News
Iberia Strike To Ground Over 1,000 Flights
Workers at loss-making Spanish flag carrier Iberia were set to begin a five-day strike at midnight on Monday, grounding over 1,000 flights and costing the airline and struggling national economy millions of euros. Staff, including baggage handlers, pilots and flight attendants, will hold three five-day strikes in February and March to protest management plans to cut 3,807 jobs and reduce salaries at the airline. Iberia has cancelled 415 flights between Monday and Friday, although a total of around 1,200 flights operated by various airlines will be grounded because of the lack of handling services at Spanish airports.
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New Delhi moves to cancel AW101 acquisition
India's ministry of defence has initiated steps to cancel its acquisition of 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters, as it sends a senior representative to Rome to investigate bribery allegations surrounding the deal. "[The ministry of defence] issued a formal show cause notice to AgustaWestland of the UK seeking cancellation of contract and taking other actions per the terms of the contract and integrity pact," the ministry said in a brief statement.
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American and US Airways livery to be decided
American Airlines' proposed new chief executive evaded direct answers to questions about the future livery painted on the merged carrier's fleet. Doug Parker, chairman and chief executive of US Airways and future chief executive of the merged airline, was asked repeatedly by reporters to comment on the "soaring spirit" livery unveiled by American Airlines on 17 January. "We are so excited to be apart of American Airlines and the American brand, and there are a lot of decisions that are going to be made going forward," Parker said, responding finally to a series of questions on the topic.
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Airbus Military reveals first flight date for French A400M
Airbus Military expects to secure full civil certification for its A400M Atlas transport "within days", and to fly its first of at least 174 production examples in early March, says programme head Cédric Gautier. Speaking at the company's San Pablo final assembly site in Seville, Spain on 15 February, Gautier said issues with the airlifter's Europrop International TP400-D6 engines encountered during 2012 have been resolved, and that the type will meet its full performance and payload requirements from entry into service.
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Etihad Says Needs To Revise Jet Airways Deal
Etihad Airways needs to revise its deal to buy a stake in India's Jet Airways and it is too soon to say when a final agreement will be struck, the Abu Dhabi airline's chairman said. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, speaking on the sidelines of an exhibition in the UAE capital, said officials would meet Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma to discuss the deal. Asked if a Jet deal would be signed by March or April, Sheikh Hamed said: "I don't know... we need to revise it." The terms of the possible deal have not been disclosed, but a government source said earlier this month Etihad was in talks to pick up a 24 percent stake in Jet for up to USD$330 million. Asked if a Jet deal would be agreed soon, Sheikh Hamed said: "It's too early to decide."
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LAN, TAM Lose Bolivia Operating Licenses
Bolivia's air transport regulator said that units of LATAM Airlines had lost their operating licenses to fly in the Andean country, although they could still apply to extend or renew them. Two units of the LATAM group, LAN and TAM-Mercosur, "are not authorized to continue providing service as of February 15," the regulator said. No reason was given in its statement.
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AMR Shareholders To Receive Rare Value
Shareholders of American Airlines' parent AMR may end up with a stake worth about USD$400 million in a combined American Airlines/US Airways after the two companies announced a merger, a rare win for a company coming out of bankruptcy. AMR, which filed for bankruptcy in November 2011, said it would merge with US Airways in an USD$11 billion all-stock deal, forming the world's biggest air carrier. "It is unusual in Chapter 11 cases - and unprecedented in recent airline restructurings - for shareholders to receive meaningful recoveries," American chairman and chief executive Tom Horton said in Thursday's merger announcement.
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South African Airways suspends acting CEO
South African Airways (SAA) has suspended acting CEO Vuyisile Kona, adding to a recent flurry of management turmoil at the Star Alliance carrier. The suspension was effective Feb. 11. “The board of directors of SAA announces that after careful consideration of recent developments, it has decided to place the acting CEO Vuyisile Kona on precautionary suspension. This is based on certain allegations that have come to the attention of the board, in respect of which the board has a fiduciary duty to investigate,” the carrier said in a statement.
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Poland prime minister: LOT must change to survive
LOT Polish Airlines is facing massive layoffs and deep restructuring measures as it struggles to survive, according to Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk. He has been quoted in several Polish media outlets as saying, “Either there is a change [within the airline] or LOT will not survive.” Additionally, Mikosz told journalists that LOT’s two Boeing 787s will be removed from the summer schedule through October. Its two 787s are among all Dreamliners affected by the current grounding.
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SkyWest swings to profit in 2012
Utah-based SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines, posted a 2012 net profit of $51.2 million, reversing a $27.3 million net loss in 2011. Full-year total revenue was $3.53 billion, down 3.3% year-over-year. SkyWest chairman and CEO Jerry Atkin said the company continues to “make positive progress in our cost reduction efforts that are resulting in improved profits, quarter over quarter.”
