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Season's Greetings From The NAS Staff



NEWS

AA/BA/IB expand transatlantic JV codesharing
American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia on Friday said they would add another 317 codeshare flights to their transatlantic joint venture. The JV long-sought by the oneWorld partners officially launched in October, when American added its code to 322 BA and IB flights serving 101 destinations, BA added its code to 2,063 AA and IB flights serving 181 destinations, and IB added its code to 354 AA and BA flights serving 96 destinations. On Friday, they announced that starting Monday Iberia will add its code to 72 additional AA flights in 23 markets and 86 additional BA flights to 24 markets; AA will add its code to an additional 57 BA flights to 16 markets and 4 IB flights to two markets; and BA will add its code to 42 additional AA flights to 18 markets and 56 IB flights to eight markets.
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Ryanair rejects rumors about Virgin
Ryanair on Friday dismissed speculation that it might bid for Virgin Atlantic Airways, saying that while it is interested in a low fares transatlantic service, it has “no intention of bidding for a high fares airline.”
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China Eastern unveils cargo consolidation plan
China Eastern Airlines revealed its plan to consolidate its cargo subsidiaries as the merger process with Shanghai Airlines accelerates.
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Swiss: 2011 to be 'year of consolidation'
Swiss International Air Lines CEO Harry Hohmeister said at the Star Alliance meeting in Queenstown that “2011 will be the year of consolidation for us,” noting, “We will not add new long-haul routes [but will] consolidate against the current trend in the industry.”
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Finnair unveils €10m livery revamp

Oneworld carrier Finnair has formally unveiled a new livery for its fleet, featuring a largely silver-white colour scheme and much bolder branding titles on the fuselage. Finnair says the revamp is part of its 'Vision 2020' business plan and will be introduced from January, along with an overhaul of its service principles.
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First RAF personnel to start Rivet Joint conversion in January

The first UK Royal Air Force personnel to transition from the British Aerospace Nimrod R1 onto the Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence aircraft will enter training in January 2011, before going on to support US Air Force operations with the type from later in the year.
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India receives first C-130J
Lockheed Martin has delivered the first of six C-130J aircraft to the Indian Air Force. The Rolls Royce AE2100-powered transport, handed over on 16 December, will be flown to India together with the second aircraft in early January. The remaining four aircraft are to be delivered later in 2011.
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Other News

Delta Air Lines announced it will expand the first-class cabin on approximately 350 aircraft, adding 1,200 Weber Aircraft first-class seats to domestic MD-88, MD-90, Boeing 757-200 and 767-300 aircraft by summer 2013, in response to business customers' requests for more premium cabin seating.

Aeromexico said Friday it has reached agreement with its pilots on a new labor pact that will allow for growth and increases in productivity. Though details were not released, Chairman Jose Luis Barraza said, "This agreement with the pilots is the most important structural change the company has made in terms of labor agreements and will allow the airline a sustainable growth in the immediate future."

US Air Transport Assn. urged the US government and other parties to the OECD to conclude a new Aircraft Sector Understanding on export credits so as to "begin neutralizing" what it argues is an unfair advantage enjoyed by non-US airlines that can access aircraft funding guaranteed by the US Export-Import Bank (. According to the organization, OECD is "on the verge of concluding a new ASU.”

US airline passenger revenue rose 14.5% in November compared to November 2009, marking the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year increases, Air Transport Assn. reported. RPMs rose 6.5% while yield climbed 7.5%. Domestic passenger revenues climbed 11% while international revenues jumped 23% for the month. Data is based on reports from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, US Airways and their affiliated regional airlines, but not Southwest Airlines.

Airbus and CAAC signed an MOU to cooperate on air traffic management solutions. The MOU states that Airbus will assist CAAC with the introduction and implementation of new ATM technologies and best practices, sharing its experience in Europe as CAAC develops future ATM systems in China.

Lufthansa said its fifth Airbus A380 will commence twice-weekly service Feb. 18 from Frankfurt to New York JFK, the fourth A380 destination the carrier has announced and its first US destination for the aircraft type. Initially operating on Mondays and Fridays, LH said it plans to increase the route's frequency to daily by mid-April. LH has ordered 15 A380s, all scheduled for delivery by 2015.

