News
Lion Air unveils order for over 230 Airbus jets
Indonesian carrier Lion Air is ordering 234 Airbus twinjets, including 174 from the re-engined A320neo family. Its firm agreement covers 109 A320neo and 65 A321neo, and will also feature 60 current A320 jets. They will be delivered over 2014-26. Airbus values the agreement at $24 billion at catalogue prices. "The fuel-efficient A320 Family will enable Lion Air to achieve the lowest possible operating costs and continue to offer the most competitive fares in the Asian region," says Lion Air chief Rusdi Kirana.
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787 Flying In Weeks Is Best-Case Scenario
Boeing's goal to have its grounded 787 Dreamliner back in the air within weeks is a best-case scenario and too uncertain for the aircraft's biggest customer to plan the plane's operational return to service. All 50 of the technologically advanced 787s in service have been idled since mid-January following two battery incidents at a US airport and on a domestic flight in Japan. Boeing last week unveiled a new battery system and predicted the 787 would fly again within weeks rather than months. Asked whether Boeing was presenting a best-case scenario, Osamu Shinobe, the architect of All Nippon Airways' strategy for the fuel-efficient 787 in the airline's fleet planning, said "That's what we understand it to be."
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Eclipse 550 hits power-on mark in production
Eclipse Aerospace pas passed the power-on milestone for the first Eclipse 550 very light yet. Eclipse chief executive Mason Holland described the power-on event as demonstrating the company's "methodical and well executed plan to reintroduce production and delivery of the Eclipse 550 Jet this year". The Eclipse 550 entered production in June last year, with plans to deliver the first aircraft by July 2013 and up to 18 by the end of this year.
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EasyJet CEO Threatens To Shelve Aircraft Order
EasyJet will abandon plans to upgrade its fleet with updated Airbus or Boeing jets if terms offered by the plane makers are not satisfactory, the airline's chief executive said. EasyJet has completed a technical evaluation of the re-engined A320neo and 737 MAX and is in talks with Airbus and Boeing about a significant expansion of its fleet. "We have a young fleet and don't have to do a deal unless the terms are exactly what we want," CEO Carolyn McCall told reporters aboard the airline's inaugural flight between London and Moscow. "A new generation of planes will become available from 2018... so we could always look beyond the neo and the MAX."
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Airbus Still Targeting 750 Orders In 2013
Airbus's record order from Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air on Monday was already incorporated in its 2013 target of 700 to 750 aircraft orders, its commercial director said. "That (Lion Air contract) was already in the numbers, we've been working on this for over six months," John Leahy said, referring to the order for 234 A320s worth USD$24 billion at list prices. "We're still targeting 700 to 750 (orders) so we should be there by the end of the year, and by Le Bourget (air show) a little of a half of that," he added.
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Boeing Could Face Engineering Strike
Boeing could face a strike by one-third of its engineering workforce if they reject a contract offer. The vote on the four-year deal will either settle a lengthy contract dispute or potentially lead to a strike that could cripple airliner production. Ballots from the 7,500 technical engineers are due to be counted in Seattle on Monday evening, with results expected around 10 pm Pacific Time.
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Germany finalizes cuts to NH90, Tiger helicopter orders
Germany has massively reduced its orders for troop transport and attack helicopters under a long-discussed "reorientation" plan for its armed forces. Berlin initially ordered 122 NH Industries (NHI) NH90 transports and 80 Eurocopter Tiger UHTs in separate deals, but decided in 2011 to substantially alter its commitments, ushering in years of negotiations with industry.
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Other News
Fastjet will launch two more Tanzanian domestic routes, offering daily flights between Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro and Mwanza.
Etihad Airways switched its 2X-daily Abu Dhabi-Amman service to the new Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan.
Kenya Airways will launch 3X-weekly Nairobi-Harare-Livingstone, Zambia service beginning June 2.
Air Baltic will begin Riga-Istanbul (SAW) service March 31.
Korean Air adds daily from 5X-weekly Seoul Incheon-Seattle, -Dallas, -Toronto for summer season March 31-October 26. Seoul-Las Vegas will be 4X-weekly, up from 3X.
UTair is launching Rostov-on-Don-Frankfurt service June 2. It will also begin 2X-weekly Saint Petersburg-Budapest service beginning April 28.
AirTran will start Austin-San Jose Del Cabos service June 1.
Porter Airlines will add fourth weekday service Windsor International Airport-Billy Bishop Toronto Airport from April 15.
Avianca will add four weekly (from 10X weekly) Bogotá-Madrid beginning May 16.
LIAT introduces daily Dominica-San Juan service April 4.
Iberia began Madrid-Boston A330 flights.
Aviation Quote
Every groundschool class includes one ass who, at 5 minutes before 5, asks a question requiring a 20-minute explanation.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1909... The International Aero and Motor-Boat Exhibition opens in London. Among the exhibits is a Wright airplane for sale at $7,000.
---In 1912... The first of the U. S. Signal Corps Scout series capable of meeting a specification issued February 8, 1912, the S. C. No.8 is delivered to Augusta, Georgia by Curtiss pilot Charles F. Walsh. It finally passes all tests at College Park, Maryland in May with Lincoln Beachey at the controls.
---In 1918... U. S. airplanes in France make the first operational flights.
---In 1958…Britain's 1st planetarium opens at Madame Tussaud's in London.
---In 1969... The first scheduled jet air service inside the Arctic Circle begins as Nordair inaugurates a weekly return service between Montreal, Canada and Resolution Bay, Cornwallis Island, Canada.
---In 1981…workers killed in space shuttle Columbia accident. The final major test still between Columbia and its first voyage into orbit was a "dry" countdown demonstration test -- a full-dress rehearsal for the astronauts and the launch team. The test went as planned, but a tragic accident claimed the lives of two Rockwell technicians when they entered Columbia's aft engine compartment while it was still being purged with gaseous nitrogen.
---In 1984…STS-41-C vehicle moves to launch pad.
---In 1989… First flight of the V-22 Osprey.
---In 2007…Airbus A380 makes first flights to the United States, with one touching down in New York at John F. Kennedy International Airport and another in California at Los Angeles International Airport.
---In 2008…Flydubai is founded.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
The Navigator
The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a .38 revolver. He placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator, "Do you know what I use this for?"
The navigator replied timidly, "No, what's it for?"
The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!"
The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and place it on his chart table.
The pilot asked, "What's that for?"
"To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I'll know we're lost before you will."
Trivia
General Trivia
1. What is unusual about the control tower at Wellington International Airport in New Zealand?
2. Who was “Chicken” Kamikaze?
3. There were five space-shuttle orbiters that circled the Earth: Atlantis, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Endeavor. What was the total number of orbital missions launched, and during how many years were they flown?
4. Pilots know that 0 degrees Celsius represents the freezing point of water. What is the significance of 0 degrees Fahrenheit?
5.What was the first turboprop airplane to enter production in the United States?
6. A VFR pilot with seaplane and landplane ratings takes off from a lake in an amphibian, flies for an hour, and then lands on a hard-surface runway. How must the flying time be logged?
a. all as seaplane time
b. all as landplane time
c. half seaplane, half landplane
d. It does not matter.
7. Why did British Spitfires regularly take off for battle with bright red patches of tape on their leading edges?
8. True or False: Excluding the effects of magnetic deviation, the magnetic compass in an airplane points to the magnetic north pole.
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miamiair wrote:2. Who was “Chicken” Kamikaze?
