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Alitalia, Creditors Working On Plan To Woo Etihad
Alitalia and its creditors are pushing to complete a proposal aimed at persuading Etihad to invest in the loss-making Italian carrier, Reuters news agency reported. One of the options under discussion envisages hiving off a large chunk of Alitalia's EUR€800 million (USD$1.11 billion) of debt into a separate company. The plan was discussed at a meeting in Milan on Friday between executives of the loss-making airline and four Italian creditor banks including UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Alitalia chief executive Gabriele Del Torchio is flying to the Gulf on Monday and will meet Etihad's boss James Hogan on Tuesday, the source said.
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Etihad Buying Airline Stakes To Compete, Not Control
Etihad Airways said its strategy of buying stakes in European airlines was bringing fresh competition to the region, despite close scrutiny by regulators over whether its investments comply with European ownership rules. State-owned Etihad is building up a network of minority stakes in airlines around the world as it seeks to drive traffic to its Abu Dhabi hub. "We are bringing competition in the market. Some legacy carriers are using the European Commission to challenge us rather than challenge us through competition," James Hogan told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi.
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First Memorial Service For MH370 Passengers
The first memorial service for passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be held this weekend, relatives said on Friday, as a Malaysian official urged relatives of those presumed dead to "face reality" and return home. Despite the most intensive air, sea and underwater search in commercial aviation history, no trace of MH370 has been found since it vanished on a scheduled service from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. Almost eight weeks later, Malaysia Airlines has said it will close assistance centers it has set up in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur for the families of the 239 passengers and crew on board the plane. On Friday, Malaysia's deputy foreign minister said it was time for relatives to be "realistic".
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Tiger Airways Fourth-Quarter Loss Widens
Singapore's Tiger Airways warned of a bleak outlook as it reported a huge increase in its fourth-quarter net loss after the airline was hurt by losses in its joint ventures and exceptional charges. Underscoring the pressure the budget airline is facing from big-spending rivals, Tiger said on Friday it was re-assessing its investment in Tigerair Mandala, the group's Indonesian venture. Tiger reported a net loss of SGD$95.5 million (USD$76.25 million) in the quarter ending March, up from a loss of SGD$15.4 million a year ago for the same period.
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HAL hands over Do-228 flying test bed to DRDO
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) delivered a Dornier Do-228 modified to act as a flying test bed (FTB) to the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). The Bengaluru based Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), will use it for testing airborne radars and other systems. The use of a dedicated flying test bed will reduce the cycle time for development of airborne systems such as maritime patrol radar, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), data-links, electro-optics and Electronic Warfare (EW), says DRDO chief Avinash Chander.
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Spirit Aero's Profit Jumps On Increased Production
US aircraft component maker Spirit AeroSystems' quarterly profit nearly doubled, partly helped by strong demand for large commercial aircraft. The company's net income rose to $USD153.6 million in the first quarter ended April 3, from USD$81.2 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 20 percent to USD$1.73 billion. Spirit, which makes fuselages and wings for aircraft, has been able to increase revenue as aircraft makers ramp up production.
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Delta reports financial and operation performance for April
Delta Air Lines reported its monthly financial and operational performance for April. The carrier reported a 6% increase in passenger revenue per available seat mile in April on a year-over-year basis. Delta also posted a 99.9% completion factor for the month.
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Republic Airways posts Q1 profit of $14M
Regional carrier Republic Airways Holdings posted first-quarter net income of $14 million, up from $300,000 in the same period a year ago. The airline posted gains even though a deep freeze and other extreme weather forced it to canceled 12,400 flights in the first quarter. Last year's results were hurt by losses at Frontier Airlines, which Republic has since sold.
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DFW needs another terminal by 2020, airport CEO says
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will likely need an additional terminal by 2020, according to airport CEO Sean Donohue. The sixth terminal at the airport would be called Terminal F, and would help handle additional passenger traffic, which is predicted to grow to 70 million passengers by the end of the decade. "It's a four- to five-year project," Donohue said. "We'd obviously need to get our board approval, work with the airlines and make a decision sometime in 2015, 2016 to enable us to open in 2020."
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Wearable technology could streamline travel experience, observers say
Wearable technology may have the potential to transform the travel experience, according to some industry experts. Virgin Atlantic in February, for example, began a trial using Google Glass and the Sony Smartwatch to start the check-in process, greet passengers by name and provide real-time travel information. Tim Graham, IT Innovation and Development Manager at Virgin Atlantic, said travelers were generally supportive of the technology and agents "like the fact that it's reduced the amount of paper they have to carry and removed the need for use of radios for communication when allocating jobs."
