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Commercial

Boeing to repurchase $12B in stock, boost dividends
Boeing Co. plans to boost its quarterly dividend by 25%, and also announced plans to buy back $12 billion in shares. Dividends will increase from 73 cents a share to 91 cents a share. "Strong operating performance across our business continues to generate significant cash flow and financial strength for Boeing," said Jim McNerney, chairman and CEO for Boeing.
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Boeing sitting on eight unsold C-17s, with more orders pending
Boeing has sold two more C-17 transports to an undisclosed customer, but it will likely end the year with eight unsold white tails. There are 10 Boeing C-17 airlifters in various stages of assembly at the company’s Long Beach, California, production facility. Two of the aircraft are spoken for by an unnamed customer, Boeing says. Boeing is trying to sell off the other eight white tails, which will be the last produced before the factory is shuttered sometime in the summer of 2015.
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Boeing reveals 777-9X dimensions in airport brief
Boeing has revealed a preliminary set of external dimensions for the 777-9X aircraft as part of its campaign to prepare airports far in advance of a scheduled entry into service in 2020. A presentation delivered to the Airports Council International (ACI) annual symposium last September gives the length of the 777-9X fuselage as 76.7m (251ft 9in), or about 0.2m longer than previously reported and 2.8m longer than the 777-300ER. The same slide, delivered by Boeing lead engineer for airport compatibility Karen Dix-Colony, also lists the estimated tail height of the 777-9X as 19.7m. The closely-guarded dimensions were revealed at the ACI event as Boeing officials lobby airports and international regulators to prepare for increasingly longer and wider commercial aircraft.
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Airlines

Alaska launches AlaskaBeyond Entertainment
Alaska Airlines debuted its new in-flight entertainment system, AlaskaBeyond Entertainment, which allows passengers to watch movies and television shows on personal devices. The service is available on 50 aircraft, and will be offered for free through Jan. 31.
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American Airlines announces bonus-miles promotion for business, first-class travelers
Travelers who book first- or business-class seats on American Airlines will receive bonus miles through all of 2015, the airline recently announced. The promotion begins Jan. 1 and includes all American, US Airways and partner-operated flights.
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Delta CEO looks to minimize carrier's tax burden
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson said the carrier was focused on a strategy to minimize its tax burden. Delta anticipates U.S. tax payments to affect profits beginning in 2017, when billions of dollars in credits for past losses will end. This has prompted the airline to begin on working to reduce its tax burden, according to Anderson.
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EgyptAir Hires Sabre To Help Restructure
EgyptAir has hired Sabre Airline Solutions to prepare a restructuring plan for the state-owned company which has suffered a billion dollars in losses since 2010. A company statement did not mention the value of the contract, but said the restructuring would focus on EgyptAir Airlines and EgyptAir Express, subsidiaries of EgyptAir Holding Company which provides flights mostly to destinations in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. "Signing this contract comes in the context of EgyptAir seeking to effect a radical change in the business, financial, administrative and operational structures of the two countries," Sameh Hafni, the president of EgyptAir Holding Company, said in a statement.
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FedEx prepares for record holiday shipping
FedEx is preparing its fleet of more than 600 aircraft for holiday shipping, which is expected to break records this year. Patrick Fitzgerald, FedEx senior vice president of services, said the company is offering overnight delivery on Dec. 23, which will allow packages to be delivered on Christmas Eve.
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Norwegian CEO Cuts Stake In Airline
Norwegian Air Shuttle chief executive Bjørn Kjos sold part of his stake in the company on Tuesday, sending the company's stock down over 7 percent. Kjos, who has run the airline since 2002, sold 703,243 shares, or about two percent of the firm on the Oslo bourse. He remains the biggest investor with a 25 percent stake through his investment vehicle HBK Invest.
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Porter Nearing Sale Of Toronto Airport Terminal
The parent of Porter Airlines is nearing the sale of a passenger terminal it operates at Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport, according to people familiar with the process. The people, who asked not to be named as they are not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, said a bidding process for the asset at the island airport is underway. One source said at least two separate bids are expected this week from pension fund manager Alberta Investment Management (AIMCo) and Macquarie Group. It was not specified whether Macquarie would be bidding directly, or through one of the funds it manages. Porter Aviation said in August it was considering selling and then leasing back the passenger terminal to focus on its core airline business.
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India Grants Reprieve To SpiceJet
Indian airline SpiceJet has won a crucial reprieve from creditors, after the government asked airport operators and fuel suppliers to give the carrier more time to pay its bills. In a crisis reminiscent of the high profile downfall of Kingfisher Airlines -- which left billions of rupees of debts and unpaid wages -- SpiceJet has been battling refunds for customers, forced flight cancellations and a government-imposed ban on advance bookings for travel more than 30 days away. Seeking to avoid another embarrassing airline collapse, India's civil aviation ministry said late on Tuesday that the regulator would be asked to allow SpiceJet to sell advance tickets until March 31, 2015. Airport operators would be asked to give it 15 days to make payments, while state oil companies would be ask to give credit for up to 15 days, it said.
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SpiceJet grounded as fuel companies cut supplies
Beleaguered Indian carrier SpiceJet has cancelled dozens of flights, apparently due to fuel companies’ unwillingness to refuel its aircraft. In a pair of tweets, carrier chief operating officer Sanjiv Kapoor has apologized to passengers for the “disruption and pain caused due to the stoppage of fueling of our flights by the oil cos.” He adds that the carrier is “working to resolve the issue.” He says the carrier owes fuel suppliers INR140 million ($2.2 million), but that it spends INR30 billion on fuel annually.
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TAP Heads For Strike As Sell-Off Talks Stall
The Portuguese government said it will stick to its sell-off plan for national airline TAP after talks with unions failed to convince them to call off a four-day strike set for the height of the holiday season. State Transport Secretary Sergio Monteiro told reporters that after three days of talks, the unions had rejected proposals to work on more employee-friendly privatization terms and had demanded the privatization process be suspended as the key condition for calling off the December 27-30 strike. "The government profoundly regrets this decision by the unions and reaffirms the importance of TAP continuing to fly in this critical period, as not flying will be very damaging... We can only hope that the unions could revise their position." With around 300 daily flights planned at the busy period, 120,000 passengers could be affected by the strike that would cost TAP millions of euros.
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United to boost service to China during summer
United Airlines showed more signs today of how it plans to boost scheduled service during the upcoming 2015 peak summer travel season. The Chicago-based airline said it will operate additional flights next summer on two major routes to Chinese markets from its trans-Pacific gateway hub in San Francisco.
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Military

