NewsAirlines
Airline Cash Trapped In Venezuela Now USD$3.6 Bln
Venezuela's pending dollar disbursements to airlines have fallen to around USD$3.6 billion after the government released some of the funds held up by the country's currency controls, IATA said. Airlines have for months struggled to repatriate revenue from ticket sales due to delays in the South American nation's 11-year-old exchange controls, with trapped cash peaking at around USD$4.1 billion over the summer. In response, carriers reduced service over the course of the year.
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JetBlue founder prepares for IPO of Azul
David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue Airways, is planning to take his second airline public. Neeleman founded Azul in 2008, and he plans an initial public offering for the Brazilian carrier.
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Delta Air Lines reports rise in Nov. passenger revenue
Delta Air Lines posted a 4.5% increase in consolidated passenger unit revenue for November on a year-over-year basis. Delta transported 2.6 million passengers over the Thanksgiving holiday this year.
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Delta announces changes to Ghana service
Delta Air Lines Inc., the U.S. carrier with the most service to Africa, is cutting flights to Accra, Ghana, by about 20 percent as the Ebola outbreak in nearby countries damps travel demand. The third-biggest U.S. airline wouldn’t say yesterday whether the epidemic in West Africa was turning away consumers. Airlines including British Airways and Emirates have cited the virus in canceling trips to the hardest-hit regions, which don’t include Ghana.
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GOL Tweaks 2014 Operating Margin Guidance
Leading Latin American airlines GOL LinhasAereas SA said that it now expects to end 2014 with operating margin in the range of 4% to 6% as opposed to the previous guidance of 3% to 6%. The carrier has stuck to the other aspects of its previously released guidance for 2014. For 2014, the company still expects its supply to vary between negative 1% and 3% in the domestic market, while growth in international market is projected at around 8%. GOL reiterates Brazil’s GDP growth rate forecast in the range of 1.5%–2.0% for 2014. RASK (revenue per available seat kilometer) growth projection stays at 10% or above. Meanwhile, CASK (cost of available seat kilometer) growth, excluding fuel growth, is still expected around 10% or below.
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Lufthansa Pilots To Strike Again On Thursday
Lufthansa pilots said they would strike again on Thursday on long-haul and cargo flights, after a two-day stoppage on Monday and Tuesday stranded thousands of people. The Vereinigung Cockpit union said in a statement that short and medium-haul flights and those of budget carrier Germanwings would not be affected by the action on Thursday. The strike, the ninth this year, forced Lufthansa to cancel close to half of its scheduled flights for Monday and Tuesday, affecting about 150,000 passengers. Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), representing about 5,400 Lufthansa pilots, is fighting to retain a scheme allowing pilots to retire at 55 and still receive up to 60 percent of their pay before pension payments start at 65.
LinkAirports
Denver airport approves Uber for operation
Denver International Airport said it will now allow Uber to operate at its main terminal alongside its ride-share competitor, Lyft. Both companies are allowed to provide service for arrivals and departures.
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Australia commissions helicopter carrier Canberra
The Royal Australian Navy commissioned its first of two Canberra-class landing helicopter dock (LHD) vessels at a ceremony in Sydney on 28 November. HMASCanberraand her sister ship – to be christened HMAS Adelaide late next year – will be the largest vessels ever operated by the navy. They are based on the Strategic Projection Ship design from Navantia, an example of which is in service with the Spanish navy as the King Juan Carlos I.
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Boeing set to deliver 100th Japanese CH-47 fuselage
Boeing this week is set to deliver the fuselage components for Japan’s 100th CH-47 heavy lift helicopter, which are completed in that country by Kawasaki Heavy Industries under a partnership that has lasted 30 years. “For both Boeing and KHI, performance has been exemplary,” Leland Wight, Boeing’s H-47 international program manager, said. “I don’t think we’ve ever delivered anything late through this entire program. That’s something to be heralded. Typically we would struggle to bridge our business practices and our cultures.” The fuselage components and associated Boeing-supplied kits for the 100th aircraft are currently in production at Boeing’s factory outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The cabin sections are complete and due for delivery in January to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which finalizes production in Japan.
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New Zealand accepts first ex-Australian Super Seasprites
New Zealand has accepted the first Kaman SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite maritime helicopter, following upgrade work performed by the manufacturer. To be operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy, the first of batch of three rotorcraft will arrive in Auckland in early 2015. The remaining seven aircraft from the $120 million order will follow by end-2015, Kaman says. Wellington intends to field a total of eight Super Seasprites, with a further two examples as spares. Its current fleet of five SH-2Gs have been in service since the late 1990s and will be retired.
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Peru receives first deliveries of latest Mi-171Sh helicopters
Russian Helicopters has handed over the first batch of four Mil Mi-171Sh transport utility rotorcraft to Peru for use by its army. Part of a 24-unit order placed by the Latin American nation in December 2013, the helicopters were handed over a month ahead of schedule, the airframer says.
LinkRegulatory
Australia to implement air safety review recommendations
Australia’s government will move to implement almost all of the recommendations made in a recent review of air safety, with the aim of improving the country’s already strong safety record. The Aviation Safety Regulation Review, released in June, was led by former Qantas and Airservices executive David Forsyth, and also had inputs from international experts Don Spruston and Roger Whitefield. Delivering the government’s response to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review, infrastructure minister Warren Truss told Parliament that the country maintains an “advanced regulatory system” for aviation. “However given the speed with which the global and domestic aviation industry is changing, we need to look for continuous improvement in our aviation safety regulatory system. We need to update our system to reflect the growing diversity of our aviation industry.”
