AirlinesAirBaltic: CS300 performance ‘exceeding expectations’Latvian carrier airBaltic reported its Bombardier CS300 operation performance is exceeding expectations since launching scheduled flights in December. The CS300 launch customer took delivery of the aircraft Nov. 28, 2016, and launched its first flight from Riga to Amsterdam Dec. 14. It received its second CS300 Dec. 31. The two aircraft have completed more than 100 flights and flown over 200 hours.
LinkAlitalia scraps proposed Air Malta stakeItalian flag carrier Alitalia has terminated plans to take a major stake in neighboring national airline Air Malta. Talks on Alitalia taking a shareholding in the Maltese airline, which were scheduled to be completed in summer 2016, had become increasingly protracted. Maltese newspapers speculated last weekend that negotiations between Alitalia and the Maltese government, which owns the tiny Mediterranean island’s airline, had broken down.
LinkAmerican sees growth in revenueAmerican Airlines is projecting a better-than-expected fourth quarter, despite a 0.8% drop in December traffic. The company also reported increases in traffic and seat capacity for all of 2016.
LinkBritish Airways cabin crew to strike againBritish Airways (BA) is facing a fresh bout of industrial action from some of its cabin crew after the union involved said staff would strike for 72 hours next week over pay rates. Members of the Unite trade union who work on BA’s mixed fleet based at London Heathrow Airport will stop work at 12:01 a.m. local time Jan. 19. Mixed fleet personnel operate both short- and long-haul services; Unite said that around 2,900 of the 4,500 mixed fleet cabin crew are union members, with 800 having joined since the dispute started.
LinkEasyJet take-off data incident uncovers software anomalyInvestigations have traced an EasyJet A319 take-off performance incident at Malaga to a software anomaly in a particular electronic flightbag function. The flaw enabled the flightbag to display information for two different runways simultaneously, which led the crew to use take-off calculations for runway 13 during a departure from runway 31.
LinkEurowings: Wet lease of airberlin A320s a challenging taskEurowings Europe, which is adding 33 wet-leased airberlin Airbus A320s to its fleet by the end of April, said the additional aircraft will create operational challenges for the Lufthansa Group low-cost subsidiary (LCC). Eurowings MD Michael Knitter told ATW that one of several challenges facing the LCC is training airberlin flight attendants to Eurowings standards. “We started cabin crew training on Jan. 10. Airberlin needs five to six crews per aircraft. Also, at the same time, we have to bring together two different operations [airberlin and Eurowings fleets] into the same traffic control center,” Knitter said.
LinkJetBlue grows revenue passenger miles in Dec.Traffic, load factor and capacity all increased at JetBlue Airways in December. Passenger traffic for the final month of 2016 hit almost 4 billion revenue passenger miles, an increase of 4.5% over the previous year.
LinkMozambique authorities: No UAV collision with LAM Mozambique 737A LAM Mozambique Boeing 737-700 that landed in Tete, Mozambique, Jan. 5 with nose damage was not hit by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), authorities in Mozambique have concluded. The aircraft was widely reported to have been in a possible drone collision as it approached the airport, but the evidence does not bear that out, the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) said. IACM is the civil aviation regulator in Mozambique.
LinkSpiceJet orders more Boeing 737 MAX 8sIndian low-cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet has substantially increased its commitment for Boeing 737s, with a major order for the forthcoming 737 MAX 8. The carrier already has an order for 42 737 MAX 8s on Boeing’s books. The new order, announced Jan. 13, adds a further 100 MAX 8s that were booked at the end of 2016, 13 additional MAXs that Boeing’s had previously attributed to an unidentified customer, plus purchase rights for 50 more aircraft.
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