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NEWS

Hainan Airlines considers 747-8 order
Hainan Airlines (HU) may order Boeing 747-8s aircraft, citing repeated delivery delays of the 787.
However, HU confirmed to ATW it has no plans to cancel its order for 10 787s. It denied news reports that the carrier may swap out its 787 order for the 747-8s.
“We are indeed considering ordering [the] Boeing 747-8 now as the continuous delivery delays of [the] Boeing 787 have affected our operation. But we won’t cancel our Boeing 787 orders,” the carrier said in a written statement.
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Iberia pilots plan 24 more days of strikes

Iberia is facing a further 24 days of industrial action by its pilots represented by the Spanish airline pilots union SEPLA to protest the launch of Iberia Express, the carrier’s new subsidiary for short- and medium-haul flights.
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United’s migration: A technical success, but customers felt the bumps in the road

United Airlines’ weekend migration to the Hewlett Packard SHARES system used by Continental, its merger partner, got mixed reviews: As Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, said, it was “a success on the technology level but less of a success on the customer-experience front.”
In the final major step in the integration of the two carriers, United successfully moved its reservations, inventory control and departure control systems off the Apollo platform, where they had resided for more than 40 years, and onto SHARES.
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Qantas to consolidate, not outsource, maintenance operations

In a speech on the airline’s half-year results, QF CEO Alan Joyce told investors and journalists the company will reduce its engineering and maintenance expenditures—which is nearly $1.4 billion a year, or at least 30% higher than its competitors—through a consultative review of its heavy maintenance procedures, a consolidation of maintenance tasks and more efficient performance of maintenance tasks.
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Qatar not in the market for acquisitions

Ailing airlines looking for a white knight need not trouble Qatar Airways. Chief executive Akbar Al Baker says the cash-rich carrier is no longer in the market to acquire airlines after its strategic investment in freight specialist Cargolux.
"We were looking at potential acquisitions, but we are not any more," he says. "All the time people are knocking at our door. We are polite in telling them that we are not interested."
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Transaero launches inflight Internet on 30 aircraft

Transaero Airline will outfit its first Boeing 777 with inflight Internet and launch flights in April. According to CEO Olga Pleshakova, UN will equip 38 out of its 75 aircraft with the new technology, at a cost of about $30 million. The carrier did not disclose the name of the supplier.
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BAE Systems wins spate of contracts
BAE Systems has won a range of new contracts across its regional aircraft support and engineering businesses.
The company won acontract from South African carrier SA Airlink for the major repair of an RJ85; a JetSpares contract from Swiss International Airlines covering its fleet of 20 Avro RJ100s, for a minimum of five years, and continuing until the last aircraft ceases revenue flying with the airline; and a three-year support contract from West Atlantic Airlines covering 44 ATP regional turboprop aircraft.
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BMI signs deal with another potential buyer for BMIbaby

UK carrier BMI has signed a non-binding agreement with another potential buyer for its low-cost subsidiary BMIbaby, in addition to the deal signed earlier this year with an unnamed UK-based company.
BMI says that the latest suitor "has operations in several countries across Europe" and plans to acquire 100% of BMIbaby's shares.
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Aerosonde wins special operations contract
US Special Forces Command (SOCOM) selected the AAI Aerosonde to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services. The mid-endurance unmanned air systems (MEUAS) award, worth up to $600 million over time, will see AAI operate and maintain the small unmanned air vehicles (UAV) on SOCOM's behalf.
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Virgin America to receive IFEC system linefit on new A320s from 2013

Virgin America will have its new Lufthansa Systems BroadConnect in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) system linefit on new Airbus A320 family aircraft arriving from 2013 onwards.
The carrier announced last September the selection of Lufthansa Systems as the provider of its next-generation in-flight entertainment platform, Red. Installations will begin from late 2012 and remain on track, said a Virgin America spokeswoman.
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Qatar Executive looks to expand fleet with Global 7000 and 8000
Qatar Executive, the all-Bombardier charter arm of Qatar Airways, is in talks with the Canadian manufacturer about bolstering its fleet with Global 7000 or 8000 jets, which are under development. However, airline chief executive Akbar Al Baker says he is also considering Embraer or Gulfstream aircraft, so as not to be dependent on one manufacturer.
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Other News
US Air Force operational testers will start receiving their first Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighters at Edwards AFB in California in late June, a service official says.