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Upscale amenities at LAX now include caviar
Travelers passing through the recently remodeled Tom Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles International Airport now have the opportunity to experience fine dining at a well-known caviar purveyor. Since December 2013, Petrossian Caviar & Champagne Bar has offered premium beers, specialty cocktails and wine as well as snacks and full-course meals. The restaurant even sells "to go" meals with prices up to $1,582.
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Vega flies straight but ESA keeps watch on Ukraine
As European Space Agency personnel celebrated three successes in three flights of its new light launcher, Vega, the unrest in Ukraine would have been about as far from their minds as Kourou is from Kiev – but with the VV03 mission complete (see below), programme officials are continueing their watch on the tense situation in a country that supplies a critical component of what is otherwise a Western Europe-built vehicle. peaking to Flightglobal from Paris as he prepared to board a flight for ESA’s French Guiana launch site in advance of the flight scheduled for 28 April, Vega programme manager Stefano Bianchi stressed that, so far, there has been no indication from either Ukraine or Russia of any threat to supply of the RD-869 restartable rocket motor, which forms the fourth-stage propulsion unit that carries Vega’s payloads to their final orbit. The RD-869 is built by Yuzhnoye in Dnipropetrovsk, just east of the Dnieper river that runs north-south through the country to the Black Sea.
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Aviation Quote
Engines of war have long since reached their limits, and I see no further hope of any improvement in the art.
— Frontinus, 90 A.D.
On This Date
---In 1930... The first solo flight from England to Australia by a woman is made by British Amy Johnson in a De Havilland D.H.60G Moth. She flies from Croydon, England to Darwin, Australia in 19 days.
---In 1958…A Royal Air Force Miles Marathon T.2 (XA253) crashes after landing at Topcliffe RAF Station in the UK after the crew accidentally retracts the landing gear instead of raising the flaps.
---In 1961... Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr., U.S. Navy, becomes the second man to explore space when he rides his Mercury Freedom 7 capsule, launched by a Redstone missile, to 115 miles above the Earth. It is three weeks since Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight.
---In 1965…Iberia Flight 401 crashes on its second approach to runway 30 at Tenerife, Spain. The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation (EC-AIN), attempting landing in weather below minimums, strikes construction equipment while initiating its second go-around. Of the 49 onboard, 30 perish.
---In 1967…First delivery of the McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62 to SAS.
---In 1968... The first non-stop Atlantic crossing by an executive jet aircraft is made as a Grumman Gulfstream II lands in London, England after completing a 3,500-mile (5,633 km) flight from Teterboro, New Jersey.
---In 1972…Eastern Airlines Flight 175 is hijacked by a man named Richard Hahneman after departing Allentown, PA, demanding $303,000 and 6 parachutes. After receiving the ransom after landing in Washington-Dulles, Hahneman insists on flying to New Orleans for fuel before heading to Honduras, where he would successfully parachute out. He is caught by Honduran soldiers a few days later.
---In 1972…Western Airlines Flight 407 is hijacked by a 21-year-old Michael Lynn Hansen, who had sneaked on a .38 caliber pistol in a hallowed book, just after departure from Salt Lake City, Utah. Demanding to go to North Vietnam, the Boeing 737-200 first stops at its scheduled destination of Los Angeles for fuel. Hansen then changes his mind and says he’d rather go to Cuba, and a stop is made in Tampa for more gas before successfully continuing on to Havana. He would be extradited back to the United States in 1975.
---In 1972…Alitalia Flight 112, a flight from Rome to Palermo, Italy, crashes into Mount Longa while approaching at night. The Douglas DC-8-43 (I-DIWB “Antonio Pigafetta”) had strayed from the published approach pattern, killing all 115 onboard.
---In 1978…National Airlines Flight 32, a Boeing 727, landed 2750 feet short of the runway at Pensacola Regional Airport into Escambia Bay, killing 8 people.
---In 1983…Eastern Airlines Flight 855, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar (N334EA), avoids disaster after experiencing trouble on all three of its engines on a flight from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas. In a move that would later be pivotal to their survival, the crew shuts down the #2 engine after it receives a low oil pressure warning light while descending through 15,000ft. The crew decides to return to their Miami base on the remaining two engines, which should not be a problem until the same light illuminates for engines #1 and #3, both of which soon flame out five minutes apart. Since the #2 tail engine is the only one intentionally shut down as a precaution, it still has enough oil to restart as the aircraft glides toward the ocean through 4,000ft, preparing the ditch. Miraculously, the Tristar is able to make a one-engine landing at Miami, saving the lives of all 172 people aboard. The cause is attributed to mechanics who failed to install all the O-ring seals on the master chip detector assemblies, leading to the loss of lubrication on the engines.
