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NEWS

Air China, China Eastern change top leadership
Air China (CA) and China Eastern Airlines (MU) have changed their top leadership, a person familiar with the matter has confirmed.
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EU and TSA must step back from new unilateral regulations
The European Union (EU) has over-reached and needs to rethink its approach to new taxes that would offset airline emissions, according to the head of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). AAPA DG Andrew Herdman added his voice to the growing international chorus of criticism of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) plan that takes effect Jan. 1 and mandates emission fees for all airlines flying in and out of Europe.
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SIA Group's fiscal 1H profit falls 62% on higher fuel expense
Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group posted a net profit of S$238.9 million ($187.6 million) for its fiscal-year first half ended Sept. 30, down 62% from net income of S$632.7 in the year-ago period. It said the drop was "principally on account of high fuel costs."
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Engine Trouble Forces Qantas A380 Diversion
An engine fault forced a Qantas Airways A380 bound for London to divert to Dubai on Friday, exactly a year since a mid-air engine blowout prompted the Australian airline to ground its entire fleet of A380 superjumbos for nearly a month.
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IAG Profit Falls 31 Percent, To Buy bmi
International Airlines Group reported a 31 percent fall in third-quarter profit, hit by a higher fuel bill, and said it had agreed to buy Lufthansa's loss-making British unit bmi.
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Law Change Would Put Airline At Risk - Qantas
Australia's Qantas Airways on Friday said any changes to the Qantas Sale Act, proposed by an independent lawmaker and backed by unions, would cost jobs and threaten the viability of the airline.
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Emirates Sticks To Growth Plan Despite Profit Slump
Emirates, the state-owned carrier which is on a hurried expansion path, said it was sticking to its growth plans in the face of a 76 percent slump in half-year profit, hit by fuel costs and currency fluctuations.
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Boeing Cites 600 Commitments For 737 MAX
Boeing said on Thursday it now has more than 600 order commitments from eight airlines for its 737 MAX, which it plans to offer with a new fuel-efficient engine.
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From Albania to Afghanistan, US Army integrates lessons into latest Apache
On 2 November, Boeing delivered the first two of 690 AH-64D Apache Longbow Block III attack helicopters to the US Army. A training aircraft will also be delivered to the first export customer - Taiwan - in mid-2012, with the balance of the nation's order for 30 Block III aircraft to begin delivery a year later. The Block III version of the AH-64D is also the only aircraft now being considered by the Indian defence ministry for its attack helicopter contest, after the nation eliminated a rival bid from Russia's Mil Mi-28N.
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US Navy adds classified payload to MQ-8B Fire Scout
The US Navy has disclosed that a classified intelligence payload is now flying on the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout. Northrop was awarded a $1 million contract earlier this month to integrate a payload called Twister on the MQ-8B - an unmanned helicopter based on the Sikorsky S330 - according to an acquisition notice.
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Heathrow outlines operational freedoms trial
London's Heathrow airport has started a four-month trial of new mixed-mode operations that started on Tuesday (1 November), allowing it to temporarily use both runways for departures or arrivals. The trial was one of a number of recommendations made by the coalition government's South East Airports Task Force in July, and comes as the main political opposition, the Labour party, abandoned support for a third Heathrow runway - a position already adopted by the government. Heathrow normally uses one runway for departures and the other for arrivals. Implementation of the new freedom is conditional on certain triggers agreed with the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority.
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Frontier tweaks flight schedules, may face layoffs
Frontier Airlines may face layoffs as its parent company, Republic Airways, trims its schedule. The changes "are being made to tweak the schedule because we are entering the shoulder season," spokesman Peter Kowalchuk said. Frontier cut flights from its Denver hub to Milwaukee by one-third this week.
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JetBlue, Republic lead rally in airline shares
Shares of JetBlue Airways and Republic Airways climbed in trading on Wednesday, and other airline stocks also rallied. JetBlue and Republic shares rose by 3%, and Southwest shares increased by almost 1%.
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FAA issues airworthiness directive on 737 cracks
The Federal Aviation Administration is concerned about cracks in the fuselage of several Boeing 737 models. The FAA issued an airworthiness directive requiring more frequent inspections on the fuselage, as well as earlier inspections. The cracks "could reduce the structural capability of the frames to sustain limit loads and result in cracking in the fuselage skin and subsequent rapid depressurization of the airplane," the FAA said.
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United Nations group opposes EU emissions trading scheme
The United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization said the European Union should not include non-EU carriers in its emissions trading scheme. The organization is composed of 36 nations, and 26 backed a declaration that the scheme is "inconsistent with applicable international law."
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Sabre reports continued collaboration between airlines, GDS
Airlines are working productively with global distribution systems in efforts to distribute their ancillary products to travel agents via GDS, said executives at Sabre Travel Network. Shelly Terry, a senior director at Sabre, said the company's dispute with American Airlines was pushing attention away from these collaborative efforts. "Most [airlines] are by and large very excited to embrace these capabilities. They want to get their product into as many channels as possible and on as many shelves as possible," Terry said.
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Airlines may cut Europe flights' seating capacity in 2012
Airlines are considering 5% to 10% cuts to seating capacity on international flights to Europe next year, TravCorp USA reports. These plans come alongside a general growth in international travel, with a 15% increase in Europe travel purchases in the first quarter of 2012 compared with that of the same period this year, data from AAA show. AAA Travel further notes the top European travel destinations in the first six months of 2012 are Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome, London and Dublin.
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E-boarding pass trend has taken off
Most major carriers have now installed mobile-boarding services at major U.S. airports, allowing a growing number of smartphone-using travelers to check in through e-boarding passes on their devices. Despite some bugs and drawbacks, the new system has received praise from business and frequent travelers.
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Other News

Gulf Air renewed its reservations system agreement with Sabre Airline Solutions, the aviation technology provider said.

