NewsBaltia Begins Revenue FlightsBaltia Air has inaugurated its international flights with a Champagne flight from New York’s Kennedy’s airport to St. Petersburg in Russia. Numerous dignitaries were onboard for the epic flight.
LinkFirst Egypt-Iran Flight For 34 YearsThe first commercial flight between Egypt and Iran in 34 years took off on Saturday, the latest step towards mending ties broken following the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Egypt and Iran agreed to resume direct flights in October 2010 before President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, but no flights were made. "A flight by Air Memphis, owned by Egyptian businessman Rami Lakah, took off from Cairo to Tehran earlier on Saturday carrying eight Iranians including diplomats," one airport official said adding that the airline could later carry out more tourist and business trips between Egypt and Iran.
LinkAlexandria Airport Reopens After Runway ProtestAlexandria's airport reopened late on Sunday afternoon, state media said, after Egyptian police officers ended their runway sit-in over higher pay which closed the country's second biggest airport for over six hours. The officers, responsible for passport control and security at El-Borj airport on the Mediterranean coast, called off their protest after meeting a senior aviation official to discuss some of their demands, state news agency MENA said.
LinkObese Passengers Should Pay Extra: EconomistAirlines should charge obese passengers more, a Norwegian economist has suggested, arguing that "pay as you weigh" pricing would bring health, financial and environmental dividends. Bharat Bhatta, an associate professor at Sogn og Fjordane University College, said that airlines should follow other transport sectors and charge by space and weight. "To the degree that passengers lose weight and therefore reduce fares, the savings that result are net benefits to the passengers," Bhatta wrote this week in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management.
LinkANA Keeps Boeing 787 In June ScheduleAll Nippon Airways said on Friday it had not decided whether to cancel flights using Boeing 787 aircraft in the month of June, citing progress in getting the troubled jet back in the air. The 787 has been grounded worldwide since January after two incidents involving a lithium-ion battery on board an ANA flight and a Japan Airlines jet in Boston. ANA said it would take reservations for flights using the 787 for June, but may decide to shift passengers to other aircraft at a later date.
LinkBoeing To Cut Pilot Training Jobs In SeattleBoeing is planning to eliminate a group of pilot training and standards positions as part of a broader effort to relocate flight training to Miami from Seattle that has drawn criticism from the SPEEA union. Boeing said the positions of 35 simulator instructors and five standards pilots are being eliminated. It said it informed the union of the change during contract talks on Thursday. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), which represents the pilots, said eliminating the positions could weaken Boeing's oversight of pilot training standards, particularly if the replacement workers are contractors who are not full-time Boeing pilots.
LinkThe View is Getting Better at JFK’s T4 – Behind the Scenes of Delta’s ExpansionOn May 24, Delta will be opening its expansion of Terminal 4 at New York’s JFK Airport with some incredible new features for travelers. Among the most exciting features are the 24,000 square foot Sky Club, an open-space TSA checkpoint, and the unparalleled Sky Deck. Harry and his team have been diligently working on T4 over the past two years, and their efforts to make Delta’s presence at JFK shine more so than before are immediately obvious. Delta has check-in kiosks conveniently located upon entry to the terminal, even manned kiosks curbside for preferred travelers, and they’ve installed a sharp red-walled area for Sky Priority members to check-in quickly.
LinkTexas Takes Over Tower FundingTexas will take over funding of air traffic control towers at 13 airports that will lose them to the federal government's sequester cuts. The state's department of transportation made the decision on Thursday but it won't become official until the Texas Transportation Commission ratifies it. The commission is meeting in an emergency session next week to consider the move. That seems like a formality, however. "Safety is the primary reason we felt a need to take immediate action for the air travelers and business aircraft that use these airports," Texas Transportation Commissioner Fred Underwood said in a news release.
LinkCourt Delays Action On Leaded Avgas A U.S. District Court Wednesday dismissed a suit brought by Friends of the Earth that aimed to push the EPA to decide whether emissions from general aviation aircraft are a threat to public health, but did not dismiss the possibility of further policymaking. The ruling found that the Environmental Protection Agency does have discretion to make an endangerment finding regarding leaded avgas emissions. But it also ruled that the EPA cannot be forced to make an accelerated finding. AOPA said it hopes the ruling will allow general aviation to transition away from leaded fuels based on a schedule "driven by facts and policy, hopefully not by more lawsuits." The EPA is not scheduled to make a decision before 2015.
LinkEclipse: Expect Deliveries By Year-End Thursday, Eclipse Aerospace earned an amended production certificate from the FAA, "authorizing the final assembly, test, and certification of the new production Eclipse 550" jet, the company announced. Earlier this month, Eclipse powered up the first truly new aircraft to roll out of its Albuquerque factory in nearly five years. The amended production certificate grants the company approval of its quality system, allowing it to produce, flight test and grant airworthiness certificates to the aircraft it builds. New production Eclipse 550 twin-engine jets should begin reaching customers before year-end.
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