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

News

Commercial

Iran Reaches Deal To Acquire Boeing Planes
Iran said it has reached an agreement with Boeing for the supply of airliners, reopening the country's skies to new US aircraft for the first time in decades. Details of the agreement were left vague, but could involve flag carrier Iran Air acquiring more than 100 Boeing jets, both directly and from leasing companies.
Link

French probe VIP 777 wing-strike at Le Bourget
French investigators have detailed a serious incident involving a Boeing 777-200ER which suffered a wing-strike and tail contact while attempting to land at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. The privately-operated aircraft (N777AS) had been conducting a positioning service from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on 5 June.
Link

ATSB warns of “catastrophic” potential of ATR pitch disconnect
The Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) has revealed that opposite control column inputs caused a “pitch disconnect” on a Virgin Australia ATR 72-600, resulting in overstress damage to the aircraft’s horizontal stabilizer. In its June 2014 preliminary report, the ATSB said that the aircraft (VH-FVR) suffered overstress damage to its tailplane during a flight on 20 February 2014, but an overnight inspection failed to detect the damage. The aircraft then flew 13 additional sectors before pitch control anomalies were detected on 25 February, after which an inspection following a suspected bird strike discovered structural damage.
Link

Airlines

Air Canada offers seasonal service to Scotland
Air Canada launched seasonal service from Toronto to Glasgow, Scotland. The nonstop service aboard Boeing 767-300ERs is available three times a week.
Link

Air China to open Shanghai-San Jose service
Beijing-based Air China plans to start direct Shanghai Pudong-San Jose, California (SJC) service from September. The 3X-weekly service will use dual-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The airline, one of China’s big three carriers, gained approval from Chinese aviation authorities in March and the US Department of Transportation in early June. The new schedule comes following a number of incentives from San Jose authorities, including waiving the carrier’s landing and ticket counter fees for up to 18 months.
Link

Air France Pilot Strike Cost More Than €40 Mln
Air France said the last four days of strikes by pilots would cost the airline more than EUR€40 million. A spokeswoman for Air France, who confirmed comments given by chief executive Frederic Gagey to AFP, said the company plans to meet unions by the end of the week.
Link

Alaska offers complimentary flights for relatives, partners of Orlando victims
Alaska Airlines is offering complimentary flights to Orlando, Fla., for relatives and partners of shooting victims. "Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families, and the greater LGBT community," the carrier said. "From all of us at Alaska Airlines, we stand by you and will always believe that love conquers hate."
Link

Aurora Airlines’ Twin Otter traffic up significantly
Russia’s Aurora Airlines’ DHC-6 Twin Otter fleet carried 11,202 passengers from January-May, up 195% year-over-year. The Aeroflot subsidiary serves Russia’s Far East and operates two DHC-6s. Aurora’s scheduled regional network in Primorsky Krai in the Far East includes eight destinations from Vladivostok and Terney. The flights are subsidized by the regional government.
Link

Cape Air interviewing pilots in Pittsburgh
Regional airline Cape Air is interviewing for pilots in Pittsburgh. The airline is working with the Allegheny County Airport Authority to find potential pilot candidates. Cape Air, a Massachusetts-based airline, serves New England, Missouri, Montana, the British Virgin Island and the Bahamas, among other destinations, primarily with twin-engine Cessna 402s.
Link

Delta Private Jets, Gogo Team Up To Deliver 4G Service
A first-of-its-kind fleet-wide agreement between Delta Private Jets, Inc. and Gogo Inc.will soon deliver a 4G inflight experience to DPJ's customers.
Link

EasyJet sticks to MRO tack despite new Gatwick hangar
EasyJet insists that its opening of a hangar at London Gatwick does not represent a shift in its strategy of outsourcing technical services to external maintenance providers. But the UK low-cost carrier does not rule out establishing similar MRO facilities elsewhere.
Link

Flybe alters E-Jet and Q400 deals
UK regional carrier Flybe will now take only 15 Bombardier Q400s from US-based Republic Airways, down from the 24 originally agreed, and it has deferred delivery of four Embraer E175s. In 2014, Flybe agreed to sublease 24 former Republic Q400s over the 2015-19 period. In return, Republic took over 20 E175s from Flybe’s order of 24 of the type.
Link

Qatar Airways Cargo announces major network expansion
Gulf carrier Qatar Airways Cargo will be a major player in three new regions of the globe within the next year, according to chief officer-cargo Ulrich Ogiermann. China is a major market for Qatar Airways Cargo, which operates dedicated freighter services to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong, while the airline’s passenger flights serve those three destinations and provide underfloor cargo space to Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing and Hangzhou.
Link

Southwest to debut new uniforms next year
Southwest Airlines plans to roll out new uniforms designed by Cintas in 2017. The uniform colors of red and blue will coordinate with Southwest's livery introduced in 2014.
Link

United Airlines to showcase Polaris in Chicago
United Airlines is offering a sneak peek of its Polaris business class to Chicago audiences on Thursday. The carrier unveiled Polaris, which includes lie-flat seats and other amenities, in New York City earlier this month.
Link

Airports

Charlotte airport revenue bonds with a stable outlook
Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the Aa3 rating on the Charlotte (City of) NC Airport Enterprise's outstanding airport revenue bonds. The outlook is stable. The Aa3 rating is based on the airport's maintenance of extraordinary financial performance, stable and growing enplanement levels, and the strength of the local demand for air travel. The airport's financial performance, particularly its cost per enplanement and liquidity levels, offset the airport's primary credit risk of reductions to American Airlines Group Inc. (Ba3 stable) connecting operations. Based on the airport's financial position and cost structure as well as O&D demand, we believe Charlotte airport (CLT) could withstand a substantial loss of connecting traffic and remain on solid financial footing.
Link

Military

Airbus Helicopters completes first HForce firing tests
Airbus Helicopters has completed the first round of firing tests of its new HForce generic weapon system using an H225M rotorcraft. Designed around a core Rockwell Collins Deutschland mission management system and also featuring the Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted display and an L-3 Wescam electro-optical/infrared sensor, the system has been in development for two years.
Link

DARPA picks Lockheed, Raytheon for swarming UAS tests
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been awarded contracts by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the next phase of a project to develop collaborative control technology for unmanned air systems. Under the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) program, the two prime contractors will build on previous work to develop algorithms that will allow a single operator to control multiple UAS, and specifically in environments where communications are limited.
Link

Aviation Quote

"Clearly this was an out of the ordinary landing, but I was just doing my job and any one of our pilots would have taken the same actions."

— Captain David Williams, Virgin Atlantic flight 43. He safely landed his B747 at London Gatwick with 447 people on board with no starboard outer main landing gear. BBC News, 31 December 2014.

On This Date

Click Here

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Trivia

Sort By Wingspan

1.Convair XC-99

2. Saunders-Roe Princess

3. Douglas XB-19

4. Boeing 747

5. Bristol Brabazon

6. Lockheed C-5A Galaxy

7. Hughes H-4

8. Antonov An-225 Mriya

9. Convair B-36 Peacemaker

10. Antonov An-124 Condor

11. Airbus A-380-800

12. Boeing 747-8i

13. Boeing 777-300ER