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Airbus Raises Jet Demand Forecast
Airbus has raised its 20-year forecast for aircraft demand citing growth in emerging markets, with China on the brink of becoming the world's aviation powerhouse. Airbus said it saw strong demand for wide-body long-haul jets as airport constraints force airlines to upgrade from smaller planes on some routes, and said it might speed up production plans for A330neo and A350 aircraft. Airbus sees total demand for 31,400 passenger and freighter aircraft between 2014 and 2033, an increase of 7 percent from its previous rolling 20-year forecast. That would be equivalent to USD$4.6 trillion of industry revenue at list prices.
LinkAirlines
CSA Czech Airlines To Lay Off A Third Of Staff
CSA Czech Airlines will lay off a third of its staff, including pilots, as part of a restructuring hastened by a drop in demand exacerbated by the stand-off between Ukraine and Russia, the company said. CSA has been selling assets and shrinking its fleet in an attempt to reverse losses that have dogged the company since a failed expansion plan a decade ago, mirroring the plight of many European airlines being squeezed by intense competition from low-cost carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair. It also adopted a strategy focusing on flights to the former Soviet Union, but has been hit by the demand fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
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Delta plans to boost flights to Minn. airport, CEO says
Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, praised the operations of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Anderson said the carrier also plans to boost flights to the airport by 2019. "We're going to make significant investments, and you're going to continue to see seats and departures from Minneapolis-St. Paul grow about where the economy grows," Anderson said.
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Hawaiian Airlines names chief operations officer
Hawaiian Airlines has named Sean Menke as executive vice president and chief operations officer. Menke has previously served as president and CEO for both Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and Frontier Airlines Holdings. "He has a broad array of experiences covering many aspects of airline operations, and we are excited to have him come aboard and look forward to the contributions he will make at Hawaiian Airlines," said Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian.
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Monarch Airline Set To Be Bought By Greybull Capital
British travel company Monarch is set to be acquired by Greybull Capital after the London-based family investment firm was named as its preferred bidder. The new owner would invest around GBP£75 million (USD$122.87 million) in the airline, a person familiar with the matter said, to help fund its plan to turn into a budget airline to better compete against Europe's biggest low-cost carriers Ryanair and easyJet. Greybull would be buying Monarch from its shareholders, principally the Mantegazza family, ending their relationship with the airline which stretches back to its start in the 1960s.
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Southwest begins celebrations for Dallas Love Field
Southwest Airlines is already celebrating the end of the Wright Amendment on Oct. 13. On Tuesday, the carrier sponsored a concert by Jon McLaughlin, and other events such as a golf tournament are scheduled for October. The end of the Wright Amendment will allow Southwest to fly to more than a dozen cities nonstop from Dallas Love Field.
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Virgin Australia reveals new business product
Virgin Australia has unveiled a new business class suite that will be rolled out on its Airbus A330s and Boeing 777-300ERs over the next year. The new ‘Super Diamond’ seat is being manufactured by B/E Aerospace, with design input from agency Tangerine London. It converts to an 80in fully-flat bed, with an 80in width. It also features a 16in touchscreen Panasonic EX2 in-flight entertainment system. The seats will be configured in a 1-2-1 arrangement on both aircraft.
LinkMilitary
Syrian air strikes mark combat debut for F-22 Raptor
The US military-led air strikes launched over Syria on 22 September against Islamic insurgents marked the debut for US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors in a strike role. The campaign against Islamic State militants, which are expanding their territory in Iraq and Syria, saw the USA extend its air strikes into the latter country, supported by five Arab nations. The strikes were split into three waves, with the F-22 seeing action in the second stage. “The second wave consisted of F-22 Raptors in their first combat role, F-15 Strike Eagles, F-16s, B-1 bombers and drones that launched from bases in the region around 9:00 pm Eastern time against targets in northern Syria,” Lt Gen William Mayville, director of operations for the US joint staff, said on 23 September.