Dutch NH90 deliveries to resume
Deliveries to the Dutch armed forces of its remaining seven NH Industries (NHI) NH90 maritime helicopters – halted on the back of corrosion issues – are set to resume after the two sides hammered out a compromise agreement. The acceptance process was stopped in June after problems were noticed on two aircraft that had been deployed at sea. Subsequent analysis by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory found a number of design faults contributed to the corrosion.
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Dutch F-35 orders ready to take off
The Netherlands’ defense ministry has announced plans to order a first batch of eight operational Lockheed Martin F-35s, with the type to be delivered from 2019. In an update published on 15 December, the defense ministry says it still plans to obtain a total of 37 F-35s, including five which will be employed as training assets. Initial operational capability with the Royal Netherlands Air Force is anticipated in 2021, with its planned full fleet to be available by 2024. The aircraft will be stationed at air bases in Leeuwarden and Volkel.
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Berlin signs for A400M support as first delivery looms
Germany has signed a pair of contracts to support its operation of the A400M Atlas tactical transport until December 2018, just days before its air force is expected to receive its first example from Airbus Defense & Space. Announced on 12 December, the four-year awards with Airbus respectively cover maintenance and overhaul services to be conducted at the Luftwaffe’s Wunstorf air base, and the provision of spare parts for the Atlas.
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Polish air force to acquire new VIP transports
Polish defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak has announced plans to purchase two VIP transport aircraft, each to be capable of carrying a maximum of 12-14 passengers. Unlike previous attempts to meet national requirements by seeking to charter aircraft, the new request calls for the direct purchase of jets to be assigned to the Polish air force and operated by its personnel. “We want to buy these aircraft next year,” Siemoniak says. A range of around 4,300nm (7,960km) is required when carrying eight passengers, he adds – approximately the distance from Warsaw to New York.
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Corporate

NetJets Europe leads advanced approach trial
NetJets Europe is leading a consortium of 15 companies called A3 (Advanced Approaches for all Airports) to run advanced airport approach trials to as part of the Single European Sky research project SESAR. The initiative aims to develop new approach and landing solutions that will increase the traffic throughput of Europe's airport network, but also reduce emissions and noise. The A3 consortium will implement the augmented approaches to land project (AAL) – co-financed by the SESAR Joint Undertaking – and will perform more than 200 demonstration flights by 2016 to validate new approach and landing technologies. The flights will involve a significant number of aircraft types and an extensive range of airport environments.
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General Aviation

Daher-Socata hits 700th TBM delivery milestone
Daher-Socata has delivered the 700th TBM single-engined turboprop, 25 years after the first of the high-speed aircraft series – the TBM 700 – entered service. The milestone aircraft, a TBM 900, was handed over to a private US customer on 15 December. “This 700th TBM delivery demonstrates the full acceptance of the single-engine turboprop concept which is the flagship of Daher’s aerospace activities,” says Stéphane Mayer, president and chief executive of the Tarbes, France-based airframer. “We are now setting our sights on the next milestones.”
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Aviation Quote

Hey, everybody — watch this!

