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NEWS

AirTran 2010 profit down 71%, airline cites rising fuel costs
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings posted 2010 net income of $38.5 million, down 71.4% from a $134.7 million profit in 2009. Though its earnings declined, 2010 marked the carrier's eighth profitable year out of the last nine. It is in the process of being acquired by Southwest Airlines.
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Sukhoi Superjet 100 wins type certification from Russian authorities
ussian aircraft certification authority IAC AR on Friday approved type certification for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 clearing the way for first delivery of the long-delayed aircraft, which rolled out in September 2007 and made its first flight nearly three years ago. The program was formally launched by Sukhoi in 2004 as the RRJ (Russian Regional Jet).
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SIA Group's fiscal third-quarter profit down 29% on cargo antitrust fines
Singapore Airlines parent SIA Group earned net income of S$288.3 million ($225.4 million) for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, down 28.6% from a S$403.7 million profit in the prior-year period, a decline attributable to S$199.1 million in special charges related to price-fixing fines against SIA Cargo.
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Turkish Technic’s new Sabiha Gokcen MRO center to open by year end
Turkish Technic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, is hoping to be a “world class MRO provider” with the completion of its new facility at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen airport. Dubbed HABOM, the $500 million MRO center will begin a phased-in opening by the end of 2011, a few years behind its original schedule.
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Bombardier mulls modifying CRJ rudder system to fly-by-wire
Bombardier is considering modifying the CRJ700/900's hydro-mechanical rudder system to the control-by-wire system used in the new 100-seat CRJ1000. "We haven't made the decision but it's something we're thinking about," Bombardier CRJ programmes director Jean-Guy Blondin revealed to ATI and Flightglobal this week during an interview at the firm's Mirabel production plant.
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Other News

Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines confirmed the strong rebound in traffic demand in the region. In 2010, RPKs for AAPC member airlines grew 9.8% to 700.8 billion while ASKs increased 4.1% to 892.5 billion, resulting in a 4.1 point improvement in load factor to 78.5%.

Aer Lingus and the IMPACT trade union management representing the majority of the carrier’s cabin crew met Friday in an effort to resolve a two-week dispute about new rosters. The talks follow a joint intervention by the country’s Irish Business and Employers Confederation and Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and amid continuing disruptions to EI’s flight schedule as most IMPACT cabin crew refuse to abide by the new rosters.

SAirGroup (formerly Swissair) was responsible for the bankruptcy of Sabena in November 2001, a Belgian court ruled Thursday, although it ordered a much lower payment than the claimants had sought. It said the Swiss group, which held a 49.5% stake in the Belgian flag carrier, did not respect an August 2001 agreement to provide 60% of a €430 million ($589.4 million) cash injection needed to keep Sabena in business.

US FAA upgraded Croatia to a Category 1 safety rating, up from the Category 2 rating it received in September 2008, following a reassessment of the country's civil aviation authority. Croatia now complies with international safety standards set by ICAO, FAA said.

Skyways, the Swedish carrier, announced it will increase its route network by 50% from March 28, adding six destinations in Scandinavia and northern Europe: Brussels, Berlin, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Sundsvall.

Delta Air Lines on Friday confirmed it would indefinitely suspend its New York JFK-Cairo service, “due to civil unrest” taking place in Egypt. Its last flight departed CAI at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 29. It launched the route June 4, 2008.

Emirates Airline will increase daily Dubai-Vienna service to 11-times-weekly Airbus A340-500 service March 27.

AirBaltic will launch four-times-weekly Fokker 50 Riga-Gdansk service April 18 and a twice-weekly Oulu-Tromso Bombardier Q400 service April 29.

Ryanair will commence four new routes from Manchester airport to Alicante(six-times-weekly), Faro (daily), Madrid (four-times-weekly) and Tenerife (four-times-weekly) from April 14 and increase frequencies on its four-times-daily MAN-Dublin route to six-times-daily. It will also launch twice-weekly Humberside-Alicante service April 12.

Spirit Airlines launched thrice-weekly Ft. Lauderdale-Niagara Falls service. It will begin thrice-weekly Niagara Falls-Myrtle Beach service May 5 and thrice-weekly Ft. Lauderdale-San Salvador service June 13, subject to foreign government approval.

AirTran Airways will launch Atlanta service to Aruba (daily, March 7), Punta Cana (daily, Feb. 16), and Bermuda (May 26). It will increase Atlanta service to Cancun to twice-daily Feb. 16 and will resume seasonal Atlanta service to Portland, Maine May 4. It will also launch Baltimore service to San Francisco (daily, May 26), Los Angeles (seasonal, March 8 ) and Seattle (seasonal, May 4).

WestJet will operate seasonal daily Orange Country service from Vancouver and Calgary starting May 2 and June 13, respectively.

Frontier Airlines will increase Milwaukee service to Boston (18-times-weekly) and New York La Guardia (19-times-weekly) to 25-times-weekly, May 13 and April 4, respectively. It will also extend daily seasonal Milwaukee-Ft. Lauderdale service until May 12, from its originally scheduled end date of April 17.



AVIATION QUOTE

Without doubt, Concorde died yesterday at the age of 31. All that will remain is the myth of a beautiful white bird.
— 'Le Figaro' editorial, the day after AF 4590 crashed at takeoff from Charles de Gaulle aerodrome, 26 July 2000.

ON THIS DATE

January 31, 1918

The Curtiss R-6 twin-float seaplane becomes the first US-built airplane to operate overseas with American forces at Naval Base 13, Ponta Delgado, in the Azores.

January 31, 1927

The first flight of Ryan B-1 Brougham airplane is completed. The aircraft is the same type that Charles Lindbergh will use for his famous solo flight across the Atlantic ocean.

Lindbergh gained sudden great international fame as he flew from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris in his single-engine airplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, which had been designed by Donald Hall and custom built by Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California.

January 31, 1949

Pan Am receives the first Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser to be delivered.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

How Much Time?

In the US Army Airborne School, which trains parachute jumpers for the Army, one of the Sergeants was demonstrating all of the possible failures that could happen to the equipment. In particular, he was explaining how many things could happen to keep the main parachute from opening. When one of the trainees asked, "If my parachute fails to open, how long do I have to open my reserve chute?"

"Son, you have the REST of your life to deploy that reserve!" the sergeant drawled.



TRIVIA

WW2 AXIS Scramble

1. AIICH
2. SIITHMIUBS
3. ANAIJKAM
4. PRNCAIO
5. TAIF
6. HIRTACMTE
7. SEIEMSMRTSTC
8. UERJNSK
9. ELEISERF
10. ENKEHLI

1. Cahii
2. Mitsubishi
3. Jamaikan
4. Poncair
5. Fita
6. Reitmacht
7. Messerscmitt
8. Junkers
9. Lifeseer
10. Heinkel

Fabster does it again, what a great Editor's Choice pick!

ANSWERS:

1. AIICH is AICHI.
2. SIITHMIUBS is MITSUBISHI.
3. ANAIJKAM is NAKAJIMA.
4. PRNCAIO is CAPRONI.
5. TAIF is FIAT.
6. HIRTACMTE is MARCHETTI.
7. SEIEMSMRTSTC is MESSERSCMITT.
8. UERJNSK is JUNKERS.
9. ELEISERF is FIESELER.
10. ENKEHLI is HEINKEL.