NEWS
El Al sinks to $49 million 2011 net loss
El Al Israel Airlines incurred a $49.4 million net loss for 2011, reversed from a $57.1 million net profit in 2010, and said it will take a series of measures to restore profitability.
Link
US Airways confident of 2012 profit despite fuel spikes
US Airways is optimistic it will be able to pass on the majority of 2012 fuel cost spikes to the customer and remain profitable. The carrier reported a $71 million profit for 2011 even though its fuel costs were $1.2 billion higher than 2010 as oil prices skyrocketed.
Link
Air France to deploy A380 to Singapore
Air France will start operating an Airbus A380 on the Paris Charles de Gaulle - Singapore route April 1. Frequencies will be 3X-weekly from June to the end of October.
Link
Southwest Airlines debuts larger craft Boeing 737-800
Southwest Airlines celebrated the addition of Boeing's 737-800 to its fleet with a launch party in Dallas. The airline plans to add 33 737-800s this year and 41 next year to replace smaller, less-fuel-efficient 737-700s. When asked if Southwest is "close to a deal" to sell the 88 Boeing 717s from its acquisition of AirTran Airways, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said, "There's no secret that we're looking for a way to accelerate the retirement of the 717s out of our fleet. But in any event, we're going to operate the 717s for years."
Link
Sources: AMR likely to file for court approval to cancel labor contracts
AMR Corp. will likely seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to void its union contracts after failing to reach agreements with labor to cut costs, two sources say. Bankruptcy law allows companies with Chapter 11 protection to cancel union contracts as part of their restructuring. AMR is seeking to reduce its overall labor costs by $1.25 billion per year.
Link
Russian opposition to ETS delays Lufthansa Cargo’s traffic rights approval
Lufthansa Cargo chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt said that Russia’s opposition to the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme has delayed approval for traffic rights for several flight frequencies of LHC and AeroLogic via Russia.
Link
Air France, unions agree on negotiations’ outline
Air France has reached agreements with most unions representing ground staff, cabin crew and pilots to renegotiate working conditions to improve the company’s overall productivity and bottom line. The agreements cover the framework and methodology for talks on how to reach a 20% efficiency improvement and are a “first step in Air France’s transformation process,” it said. It aims to conclude a “consistent set” of new collective bargaining agreements in June.
Link
FedEx earnings are expected to be strong despite rising fuel prices
FedEx earnings are unlikely to be squeezed by rapidly rising fuel costs despite the lag time associated with its surcharge model that accounts for fuel-price increases, writes market analyst Spencer Jakab in The Wall Street Journal. Although some investors and analysts are worried that FedEx third-quarter fiscal results may fall short of $1.36 per-share earnings expectations, overall company strength and high package volume will likely offset fuel costs. "Even if the lag has an impact, surcharges are neutral over the long run; a drop in prices eventually will give back what it takes away in earnings," Jakab writes.
Link
Rising price of fuel will sink a number of airlines, exec says
Airlines that are already struggling to stay aloft will be grounded by rising fuel costs, predicts the top man at Emirates airline. "We can reel off a whole load of airlines that are teetering on the brink or are really gone. ... [A]nother eight or nine months, and we're going to see this industry in serious trouble," said Emirates President Tim Clark.
Link
Bill would require position limits in oil market
A group of senators has proposed legislation that would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to impose position limits in the oil-futures market. The lawmakers say a recent increase in the price of oil and gas is caused by market speculation, not supply and demand.
Link
Report: Global aviation industry supports 56.6M jobs
The Air Transport Action Group has released an Oxford Economics analysis organization report that puts the total number of global jobs supported by the aviation industry at 56.6 million. Nearly 18 million are employed directly by industry and industry suppliers, 4.4 million by spending from industry employees, and the rest owing to tourism made possible by air transport. The gross domestic product of the global industry totals $2.2 trillion, or the equivalent of the 19th-largest economy in the world.
Link
Emirates Open To Investments In India
Dubai's Emirates is open to investments in India, its chairman said after a meeting with the country's civil aviation minister on Thursday.
Link
Czechs To Rename Airport For Vaclav Havel
The Czech government agreed to rename the country's main airport in Prague to honour deceased former President Vaclav Havel, Czech media reported.