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Indonesia To Decide Merpati's Fate In 3 Weeks
The fate of Indonesia's heavily indebted state carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines will be decided in the next three weeks, the Jakarta Post reported, citing state enterprises minister Rini Soemarno. Merpati, which has debt of more than IDR6 trillion rupiah (USD$488 million), has been grounded since February, struggling with paying employee salaries, insurance and fuel bills.
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NTSB details issues with 787 flight and data recorder
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that regulators address newly-disclosed problems with the Boeing 787’s cockpit voice and data recorder. In a report released 1 December, the safety agency has urged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to “take appropriate measures to correct any problems found” with the 787’s General Electric-made “enhanced airborne flight recorders” (EAFR), which record flight data and cockpit voices. The report also urges the FAA to require operators of 787s to update maintenance manuals with guidance that would prevent so-called “stale data” from being using for maintenance activities.
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US Delay On Norwegian License Breaches Aviation Deal - EU
The United States has violated an aviation deal with the European Union by taking too long to grant a license allowing budget airline Norwegian Air to boost trans-Atlantic flights, the European Commission said on Tuesday. Norwegian Air, which currently flies to the United States on a temporary license from non-EU Norway, is seeking a foreign carrier permit for its Irish subsidiary with the backing of the EU executive. The move is opposed by US rivals such as Delta, American, United and industry unions. They are concerned it will undermine US wages and working standards.
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U.S. Supreme Court rejects Sept. 11 environmental appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a New York real estate developer's lawsuit against the leaseholder of the destroyed World Trade Center and two airlines seeking environmental cleanup costs related to the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks. The court's refusal to hear the appeal filed by Cedar & Washington Associates Ltd means an appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit remains intact. In 2008, the developer sued American Airlines, United Airlines and parent companies American Airlines Group Inc and United Continental Holdings, in addition to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and Larry Silverstein, leaseholder of the World Trade Center properties. The developer sued the airlines because their planes, hijacked by al Qaeda militants, were used to topple the World Trade Center's twin towers. Cedar & Washington Associates sought to recoup costs associated with cleaning up asbestos, fiberglass and other particles during the renovation of a 12-story apartment building near the site in lower Manhattan where the twin towers were destroyed.
LinkCorporate
NetJets launches Transition Program for aircraft owners
NetJets has formally launched an aircraft sales push targeted at owners looking to move from outright ownership into a less capital-intensive offering, such as a fractional or charter. The Aircraft Transition Program also provides an opportunity for the world’s largest business aircraft operator to grow its customer base and feed demand for its 500-plus strong aircraft fleet. NetJets is now two years into a multi-billion dollar top-to-tail overhaul of its vast inventory, and will have taken delivery of 60 new Signature Series-branded aircraft by year-end.
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Aviation Quote
It only takes five years to go from rumor to standard operating procedure.
— Dick Markgraf
On This Date
--- In 1945... A de Havilland Sea Vampire fighter becomes the first purely jet-powered airplane to operate from an aircraft carrier, when Lieutenant-Commander E. M. “Winkle” Brown lands his aircraft on the HMS Ocean in England.
---In 1958... An aircraft exchange, which will function like the stock markets and commodity exchanges, opens in New York.
---In 1962…By the end of 1962, only two A-12s were engaged in flight tests. Full test speeds could not be reached since the J-58 engines were not fully available and were experiencing problems. CIA Director, McCone wrote to the President of United Aircraft Corporation (the parent company of Pratt & Whitney) and made a clear case by stating “I have been advised that the J-58 engine deliveries have been delayed again due to engine control problems. . . by the end of the year it appears we will have barely enough J-58 engines to support the flight test program adequately. . . Furthermore, due to various engine difficulties we have not yet reached design speed and altitude. Engine thrust and fuel consumption deficiencies at present prevent sustained flight at design conditions which is so necessary to complete development”. By the end of January 1963, ten engines were available and the first flight with two J-58 engines occurred on January 15. (Q)
---In 1971…Start of the Indo-Pakistan War. The Indian Air Force loses 72 aircraft and the Pakistan Air Force 94 aircraft Ends 17 DEC 71.
---In 1972…A Spantax Convair 990 crashed at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife while taking off in almost zero visibility, killing all 7 crew and 148 passengers.
---In 1973…Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
---In 1974… First flight of the Big Tail SR-71 (959). (Q)
---In 1985…The ATR-42 enters service with Air Littoral.
---In 1990…Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a DC-9 registered N3313L) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a 727-200 registered N287US) on a runway in Detroit, killing 8 people about Flight 1482. The DC-9 made two wrong turns, putting them on a runway that the 727 was using to depart. The DC-9 was destroyed completely by fire, and the 727 was able to stop safely and only experienced wingtip damage.
---In 1999…NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
---In 2005…XCOR Aerospace makes the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, CA.
Daily Video
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Humor
Three Pilots
There was a Mexican, a American and a Japanese pilot.
They were taking turns flying over each of their countries so they were flying over Japan and the Japanese guy drops an apple on his country and the other two ask why he did that and he said "Because I love my country!"
So they went on to Mexico and the Mexican drops an orange on his country so the other two asked why he did that and he said "Because I love my country"
So they went on to America and the American drops a bomb on his country so the other two asked him why he did that and he said "Because I hate my country"
So they landed in their respective countries and the Japanese guy was walking and he saw a kid crying so he said what’s the matter and the kid said an apple fell out of the sky and hit me in the head.
Then the Mexican was walking and he saw a kid crying so he asked what happened and the kid said an orange fell out of the sky and hit him in the head.
Then the American was walking and he saw a kid laughing and he ask what are you so happy about and he said "I farted and the building behind me exploded."
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