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Israeli Patriot downs Syrian Su-24
A Syrian air force Sukhoi Su-24 was shot down on 23 September by an Israeli Raytheon Patriot surface-to-air missile. The Syrian fighter had approached – and reportedly breached – the Israeli border on the Golan Heights before it was brought down. Such an incident was one of the most likely scenarios, with the civil war in Syria and recent clashes with rebel groups near the Israeli border.Debris fell in the Quneitra zone on the border between Israel and Syria, with the aircraft's two crew members reported to have ejected.
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First KC-390 gets wings on assembly line
Embraer has moved the wing and sponsons of the first KC-390 into place on the assembly line, the Brazilian manufacturer has revealed. The company's third photo update of the tanker-transport posted online shows the programme continues to make progress, but it still has much work to do before a scheduled first flight by year-end
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Malaysia’s first A400M takes shape
Airbus Defence and Space has released an image of the Malaysian air force’s first A400M tactical transport, and says the aircraft will be delivered in the first quarter of 2015. The wing, tail plane, cockpit, fuselage and landing-gear have been joined in Seville, Spain and are ready for ground-testing, says Airbus in a statement. Delivery in the first quarter of 2015 should allow the aircraft to attend Malaysia’s biennial Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition that runs from 17-21 March. Malaysian pilots are in Europe training to operate the type. They will be joined by maintenance engineers and technicians in the coming weeks, says Airbus.
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Tornado could fly on into 2030s, partners say
Europe’s Panavia Tornado will remain in use as a relevant frontline asset for more than another 10 years, according to its programme partners, even though one of its main operators does not plan to retain the type beyond the end of the decade. The multinational effort that led to the Tornado’s creation began in 1969, and partner nations Germany, Italy and the UK on 16 September formally marked the 40th anniversary of the variable geometry design’s first flight. Also present were senior representatives from the Royal Saudi Air Force: the only export customer to have introduced the model.
LinkCorporate
Dassault Falcon 7X set to operate from world's highest commercial airport
Dassault’s Falcon 7X is poised to become the first traditional business jet to be granted approval to operate from the world's highest commercial airport, following completion earlier this month of a two-week flight test campaign at China's Daocheng Yading airport in Sichuan province. he airframer is hoping to receive Chinese civil aviation authority (CAAC) approval early next year to operate from the airport in western China, which is located at an altitude of 14,500ft. Daocheng opened one year ago and could become a popular destination, Dassault believes, for its critical Chinese customer base.
LinkSpace
India triumphs with Mars arrival in busy week at red planet
India has joined a very exclusive club of spacefaring nations with the successful arrival of its Mars Orbiter Mission. Named Mangalyaan – “Mars craft” in Sanskrit – India’s orbiter spent 300 days en route. It will now be readied for its scientific mission to study the planet’s atmosphere and geology with five sensors that have a combined mass of just 15kg (33lb). Whatever Mangalyaan’s contribution to our understanding of Mars, the mission will be remembered for its primary achievement of reaching the red planet at all – a feat that in 50 years of attempts has been matched only by the USA, the Soviet Union and the European Space Agency, which between them racked up as many failures as successes at a notoriously difficult destination for spacecraft.
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Aviation Quote
I don't care what you cover the seats with as long as you cover them with a$$holes.
— Eddie Rickenbacker, CEO Eastern Airlines, to the designers proudly showing off the seat cover designs for the first turboprop airliner to be operated in the U.S. (the Lockheed Electra).
[i]On This Date
---In 1903... The Wright brothers arrive at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to begin tests of their 1st powered aircraft.
---In 1974…First flight of the Northrop F-5F Tiger II 73-0889.
---In 1978… Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, a Boeing 727 airliner, collides with a Cessna 172 over San Diego, California. There were no survivors on either plane, and with the seven fatalities on the ground the total number of lives lost was 144, making it the worst air disaster inCalifornia history to date.
---In 2007…America West Airlines merges operations with US Air.
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A United Airlines 747 captain tries to make light banter with Sydney, Australia, Approach Control ...
Captain: "Good morning, Sydney, this is United XXX, we're 50 miles out and have your island in sight ..."
Approach: "Roger, United ... you're cleared to circle the island twice, then it's okay to land."
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