Officials to meet on Air India’s Star induction Air India, Star Alliance and senior officials from the Indian government and the Civil Aviation Authority are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the progress of the carrier’s induction into the alliance. The meeting is part of the routine integration process, a Star spokesperson said, stressing the grouping is sticking to its July 31 deadline to finalize the formal integration of the carrier. He added that “progress had been made but, yes, there are still outstanding issues. We will probably know more after the meeting. Decisions will be made.” Link
Report: AirAsia, ANA could jointly launch LCC AirAsia appears to be moving to sign a deal with All Nippon Airways to launch a low-cost carrier, according to a report in Malaysia’s Star newspaper. Apparently an announcement will be made this week that involves AirAsia setting up an LCC and a hub in Japan that serves domestic and regional markets, the Star reported. Itnotedthat AirAsia will have management control of the entity, which will be called AirAsia Japan. Link
DOT calls for new airline fee reporting rules US airlines generated $3.4 billion from baggage fees alone in 2010, but that's just one piece of a growing pie of ancillary revenue raised by the industry in recent years to ease economic pressures. US regulators are pushing to require carriers to report all of their ancillary revenue, breaking it down by category. Link
Grounded Tiger Airways Australia to offer compensation to passengers Passengers booked on flights through August on grounded Tiger Airways Australia are now entitled to a full refund after a deal brokered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The airline, grounded until at least Aug. 1 over safety concerns, was resisting passenger demands for refunds for flights booked next month. Link
RAF details expanded contribution to Libyan campaign The UK Royal Air Force has provided a new update on its combat activities in Libya, and announced plans to boost its commitment of fast jets to the NATO campaign to 22 aircraft. Twelve Panavia Tornado GR4s and six Eurofighter Typhoons are currently supporting operation Unified Protector from Gioia del Colle air base in Italy, with the combination having flown more than 1,100 sorties and almost 2,400h by earlier this month. Link
Other News
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise's DAE Capital aircraft leasing unit continues its dramatic climb down from its ambitious 2007 launch. It followed its recent Airbus order cancellations by axing orders for 35 Boeing 737NGs valued at $2.8 billion at list prices. Boeing confirmed the cancellation Friday.
Cebu Pacific Air, now the largest airline in the Philippines, said Friday it signed six-year operating lease agreements with Dublin-based RBS Aviation Capital for two new Airbus A320 aircraft, which will be delivered in March 2012.
AerCap Holdings entered into a purchase-leaseback transaction with American Airlines to finance up to 35 Boeing 737-800s, including 29 firm deliveries—26 of which were previously ordered—plus three new orders. The deal also covers six optional 737-800s, which, if exercised by the carrier, would be delivered in 2013-2014.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 hit an Atlantic Southeast Airlines Bombardier CRJ900 Thursday night on a Boston Logan taxiway, causing damage in the smaller aircraft's tail area, according to US FAA and multiple news reports from the scene.
Finnair will launch twice-daily Helsinki-Lyon Embraer 190 service April 2.
AirAsia X will move its Kuala Lumpur-London Stansted route to London Gatwick Oct. 24. It has flown from STN since 2009.
Etihad Airways will launch daily Abu Dhabi-Shanghai service March 1, subject to government approval.
Qatar Airways increased four-times-daily Doha-Kuwait service to five-times-daily.
AVIATION QUOTE
Real confidence in the air is bred only by mistakes made and recovered from at a safe altitude, in a safe ship, and seated on a good parachute.
— Rodney H. Jackson, 'A Lesson in Stunting,' Aeronautics magazine, February 1930
ON THIS DATE
July 18th
---In 1914... French pilot, Maurice Guillaux, makes the first official airmail flight in Australia. His cargo includes 1,785 letters, some Lipton’s Tea and OT Lemon Squash.
---In 1914... The Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps is formed in Washington, D.C., with 60 officers, 260 men, and 6 airplanes.
---In 1915... Katherine Stinson becomes the first woman to loop the loop in an airplane. The stunt pilot performs the full rotation of her airplane over Chicago.
---In 1919... Self-styled Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, the first Frenchwoman to get her flying license, is killed in a flying accident in Northern France.
---In 1921... John H. Glenn, Jr., the first American to orbit the earth, is born in Cambridge, Ohio. After being selected by NASA with the first group of astronauts in 1959, he makes his historic orbital flight on February 20, 1962.
---In 1941…The first RAF aircraft equipped with radar.
---In 1942…the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft and first mass-produced jet aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, is flown in Germany for the first time.
---In 1943…US Navy airship K-74 is shot down by a German submarine, the only airship lost to enemy fire during World War II.
---In 1965…the first Russian satellite to complete a lunar flyby, Zond 3, is launched.
---In 1966…Gemini 10, the first mission to complete a double rendezvous with other spacecraft, is launched from Cape Canaveral.
---In 1984…Beverly Lynn Burns becomes the first female Boeing 747 airline captain, flying PEOPLExpress flight 604 from Newark to LAX. The achievement earned her extensive media attention, congratulatory honors from several local politicians–and even an invitation to President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration. By the time she retired from Continental in 2008, she had captained the 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777 and DC-10.
---In 2002…First flight of the Boeing YAL-1A Airborne Laser (ABL).
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
TRIVIA
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And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
1. Vietnam Airlines 2. 3. Lynden Air Cargo 4. Lion Air 5. Garuda Indonesia 6. Firefly 7. 8. Air Asia - definitely Malaysian! 9. Air Asia 10. Air Asia? 11. Air India
There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.
