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NEWS

Ryanair Offer 'Undervalues' Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus urged its shareholders to ignore the latest takeover offer from rival Ryanair, saying it undervalued the Irish airline and may not be allowed by regulators anyway.
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Cameron’s comments may signal government U-turn on LHR third runway
Comments made by Prime Minister David Cameron in the House of Commons last week have raised industry anticipation that the UK’s coalition government may be reconsidering its opposition to the development of a third runway at London Heathrow (LHR).
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Bombardier slightly downgrades 20-year forecast

Bombardier projected global demand for 12,800 commercial aircraft with between 20 and 149 seats over the next 20 years, down 2.3% from its year-ago prediction. It cited forecasts for lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth than previously anticipated as well higher oil prices.
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JetBlue A320s use RNP approaches at New York JFK

JetBlue Airways (B6) on Wednesday became the first US airline to use satellite-based Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required (RNP AR) approaches to runways 13L and 13R at New York JFK using Airbus A320s.
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Nordic Aviation Capital to buy 12 CRJ1000s for Garuda lease
Scandinavian lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has signed a firm purchase agreement for 12 Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft, to be leased to Garuda Indonesia. According to Bombardier, the order is valued at approximately $595 million at list prices.
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Azul launches biofuel demo flight
Azul Brazilian Airlines launched an Embraer E-195 demonstration flight June 19 using a 50:50 blend of conventional jet fuel and AMJ 700, a renewable fuel produced from the fermentation of Brazilian sugarcane.
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Oman Air reports surge in passenger, cargo
Oman Air continues to report a surge in business in passengers and cargo levels. The Arab nation’s carrier said the growth spurt was due mainly to frequent fliers rather than its network expansion. Oman Air's customer ratings have risen sharply since the arrival of its long-haul fleet of Airbus A330s, which have replaced A310s in recent years.
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Qantas to increase flight frequencies

Qantas said it will increase frequencies to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and capacity on Perth (PER)-Melbourne (MEL) flights, in response to growing demand for premium travel to PER for both business and leisure passengers. Services between Sydney (SYD) and DFW will go to daily from July 1, the Australian carrier said in a statement.
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Russia’s KrasAvia takes delivery of its first L-410
Russian KrasAvia Airlines has added the first Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft to its fleet, to be used on regional routes. Two more of the type will be delivered in July.
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Pilots' Union Rejects American Contract Offer
Pilot union leaders at American Airlines have rejected the carrier's final contract offer, leaving it to a judge to decide whether to grant the company's request to vacate the collective bargaining agreement in bankruptcy court.
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EasyJet Plans To Close Madrid Base

EasyJet said on Wednesday it planned to cut flights to and from Madrid by 20 percent after ceasing to base aircraft and employees there, and would now review options for its eight aircraft and 310 crew members in the capital.
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ANA Boeing 767 damaged after 'hard landing'

An All Nippon Airways' Boeing 767-300 aircraft was damaged after a "rough landing" at Tokyo's Narita International airport on 20 June. The aircraft, registration JA610A, was on a Beijing-Narita service when the incident happened at 13:28 local time. Flightglobal data show that the airframe was manufactured in 2002. During the landing the 767 bounced off the runway before coming down heavily a second time, a video recording of the incident shows.
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NTSB mulls JetBlue hydraulics failure
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is gathering data to determine whether to launch an investigation into the post-departure hydraulics failure that kept a JetBlue Airbus A320 in a holding pattern near the Las Vegas McCarran international airport for nearly four hours on 17 June.
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What future awaits a revived Mexicana?

Complex questions still face Mexicana's relaunch and the one receiving the least attention is what kind of airline it will be. In four months since approval of Med Atlantica's bid to acquire Mexicana, the most visible progress has been its purchase of the airline from a holding company that had held its shares since Mexicana stopped flights and entered court-supervised bankruptcy protection in August 2010. Med Atlantica is now preoccupied with trying to reach accord with creditors over how to restructure some $800 million in Mexicana debt. Talks with two major banks, Bancomext and Banorte, report little progress. A majority of creditors can bind all, so it is theoretically possible to reach a deal without including the bank. But Mexicana's administrator Gerardo Badin claims settlement with both banks is critical because one holds security interests in nine aircraft that Mexicana needs, and the other will eventually process credit card transactions for the airline.
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Fitch Ratings boosts rating on Delta Air Lines
Fitch Ratings has upgraded its rating for Delta Air Lines from B- to B+. The carrier has reduced its debt recently due to strong cash flow and reported a profit in the first quarter. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services upgraded its rating on Delta last month.
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United Airlines expects delivery of Boeing 787 in September
United Airlines has announced in an employee bulletin that it expects delivery of its first 787-8 in September. The Boeing aircraft will be placed into service for flights between Houston and Lagos, Nigeria. The airline had previously expected delivery from September to November.
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United plans to remove 787 security gates, union says
Extra metal security gates near the cockpit are not required under federal rules, and United Airlines is removing these gates on Boeing 787s, the carrier's pilots union says. "[W]e are thorough in carrying out our security responsibilities for every flight. The safety and security of our employees and customers are our top priorities," said United spokeswoman Christen David. The union is questioning the decision.
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FedEx will cut costs as air freight business drops, CEO says
Fred Smith, the founder and CEO of FedEx, said the air freight business "is not growing." Shipping volume for priority international air freight dropped 3% in the fourth quarter, while shipping volume for express domestic air freight fell 5% in the quarter. Smith says FedEx will unveil a program in October to cut costs. Link

