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US Airways Makes AMR Merger Offer
US Airways has made a formal merger proposal to American Airlines parent AMR and its creditors that could value the combined airline at around USD$8.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation.
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AIG to sell up to 90% stake in ILFC to Chinese investors
American International Group (AIG) will sell up to a 90% stake in aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) to a consortium of Chinese investors. The insurance company says it has signed a binding agreement with an investor group, led by New China Trust, China Aviation Industrial Fund and P3 Investments, which will initially acquire an 80.1% stake in ILFC. The deal also includes an option to acquire a further 9.9% stake. American International Group (AIG) will sell up to a 90% stake in aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) to a consortium of Chinese investors. The insurance company says it has signed a binding agreement with an investor group, led by New China Trust, China Aviation Industrial Fund and P3 Investments, which will initially acquire an 80.1% stake in ILFC. The deal also includes an option to acquire a further 9.9% stake. Upon receiving Chinese government approval and exercising the option, another two parties - New China Life Insurance and an investment arm of ICBC International - are expected to join the consortium. AIG says it intends to retain at least a 10% stake in the business and will act as a passive investor. Upon receiving Chinese government approval and exercising the option, another two parties - New China Life Insurance and an investment arm of ICBC International - are expected to join the consortium. AIG says it intends to retain at least a 10% stake in the business and will act as a passive investor.
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American pilots ratify tentative agreement
American Airlines pilots have voted to ratify a tentative contract agreement by a margin of more than 47 percentage points. The Allied Pilots Association (APA)-represented pilots voted 73.7% for the contract and 26.3% against with 7,440 votes cast, according to a statement from union president Keith Wilson. Fort Worth-based American says that it will ask the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to consider approving the contract during a 19 December hearing. The court must approve the agreement before it can enter into force.
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Germanwings takes over nearly 30 Lufthansa A320s
Lufthansa will move 52 aircraft to its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings for the planned transferral of its decentralised European network next year. Starting 1 July, Germanwings will gradually take control of Lufthansa's continental routes outside its main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich over a two-year transitioning period. The equipment transfer will cover 29 Airbus A319s and A320s from Lufthansa's mainline fleet and 23 Bombardier CRJ 900 regional jets. The latter are - and will continue to be - operated by Lufthansa's regional subsidiary Eurowings, however.
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Boeing Engineer's Union Says Strike Likely
Saying a strike now appears likely, the union representing Boeing's 23,000 engineers held picket-line training last week to prepare for a work stoppage that could disrupt billions of dollars worth of aircraft deliveries.
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Economics Turned EU Powers Against ETS
The European Union's landmark effort to charge foreign airlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the European Commission chief in October.
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Airbus Orders Surge In November But Lag Boeing
Airbus confirmed on Friday it had sold 186 aircraft in November, putting it on the verge of meeting its goal for the full year but failing to close the gap with rival Boeing.
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Camair-Co may order up to three Boeing 787s
Cameroon Airlines Corp. (Camair-Co) said it is planning to order up to three Boeing 787s and three Chinese MA60 turboprops. Camair-Co, which launched operations in March 2011, was created as the successor to Cameroon Airlines. Today it serves 12 destinations using two leased Boeing 737-700s and a purchased Boeing 767-300ER.
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Rolls-Royce reports corruption concerns to UK authorities
Rolls-Royce has contacted the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over concerns that some overseas intermediaries have been involved in bribery and corruption. The move followed a request earlier this year from the SFO for information about allegations of malpractice in Indonesia and China. In a statement, Rolls-Royce said its own investigations had “identified matters of concern in these, and in other overseas markets.”
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USAF to develop new cruise missile
The US Air Force is expecting to award sole-source contracts to four firms to develop technology for its Long Range Standoff (LRSO) cruise missile program. Contracts will be awarded to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. "These firm fixed-price contracts will procure trade studies in support of the Long Range Standoff program in preparation for the Technology Development Phase," reads a US government contract solicitation notice. "The Government intends to solicit, negotiate and award to the contractors listed above using other than full and open competition procedures."
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Other News

Hainan Airlines’ subsidiary Hong Kong Airlines is considering changing out its Airbus A380 orders in favor of the A330 and delaying the A380 delivery date. The airline is reevaluating its A380 orders due to a decline in market demand, especially on its long-haul routes. The carrier suspended its all-business class flights on Hong Kong-London routes Sept. 10. Hainan Airlines Group chairman Chen Feng said the company is in negotiations with Airbus but no final decision has been made. Hong Kong Airlines placed an order for 10 A380s last year, which are scheduled to be delivered from 2014.

The state of California has filed a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, alleging the airline is in noncompliance with state laws regarding online privacy. Under California law, companies collecting “personally identifiable information” online, including through mobile devices, must post a privacy policy informing consumers of what information is collected and how it is used. California attorney general Kamala Harris said the “Fly Delta” smartphone app, which allows passengers to check-in for flights and make other transactions, has no posted privacy policy.

IATA said global airline passengers carried annually will rise 28.6% over the 2.8 billion flown in 2011 to 3.6 billion by 2016. In a forecast released this week, IATA projected average annual worldwide passenger growth of 5.3% for the 2012-2016 period. Of the more than 800 million new annual passengers to be added between 2011 and 2016, around 500 million will be traveling on domestic routes, IATA said.

South African Airways must find new CEO by February: The government has given South African Airways (SAA) until February to find a new CEO following the sudden resignation of CEO Siza Mzimela. Mzimela resigned in October, joining eight of the airline’s board members and two general managers who resigned in September.

