NAS Daily 09 NOV 11

miamiair (netAirspace FAA) 09 Nov 11, 10:44

NEWS

Air Macau receives government bailout
Air Macau (NX) has received a MOP700 million ($89 million) capital injection from the Macau local government by selling its 420,420 new shares for the carrier’s fleet expansion in the next two or three years.
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Alaska Airlines, Horizon to launch biofuel flights
Alaska Airlines (AS) will operate 75 scheduled domestic flights partially powered by biofuel derived from used cooking oil. The first of the these flights, to be operated with Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400s, will occur Wednesday when two aircraft fly from Seattle-Tacoma to Portland, Ore., and Washington National, respectively.
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Transaero inks order for four 747-8Is
Transaero Airlines (UN) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Boeing for four 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft, making it the first customer in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe for the passenger version of 747-8. The deal is valued at $1.32 billion at list prices. The aircraft will be delivered in 2016.
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Airbus Lead Widens As A320Neo Sales Hit 1,000
Sales of Airbus' revamped A320neo topped 1,000 as the European plane maker extended its lead over Boeing in the annual tug-of-war for sales, figures showed on Tuesday.
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Kingfisher Cancels 31 Flights A Day - Report
India's number two carrier Kingfisher Airlines is to cancel 31 flights daily until November 19, including four international flights to Bangkok, the Mint newspaper reported, citing an unnamed airline official.
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Australia Passes Landmark Carbon Price Law
Australia passed landmark laws on Tuesday to impose a price on carbon emissions in one of the biggest economic reforms in a decade and injecting new impetus into December's global climate talks in South Africa.
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India receives first Mil Mi-17-V5 helicopters
The first batch of Mil Mi-17-V5 transport helicopters have been delivered to the Indian air force as part of an 80-aircraft order signed in December 2008.
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Airlines should manage passengers' bandwidth expectations: Disney
Airlines and in-flight connectivity service providers should manage passengers' expectations by being up front about the kind of service and level of bandwidth available to them, a top executive at The Walt Disney Company asserts. Speaking at an Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) technical committee meeting in Los Angeles, Disney senior vice-president distribution technology Arnaud Robert said: "I think setting up the expectation of what [passengers will] get is really, really important because their anchor is not what [in-flight technology stakeholders'] think is reasonable, it is what they have at home."
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Air France to deploy A380s on Dubai, Los Angeles routes
Air France will operate Airbus A380 aircraft on its routes to Dubai, starting 5 December, and Los Angeles, starting 28 May 2012. The carrier will serve the Paris Charles de Gaulle-Dubai route with daily flights using the A380, which will be redeployed from Tokyo for the winter season as a result of lower seasonal demand in Tokyo.
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Virgin Atlantic to keep immunity from price-fixing penalties: OFT
Virgin Atlantic will not lose its immunity from penalties for alleged price-fixing activity, according to a proposed decision put forward today by the UK Office of Fair Trading. The OFT in May 2010 warned that Virgin Atlantic's immunity could be in jeopardy after the regulator was forced to withdraw criminal proceedings against four former and current British Airways executives due to the late emergence of previously-undisclosed electronic evidence.
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Pilots at Southwest, AirTran approve agreement on seniority
AirTran Airways pilots and Southwest Airlines pilots have reached an agreement on combining seniority lists for the carriers. About 6,000 Southwest pilots and about 1,700 AirTran pilots will be on a single seniority list under the terms of the deal. Southwest acquired AirTran Airways this year.
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Air Canada is "pleased" with arbitrator's ruling on union
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents flight attendants at Air Canada, called an arbitrator's ruling "profoundly disappointing." The federal arbitrator's ruling made binding a tentative agreement reached in September. "Air Canada is pleased with this final and binding decision to implement the terms of the second tentative agreement," the airline said.
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Republic will end leases early on 4 Airbus aircraft
Republic Airways Holdings, the parent company of Frontier Airlines, reached an agreement to end leases on four Airbus SAS A319s. Republic will return the planes in early 2012 as part of its restructuring of Frontier.
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Florida airport opens FAA NextGen testing site
Daytona Beach International Airport in Daytona Beach, Fla., opened a testing site on Monday for the latest NextGen technology at its Federal Aviation Administration center. The airport is one of three locations in the U.S. serving as a NextGen testing site. "This facility is all about innovation," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "The $22 million of federal funds appropriated for this test bed is probably one of the wisest investments we've made in a long time."
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American "high-value customers" get private facility at LAX
American Airlines launched a private facility at Los Angeles International Airport for "high-value customers." Customers can check in for flights and check baggage at the separate facility, and can also wait in a designated security line. The carrier plans to add additional facilities at other airports next year.
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New CX Freighter Route
Cathay Pacific Airways announced today that it will launch a new market in Europe with a new scheduled freighter service to Zaragoza, Spain on 15 November, with flights departing Hong Kong every Tuesday and Friday. The new freighter destination will be operated as an extension of one of the airline’s existing freighter services flying from Hong Kong to Delhi, then onward to Amsterdam and Zaragoza, returning to Hong Kong via Dubai.
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Other News

Bengaluru International Airport (BLR) is aiming to attract more hub traffic and provide a sustainable alternative to Singapore and the Gulf hub airports for traffic to Australia and New Zealand.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWH) reported a third-quarter net income of $28.2 million, down 16.6% compared to a $33.8 million net profit earned in the year-ago period. But the company, the parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, believes its prospects have brightened with its first Boeing 747-8 freighter joining its fleet last week.