Link
Other News
Boeing, Airbus and Embraer signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) "to work together on the development of drop-in, affordable aviation biofuels," the aircraft manufacturers announced Thursday.
Oman Air is in a so-called “consolidation position,” according to CEO Wayne Pearce, who joined the carrier in January.
Chinese carriers reported a collective net loss of CNY540 million ($85.3 million) in February, reversed from a net income of CNY1.34 billion in the year-ago period.
The Israeli Air Force is testing a system developed in-house to monitor the maneuvers of its helicopters in order to inform more efficient fatigue treatments.
Aircraft & Engine NewsEmbraer will establish the Embraer Engineering and Technology Center USA as part of its growing aeronautical cluster in Melbourne, Fla. It will be a subsidiary of Embraer Aircraft Holdings Inc., Embraer SA’s wholly owned subsidiary in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will mean about 200 new jobs in Melbourne over the next five years.
Link
Bulgaria Air took delivery of four Embraer E-190s March 21. The remaining three aircraft will be delivered by year end.
Rolls-Royce said the Trent 1000 engines powering the Boeing 787 Dreamliners operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) have now completed 4,000 flying hrs. in five months of revenue service with a record 99.9% dispatch reliability.
Hawaiian Airlines has added a sixth new Airbus A330-200 to its fleet, the first of four new A330s to join the fleet in the first half of this year. The 294-seat A330 began service as an HA daily flight between Los Angeles, Calif., and Honolulu March 13.
Link
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 23 March will propose that operators of 954 Pratt & Whitney PW4000-series turbofan engines on US-registered widebody aircraft retire the engines' first stage high pressure turbine (HPT) hubs prematurely, costing an estimated $23 million in "lost life value" for the fleet. Link
Embraer remains confident its EMB-314/A-29 Super Tucano will be speedily reselected for the US Air Force's Light Air Support (LAS) program, so long as requirements remain unchanged. Link
The US Air Force's top civilian leaders say that orders for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be cut if costs continue to rise. Link
AVIATION QUOTE
A pilot must have a memory developed to absolute perfection. But there are two higher qualities which he also must have. He must have good and quick judgment and decision, and a cool, calm courage that no peril can shake.
— Mark Twain, speaking about Mississippi River pilots.
ON THIS DATE
---In 1066...18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
---In 1903... The Wright brothers file a patent request for a powered flying machine based on the second (modified) version of their 1902 glider successfully tested at Kill Devil Hill.
---In 1908... French industrialist Lazare Weiller signs a contract with the Wrights establishing a Wright airplane company in France, on condition that the brothers make two demonstration flights covering 50 km (31.1 miles) within a hour’s flying time. They will receive FF500, 000 and half the founders’ share.
---In 1921... Lieutenant Arthur Hamilton sets a new world record when he jumps by parachute from 24,400 feet.
---In 1932... Flying a Bleriot 110, French aviators Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi take off for a record closed-circuit distance of 6,587.442 miles at Oran, Algeria.
---In 1948... Test pilot Gp. Capt. John Cunningham sets a new Federal Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) ratified world altitude record of 18,118 m (59446 ft.) during tests with the third production D. H. 100 Vampire (serial no. TG278).
---In 1965… Gemini 3 launched, 1st U.S. 2-man space flight (Grissom and Young).
---In 1994… A RAL-Russian Airlines Airbus A310-304, operating Aeroflot Flight 593 from Moscow-Hong Kong crashed with 75 passengers in Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia after the auto-pilot partially shut off while the captain's 15-year-old son was allowed to sit in the pilot seat and handle the controls. There were no survivors.
---In 2001… Russian Mir space station is crashed into the Pacific during a controlled re-entry.
---In 2009…FedEx Express Flight 80, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11F, registration N562FE, crashes on landing at Narita International Airport, Tokyo, killing both crew members.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CARRIER PILOT
(Note: Every day is groundhog day.)
• 0400 - Awakened to sound of power buffers banging against your stateroom bulkhead.
• 0515 - Awakened again to the 1-MC, for "Sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms. Sweep down all passageways and ladderways. Give the ship a clean sweep both fore and aft. Now sweepers, away."
• 0600 - Alarm clock goes off. Reset alarm for 0900.
