NAS Daily 13 FEB 19

airtrainer 12 Feb 19, 23:22

News

Commercial

Swissport to buy Air France’s 50% cargo handling stake at Heathrow
Ground handler Swissport has agreed to buy Air France out of a cargo-handling joint venture at London Heathrow Airport.
The Zurich-based company announced Feb. 11 that it had agreed to acquire Air France’s 50% stake to become the sole owner of Heathrow Cargo Handling.
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Hundreds of flights canceled ahead of Belgian ATC strike
A planned 24-hour strike by Belgian air traffic controllers set to begin the evening of Feb. 12 has led to hundreds of flight cancellations.
More than 400 flights to and from Belgium have been canceled by Airlines for Europe (A4E) carriers in advance of the air traffic control (ATC) strike, which is set to begin at 10 p.m. local time, the industry group said. A4E’s 15 members account for 70% of Europe’s air travel.
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LHT gains Saudi approval for business jet MRO
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation has approved Lufthansa Technik to maintain aircraft registered in the Middle Eastern country.
The approval covers a maintenance operation at Dubai’s Al Maktoum airport in a hangar that is jointly owned by German business jet operator DC Aviation and local diversified group Al Futtaim.
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ANALYSIS: Asia-Pacific January 2019 deliveries report
Asia-Pacific airlines accounted for 27 of the world’s 80 airliner deliveries during the first month of 2019.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that January’s delivery total was sharply down from the 221 global deliveries in December 2018, when Boeing and Airbus battled to meet delivery targets for the year. Nonetheless, the 80 aircraft delivered during the month was greater than the 72 deliveries made in January 2018.
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Honeywell and Curtiss-Wright roll out data-transmitting black boxes
US aerospace companies Honeywell and Curtiss-Wright have teamed to develop a line of cockpit voice and data recorders that will be capable of transmitting aircraft data to ground stations.
Curtis-Wright will also distribute the "HCR-25" recorders, which will be available for business and commercial aircraft by 2020, prior to when new European cockpit recorder rules take effect, says Honeywell.
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Airlines

IAG sets non-EU shareholding restrictions
International Airlines Group (IAG) has placed a limit on the number of shares that can be held by non-European Union (EU) citizens.
Under EU rules, all carriers within the 28-nation bloc (27 after the UK leaves the EU, or Brexit, on March 29) are required to have a majority of shares held by EU nationals.
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Air Senegal launches first GX Aviation inflight connectivity in Africa
Air Senegal has installed and activated Inmarsat's GX Aviation inflight connectivity solution on its newly delivered Airbus A330neos, making it the first African carrier to do so.
The West African airline signed a firm order for two A330neos in February 2018, the first of which arrived at Dakar Blaise-Diagne International Airport on Jan. 31. The aircraft is being deployed on flights between Dakar and Paris.
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SWISS to expand Geneva-based A220 fleet
Lufthansa Group subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will expand its Geneva-based short-haul fleet by adding three A220s, for a total of 10 aircraft—comprising seven A220-300s and three -100s—by June 2019.
The fleet expansion became necessary with the addition of six previously announced summer destinations and the introduction of up to nine daily SWISS-operated flights from Geneva to Lufthansa’s main hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.
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LaudaMotion to double A320 fleet at Palma de Mallorca
Irish LCC Ryanair subsidiary LaudaMotion will double its Palma de Mallorca, Spain-based fleet from two to four Airbus A320s beginning in June.
The move is in response to the bankruptcy of Germania, which had a base in Palma, and the closure of Norwegian’s base there.
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European regulator approves Air France-KLM, Delta, Virgin JV
The European Commission (EC) has approved a transatlantic joint venture agreement among Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic that will see the Franco-Dutch airline group acquire a 31% stake in Virgin Atlantic. The EC said Feb. 12 it approved the deal under the European Union Merger Regulation after concluding the transaction “would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area.”
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Southern Airways Express acquires Hawaii’s Mokulele Airlines
US regional Southern Airways Express has acquired Hawaiian-based commuter carrier Mokulele Airlines, in a deal that will result in the combined entity operating 1,380 weekly flights. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Southern said one of its goals for the expanded company will be to obtain additional interline ticket and baggage agreements with major carriers.
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Mongolia’s Hunnu Air to lease four E190s
Mongolian domestic carrier Hunnu Air signed a lease agreement with CDB Aviation, the European subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing, for four Embraer E190s. The first aircraft is expected to be delivered in May 2019, followed by the rest from 2020 to 2021.
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United ups Denver flights in latest growth move
United Airlines is adding more than 60 mainline flights per week at its Denver hub, the latest step in an effort to capture more connecting traffic over the mid-continent gateway.
The Chicago-based carrier will restructure its schedule at Denver International airport on Thursday, 14 February, as part of a process known as "rebanking". The move will see more arriving and departing flights clustered together in defined "banks", with the busiest bank at roughly 09:00 handling 57 mainline flights.
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Ural involved in another airstair collapse accident
Russian investigators are probing an accident during boarding of a Ural Airlines aircraft at Barnaul which involved the failure of a mobile airstair.
Surveillance video images purported showing the 12 February event indicate that the top platform of the airstair suddenly collapsed while passengers were entering the forward left-hand door of the Airbus A320.
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Malaysia formally launches A380 pilgrimage arm Amal
Malaysia Airlines has formally launched its pilgrim-based Airbus A380 operation Amal, unveiling a new logo for the service which has already been carrying out flights for some four months.
The country’s economic affairs minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali, was among the high-level parties attending the 12 February event.
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SpiceJet's Q3 operating profit falls 77%
SpiceJet made an operating and net profit of Rs550 million ($7.72 million) during its third quarter, down 77% compared with the same period in 2017.
Revenue for the three months to 31 December 2018 jumped 20% to Rs25.3 billion. However, expenses rose by a third to Rs24.8 billion due to higher operating, leasing, airport, and maintenance costs.
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Airports