Baltic Aviation Systems (BAS), a minority shareholder of troubled Air Baltic, has made a bid for the finally troubled state-owned JAT Airways (JU) after the Serbian government extended the deadline through Oct. 31.

FirstNation Airways will launch daily Lagos Airbus A320 service to Abuja Nov. 2 and daily service to Port Harcourt Dec. 1. The new Nigerian carrier received its airline operator’s certificate (AOC) Oct. 31.

Avianca will launch 4X-weekly Washington Dulles-Bogota-La Paz Airbus A319 service Nov. 16.

Turkish Airlines will launch daily Istanbul Ataturk-London Gatwick service Dec 20.

SkyWork Airlines launched Berne service to Amsterdam (daily) and Madrid (4X-weekly) Oct. 30. It will also add 2X-weekly Berne service to Budapest and Belgrade. It plans to operate to 24 total destinations for the summer schedule 2012.

AVIATION QUOTE

I don't like this

— Flight Engineer Gordon Brooks, Air New Zealand 901, last recorded words before the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) alerted. The DC-10 crashed into the side of Mt. Erebus 26 seconds later. 28 November 1979.

ON THIS DATE

November 9th

--- In 1904... Wilbur Wright flies for five minutes, four seconds over Huffman Prairie, Ohio, covering 2 ¾ miles.

---In 1932... Wolfgang von Gronau and crew in a Dornier Wal complete the 1st flight around the world by a seaplane. Their flight takes 111 days.

---In 1950…Flying an F9F Panther, United States Navy Lieutenant Commander William T. Armen shoots down a MiG-15. It is the first victory by a U.S. Navy jet over another jet.

---In 1978…First flight of the AV-8B Harrier II.

---In 1980… Dan-Air registers the last commercial flight by a de Havilland Comet. The plane flew enthusiasts on a round-trip flight from London.

---In 2007…An Iberia Airlines A340-600 (EC-JOH) was badly damaged after sliding off the runway at Ecuador’s Mariscal Sucre International Airport. The landing gear collapsed and two engines broke off. All 333 passengers and crew were evacuated via inflatable slides, and there were no serious injuries. The aircraft was scrapped.

DAILY VIDEO

EDITOR’S CHOICE

HUMOR

You Might Be An Airplane Mechanic If…

You've ever slept on the concrete under a wing.

You've ever said "Oh yes sir, its supposed to look like that"

You know what JP4 or 145 octane tastes like.

You've ever used a black grease pencil to fix an overworked tire.

You have a better bench-stock in the pockets of your coveralls then the supply system.

You've ever used a piece of safety wire as a toothpick.

You've ever been told to go get "some prop wash and a yard of flightline."

You've ever worked a 14 hour shift on an aircraft that isn't flying the next day.

You can sleep anywhere, anytime, but as soon as the engines shut down you are wide awake.

You've ever stood on wheel chocks to keep your feet dry.

Used dikes to trim fingernails.

Wiped leaks immediately prior to crew show.

Wondered where they keep finding the idiots that keep making up stupid rules.

You've ever had to de-fuel an aircraft an hour after refueling it.

You've used a wheel chock as a hammer.

You know more about your coworkers than your own family.

You ever wished the pilot would say "Great Airplane".

You've ever wondered why it takes a college degree to break an airplane but only a high school diploma to fix one.

You have used a wooden chock as a pillow while sleeping on a pushback tug.

You have scuba dived a lav tank to remove everything under the sun.

You have had a pilot ask you why the valve stems on all the tires are not the same size.

You have had a steering bypass pin fall out during a blinding snowstorm while in a near red-line turn.....BOOM!!!

You have had a starter hang while performing a manual start on a RC-130!!!!

You just screwed up something really expensive.....D'OH!!!!

You have seen the "northern lights" inside the cabin while being shocked by a ballast (200v).

You have had fire lick the back of your neck after getting that INOP APU FINALLY started (tub removed).

You have told someone that you are an aircraft mechanic only to have them say, "But not on the engines...right?"

You have been blamed by management for looking where you were NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING.

You have wanted to put your foot up a pilot's ass on many occasions.

You have wished that you had chosen a different career.

TRIVIA

Tail ID

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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

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