• 0730 - Sleep through breakfast. Most aviators don't even know that the ship serves breakfast.
• 0800 - Reset alarm when alarm accidentally goes off prior to 0900.
• 0900 - Begin hitting snooze every 7 minutes until roommates complain.
• 0930 - Stagger into shower. Forget soap. Go back and get it. Realize you left your key in your flight suit again. Pound on door until sleepy roommates wake up to let you in. Return to shower. Forget Shampoo. Use soap to wash your hair instead.
• 1000 - Walk to the squadron ready room to see if anybody wants to go to lunch. Receive annoyed looks by Lieutenant Commanders who have been there since 0730.
• 1030 - Lunch.
• 1045 - Lunch is over. The day officially begins.
• 1100 - Back to stateroom for a quick nap.
• 1300 - Get up and walk to the ready room for a meeting. Drink coffee with the other junior officers until the skipper shows up.
• 1345 - Squadron Duty Officer calls skipper to remind him that the meeting was supposed to start at 1300.
• 1346 - Skipper walks in. 1300 meeting begins.
• 1346-1530 - Some Lieutenant Commander or other drones on and on about some project of his. Amuse yourself trying to tie a noose out of your shoelace.
• 1525 - The Lieutenant Commander is finally cut off so that the flight crews can use the ready room to brief for the first mission.
• 1526 - Begin flight planning. Realize you do not have time to be thorough. Decide that your key phrase in the brief will be to "remain flexible."
• 1530 - Brief your crew/flight on what is expected of them. Remind them repeatedly that in today's rapidly changing environment, it is important to "remain flexible." Act like you know what you are doing.
• 1600 - Finish brief. Walk down to the mission planning office to find out all the information you should have just briefed your crew on.
• 1615 - Go to Maintenance Control to read the Aircraft Discrepancy Book to find out what other pilots have found wrong with your plane.
• 1630 - Preflight and start aircraft. Listen to the Air Boss scream on tower frequency at some other pilot whose fly-by was a little too aggressive.
• 1715 - Begin taxiing to the catapult. Realize that you should have used the head after drinking all that coffee in the meeting.
• 1730 - Catapult shot. Pressurized steam accelerates you from 0 to 135 mph in 0.8 seconds. The coolest feeling in the entire world. It requires the same force needed to launch a VW Beetle straight up 6 miles.
• 1730-1830 - Perform a one-hour mission flawlessly. Bombs on target. CAP in position. Everybody has plenty of fuel. Life for one hour travels at the speed of sound.
• 1830 - Get set up in the "Marshall Stack" to await your turn at a night landing on a pitching carrier deck. Fly a "rails pass" for an OK 3-wire. Mission is over. Just in time to get some dinner before the evening movie.
• 1845 - Debrief with the Landing Signals Officer on the outstanding pass you just flew. Use both hands to simulate your approach. Lots of back-slapping all-around, and it's off to dinner.
• 1900 - Dinner complete, stop by the mini-mart for a bag of microwave popcorn. Proceed to the back of the ready-room, where 12 others aviators are already in line with their own bags.
• 1915 - The skipper arrives, and the 1900 movie begins. The whole wardroom knows all the lines, because it is one you've all seen at least a dozen times so far this cruise. Every two minutes the sound is blanked out by the crashing sound of landing gear hitting the deck seven feet over your head.
• 2115 - The movie is over. Sign three training forms with yesterday's date. Put them in the bottom of a Lieutenant Commander's inbox so it looks like he ignored it until it was overdue.
• 2130 - The junior officers debate the merits of sleeping or waiting until the chowhall opens again for midrats. Hunger wins out over fatigue, and you wait up another hour playing Duke-Nukem in the ready room.
• 2230 - Everybody still awake goes to midrats for a slider (a greasy hockey-puck-like hamburger). Washing it down with a bowl of "auto-dog" (soft-serve ice cream) you head to the rack for some much-needed sleep.
• 2300 - Fail asleep to the sound of your roommate yet again telling you all about the trials and tribulations he is having with his girlfriend back home. You stopped caring three months ago.
• 2300-0400 - Dream about your next port of call.
Repeat cycle 180 times until end of cruise.
TRIVIA
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