Boeing formally delivers first 787 to ANA All Nippon Airways, launch customer for the Boeing 787, has taken contractual delivery of its first of 55 aircraft three and a half years late. Boeing completed the transaction early on 25 September in Everett, Washington, officially giving ANA ownership of the aircraft maker's majority composite flagship product, said Scott Fancher, 787 programme vice president and general manager. Link
787’s excess weight drives mission profile: ANA All Nippon Airways has confirmed for the first time excess weight has pushed the airline to deploy early 787s on short haul and regional operations rather than long-haul routes. "The early 787s are actually much heavier than later-coming deliveries," said ANA senior vice president Satoru Fujiki during a briefing to reports in Everett, Washington. "So, for those aircraft we have taken an option to introduce those aircraft for domestic short haul and regional operations." Link
AirAsia X looks to begin Sydney service AirAsia X continues to push hard to add Sydney airport to its Australian destinations from Kuala Lumpur. Detailing the routes and territories the airline was looking at expanding into, AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said that offering flights to Australia's largest and most populous city was among the carrier's priorities. Link
AirAsia vows innovative IFE as Samsung teams with Tune Box AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes is vowing to offer passengers a "modern and innovative in-flight entertainment experience" now that Samsung has teamed with Tune Box to turn Android-powered Galaxy tablets into portable IFE for passengers in addition to electronic flight bags (EFBs) for pilots. The partnership between Tune Box - the new digital media arm of Tune Group, of which Fernandes is chair - and Samsung comes as the latter firm is making its mark in the IFE space. For instance, the company recently announced an agreement to supply 6,000 units of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to American Airlines. Link
Airbus fails to reach deal with German workers Negotiations have broken down between Airbus and the IG Metall union on a work agreement for 16,000 employees in Germany, opening the way for possible strike action. The union announced on Saturday that after nearly 12 hours the employers had ended the negotiations. Link
Court rejects AirBaltic legal protection plan; board vows to continue operations The legal protection plan filed by Latvian national airline airBaltic (BT) Wednesday has been rejected by the court, although it did not provide details. BT president and CEO Bertolt Flick said the BT board would continue airline operations. Link Discussion
IATA urges Indonesia to solve safety issues IATA’s DG and CEO Tony Tyler has urged Indonesia to implement coordinated policy measures to reap the economic and social benefits of a successful aviation industry and put behind it the record of 33 accidents between 2005 and 2010. Link
Royal Air Maroc receives $193.3 million government bailout Morocco's government has offered Royal Air Maroc (RAM) 1.6 billion dirhams ($193.3 million) to shore up its finances hurt by growing competition, lower sales and higher fuel prices, Reuters reported. The funds are part of a 9.3 billion dirham package to restructure the state-carrier from 2011-2016 and reduce its workforce by 30% by 2013. The government is expected to proceed with the partial privatization of the loss-making carrier, with the sale of 30% of the shares to a foreign company. Link
Small Tourist Plane Crashes In Nepal, 19 Dead A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashed in bad weather near Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Sunday, killing all 19 people on board, officials said. Kathmandu Airport officials said there were 16 passengers and a crew of three on board the plane. The cause of the crash was not known. Link 1 Link 2 Discussion
Puerto Rico Picks Finalists For Airport Sale Puerto Rico officials on Friday chose six consortia to bid for a long-term concession to run San Juan airport in what the officials hope will be a deal worth USD$1 billion or more. The finalists are: Zurich Airport, Camargo Correa and PSP Investments; Fraport and Goldman Sachs; GMR and Incheon Airport; Grupo Aeropotuario del Sureste and Highstar Capital; Grupo Aeropuertos Avance, and Puerto Rico Gateway Group. Link
EasyJet expects to report higher pre-tax profit for FY 2011 EasyJet on Thursday raised its earnings guidance for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and said it now expects to post a profit before tax of between £240 million ($376 million) and £250 million, citing a “robust” commercial performance across its network and cost-control measures. It had previously forecast a full-year, pre-tax profit of between £200 million and £230 million. Link
FedEx posts $464 million 1Q profit, downgrades full-year earnings FedEx Corp. reported a net profit of $464 million for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, up 22% from net income of $380 million in the prior-year period. Despite the profit rise, the Memphis-based express delivery carrier lowered per share earnings guidance for its full fiscal year ended May 31 from $6.35-$6.85 to $6.25-$6.75, reflecting slower-than-expected global economic growth. Link
Other News
ILFC has agreed to purchase and leaseback five new Boeing 737-800s to Virgin Australia, scheduled to be delivered in 2012 and 2013.