Opinion: Aircraft maintenance will evolve based on data
Consultant Ray Valeika says maintenance, repair and overhaul information will evolve. "The aircraft will become its own source of maintenance information, carrying its own maintenance data and records," writes Valeika. "This will change the business and create savings by eliminating the vast need for record keeping infrastructure."
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Senator introduces bill of rights for airline passengers
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has introduced a bill of rights for air travelers, as well as a bill that would require private workers to replace the Transportation Security Administration. "While aviation security is undoubtedly important, we must be diligent in protecting the rights of all Americans, such as their freedom from being subjected to humiliating and intrusive searches by TSA agents, especially when there is no obvious cause," said Paul in a statement.
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Other News

Transaero has signed a deal to buy four Airbus A380 superjumbo planes worth a combined $1.7 billion at list prices, and placed an order for Russian-made Superjet-100s. Deliveries will begin in 2015, Transaero Chief Executive Officer Olga Pleshakova told reporters on Thursday.

GOL will discontinue regular flights to Santiago Chile from Oct. 3 because of low profitability.

Turkish Airlines will launch 3X-weekly Istanbul Ataturk (IST)–Houston services from April 1, its fourth destination in the US. Due to strong demand between IST and New York JFK, TK has introduced a third daily IST–JFK seasonal flight from May 28 to Sept. 16, using the Airbus A330-300/Boeing 777-300ER.

Hawaiian Airlines will launch 3X-weekly Honolulu-Brisbane (BNE) service from Nov. 27, becoming the only US carrier to operate service to BNE.

WizzAir will launch six services from Skopje, Macedonia to Munich, Dortmund, Basel, Eindhoven, Malmo and Milan. The services will commence from the start of the winter 2012/13 schedule.

WizzAir from 18DEC12 is launching Lublin – London Luton, offering twice weekly service on board Airbus A320s.

Qatar Airways starting 31OCT12 will launch service to Mozambique, with 3 weekly Doha – Johannesburg – Maputo operation on board Boeing 777-300ER.

Emirates starting 12AUG12 will launch its 3rd destination in Iraq, with 4 weekly Dubai – Erbil service on board Airbus A340-300 aircraft. From 02SEP12, this route will increase to daily service. Dubai - Basra will also increase to daily at this time.

Uzbekistan Airways starting 28OCT12 is planning to introduce Tashkent – Islamabad service, with Airbus A320 aircraft operating twice a week.

JetBlue from 28NOV12 is terminating Burlington – Orlando nonstop operation, currently operated by Embraer E190 aircraft.

Copa Airlines is due to launch Panama City – Las Vegas service from 27JUN12, operate the 5 weekly service with Boeing 737-800s.

New Indonesian start-up carrier Pacific Royale Airline (IATA Code: RY) has inaugurated its service on 11JUN12, with a fleet of Fokker 50 aircraft. The airline’s planned operation for the domestic service includes the following: Batam – Pekanbaru 1 Daily, Kerinci – Jambi 4 weekly, Kerinci – Padang 4 weekly, Semarang – Bandung 1 Daily, Semarang – Pekanbaru 1 Daily, Semarang – Surabaya 1 Daily, Batam – Jambi 3 weekly

AVIATION QUOTE

Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time.

— Ernest K. Gann, advice from the 'old pelican,' The Black Watch, 1989.

ON THIS DATE

---In 1907... Romanian Trajan Vuia makes a flight in Paris of almost 66 feet, at a height of 16 feet, in his second machine which has a 24-hp Antoinette engine running on carbonic acid and has its wheels fitted with shock absorbers.

--In 1908... The first flight of the Aerial Experiment Association’s (AEA) promising June Bug biplane, their third machine, takes place in New York State. It has a 40-hp air-cooled Curtiss engine.

--In 1913... The first woman to make a parachute jump from an airplane is Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick. The 18-year-old American descends 1,000 feet over Los Angeles, California.

--In 1951…First flight of the Handley Page HP.88.

---In 2004… SpaceShipOne is the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.

---In 2005… First captive flight of Boeing X-37 under the Scaled Composites White Knight.

DAILY VIDEO

EDITOR’S CHOICE

HUMOR

Innovation

During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write with in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about US $1 million. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.

The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

TRIVIA

RAF, RN & Coastal Command

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