Milan airport operator SEA has scrapped a planned initial public offering (IPO) due to a lack of investor interest. SEA, which operates Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports, was aiming for a Dec. 6 listing on the Milan stock exchange, with a free float of 24%. However, the board was forced to call off the IPO late Friday because the subscription rate failed to reach 50% at the end of the book building process. The deadline for institutional investors to place orders was even extended by a few hours in an eleventh hour bid to attract more interest.

European Union (EU) airport traffic has followed freight traffic into a recession, Airports Council International (ACI) Europe said. “With passenger and freight traffic in the EU market recording firmly negative results, there is no escaping the deepening impact of the European sovereign debt crisis on the real economy,” ACI Europe DG Olivier Jankovec said. “For the first time since October 2009, more than half of Europe's airports are experiencing declines in passenger traffic.” European passenger traffic in October lifted 0.5% from the prior year, with passenger traffic at EU airports falling 1.3% year-over-year. Aircraft movements at European airports fell 1.5%. Non-EU airports recorded an average 7.8% increase in passenger traffic growth year-over-year. Hurricane Sandy, which impacted flights to and from the US Northeast, reduced passenger traffic 0.15%, ACI said.

Swiss-AS was selected by Pegasus Airlines to provide and implement its maintenance and engineering software AMOS. When fully implemented, all maintenance processes for the carrier will be managed electronically.

FL Technics has completed a series of landing gear deals worth over €1million ($1.3 million). The landing gear business was launched as a separate division at the beginning of the year. In 2013 it plans to expand its operations by acquiring additional landing gear for the teardown into component parts.

Turkish Technic signed a five-year agreement with Azerbaijan Airlines for 10 sets of Airbus A320 family landing gear overhaul services.

Aviation Quote

‎‎"Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space."

— Stephen Hawking, interview in the Winnipeg Free Press, 19 November 2011.

On This Date

---In 1909…Two men become the first Austalians to fly from Great Britain to Australia direct. Cruising along as an average speed of 83mph, it only took them 135 hours for the 11,340-mile trip. They purportedly ran out of Terra chips in the second hour.

---In 1919... Capts. Ross Smith and Keith Smith become the first Australians to fly directly between Great Britain and Australia, a distance of 11,340 mi., after flying 135 hr. 55 min. at an average speed of 83 MPH.

---In 1941…An SBD Dauntless dive bomber from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) piloted by Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson sinks the Japanese submarine I-70 northeast of Oahu. I-70 is the first Japanese submarine ever sunk by enemy forces.

---In 1951…First flight of the Kaman K-225, first turbine-powered helicopter.

---In 1958…National Airlines operates the very first domestic jet service in the United States, flying a Boeing 707 from Miami to New York’s Idlewild.

---In 1969… First NASA flight of a YF-12 (935). (Q)

---In 1974…Helios 1 is launched by the US and Germany, later to make the closest flyby of the Sun.

---In 1998…Two Canadian Snowbird CT-114 Tutors collide during training near Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, killing one of the pilots.

---In 2004…The US Federal Aviation Administration issues an Emergency Airworthiness Directive effectively grounding all U.S. Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft. The directive is in response to fatal in-flight structural failure accidents during simulated aerial combat flights.

---Two of Canada’s Snowbirds aerobatic CT-114 Tutors collide near Mossbank, Saskatchewan during training, killing one of the pilots. In a sad coincidence, this is six years to the date of the team’s previous fatal accident

---In 2005…Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145, a DC-9 registered YU-AJH, crashes at Port Harcourt International Airport in Nigeria, killing 108 of 110 people on-board. The aircraft overshot the runway while attempting to land during a thunderstorm, and might have been struck by lightning around 125 ft up. Among the dead were 61 junior high school students.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

Greatest Lies In Aviation

•Pardon me, ma'am, I seem to have lost my jet keys.

•I have no interest in flying for the airlines.

•I fixed it right the first time, it must have failed for other reasons.

•All that turbulence spoiled my landing.

•I only need glasses for reading.

•I broke out right at minimums.

•The weather is gonna be alright; it's clearing to VFR.

•Don't worry about the weight and balance -- it'll fly.

•If we get a little lower I think we'll see the lights.

•I'm 22, got 6,000 hours, a four year degree and 3,000 hours in an F-16.

•We shipped the part yesterday.

•I'd love to have a woman WSO.

•All you have to do is follow the book.

•This plane outperforms the book by 20 percent.

•We in the military aviation are overpaid, underworked and well respected.

•Oh sure, no problem, I've got over 2,000 hours in that aircraft.

•I have 5,000 hours total time, 3,200 are actual instrument.

•No need to look that up, I've got it all memorized.

•Sure I can fly it -- it has wings, doesn't it?

•Your plane will be ready by 2 o'clock.

•We fly every day -- we don't need recurrent training.

•It just came out of annual -- how could anything be wrong?

•I thought YOU took care of that.

•I've got the field in sight.

•Of course I know where we are.

•I'm SURE the gear was down.

•Of COURSE the navigation unit is working.

Trivia

AIRLINE SCRAMBLE

1. TUAHLNSFA
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3. UTSOSHETW
4. RACNAEIM
5. RNANFII
6. EITADH
7. IBAIRE
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10. AROOFTEL

miamiair wrote:---In 1909…Two men become the first Austalians to fly from Great Britain to Australia direct. Cruising along as an average speed of 83mph, it only took them 135 hours for the 11,340-mile trip. They purportedly ran out of Terra chips in the second hour.

---In 1919... Capts. Ross Smith and Keith Smith become the first Australians to fly directly between Great Britain and Australia, a distance of 11,340 mi., after flying 135 hr. 55 min. at an average speed of 83 MPH.