Asia Pacific airlines sustained growth in international passenger traffic during September, but international cargo declined, according to figures released Nov. 3 by the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

Munich Airport (MUC) suffered heavy traffic delays Thursday after a Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 777-300ER slid off the southern runway just after landing. SIA flight 327, originating in Manchester, was carrying 143 passengers and 15 crew. There were no injuries.

Air Lease Corp. (ALC) took delivery of its first ATR 72-600 and confirmed the aircraft will be operated by TRIP Linhas Aereas. The Brazilian regional airline will also operate the next five -600s delivered to ALC to support the expansion of its domestic network to new destinations, as well as adding capacity and more frequent routes in growing markets.

Air Berlin (AB) announced Helmut Himmelreich has been named COO, replacing Christoph Debus, who is leaving the company Dec. 31. Himmelreich is former AB chief maintenance officer. Longtime AB Technik management board member Marco Ciomperlik will replace Himmelreich.
Thomas Cook Airlines and representatives of the Unite union will hold further talks Nov. 9 in Manchester over plans to make its 498 cabin crew redundant. Talks were held in Manchester last Wednesday after the United cabin crew members voted overwhelmingly in a consultative ballot in favor of industrial action.

Alitalia (AZ) resumed flights between Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and Tripoli Thursday, after an eight-month suspension. AZ 868 landed in Tripoli at 2 p.m. local time with 100 passengers on board. AZ is the first EU airline to restart commercial (passenger and cargo) service to/from Libya. Currently, flights are operated to Tripoli Mitiga, but in the next few days operations will shift to Tripoli International. AZ operates a 4X-weekly service between FCO and Tripoli.

Gulf Air will launch service from Bahrain to Gassim (3X-weekly, Jan. 17), Yanbu (3X-weekly, Feb. 15) and Taif (4X-weekly, Jan. 15).

Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR) signed codeshare agreements with Air France (AF) and KLM (KL), under which AF and KL will place their codes on AR service to Cordoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Montevideo and Asuncion. AR will place its code on AF and KL service to Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon and Bordeaux and other European destinations, including Berlin and Munich.

Emirates increased its 21X-weekly Dubai-Singapore service to 26X-weekly. It will increase the service to 28X-weekly Feb. 2.



AVIATION QUOTE

We've got a bad fire—let's get out . . . We're burning up!

—Roger Chaffee, Apollo 1 test, Gus Grissom and Ed White were also killed in the ground test, 27 January 1967.



ON THIS DATE

November 4th

---In 1910... The 1st dirigible to fly from England to France is the British non-rigid airship City of Cardiff, built by E.T. Willows.

---In 1964… The first automatic blind landing by a passenger aircraft occurs when a British European Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident lands in dense fog.

---In 1982…Pan Am inaugurates service from Los Angeles to Sydney; at 7,487 non-stop miles (11,979 km), it is the longest non-stop flight in the world.

---In 2010…Qantas Flight 32, operated by Airbus A380 VH-OQA suffered an uncontained engine failure over Batam Island, Indonesia. Falling debris injured one person on the ground. The aircraft dumped fuel and returned to Singapore Changi Airport, where a safe landing was made.

---In 2010…Aero Caribbean Flight 883, operated by an ATR 72 crashed at Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba killing all 68 people on board.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

Watching

A Cessna 402 was having problems with his landing gear not indicating 3 green, and was holding at a fairly remote town. The 402 pilot was getting agitate and everyone was trying to be helpful.

Chopper pilot: "Errr...I'm 20 minutes away, but if you hold I can come by and look at your airplane."

402 Pilot: "Look man, I'm not waiting 20 minutes for you to come and look at my airplane."

Chopper pilot: "I don't want to look at it. I just want to see you land it!!"



TRIVIA

Google Airports

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.

1.
2.
3.
4. PEK ?
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. YVR

5 Maderia, Funchal

8. Daytona . . .

1. KELP
2.
3. KNUQ
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Combined efforts have lead to the following answers yet:

1. ELP
2. ---
3. NUQ
4. PEK
5. FNC
6. ---
7. PRG
8. DAB
9. ---
10. YVR

7/10 so far ...

6. SJU

2. GCLP

That military apron has been bugging me all day, but for some reason I was thinking it was a French unit stationed there.

1. ELP

Queso wrote:1. ELP

US Army Sergeant's Major Academy is in that photo, and I was stationed there.

ANCFlyer wrote:

Queso wrote:1. ELP

US Army Sergeant's Major Academy is in that photo, and I was stationed there.

I've logged quite a few TDY assignments to BIF over the years. Back when it used to be safe to walk over to Juarez...

Always came home with a ton of Tequila/Kahlua from those trips.

Good turnout for Friday's trivia.

ANSWERS:

1. ELP, El Paso, TX
2. LPA, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
3. NUQ, Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA
4. PEK, Beijing, China
5. FNC, Madeira, Funchal, Portugal
6. SJU, Luis Muñoz Marin, San Juan, Puerto Rico
7. PRG, Prague, Czech Republic
8. DAB, Daytona Beach, FL
9. YUL, Monrteal, Canada
10. YVR, Vancouver, Canada