Midnight Runway Race at Birmingham Airport raises £15,000 for charity
A midnight fun run down the runway at Birmingham Airport has raised over £15,000 for Acorns Children's Hospice.
More than 120 staff, friends and family took part in the run, braving cold and wet conditions at just past midnight to tackle the three kilometres of the airport’s runway, which was specifically closed for the charity run.
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Long haul flights to Asia boost Copenhagen's january traffic figures
Just short of two million passengers passed through Copenhagen Airport in January, 2.3% more than in the same month of the previous year.
The Danish gateway primarily attributes the upturn to growth on long-haul flights to Asia. Doha in Qatar, for example, makes its Top 10 most popular routes for the first time.
A total of 1.97 million travellers came through the terminals in the first month of the year.
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Bristol Airport to increase funding for noise insulation to local residents
As the development of Bristol Airport continues, the airport is offering £1.8 million to fund for noise insulation for homes in the surrounding area.
As part of proposals to increase capacity at Bristol Airport from 10 to 12 million passengers a year by the mid-2020s, the amount available to households will increase by 50 per cent up to a maximum of £7,500 per property.
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Military

Pentagon lays out F-35’s Tier II global repair network
The US Department of Defense roughly outlined the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II’s Tier II global repair network.
Tier II servicers within the F-35’s maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade network are eligible to fix nearly 400 repairable components, including avionics, power systems, landing gear, egress and canopy systems, pumps, valves and power systems, the Defense Department said 12 February.
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UK Apaches complete Arctic training
The British Army has completed a first Arctic exercise involving its Boeing/Westland Apache AH1 attack helicopters, with the six-week activity having concluded with day and night firings using the type's 30mm cannon.
Staged from Bardufoss in Norway, exercise Clockwork also involved Leonardo AW159 Wildcat battlefield reconnaissance helicopters from the Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force's 847 NAS. The work conducted will advance the combination's ability to provide an aviation strike capability in support of the Royal Marines' 3 Commando Brigade during future operations, the army says.
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New Delhi’s first CH-47Fs arrive at Indian port
The Indian air force’s first four Boeing CH-47F Chinook transport helicopters have arrived in the country, with their induction to service due later this year. The rotorcraft have arrived at Mundra Port in the western state of Gujarat, the manufacturer confirms.
“The ahead-of-schedule arrival of the Chinooks validates Boeing’s commitment to delivering on its promise of modernising India’s defence forces,” the company says.
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Boeing losses in KC-46A programme continue to rise
Boeing recorded a $736 million reach-forward loss in 2018 on its KC-46A Pegasus tanker, bringing the programme’s total losses to nearly $3.6 billion.
The programme’s losses in 2018 primarily reflected higher estimated costs associated with “certification, testing and change incorporation on aircraft,” as well as a greater than expected effort to meet the US Air Force’s requirements in order for initial aircraft to be accepted, Boeing said in its 2018 financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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