A J Walter Aviation has agreed to acquire four Boeing 737-300s from Pembroke Capital Aircraft (Shannon) Ltd. for part out. The aircraft were last operated by Germania.
UNI Air has agreed to purchase 10 ATR 72-600s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the 2012 third quarter. The new aircraft will be used to replace its Dash-8-300s.
Royal Jordanian received its second new Airbus A320, as part of its medium-haul fleet modernization program that involves replacing six A320s/A321s with seven new of the same model type. The remaining three A320s and two A321s will be delivered during 2011 and 2012, to bring its narrowbody fleet to 13 A320 family aircraft. The aircraft are leased on operational basis and are configured with two cabins and 136 seats. All seats are equipped with the audio-video-on-demand inflight entertainment system.
AVIATION QUOTE
Map reading was not required. There were no maps. I got from place to place with the help of three things. One was the seat of my pants. If it left that of the plane, when the visibility was at a minimum, I was in trouble and could even be upside down. Another was the ability to recognize every town, river, railroad, farm, and, yes, outhouse along the route. The third? I had a few drops of homing pigeon in my veins.
— Ken McGregor, Early U.S. Air Mail pilot
ON THIS DATE
September 26th
---In 1951…First flight of the de Havilland Sea Vixen WG326.
---In 1967... The governments of France, West Germany, and Britain sign a memorandum that calls for the development of the Airbus A300 wide-bodied jet airliner.
---In 1977…Laker Airways inaugurates its no-booking "Skytrain" service between London and New York.
---In 1981…First flight of the Boeing 767-200.
---In 2008…Yves Rossy, Swiss airline pilot and former fighter pilot, crosses the English Channel with his homemade jet-powered wing strapped on his back.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
Flying Truths
It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here, and If you're ever faced with a forced landing at night, turn on the landing lights to see the landing area. If you don't like what you see, turn'em back off.
A check ride ought to be like a skirt, short enough to be interesting but still be long enough to cover everything. Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.
Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands, and never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
Don't drop the aircraft in order to fly the microphone. An airplane flies because of a principle discovered by Bernoulli, not Marconi.
"Unskilled" pilots are always found in the wreckage with their hand around the microphone.
If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger; if you pull the stick back, they get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back-then they get bigger again.)
Hovering20is for pilots who love to fly but have no place to go; the only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire; flying is the second greatest thrill known to man, landing is the first!
Everyone already knows the definition of a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But very few know the definition of a 'great' landing. It's one after which you can use the airplane another time.
The probability of survival is opposite to the angle of arrival.
IFR: I Follow Roads.
You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.
Those who hoot with the owls by night, should not fly with the eagles by day.
A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down - all of them trying to become random in motion.
Helicopters can't really fly - they're just so ugly that the earth immediately repels them.
Pilots believe in clean living. They never drink whiskey from a dirty glass.
Things which do you no good in aviation: Altitude above you; Runways behind you; Fuel in the truck; Half a second ago; Approach plates in the car; and Airspeed you don't have.
If God meant man to fly, He'd have given him more money.
Flying is not dangerous; crashing is very dangerous.
A good simulator check ride is like successful surgery on a corpse.
Asking what a pilot thinks about the FAA is like asking a tree what it thinks about dogs.
Trust your captain but keep your seat belt securely fastened.
An airplane may disappoint a good pilot, but it won't surprise him.
Any pilot who relies on a terminal forecast can be sold the Brooklyn Bridge. If he relies on winds-aloft reports he can be sold Niagara Falls.
The friendliest flight attendants are those on the trip home.
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.
Being an airline pilot would be great if you didn't have to go on all those trips.
Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.
The nicer an airplane looks, the better it flies.
There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are, but it's always a good landing if you can still get the doors open.
Passengers prefer old captains and young flight attendants.
One thing worse than a captain who never flew as a copilot is a copilot who once was a captain. No matter which, it’s best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.
If an earthquake suddenly opened a fissure in a runway that caused an accident, the FAA would find a way to blame it on pilot error.
Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwind.
A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside. It's much worse.
It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You have to start with a large fortune.
A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.
A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle.
The last thing every pilot does before leaving the aircraft after making a gear up landing is to put the gear selection lever in the 'down' position.
Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs, and remember takeoff's are optional, but landings are mandatory.
You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.
TRIVIA
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Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
1. Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 2. Convair F-102 Delta Dagger 3. Grumman TBF Avenger or Martin TBM Avenger 4. Convair F-106 Delta Dart 5. Hawker-Siddely Trident 6. McDonell F2H Demon 7. Dassault F-1 Mirage 8. English Electric Lightning 9. Messerschmidt Me-262 Scwelbe 10. Tupolev Tu-22 (NATO BLINDER)
And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
