to deliver in 2016 had still to be handed over. Not to mention the number of A320neo deliveries which have been shunted to the second half as a result of the need to modify Pratt & Whitney geared turbofans.
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Airlines

Aeroflot Group reports 1H traffic up 10.3%
Russia’s Aeroflot Group carried 19.7 million passengers in 1H 2016, up 10.3% year-over-year (YOY). Moscow Sheremetyevo-based Aeroflot Airline carried 13.4 million passengers out of the Group’s total, up 12.2% YOY. Aeroflot Group includes Aeroflot Airline, low-cost subsidiary Pobeda Airline, Far East subsidiary Aurora Airline, Saint Petersburg-based Rossiya Airline, Orenburg-based OrenAir and Rostov-on-Don-based Donavia.
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Air Canada expands capacity to connect Vancouver,
Air Canada Rouge will more than double capacity on Western Canada routes this winter with the introduction of the Boeing 767. Routes include connections from Vancouver to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.
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Alaska Airlines to invest $40M in Anchorage facility
Alaska Airlines is planning to construct a new maintenance facility in Anchorage, a $40 million project at the site of its Signature Flight Support building. "We've made a very conscious decision to hire local companies that closely align with our values, and the creative design reflects our brand and company pride as well as the unique needs of operating the largest airline in the state," said Alaska Airlines' Karen Gruen.
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IndiGo Reports Lower Q1 Net Profit
IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation reported a fall in net profit for the June quarter of 7.4 percent, on cheaper fares and higher expenditure. Net profit of INR5.918 billion for the first quarter was down from INR6.389 billion in the same period a year ago.
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Jazeera yields drop in 1H, but outlook remains unchanged
Kuwaiti hybrid carrier Jazeera Airways reported a half-year net profit of KD6 million ($19.9 million), down 3.6% year-over-year (YOY) because of overcapacity in the local marketplace. It achieved the 1H profit figure on revenue of KD24.7 million, down 7.3% YOY.
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Juneyao Airlines expected to join Star Alliance as connecting partner
Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines is expected to join Star Alliance’s Connecting Partner Model (CPM) program in an effort to facilitate its rapid international expansion, according to an industry insider. The carrier hasn’t formally announced a decision, but it is going through internal procedures to secure approval.
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Lion Air, BOC Aviation agree to sale-and-leaseback deal
Singapore-based lessor BOC Aviation has struck a sale-and-leaseback deal with Indonesia’s Lion Air Group for two Boeing 737-800s and two 737-900ERs. The first of the 737-900ERs was delivered July 28.
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Qatar Airways Boosts IAG Stake To 20 Pct
Qatar Airways has taken advantage of the recent stock market slump to increase its stake in British Airways parent IAG to 20 percent. Qatar Air’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the recent market valuation of International Airlines Group had provided “an attractive opportunity” to lift its shareholding.
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SIA 777 engine fire points to crack tube in oil heat exchanger
Singapore's Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) says fuel was found in the oil system of the right engine of the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER that caught fire upon landing on 27 June. In the two-page interim statement, the bureau says investigation is still in the preliminary stage but points to three key findings.
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UPS posts $1.27 billion net profit in 2Q
US-based United Parcel Service (UPS) posted a $1.27 billion net profit for the second quarter of 2016, up 3.2% from net income of $1.23 billion in the same quarter in 2015. International package operating profit was $613 million, up 11.1%, the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. US domestic package operating profit market increased 2.7% over the second quarter of 2015, to $1.23 billion. Revenue per package was flat compared to second quarter 2015.
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Virgin America expands service to Newark
San Francisco-based Virgin America will add 4X-daily service from Newark International Airport (EWR) to Los Angeles and San Francisco Nov. 18. Virgin America director-network planning Adam Green said the new service “will allow us to offer our guests even more choice when traveling from the East Coast with up to 25 flights departing the New York metropolitan area each day. Our transcontinental schedule is also focused on convenience—we have timed the flights so that guests don’t have to travel too early in the morning or too late in the evening.”
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Airports

Fla. airport opens indoor pet relief area
Florida's Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport opened a restroom for pets and service dogs inside the facility's B terminal. The restroom features a small patch of artificial grass, a sink and clean up supplies.
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Security Boosted at Amsterdam Schiphol
Dutch police increased security checks at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Saturday after reports of a possible threat were received. Dutch media reported a strong police presence around the airport in response to the unspecified threat as officers searched cars entering the area.
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Fraport Reduces Stake In St Petersburg Airport
Fraport is selling part of its stake in Thalita Trading, the operator of Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg to Qatar Investment Authority. Thalita is the parent company of Northern Capital Gateway, which has the 30-year concession for operating Pulkovo.
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Military

F-35's ability to hide makes training a challenge
The stealth capabilities of the F-35 Lightning II are so advanced that they have made training a challenge. In a recent exercise, F-35s had to turn on transponders so anti-air weapons could track them.
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Final Australian MH-60R Seahawk delivered
Lockheed Martin delivered the last of 24 Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopters to the US Navy on 27 July in support of a foreign military sale to the service’s Australian counterpart. Dating from a 2011 order, the Romeo is used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) primarily for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare but is employed in a number of other roles including search and rescue and personnel transport.
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Aviation Quote

. . . then there was war in heaven. But it was not angels. It was that small golden zeppelin, like a long oval world, high up. It seemed as if the cosmic order were gone, as if there had come a new order, a new heavens above us: and as if the world in anger were trying to revoke it . . . So it seems ours cosmos is burst, burst at last, the stars and Moon blown away, the envelope of the sky burst out, and a new cosmos appeared, with a long-ovate, gleaming central luminary, calm and drifting in a glow of light, like a new Moon, with its light bursting in flashes on the earth, to burst away the earth also. So it is the end — our world is gone, and we are like dust in the air.

- Milton, 'Paradise Lost.'

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Trivia

General Knowledge

1. When a US Army Air Corps pilot earned their wings in WW2, the center of the wings contained a shield. Some wings contained a star(Command or Senior pilot), a "G"(a Glider pilot), or an "L"(a Liason pilot). What pilot wings contained a diamond?

2. True or False, a tandem airplane has two seats, one behind the other.

3. In 1943, the RAF's 617 Squadron flew Avro Lancaster bombers exactly 60 feet over three reservoirs at night before dropping "bouncing bombs" to destroy three German dams that were protected by torpedo nets. Altimeters were not sufficiently accurate, and there were no radio altimeters at that time. How did these pilots, "The Dam Busters" level off and maintain the required sixty foot height?

4. Estimate within ten knots the highest surface winds ever recorded anywhere (and not associated with a hurricane or tornado).

5. What biplane was produced in the greatest numbers?

6. Class A airspace begins at Flight Level 180. Flight into that airspace requires that a pilot have an instrument rating, that the airplane be IFR equipped and first receive an appropriate ATC clearance. How may a VFR-only pilot fly at FL240 without meeting any of these requirements and without special permission?