NewsStrikes To Hit French Airports From TuesdayFrench air-transport unions plan to strike from Tuesday to Thursday and airlines should reduce flights to the major airports, France's civil aviation authority (DGAC) said. The DGAC has asked airlines to cancel half their flights to airports serving Paris, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
LinkTwo Arrested In Miami Airport Gold HeistAn airline cargo handler and a pawn shop owner have been arrested in connection with the theft of USD$625,000 in gold bars from Miami Airport, officials said on Friday. Prosecutors charged Marco Cruz, a 47-year-old Miami man who works as a cargo clerk at the airport, with stealing a box of six gold bars last month that arrived as cargo on an American Airlines flight from Ecuador.
LinkLightning Forces Emergency Landing In USA JetBlue flight made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty Airport late on Friday after encountering lightning after taking off from Boston, according to an airline spokesman. JetBlue flight 425, heading to West Palm Beach, with 148 passengers and five crew members, encountered lightning after taking off from Boston's Logan Airport at 8:54 pm local time. "In an abundance of caution the captain chose to divert to the New York area," said a JetBlue spokesman.
LinkMajor Carriers Interested In Buying LOT - ReportAir Berlin, British Airways and Singapore Airlines may be interested in starting talks to buy Poland's troubled carrier LOT, according to a report in the Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu. The report however does not quote or cite any sources for the story.
LinkSingapore opts for Trent 1000 on 50 787sSingapore Airlines is to fit Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s to the airline's new Boeing 787-10X aircraft, after the carrier disclosed a conditional order for 30 of the new type. Rolls-Royce has been developing a new variant of its Trent 1000, which it has designated the 1000-TEN, which it will offer for the whole 787 range - including the -10X. Singapore Airlines is to take delivery of the 787-10Xs from 2018-19, if Boeing formally launches the program. The 1000-TEN engine is intended for service entry from 2016. The airline says it has opted for the Rolls-Royce powerplant, and has also chosen the Trent 1000 to power 20 other 787s which will be delivered to its spin-off operation Scoot from 2014.
LinkTunisair appears to cancel A350-800 order Tunisair appears to be the latest carrier to abandon the Airbus A350-800, bringing the backlog for the type to fewer than 90 aircraft. The flag-carrier had ordered three of the type in July 2008, along with three A330s and 10 A320s. But Airbus's order figures to the end of May no longer list the Tunisair A350s. While several A350-800 customers have converted to larger variants of the A350, the Airbus data indicates that the airline has cancelled outright. The change takes the -800's backlog down to 89 aircraft, but Airbus insists that the variant will remain part of the A350 family.
LinkChina Southern operates first 787 flightChina Southern has launched the country's first Boeing 787 flight on the Guangzhou-Beijing route. The aircraft took off at 12.35 local time with 228 passengers on board. It landed at around 14.46 local time, according to FlightAware. The 787's inaugural flight was originally scheduled for 6 June, but was postponed because of low visibility in Beijing and restrictions imposed by the city's airport.
LinkA400M Grizzly bares all The A400M is Airbus Military's first bespoke product and traces its roots to a European Staff Requirement for a more capable airlifter for the 21st century. In broad terms the type would replace the C160 Transall and Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules of purchasing countries' air forces. The eight partner nations specified an aircraft that could perform both tactical and strategic airlift roles. Airbus Military and project partners Turkish Aerospace Industries and Belgium's Flabel realised that in an era of tight budgets, any new aircraft would have to be able to fulfil a number of roles. In addition to transport duties, the A400M would be designed from the outset to provide an aerial refuelling capability. It would be no mere form/fit/function replacement for the C-130; but offer dramatically improved performance and operational capabilities.
LinkSouthwest reports year-over-year traffic growth in MaySouthwest Airlines reported an increase in capacity of 3.4% for May on a year-over-year basis. The carrier also showed an increase of 4.2% in revenue passenger miles for May compared with the same month last year.
LinkAir Canada reports increase in load factor for MayAir Canada reported its load factor rose to 81.8% for May, a 0.1% increase from the same month last year. "We continue to manage our capacity effectively and that our planes are flying fuller as customers keep choosing Air Canada," said Calin Rovinescu, CEO of Air Canada, in a statement.
LinkGPS-based air traffic control system set for 2014 launchThe Federal Aviation Administration says its Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system will be completed next year, a year behind schedule. ADS-B is a GPS-based system that is expected to replace the current radar air traffic control system. "Ultimately, ADS-B will be an enabler of modernized air traffic control procedures that will provide very significant increases in the efficiency and capacity of NAS terminal airspace," said John Kefaliotis, vice president of Next Generation Air Transportation at ITT.
LinkJetBlue Blog: How we plan for summer thunderstorms JetBlue's blog discusses the effects of summer thunderstorms on flights across the U.S. "As summer thunderstorms are often less predictable than winter storms, we work closely with our Dispatch team and the FAA to monitor the air space in real time and route our planes and our people accordingly," the blog says. "We have to think about and plan for things like moving our planes and our crews out of the storm's path so that all are safe and ready to return to operations when the hurricane passes." Read more from:
LinkColumn: Boeing shifts workers away from Wash. stateColumnist Loren Thompson says Boeing is shifting workers away from its facilities in Washington state due to several factors. "[T]here does seem to be a concerted effort to move jobs to other parts of the United States -- places where costs are lower, unions are less cantankerous, and politicians make the world's biggest aerospace company feel more welcome," he writes.
LinkAirbus hopes to make maiden flight of A350 next weekThe maiden flight of the new Airbus A350 is expected by the end of next week. Troubles with suppliers has delayed the introduction of the two-engine intercontinental plane by more than a year. A possible air traffic control strike in France may delay the flight. The first flight will begin a yearlong series of flights using five test planes.
LinkColumn: More travelers should sign up for Global EntryThe Global Entry program could use a few more good travelers, writes columnist John Goglia. "So what's stopping people from signing up?" he asks. "The cost is $100 for 5 years -- that's $20/year or less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day to avoid aggravatingly long and annoying lines, especially if you're a frequent business flier."
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