You are at netAirspace : Forum : Air and Space Forums : netAirspace Daily News

News

Commercial

Airbus A330 with higher capacity in final assembly
The first Airbus A330 with a maximum take-off weight of 242 tons is undergoing final assembly in France. "Airlines operating the new 242-ton A330 will be able to carry additional payload on longer routes, while at the same time enjoying a very high operational reliability of 99.4 percent," said Patrick Piedrafita, the leader of the A330 program.
Link

Brazil Aviation Deal Eases Embraer Order Risks
Opposition politicians in Brazil agreed to restore a key part of President Dilma Rousseff's regional aviation plan, backing off a change that threatened at least one airline's order for Embraer aircraft. Senator Fernando de Souza Flexa Ribeiro and government ministers reached an agreement on Tuesday to subsidize up to 60 seats on less profitable routes to smaller cities, restoring a cap that he had tried to remove, according to an advisor to the senator and a senior official at the finance ministry. The chief executive of Azul Linhas Aereas, Antonoaldo Neves, had warned that removing the cap would unfairly advantage larger planes made by Boeing and Airbus. Neves had said he would put off and cancel deliveries of Embraers if that change was made.
Link

COMAC Signs Deal For 30 C919s From Lessor
Chinese state-owned aircraft maker COMAC has signed an initial agreement to sell 30 C919s to the financial leasing arm of China Merchants Bank. The order, sealed at China's premier air industry trade show in Zhuhai, lifts COMAC's order book for the C919 to 430, mostly from domestic companies. Still in development, the C919 will be the first Chinese-built jet of its type, targeted at eventually competing with Airbus and Boeing. Financial terms of the order weren't disclosed.
Link

Airlines

Why Delta’s unit cost increased in 3Q14
Delta’s operating expenses increased by 16%, on 7% higher revenue, to $10,343 million. Higher costs had a negative impact on Delta’s operating profits. It resulted in a 47% reduction in operating income to $835 million in 3Q14—compared to 3Q13.
Link

Lufthansa Says Regional Growth Offset Strikes
Lufthansa increased passenger sales by 3.3 percent in October as growth on routes to the Americas and Asia made up for the effect of pilot strikes. The airline was hit by several bouts of industrial action by its pilots last month - a two-day walkout that forced the cancellation of over 1,500 flights, a one-day strike at budget unit Germanwings, and a strike at Lufthansa Cargo, although that walkout did not result in any cancelled flights.
Link

US Airlines Sue Over Airport Wage Increases
US airlines are suing the Port of Seattle to block planned pay increases for airport workers, in the latest legal battle over efforts to improve worker compensation in a state with the highest minimum wage in the country. The Port commission, which runs SeaTac airport, voted in July to lift the wage floor to USD$11.22 per hour in January 2015 and USD$13.00 per hour in 2017 for airport employees. On Monday, Airlines for America, which represents major air carriers, filed suit in district court in Seattle arguing the wage increases conflict with state and federal law and labor agreements. "The rules, unless restrained, will cause irreparable harm to Airlines for America's member air carriers," said the industry group lawsuit. Airlines for America members include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines along with delivery services UPS and FedEx . The airlines' suit was joined by Baggage Airline Guest Services, an airport contractor that provides luggage handling and wheelchair escorts.
Link

U.S. carriers report increase in traffic for Oct.
Three U.S. carriers reported gains in October traffic. American Airlines posted a 0.2% increase in passenger traffic for the month, while United Airlines reported a 0.4% jump in the same metric. Southwest Airlines posted a 4.4% rise in passenger traffic for October, as well as its highest October load factor in history at 83.1%.
Link

Airports

Boston airport to offer nonstop service to Israel
Add Tel Aviv to the growing list of international cities that are a nonstop flight away from Boston. Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Port Authority on Monday reached an agreement with El Al Israel Airlines, which will offer three nonstop flights a week to Israel, beginning in June. Logan currently handles nonstop flights to 41 overseas destinations. “The appetite for it runs deep,” Patrick said. “The excitement about it is broad, and we are convinced that both the load and the yield will be as good for El Al as I know the route will be for us.” Patrick made the announcement at a press conference at the State House, where he was joined by David Maimon, chief executive of El Al. The governor commended business, community, and academic leaders, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who had worked behind the scenes to bring the airline to Logan since his initial trade mission to Israel, in 2011. He led a second delegation there in May.
Link

Military

First Dutch F-35 squadron established
The Royal Netherlands Air Force on 4 November changed the command of its Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II detachment at Eglin AFB, Florida, to 323 Sqn. The unit had been officially disbanded on 31 October at Leeuwarden air base, having previously operated the Lockheed F-16. Now re-established in the USA, 323 Sqn will be tasked primarily with conducting initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) of the F-35, following its relocation to Edwards AFB in California by the end of this year.
Link