Boeing and information and communications solutions provider Fujitsu signed a strategic alliance aimed at helping airlines reduce errors regarding inventory and manual data entry without creating new processes. The two companies will jointly develop "a service to enable greater efficiency in aircraft maintenance operations," employing tools such as Radio Frequency Identification devices and Contact Memory buttons. It aims to launch the service in the first quarter of 2012.

Mxi Technologies was selected by Icelandair Technical Services to provide its Maintenix software for total-care services provided to Icelandair and international operators.

ASIG renewed and expanded aircraft de-icing agreements with Frontier Airlines to continue providing services at Washington National, Indianapolis and Chicago Midway. It also agreed to provide de-icing for Frontier at two new locations: Bradley near Hartford and Salt Lake City.



AVIATION QUOTE

There are no accidents and no fatal flaws in the machines; there are only pilots with the wrong stuff.

— Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff,1979.

ON THIS DATE

December 20, 1928

In 1928... Australian George Wilkins and Lieutenant Carl Eielson make the first flight over Antarctica. They use a Lockheed Vega for the 10-hour flight.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

USAF reactions to this event follow:

Air Education and Training Command:
The purpose is to familiarize the chicken with road-crossing procedures. Road-crossing should be performed only between the hours of sunset and sunrise. Solo chickens must have at least three miles of visibility and a safety observer.

Special Ops:
The chicken crossed at a 90 degree angle to avoid prolonged exposure to a line of communication. To achieve maximum surprise, the chicken should have performed this maneuver at night using NVG's, preferably near a road bend in a valley.

Air Combat Command:
The chicken should log this as a GCC sortie only if road-crossing qualified. The crossing updates the chicken's 60-day road-crossing currency only if performed on a Monday or Thursday or during a full moon. Instructor chickens may update currency any time they observe another chicken cross the road.

Tanker Airlift Control Center:
We need the road-crossing time and the time the chicken becomes available for another crossing.

Command Post:
What chicken?

Tower:
The chicken was instructed to hold short of the road. This road-incursion incident was reported in a Hazardous Chicken Road-Crossing Report (HCRCR). Please re-emphasize that chickens are required to read back all hold short instructions.

C-130 crewmember:
Just put it in back and let's go.

C-141 crewmember:
I ordered a no. 4 with Turkey and ham, NOT chicken. Besides, where the heck are my condiments?! We ain't taking off til' I get my condiments!!!

Fighter dude:
Look, dude, that was the frag, OK? I've flown my 1.0 for the day and I ain't got time for anymore questions!

B-1 crew:
Missed the whole show--we had an IFE so we couldn't get out to see it; you'll have to ask the SOF.

Air Force Personnel Center:
Due to the needs of the Air Force, the chicken was involuntarily reassigned to the other side of the road. This will be a 3-year controlled tour and we promise to give the chicken a good-deal assignment afterwards. Every chicken will be required to do one road-crossing during its career, and this will not affect its opportunities for future promotion.

John Warden:
The chicken used its unique ability to operate in 2 dimensions to bypass the less important strategic rings on this side of the road and strike directly into the heart of the enemy, thereby destroying the will of the enemy to fight and thus ending the conflict on terms favorable to the chicken.

Congress:
The chicken will do anything to get the C-17 and the F-22



TRIVIA

AIRLINE SCRAMBLE

1. ANOLCETTNIN
2. TUIDEN
3. LAEDT
4. TSTENWORH
5. WMOAKH
6. RKOAZ
7. RRNOITEF
8. AORNKE
9. NGPAROSIE
10. GENSKHIRIF

1. ANOLCETTNIN Continental
2. TUIDEN United
3. LAEDT Delta
4. TSTENWORH Northwest
5. WMOAKH Mohawk
6. RKOAZ Ozark
7. RRNOITEF Frontier
8. AORNKE Korean
9. NGPAROSIE Singapore
10. GENSKHIRIF Kingfisher

I had a hard time with the last three.

Also, lots of interesting news today!

ANSWERS:

1. ANOLCETTNIN is CONTINENTAL.
2. TUIDEN is UNITED.
3. LAEDT is DELTA.
4. TSTENWORH is NORTHWEST.
5. WMOAKH is MOHAWK.
6. RKOAZ is OZARK.
7. RRNOITEF is FRONTIER.
8. AORNKE is KOREAN.
9. NGPAROSIE is SINGAPORE.
10. GENSKHIRIF is KINGFISHER.