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Undisclosed customer signs for 25 A321neos
Airbus has disclosed a firm order for 25 A321neo jets, assigned to an undisclosed customer, in its latest backlog data. The agreement was signed on 31 July, the airframer has revealed. It has not identified the customer involved nor disclosed any powerplant choice or delivery dates for the jets.
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P&W discloses new engine option for CSeries
Pratt & Whitney is rolling out a new, higher-thrust version of the PW1500G engine for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft family in the next two to three months. The new PW1525G will become the fourth engine option for the CS100 and the third option available for the CS300. P&W is developing the new version of the engine to offer up to 5% higher thrust when the aircraft is moving faster than roughly Mach 0.1 and at the maximum continuous thrust rating in flight.
LinkAirlines
Alaska, American Airlines are expanding codeshare
Passengers can earn Alaska Airlines miles by flying American, and Alaska Airlines wants them to know it. The airline has stressed its codeshare with American in recent advertising, and the agreement between the companies is expected to grow in the second half of the year.
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Delta promises to remain on top of on-time service
Delta Air Lines announced an "operational performance commitment" in a video aimed at its corporate clients. In the video Delta promises to compensate corporate customers if it drops from the top spot in global on-time flights. The carrier says the 80,000 men and women who work at Delta are dedicated to achieving top operational performance.
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Hawaiian Airlines traffic up 5% over last year
Hawaiian Airlines carried more than 1 million passengers in July, a 5.2% increase over last year. The carrier reported that traffic grew by 4.6%, capacity grew by 4.4% and the load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 80.7%.
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LATAM's entire fleet to have new livery by 2018
LATAM Airlines Group expects to have its new branding on its entire fleet in 2018. The carrier, which unveiled a new logo today in Sao Paulo, says it will repaint its fleet of more than 300 aircraft as and when they are due for maintenance. “We are doing it in an intelligent way,” says LATAM chief marketing officer Jerome Cadier, adding that the airline wants to minimise taking aircraft out of service for the paint job.
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Malaysia Says More Debris Found On Reunion
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said investigators on Reunion had collected more aircraft debris, including a window and metal foil, but there was no confirmation they also belonged to MH370. With the first trace of the plane now confirmed, Malaysia has asked the governments of Mauritius and Madagascar to help widen the search area.
LinkAirports
American Airlines is adding flights out of LAX
American Airlines is adding service to the ski resort towns of Jackson's Hole, Wyo., and Telluride, Colo., this season. The flights will operate daily Dec. 17 to Jan. 1 and Saturdays through April 4.
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Tampa International goes local with new food options
Tampa International Airport is adding over a dozen new restaurants in 2016, including local fast food chain Burger 21 and a full service Cigar City restaurant and brewery.
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Military
Brazil's senate approves renegotiated Gripen finance package
The Brazilian Air Force is a step closer to securing 36 Saab Gripen NG fighter aircraft with the federal senate approving a renegotiated financing agreement with Sweden this week that lowers the interest rate on the $4.6 billion loan from 2.54% to 2.19%. Brazil’sministry of defence said in a statement the senate authorised the loan of $4.6 billion for the fighter jets form Sweden's export credit agency SEK at the lower interest rate, and another $245 million for weaponry.
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Italian KC-767 tanker completes its first F-35 refuelling
Italy’s F-35 programme has passed a key test, with an Italian Air Force KC-767A taker refuelling a Lockheed Martin F-35A for the first time. The milestone comes as Italy prepares to flight test its first domestically-assembled F-35A, which rolled off the Cameri assembly line in March and will eventually be flown to the US to support pilot training at Luke AFB in Arizona.
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Russia and China’s bomber plans could muster support for LRS-B
Russia and China’s pursuit of modern, long-range bombers is essentially an endorsement of the US Long-Range Strike Bomber, and not the start of some Cold War-era bomber race. That’s the view of retired US Air Force Lt Gen David Deptula, now dean of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute. In an interview with reporters this week ahead of his “Beyond the Bomber” report launch in September, Deptula said LRS-B should be viewed as a national asset and budget priority, because the air force’s “capable but eroding” inventory of nuclear-capable bombers is aging out.
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Aviation Quote
I Don't believe in being the launch customer for anything.
— Carl Michel, British Airways— commercial director, regards the Airbus A3XX (which was eventually named the A380), February 2000.
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