Tornado departure ends UK's fast jet role in Afghanistan
The UK has concluded a decade-long commitment of fast jet combat aircraft to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, with its last Panavia Tornado GR4s having left Kandahar airfield for the final time. Aircraft on detachment from the RAF’s 31 Sqn took off from Kandahar on 11 November, at the start of a return journey to their home base at Marham, Norfolk, via the service's Akrotiri base in Cyprus.
Link

UAV

Iran claims success with reverse-engineered stealth UAV
Iran has conducted what is understood to be the maiden flight of its reverse-engineered Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned air vehicle, state-led news reports have revealed. Tehran claims the US Air Force-operated stealth UAV was downed by an army electronic warfare unit on 4 December 2011. It has since made no secret of its activities in reverse engineering the system in order to build one of its own. Brig Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on 10 November said that the “domestically produced version of the RQ-170 sophisticated stealth drone” had been successfully tested, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
Link

Aviation Quote

There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.

— Orson Welles, interview to celebrate his 70th birthday, The Times of London, 6 May 1985.

On This Date

---In 1903... The 1st fully practical airship, the Lebaudy, makes a successful flight in Paris, France. The 190-foot-long airship flies 38 ½ miles and achieves a speed of 25-mph.

---In 1906... Alberto Santos-Dumont flies some 720 feet and wins the Aéro-Club de France prize for exceeding 100 meters.

---In 1912... The 1st successful catapult launch of a seaplane is made at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard. Catapulted by a compressed air system from an anchored barge, the floatplane is a Curtiss A-1.

---In 1919…Keith and Ross Smith set out to fly a Vickers Vimy, registered G-EAOU, from England to Australia, the first flight between these two places. They arrive in Darwin on December 18.

--- In 1921... The 1st air-to-air refueling is made when American Wesley May steps from the wing of one aircraft to that of another carrying a five-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back.

---In 1952…First flight of the Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO:Bear).

---In 1980…Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Saturn, flying 77,000 miles above its surface and taking photo of its rings.

---In 1980…Delta Air Lines orders 60 Boeing 757-200s, the largest single order at the time for a single airliner type.

---In 1981…Space Shuttle Columbia performs mission STS-2, the first time that a manned, reusable aircraft returned back into space.

---In 1984…Space Shuttle astronauts snare a satellite, the first ever “space salvage.”

---In 1989…California Polytechnic State University flies the first human-powered helicopter.

---In 1996…The Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, between Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 (a 747-100 registered HZ-AIH) and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 (an IL-76 registered UN-76435), kills a total of 349 people, making it the deadliest mid-air collision in aviation history. The Kazakh aircraft was cleared to descend to 15,000ft, but leveled off at 14,500ft instead, into the path of the departing Saudi airliner. The IL-76’s tail sliced off the 747’s wing, making the Boeing spiral towards the ground, reaching 705mph at impact. The IL-76 remained somewhat stable but still crashed in a field, with 4 passengers surviving for a short while before succumbing to their injuries.

---In 2001...American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 crashed in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of New York City due to separation of the vertical stabilizer. All 260 people aboard the jetliner and 5 people on the ground were killed.

---In 2003… First commercial flight for Etihad Airways.

---In 2013… Global Aviation Holdings, Inc., the largest commercial provider of charter air services to the US Military and a major provider of worldwide commercial global passenger and cargo air transportation services, announced that the Company and its subsidiaries, including its two operating airlines World Airways and North American Airlines, have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

The Benefits of Confession...

After dropping their wives off at the church bingo, two men were talking about the exploits of their childhood. One of the men began feeling terrible about some of the things that he had done, so he decided to make a stop into his parish church and go to confession.

He told his friend, "Just a minute, I'll be right back."

He went into the church and decided to go to confession. He went into the confessional and said to the priest, "Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I have had two extramarital affairs."

The priest replied, "You need to say forty Hail Mary's, and I also need to know if the women were members of my parish."

The man said, "Yes, Father, they were."

The priest then said that he was required to tell the names of the two women.

The man said, "Father, I don't kiss and tell..."

The priest said, "Well, was one of them Mrs. O' Brian?"

The man said, "No, Father!"

The priest asked, "Well, was one of them Mrs. Swenson?"

Exasperated, the man said, "No, Father, I'm not telling you the names of the women!" and then quickly left the confessional.

As he approached the bottom of the church steps, his friend asked, "So, how did it go?"

The man said, "Great! Only forty Hail Mary's... and I got two hot leads!"

Trivia

Nose View ID

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.