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Airbus considers compacting A380 forward staircase
Airbus is developing an alternative forward staircase design for the A380 as part of plans to offer greater seating capacity on the type. The staircase would be a more compact installation, set side-on to the aisle, more in line with the spiral design of the early Boeing 747 than the sweeping flight at the main-deck passenger entry door.
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Bombardier's Chinese hopes rest on CSeries success
Bombardier’s China strategy has pushed the envelope, but has not seen a payoff yet. The Canadian airframer has sold a number of CRJ regional jets in the country, but is still struggling to find a solid footing for its CSeries family. Early on, the company moved to find an ally in Comac, hoping that such a partnership would help the CSeries sell in China.
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Airbus sticks to A350 delivery target
Airbus acknowledges the narrowing timeline for meeting its A350 delivery target for 2016, but is standing by its forecast of 50 aircraft. The airframer has handed over 28 A350s so far this year, including the most recent – the Singapore Airlines jet which marked 10,000 Airbus deliveries.
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GE Aviation completes initial ground testing of GE9X engine
GE Aviation has completed the initial ground testing of the first full GE9X development engine, which will power Boeing’s 777X aircraft that is scheduled to begin production in 2017, with first delivery in 2020. GE Aviation GM-GE9x program Ted Ingling said, “During ground testing at GE Aviation’s Peebles Testing Operation, the first GE9X engine performed flawlessly, providing the engineering team with 1,200 individual data streams that reaffirmed the design. We look forward to the next phase of testing for the engine program.”
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FAA facing backlash over noise issues created by PBN flight paths
FAA is contending with a backlash from some communities around airports where Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures have inadvertently created concentrated areas of increased aircraft noise. “We’ve gotten a few calls and letters,” FAA administrator Michael Huerta said at the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) Conference and Exposition in National Harbor, Maryland. “PBN has certainly made flights more efficient. More precise navigation paths have an effect of shrinking the [overall] noise footprint of aircraft, but it does have the effect of concentrating the noise over a smaller area under the flight path.”
LinkAirlines
Air Astana eyes more European flights to develop transfer business
Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana wants to increase its European presence by taking advantage of Almaty and Astana hubs to focus on transfer passengers flying from Europe to Russian and Asian destinations.
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Air Canada connecting Vancouver, New Delhi
Air Canada is poised to begin service connecting Vancouver, B.C., and New Delhi. Canada's national carrier will begin thrice-weekly flights starting Oct. 20.
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Air New Zealand sells out of Virgin Australia
Air New Zealand (ANZ) has raised A$65.7 million ($50.4 million) from the sale of its remaining Virgin Australia shares. In March, ANZ said it was considering selling its 25.9% shareholding because it no longer had significant influence over Virgin Australia. ANZ sold 810,613,877 shares in June for A$0.33 per share, retaining just 2.5% of the company.
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Frontier takes first Leap-powered A320neo in US
Denver-based Frontier Airlines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo, becoming the first US carrier to receive the aircraft with CFM Leap-1A engines. “We’re excited to receive our first A320neo,” says Frontier president and chief executive Barry Biffle. “The efficiency of the A320neo will help us lower costs even more and pass those savings along to our customers.”
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Hawaiian Airlines posts strong income growth for third quarter
Hawaiian Holdings, the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, reported a 46.3% jump in income for the third quarter, beating analyst predictions.
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JetBlue chairman: "A great business attracts great people"
JetBlue focuses on attracting the right kind of people to make the company great, writes JetBlue Chairman Joel Peterson. "A great business attracts great people -- and then keeps them by empowering them to do their best rather than preventing them from doing their worst," he writes.
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Cockpit Smoke Causes Lufthansa Emergency Landing
A Lufthansa Boeing 747 made an emergency landing in Canada after smoke was reported in the cockpit. The plane, on a flight from Frankfurt to Orlando with 345 passengers and 18 crew members onboard, landed at Gander Airport in Newfoundland.
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MH370 Search Delayed By Bad Weather
The underwater search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will extend into 2017 as bad weather has hampered the extensive search. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the underwater search of 120,000 square km of the southern Indian Ocean, now expects to complete the task by February 2017.
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United Airlines looks for growth in trans-Atlantic flights
After a record breaking 2015, the airline industry has come back down to Earth this year. Revenue and profit margins across the industry have slipped dramatically in 2016 amid a dip in fares. However, United Airlines' new president Scott Kirby believes the tough times are about to get better.
LinkAirports
JetBlue looks to enhance customer service at Kennedy Airport
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is considering returning ownership of three sets of moving walkways at John F. Kennedy International Airport to JetBlue. If the Port Authority board approves, JetBlue would receive $4 million to help with repairs and a yearly rent reduction of $660,000 to maintain the walkways. "We are hopeful the Port Authority board will approve the proposal that allows JetBlue to take on the repair and ongoing maintenance of the walkways for our customers and crew members," the company said in a statement.
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Military
Rafale's new targeting pod gets airborne
A key sensor update for the Dassault Rafale’s in-development F3R software standard is on track to deliver enhanced capability from mid-2018, according to Thales. Disclosing first details of an ongoing test campaign involving its targeting long-range identification optronic system (TALIOS) pod, Thales says the payload has been successfully flown using a Dassault Mirage 2000 testbed and a single-seat Rafale.
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Chinese fighters to take Zhuhai spotlight
Accessing the biennial Airshow China gathering in Zhuhai is by no means easy – for aviation journalists, at least. There is considerable bureaucracy involved in securing a “J2” visa, and once in Zhuhai itself, hotel rates jump by five or six times during show week. It is also challenging to get affordable transport out to the show, which is a 90min drive away, and once there, the entrances change daily. It is as if the organizers are unconsciously channeling the anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy that is so much a part of Chinese military planning. Airpower elements of A2/AD, which broadly aims to push enemy forces a good distance from Chinese territory, have been evident at the last few editions of the show.
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RAAF to equip one A330 MRTT as VIP transport
Australia has decided that one of its two incoming Airbus Defense and Space A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft will have an interior customized for transporting government officials. The primary role of the aircraft will be as an air-to-air refuelling platform, but it will have features consistent with transporting high-level personnel on international flights, says Australia’s Department of Defense.
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Aviation Quote
If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and lose it quickly.
- Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery
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