---In 1990…A Douglas DC-6 (N84BL) operated by Aerial Transit Company crashes after takeoff from Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing all 3 on the aircraft and an additional 24 on the ground. The cargo flight, destined for Miami, develops engine trouble and strikes the ground while trying to make its way back to the airport.
---In 1993…Jet Airways commences flight operations.
---In 1994… Clementine, USA Lunar Orbiter (launched January 25, 1994)left Lunar orbit. The official name for Clementine is 'Deep Space Probe Science Experiment' (DSPSE). It was a Department of Defense program used to test new space technology. Clementine was a new design using lightweight structure and propellant systems. It spent 70 days (between February 6 and May 5, 1994) in lunar orbit. Its four cameras mapped the surface of the Moon at 125-250 meters/pixel resolution. Clementine also used a laser to gather altimeter data which will make it possible to generate the first lunar topographic map.
---In 1998…A Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737-200 (FAP-351) operating on lease to Occidental Petroleum crashes in a thunderstorm while on a non-directional beacon (NDB) approach, killing 75 of the 88 aboard.
---In 2004… Air France and Netherlands-based KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) merge, the two airlines are now known as Air France-KLM.
---In 2006…Siberia Airlines renames itself to S7 Airlines and repaints its to a bright green, which is partly so the aircraft can be spotted among the tundra of Russia in the event of a crash.
---In 2007…Eos Airlines begins flights from London Stansted to Newark Liberty International Airport with their 48-seat, all-business class Boeing 757-200 aircraft.
---In 2007…Kenya Airways Flight 507, a Boeing 737-800 (5Y-KYA) scheduled to fly to Nairobi, Kenya, crashes just after takeoff from Douala, Cameroon. All 114 occupants are killed after the pilot departs without clearance and then does not realize the aircraft is banking hard to the right in time for correction due to improper auto-pilot inputs. The aircraft strikes a forested swamp a few miles to the south of the airport, where a reporter would find one year later that aircraft wreckage and human remains are still present.
---In 2008… Brazilian-born David Neeleman, founder and former-CEO of JetBlue, starts Azul Lineas Aereas Brasileiras.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
Special Forces V. Seals
Two Seals boarded a quick shuttle flight out of Dallas, headed for Houston. One sat in the window seat, the other sat in the middle seat.
Just before take-off, A Green Beret got on and took the aisle seat next to the two Seals. The Green Beret kicked off his boots, wiggled his toes and was settling in when the Seal in the window seat said, "I think I'll get up and get a coke."
"No problem," said the Green Beret, "I'll get it for you." While he was gone, the Seal picked up the Green Beret's boot and spit in it.
When the Green Beret returned with the coke, the other Seal said, "That looks good, I think I'll have one too."
Again, the Green Beret obligingly went to fetch it and while he was gone, the Seal picked up the other boot and spit in it.
The Green Beret returned and they all sat back and enjoyed the short flight to Houston.
As the plane was landing, the Green Beret slipped his feet into his boots and knew immediately what had happened.
"How long must this go on?" the Green Beret asked. "This fighting between our groups? This hatred? This animosity? This spitting in boots and pissing in cokes?"
Trivia
General Trivia
1. The classic de Havilland DHC–2 Beaver is a large, single-engine, high-wing bush plane made in Canada. Why are its three fuel tanks (forward, center, and aft) in the fuselage below the cabin floor instead of in the wings?
2. A piano is optional equipment on both the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380. What was the first passenger aircraft to have a piano for in-flight entertainment?
3. What is wrong with the following transmission from NorCal Approach Control? “November One-Four-Seven-Mike-Oscar is cleared for the Sacramento ILS approach to Runway One-Six-Right. Report passing Jarnu to Capitol Tower on One-Two-Five-Point-Seven.” (Knowledge of this airport or its approach is not needed to answer the question.)
4. A pilot is flying a typical light twin-engine, piston-powered airplane that is equipped for flight into known icing conditions. What aircraft item represents the greatest drain on electrical power in such an aircraft?
5. Each of the 50 states has an official bird, an official flower, and so forth, but only two have official aircraft. What are those states, and what are their official aircraft?
6. Of what aeronautical significance was the New York socialite, Mrs. Waldo Polk?
7. What is meant by the term hot refueling?
8. There is an airport that has a single runway designated as Runway 02G in one direction and Runway 20G in the other. What is the significance of the letter G in each of these runway numbers?
miamiair wrote:---In 1990…A Douglas DC-6 (N84BL) operated by Aerial Transit Company crashes after takeoff from Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing all 3 on the aircraft and an additional 24 on the ground. The cargo flight, destined for Miami, develops engine trouble and strikes the ground while trying to make its way back to the airport.