Australian firm Quickstep has been named the future sole source supplier for the composite wing flaps of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. senior VP and CFO Ted Christie will move to Spirit Airlines, where he will hold the same positions, effective April 1.

Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Assn. (ALTA) has named Dulce Carrillo-Kuti as director-communications and media relations. Carrillo-Kuti joins ALTA from Avon Products and The Clorox Co. corporate communications.

OLT Express named Joachim Klein as its new MD. Klein is former chairman of Eurowings.

Singapore Airlines (SQ) has named Zoë Martin as PR manager-UK and Ireland. Martin joins SQ from American Airlines where she served as PR manager for Europe.

Alaska Air Group has named Mark Eliasen to VP-finance and treasurer. Eliasen is formerly Horizon Air VP-finance.

AVIATION QUOTE

When you’re in a high performance airplane, you really have to—despite what might be happening in your personal life or things with your job, or things on the ground—you really have to focus on what you’re doing right now.

— Scott Kelly, Commander of the International Space Station, former Navy test pilot, and brother of shot Tuscon Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband Mark Kelly. She was shot while he was in space. New York Times, 4 February 2011.

ON THIS DATE

---In 1935... U.S secretary of commerce signs a special air traffic regulation that prohibits air flights over parts of Washington, D.C.

---In 1951…the Martin aircraft company gains production rights to the English Electric Canberra as the B-57.

---In 1965... The first nonstop transcontinental helicopter flight across the United States — flown off the deck of the carrier USS Hornet at San Diego, California to the deck of the carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt off Jacksonville, Florida — is completed successfully. A U. S. Navy Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King flies 2,116 miles.

---In 1966…A BOAC Flight 911, a 707-436 en route from Tokyo to Hong Kong, encountered clear air turbulence close to Mount Fuji; the sudden violent gusting caused the vertical stabilizer to detach from the aircraft, following which the aircraft entered an uncontrolled dive. The 707 progressively broke up as a result of aerodynamic over-stressing of the airframe, then struck the ground near the foot of the mountain. All those on board died.

---In 1970…BEA opens its charter service, BEA Airtours.

---In 1974…Mars 7 failed to go into orbit about Mars and the lander missed the planet. Carrier and lander are now in a solar orbit.

---In 1986... Japan Air Lines embarks the world’s heaviest man, an 880-lb Austrian flying from Frankfurt, Germany, as a passenger; 16 seats are removed from the cabin to make room for him.

---In 1986…USSR's Vega 1 flies by Halley's Comet at 8,889 km.

---In 1990… What was to be the final flight of an SR-71 (972) set 4 international speed records while being delivered to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport. Los Angeles to Washington DC, 2,404 miles, 67 minutes 54 seconds, 2404 miles at an average speed of 2124 MPH. Over Kansas City to Washington DC in 26 minutes. Over St. Louis to Cincinnati in 8 minutes, 32 seconds, a new city to city aviation record. It was also the first time that a sonic boom had transversed the entire length of the United States. Pilot Ed Yeilding and RSO T. “JT” Vida. SR-71s were retired from service. The SR-71 was the only operational military aircraft never to be shot down or lose a single crewman to enemy fire. (Q)

---In 2003…Hooters Air begins service, operated by Pace Airlines. The business would last less than three years.

---In 2003…Air Algerie Flight 6239 crashes on takeoff from Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing all but one of the 103 on-board. The Boeing 737-200 (7T-VEZ) suffers a contained engine failure on rotation and is unable to maintain altitude, coming back to Earth a few thousand feet beyond the runway…

---In 2007… ANA announces orders for 4 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

DAILY VIDEO

EDITOR’S CHOICE

HUMOR

New Ways To Fund The Military

TRIVIA

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But as one Facebook member noted, “It’s the Continental website, the Continental systems, the Continental policies, the Continental pricing, the Continental elite program, the Continental inventory management, the Continental logo, the Continental CEO and the Continental board of directors. The only thing that is United anymore is the name. This is Continental, people. United is gone.”