NAS Daily 20 FEB 20

airtrainer 19 Feb 20, 21:10

News

Commercial

Donald Trump Doesn't Want A Ban On Jet Engine Sales To China
President Donald Trump has indicated that he will not support a ban on jet engine sales to China. This comes after previous news indicated that the United States government could ban the sale of jet engines for China’s C919 jet.
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GE, Stung by Boeing Pullback, Pitches for New Business With Airbus
General Electric Co. is looking for new business from Airbus SE, as the engine maker’s other big customer, Boeing Co., retrenches.
GE is in talks with Airbus to design and sell an engine variant for Airbus’ latest wide-body, called the A330neo, according to people familiar with the matter. The discussions come in the wake of Boeing’s decision to cut back production of that plane’s rival 787 Dreamliner, according to these people.
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U.S. Ups Import Duty Rate on New Airbus Aircraft
The European Commission has yet to reveal its next move in response to the U.S. government’s decision to raise tariffs from the current 10 percent rate to 15 percent on new Airbus aircraft imported from the European Union (EU), effective March 18.
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Gulfstream G700 Begins Flight Testing
The new Gulfstream G700 achieved first flight this afternoon, departing Gulfstream Aerospace’s headquarters at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport at 1:19 p.m. and landing back at the Georgia airport two hours and 32 minutes later.
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Airbus Outlines Gradual A320 Production Increase
Airbus has outlined plans to further increase the production of its successful A320 series aircraft to up to 67 per month from 60 at present. The airframer is tempering the output of the A330 to just 40 aircraft this year and will keep the production rate of its A350s to between nine and 10 units per months owing to “overall customer demand for widebody aircraft.”
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Undelivered Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft To Be Inspected For Foreign Objects
The plot thickens with the Boeing 737 MAX crisis after foreign objects from the manufacturing stage were found inside the fuel tanks of ground Boeing 737 MAXs. This has prompted Boeing to head back and inspect all 400 or so grounded aircraft.
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The Boeing NLT - A Competitior To The Airbus A321XLR?
A recent article from The Air Current has brought to light a new direction for Boeing. Could it be considering revitalizing its older ‘NLT’ concept – the Boeing New Light Twin.
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Airlines

What To Expect From SWISS' First Airbus A320neo
On Thursday the 20th of February, Swiss Airlines will welcome its first Airbus A320neo. Here’s what to expect from the Lufthansa subsidiary’s new aircraft.
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The Coronavirus Epidemic Is Seriously Hurting Cathay Pacific
As Hong Kong reels from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Cathay Pacific is in a world of pain and undergoing the most challenging time it has ever faced.
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Qantas Partner Airlines Will Help With Chicago Route Launch
Qantas is teaming up with its North American partner airline American Airlines and fellow oneworld founder British Airways to launch their new Brisbane to Chicago direct flights.
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JetBlue London Flights - Everything We Know So Far
JetBlue has been teasing passengers about flights to London for a year now. The airline generated lots of buzz in 2019 about the flights but they are yet to take off.
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Delta Warns Passengers About Flight With Coronavirus Couple
Delta Airlines is getting in contact with passengers that were flying alongside a couple diagnosed with novel coronavirus. The man and woman from Japan were visiting Hawaii and the carrier is reaching out to those on flight DL611 that left Honolulu for Nagoya on February 6th.
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SilkAir To Merge with Singapore Airlines
SilkAir will merge with parent company Singapore Airlines as part of a plan to restructure the group’s business and optimize its network. The merger, scheduled for completion by end 2021 or early 2022, will see the creation of one company whose aircraft will all carry the SIA livery.
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HNA Group Take Over - What This Means For Hainan Airlines
Novel Coronavirus is continuing to take its toll on the economy of China. Hainan Airlines was already struggling with its finances before the outbreak. However, the spread of the virus has further weakened its standing and the government of China is primed to take over the carrier’s parent, HNA Group.
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American Airlines Gives A Tiny Horse The First Class Treatment
Arriving in American Airlines’ first class cabin, you wouldn’t usually be confronted by a long face. After all, this is a premium cabin and most people are happy to be there (unless of course they just got gifted an upgrade). However, this wasn’t a long sad face, it was a super cute furry face belonging to a miniature service horse called Fred.
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What's Next For Aerolineas Argentinas Now Their A340s Are Retired?
In the early hours of Monday morning, the only remaining A340 registered in Argentina landed its final commercial flight. The aircraft, registered LV-FPU, was in service for Aerolineas Argentinas which has now retired all its A340s. But what’s next for the airline now the A340s are out of action?
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American Airlines Expands Meal Pre-Selection To Regional Flights
One of the joys of flying premium cabins is a complimentary meal service on longer routes. Although, running out of your first meal choice is something that could be frustrating to a number of passengers. Now, American Airlines is combating that problem on American Eagle flights by introducing a meal pre-selection program for premium customers.
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Qatar Airways Now Owns Over A Quarter Of IAG
Qatar Airways has upped its stake in the International Airlines Group. The Middle Eastern airline now owns a quarter of British Airways’ parent company.
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Airports

Wellington Airport installs real-time runway monitoring system
Following the installation of a runway monitoring system and state-of-the-art sensors, Wellington Airport (WLG) has become the first airport in the southern hemisphere to utilise the technology, and can now monitor runway surface conditions through the access of real-time data.
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Heathrow Airport pledges to deliver 400 new apprenticeships in 2020
With nearly 1,100 apprentices beginning their career journeys in 2019, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has broken its annual apprenticeship record.
As a result, employers across the Heathrow Airport network have pledged to recruit over 400 more apprentices in 2020.
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Drones used to inspect the flight field at Seville Airport
Seville Airport has announced that it has carried out a pilot project with drones to check the new functionalities provided by these unmanned Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAS) in different airport environments.
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Construction set to begin on express road at Melbourne Airport
Construction work for a new elevated loop road connecting the Tullamarine Freeway to the Terminal T4 Car Park at Melbourne Airport (MEL) is scheduled to begin at the end of February 2020. The project is the largest road investment in the airport’s history.
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Aviation Quote

So it was that the war in the air began. Men rode upon the whirlwind that night and slew and fell like archangels. The sky rained heroes upon the astonished earth. Surely the last fights of mankind were the best. What was the heavy pounding of your Homeric swordsmen, what was the creaking charge of chariots, besides this swift rush, this crash, this giddy triumph, this headlong sweep to death?

- H. G. Wells, 'The World Set Free,' 1914.