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Other News
FastJet has raised £4 million ($6.2 million) in fresh working capital, sourced from current and new investors and by drawing down on a credit facility. A FastJet spokeswoman said the funds would be “deployed in fulfillment of Fastjet’s stated growth strategy,” without giving any further information. However, in an earlier statement the airline indicated that the extra working capital would be used to support its South African expansion. FastJet has already struck a deal to acquire South African carrier 1time, which went into liquidation in November and it is also pursuing a joint venture with Kenyan carrier Jetlink Express. When asked whether the funds were for the 1time deal, the spokeswoman replied: “Discussions between Fastjet and relevant authorities regarding 1time are on-going. There’s nothing further to say on this at the moment.”
German airport security staff will not strike over the weekend, according to Trade union Verdi. German airports in Hamburg and Cologne have been dealing with flight disruptions and cancellations on Thursday and Friday as security staff walked off the job over pay. Cologne Airport said it had to cancel 107 flights from 194 planned flights, affecting around 10,000 passengers Friday. Hamburg Airport reported two-thirds of all flights had been cancelled. Passengers had to wait in security lines for up to three hours.
Oman Air is increasing capacity to the Indian sub-continent by leasing two additional Boeing 737-800s. The two aircraft, in a 162-seat, two-class layout (12 business, 150 economy) are being wet-leased; Oman Air declined to reveal the lessor’s identity. The move follows the November 2012 signing of MOUs between Oman, India and Pakistan to help meet increased demand for air services between the Arabian Gulf nation and the two Asian countries. The two aircraft, which entered service earlier this month, will be used to increase daily services to double-daily from Muscat to Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. They will also enable the Muscat-Lahore sector to increase its 4X-weekly service to daily and its 3X-weekly Muscat-Islamabad service to daily. Oman Air operates 15 Boeing 737-800s. It is due to take delivery of a further six 737s from Boeing from 2014, while six 787 Dreamliners are scheduled to start arriving in 2015.
Aeroflot’s fourth and final Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) has received its renewed airworthiness certificate by Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia. The aircraft were grounded temporarily due to technical reasons. According to a statement by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., deficiencies that were detected during SSJ100 operations—erroneous leakage detection system engagement, a slat extension fault and landing gear-up fault—“have been eliminated in cooperation with the airline.”
Aviation Quote
An accident investigation hearing is conducted by non-flying experts who need six months to itemize all the mistakes made by a crew in the six minutes it has to do anything.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1832... Octave Chanute (1832-1910), first great historian of aviation, is born in Paris, France. Brought to the US when young, Chanute was a civilian engineer before turning to aviation. In 1894 he published Progress in Flying Machines. The book became a bible for the Wright brothers.
---In 1911... First official government air mail flight is made in India as French pilot Henri Pequet flies 6,500 letters a distance of about five miles (8 km).
---In 1934…TWA assembles a team to fly a prototype of the DC-1 from Burbank, California, to Newark, New Jersey, in a record-breaking 13 hours and 4 minutes.
---In 1963…Air Force authorizes the initial construction of the first six SR-71s. These aircrafts were
designated R-12s. The project code name was SENIOR CROWN. (Q)
---In 1969…Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crashes into Mount Whitney, killing all 35 on-board. The pilots of the DC-3 (N17750) were straying from their filed VFR flight plan when they struck. Weather and challenging terrain prevented rescue crews to come upon the wreckage until the following August.
---In 1969…Terrorists attack an El Al 707 on the runway at Zurich, killing a pilot and three passengers.
---In 1973... Daniel Bouchart and Didier Potelle land 19,568 feet up on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania in an SA 319 B Alouette II helicopter.
---In 1974…NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km).
---In 1977... The converted Boeing 747 space shuttle carrier makes its first flight with the shuttle Enterprise on its back, at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.
---In 1979…NASA launches space vehicle S-202.
---In 1981…Aircraft industrialist Jack Northrop, co-founder of Lockheed Corporation and, later, founder of Northrop Corporation, dies at the age of 85.
---In 1988…Binter Canarias is founded.
---In 2009…N652UA, a Boeing 767-322ER operated by United Airlines, is damaged significantly by the automatic discharge of a sprinkler system in the hangar it is parked in while undergoing maintenance at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago. Eleven cabin windows are knocked out by the force of the discharge, damaging the aircraft's avionics systems.
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Humor
Two Cow Explanation
Excerpt from Counter-insurgency Course: Political Science Section:
THE "TWO-COW EXPLANATION":
A SOCIALIST:
You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
A REPUBLICAN:
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what?
A DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor You feel righteous.
A COMMUNIST:
You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
A FASCIST:
You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage.
DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE:
You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE:
You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE:
You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
A GERMAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A MEXICAN CORPORATION:
You think you have two cows, but you don't know what a cow looks like. You take a nap.
A SWISS CORPORATION:
You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge for storing them for others.
A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American
corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You worship them.
Trivia
Proper Names
The designation is provided, supply the proper name.
1. F-100
2. F-101
3. F-102
4. F-104
5. F-105
6. F-106
7. F-110
8. C-141
9. F-82
10. OH-6
11. C-9
12. A-37
