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Airbus hands modified A321 overwing exit to Saab
Airbus has assigned the development of a new A321 overwing door to the aerostructures manufacturing arm of Saab. The development is part of a revised design for the twinjet which will enable it to increase accommodation to 240 passengers.
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Boeing accelerates timeline for Boeing 737 Max delivery
Boeing plans to move up delivery by at least a quarter for the first Boeing 737 Max to Southwest Airlines. The aircraft, initially slated for delivery in the third quarter of 2017, will now be delivered in the first half of 2017.
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Boeing Outlines Strategy To Increase Revenue, Profits
Boeing has laid out an ambitious, five-year strategy to increase revenue and profits, promising to boost efficiency, return free cash to shareholders and expand the after-market services and parts business. But senior executives, speaking to analysts at a conference, faced questions about whether Boeing can tame the commercial aircraft business cycle. The company gave few new details about plans to modify existing planes to better match market needs to counter competitive threats from Airbus and Bombardier.
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Lockheed to develop quiet supersonic aircraft design for NASA
Lockheed Martin and NASA are partnering on supersonic aircraft that can fly quietly, avoiding the sonic boom phenomenon. Lockheed has scored a $20 million contract to begin figuring out how to combine NASA's sonic-boom-altering technology with an aircraft in what's being dubbed the Commercial Supersonic Technology Project.
LinkAirlines
Air Canada extends contract for cloud-based logistics
Air Canada Cargo opted to extend an agreement with Unisys Corp. for a logistics system based in the cloud. "We are committed to using technology to deliver world-class cargo services and innovation," said Lise-Marie Turpin, vice president of Air Canada Cargo.
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EasyJet take-off incident traced to wrong runway data
Investigators believe a software anomaly in an EasyJet Airbus A319’s electronic flightbag might have resulted in its crew’s using take-off performance data for the wrong runway at Belfast. The crew had opted to depart from intersection B to runway 25 for a service to London Luton on 25 June last year.
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Finnair Posts €15 Million Quarterly Loss
Finnair has reported a deeper-than-expected quarterly, saying it hoped the government would allow its ownership in the firm to be reduced to keep doors open for mergers and acquisitions. The airline has struggled in recent years with tough competition from discount carriers, but cost savings and a focus on flights to Asia helped it make an annual profit last year.
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Gol Posts Profit On Currency, Aircraft Deals
Brazilian airline Gol posted its first quarterly profit in over four years as aircraft financing deals and a rebounding currency gave earnings a one-time lift. Gol Linhas Aereas reported first-quarter net income of BRR757 million reais (USD$219 million), up from a net loss of BRR673 million a year earlier.
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JetBlue total departures rose 6% in April
JetBlue Airways posted an 8.6% increase in consolidated revenue passenger miles for April on a year-over-year basis. JetBlue's total departures for the month also rose by 6%.
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Debris Almost Certainly From MH370
Two pieces of debris discovered in South Africa and the Mauritian island of Rodrigues are almost certainly from Malaysia Airlines MH370, Malaysia's transport ministry said. "The team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement.
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Singapore Air Profits Jump On Lower Oil Prices
Singapore Airlines reported full-year net profit that more than doubled to SGD$804 million (USD$586.7 million), mainly on lower oil costs. Operating profit increased 66.1 percent to SGD$271 million, the airline said in a stock exchange submission.
LinkAirports
Gatwick opens world's largest self bag drop area
The fully automated bag drop facility for customers is designed to help reduce and eliminate check-in queues. "As a result of its introduction, queue times have reduced by half and more than 90% of our passengers will wait less than five minutes at bag drop," says the airline.
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Military
Air Force plans to hold open competition to replace helicopter fleet
The Air Force's UH-1N Huey helicopter fleet will be replaced through a "full and open" competition among vendors. The Air Force needs 72 new helicopters for transport and guarding missiles, and the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk considered a front-runner.
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Boeing continues KC-46 testing
Boeing's KC-46 tests are moving forward despite some hiccups in development. Formal Milestone C approval for production is expected in June.
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Danish government to recommend Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet
The Danish government will recommend the purchase of 27 F-35 stealth fighter jets built by U.S. weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The recommendation, first reported by Denmark's TV2 News, will be followed by a public comment period, said one source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
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Boeing backs extended-range Harpoon to stave off Kongsberg threat
The US Navy will wrap up developmental free flight testing of the datalink-equipped Boeing Harpoon Block II+ sea-skimming, anti-ship missile next week, ahead of fielding on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet sometime between June and August of 2017. The latest variant of the 45-year-old Harpoon weapon type expands on the satellite-aided navigation system introduced in Block II by adding a datalink radio ported across from the C-1 variant of Raytheon's AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) for in-flight retargeting against enemy surface vessels in cluttered coastal regions.
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Aviation Quote
"I'm sure we would not have had men on the Moon if it had not been for Wells and Verne and the people who write about this and made people think about it. I'm rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books."
— Arthur C Clarke, The View from Serendip, page 238, 1977.
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