— every redneck cropduster's last words

On This Date

---In 1903... Orville Wright makes the first sustained, controlled, powered flight in the Flyer airplane at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The historic first flight lasts 12 seconds and covers 120 feet.

---In 1935…First flight of the Douglas DC-3.

---In 1951…The Lockheed Super Constellation enters service with Eastern Air Lines.

---In 1963…First flight of the Lockheed C-141A Starlifter.

---In 1969... The USAF closes Project Blue Book, its 22-year investigation into sightings of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.

---In 1984…C-5 Galaxy of the USAF becomes airborne with 920,836 pounds (417,684 kg) aboard, setting a U.S. national record.

---In 2003… On the anniversary of the Wright Flyer's achievement, SpaceShipOne is the first privately built, manned aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound.

---In 2012…An Amazon Sky Antonov AN-26, registration OB-1887-P performing a freight flight from Lima to Cusco Malvinas (Peru) with 4 crew, had departed Lima at 10:09L (15:09Z) and was enroute about 32 minutes into the 78 minutes flight when radio contact with the aircraft was lost. Last radar contact showed the aircraft 110nm east of Lima at FL195.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

Politically Correct Nelson At Trafalgar

Nelson: "Order the signal, Hardy."

Hardy: "Aye, aye sir."

Nelson: "Hold on, that's not what I dictated to Flags. What's the meaning of this?"

Hardy: "Sorry sir?"

Nelson (reading aloud): "' England expects every person to do his or her duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious persuasion or disability.' - What gobbledegook is this?"

Hardy: "Admiralty policy, I'm afraid, sir. We're an equal opportunities employer now. We had the devil's own job getting ' England ' past the censors, lest it be considered racist."

Nelson: "Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and tobacco."

Hardy: "Sorry sir. All naval vessels have now been designated smoke-free working environments."

Nelson: "In that case, break open the rum ration. Let us splice the mainbrace to steel the men before battle."

Hardy: "The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its part of the Government's policy on binge drinking."

Nelson: "Good heavens, Hardy. I suppose we'd better get on with it ........... full speed ahead."

Hardy: "I think you'll find that there's a 4 knot speed limit in this stretch of water."

Nelson: "Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest sea battle in history. We must advance with all dispatch. Report from the crow's nest please."

Hardy: "That won't be possible, sir."

Nelson: "What?"

Hardy: "Health and Safety have closed the crow's nest, sir. No harness; and they said that rope ladders don't meet regulations. They won't let anyone up there until a proper scaffolding can be erected."

Nelson: "Then get me the ship's carpenter without delay, Hardy."

Hardy: "He's busy knocking up a wheelchair access to the foredeck Admiral."

Nelson: "Wheelchair access? I've never heard anything so absurd."

Hardy: "Health and safety again, sir. We have to provide a barrier-free environment for the differently abled."

Nelson: "Differently abled? I've only one arm and one eye and I refuse even to hear mention of the word. I didn't rise to the rank of admiral by playing the disability card."

Hardy: "Actually, sir, you did. The Royal Navy is under represented in the areas of visual impairment and limb deficiency."

Nelson: "Whatever next? Give me full sail. The salt spray beckons."

Hardy: "A couple of problems there too, sir. Health and safety won't let the crew up the rigging without hard hats. And they don't want anyone breathing in too much salt - haven't you seen the adverts?"

Nelson: "I've never heard such infamy. Break out the cannon and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy."

Hardy: "The men are a bit worried about shooting at anyone, Admiral."

Nelson: "What? This is mutiny!"

Hardy: "It's not that, sir. It's just that they're afraid of being charged with murder if they actually kill anyone. There's a couple of legal-aid lawyers on board, watching everyone like hawks."

Nelson: "Then how are we to sink the Frenchies and the Spanish?"

Hardy: "Actually, sir, we're not."

Nelson: "We're not?"

Hardy: "No, sir. The French and the Spanish are our European partners now. According to the Common Fisheries Policy, we shouldn't even be in this stretch of water. We could get hit with a claim for compensation."

Nelson: "But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil."

Hardy: "I wouldn't let the ship's diversity co-ordinator hear you saying that sir. You'll be up on disciplinary report."

Nelson: "You must consider every man an enemy, who speaks ill of your King."

Hardy: "Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this multicultural age. Now put on your Kevlar vest; it's the rules. It could save your life"

Nelson: "Don't tell me - health and safety. Whatever happened to rum,
sodomy and the lash?"

Hardy: As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And there's a ban on corporal punishment."

Nelson: "What about sodomy?"

Hardy: "I believe that is now legal, sir."

Nelson: "In that case............................... kiss me, Hardy."

Trivia

Flying Business Machines

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