NewsFlight Recorders Recovered From Wreckage Of UPS Jet
The cockpit voice and flight data recorders were retrieved on Thursday from the wreckage of the UPS cargo jet that crashed early Wednesday on approach to Birmingham, Alabama's airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The black boxes will be sent to NTSB headquarters in Washington for evaluation of possible clues about the cause of the fiery crash of the United Parcel Service aircraft, in which two pilots were killed, agency spokesman Eric Weiss said. The NTSB, which dispatched a team of investigators to the crash site on Wednesday, initially said the smoldering remains of the plane's tail section were too hot to allow for retrieval of its flight recorders.
LinkDiscussionRyanair Sacks Pilot For Questioning Safety On TVRyanair has fired one of its senior pilots and is preparing legal action against him for questioning the airline's safety record in a television interview, the company said on Thursday. Europe's largest budget carrier by passengers, Ryanair has in recent weeks rejected accusations from pilots that it encourages crew to carry less back-up fuel and that disciplinary threats discourage the reporting of safety concerns. Ryanair said it had fired veteran pilot John Goss for his "defamatory contributions" in a documentary about the airline's safety culture broadcast this week on Britain's Channel 4.
LinkDiscussionAir Berlin Faces Prospect Of Capital IncreaseAir Berlin warned it would be harder to meet its target of breaking even this year and raised the prospect that the airline may have to sell new shares. The airline posted an EUR€8.1 million (USD$10.8 million) loss before earnings and tax (EBIT) for the second quarter on Thursday and said competition in Germany and a weak economy in Europe was making its operating break-even target more difficult to reach. Air Berlin's finances have been deteriorating for several years as it struggled to halt losses following a period of aggressive growth. Lufthansa, the country's biggest airline, has expanded its budget unit Germanwings this year, chasing the same higher-paying business customers as Air Berlin while other low-cost carriers have been increasing routes to Europe's biggest economy.
LinkIAG Sticks With Airbus For Short-Haul FleetIAG, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, has picked Airbus again for the latest stage of its fleet update, planning to acquire up to 220 A320s worth USD$20 billion to renew and expand its short-haul fleet. The move is the latest major deal to be agreed between IAG and Airbus and follows the arrival in London last month of its first Airbus A380. The acquisition of the world's biggest commercial aircraft was heralded as central to the group's fleet renewal plan, aimed at cutting fuel bills and giving the airline an edge particularly in the lucrative long-haul business travel market. But equally analysts said the latest deal for the A320s was in line with IAG's long-envisaged move towards operating a single type of aircraft on its short-haul routes, a normal industry practice which keeps costs down both in the operating of the aircraft and the initial procurement. BA has been running down its Boeing 737 fleet ever since it placed its first major order for a fleet of A320s in 1998 but remains a big operator of Boeing aircraft on its long-haul routes and took delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner aircraft in June.
LinkJudge Expresses Doubt About AMR Bankruptcy ExitA judge asked AMR for guidance on whether he should approve its plan to exit bankruptcy, in light of an antitrust challenge to its planned merger with US Airways. The request suggested Judge Sean Lane would hold off on approving AMR's plan at a hearing in US bankruptcy court in New York on Thursday. Lane said he had "lingering doubts" as to whether it was appropriate to confirm the plan. He told AMR, its creditors and other parties in the bankruptcy to submit briefs on the issue. AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, has been in bankruptcy since 2011 and worked out an USD$11 billion merger with US Airways as part of its plan to exit Chapter 11. The antitrust issue will likely take months to resolve. If the Justice Department ultimately succeeds in blocking the merger, it would put AMR's restructuring back at square one, requiring it to forge new strategies for paying back creditors.
LinkAA-US Airways will prevail in merger, attorney saysAMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, and US Airways Group are confident they can prevail in a court case to continue with their proposed merger. "The result of this transaction will be lower costs and those lower costs in a competitive industry will in large part be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices, better service and more routes," said Joe Sims, an AMR attorney.
LinkAmerican to expand in-flight entertainment choicesAmerican Airlines is considering offering more entertainment choices aboard its Airbus A319 jets. The high-definition screens for in-flight entertainment feature a filter that blocks seatmates from viewing the content. Brian Richardson, director of in-flight entertainment and connectivity, said the carrier is considering offering edgy television shows such as "True Blood" and "Dexter."
LinkNASA to give FAA software to increase departure efficiencyNASA plans to give the Federal Aviation Administration a prototype version of software called Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC). "[W]ith PDRC working in concert with other tools the FAA has available, we hope to better take advantage of all the opportunities to safely make flying more efficient," said John Cavolowsky, director of NASA's Airspace Systems Program, in a statement.
LinkBoeing is testing automation for building 777XBoeing is quietly testing automation for building its 777X at a facility more than 40 miles away from Everett, Wash. "We’re going to build the fuselage differently than we do now," said a senior Boeing engineer. "We’re going to introduce a whole lot of automation."
LinkIAG inks agreement for $20B with Airbus for A320sIAG, the parent company of British Airways, plans to purchase as many as 220 Airbus A320s in a deal valued at $20 billion. Some of the aircraft are destined for Vueling, a Spanish discount carrier owned by IAG that provides short-haul flights. "Vueling has managed to successfully expand its business profitably by targeting both growth markets and those areas where weak competitors are reducing capacity," IAG CEO Willie Walsh said in a statement.
LinkDiscussionCargo aircraft have improved safety record, expert says Cargo planes such as the one that crashed this morning in Birmingham "have a somewhat higher accident rate than passenger aircraft," aviation consultant Hans Weber says. "More recently, their accident rate has significantly improved because they retired some older airplanes, which were just more difficult to fly," Weber says. He says the air cargo industry also has "invested considerable amounts of money in equipping their airplanes with improved navigation avionics, making it safer for them to land under adverse weather conditions, and into smaller airports." "The majority of the accidents were smaller planes that had to fly into less well-equipped airports under adverse weather conditions," he says. Another aviation consultant, George Hamlin of Fairfax, Va.-based Hamlin Transportation Consulting, says the safety records of the major package shippers, UPS and FedEx, are comparable to those of major passenger carriers American, Delta and United. "If you're comparing UPS and FedEx, there is ostensibly no difference, safety-wise," Hamlin says. "The accident rate tends to go up when you get down to (cargo carriers) operating in obscure parts of the world."
LinkBlog: DOJ suit is "amateurish and inaccurate"The Cranky Flier blog blasted the U.S. Department of Justice's "sloppy" arguments in its lawsuit to stop the proposed merger between US Airways and American Airlines. "When I see the government delve into something that I actually know about, and I see how absolutely amateurish and inaccurate the arguments are, it makes me lose faith in our government's ability to do anything," he writes. "The best way to sum up the argument is that airlines should all be punished for trying to be successful enterprises."
LinkWhite House: DOJ acted on its own in AA-US Airways suitThe Obama administration said it did not play a role in the Justice Department's decision to file a suit to block the American Airlines-US Airways merger. "That was an independent enforcement action that was taken by the Department of Justice, and I don't have anything to add to their" conclusion, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
LinkAnalysis: Justice Department missed the mark on mergerIndustry experts disagree with the Justice Department's decision to block the proposed American Airlines-US Airways merger on Tuesday. "We believe three is better than two, though clearly our views are at odds with the DOJ," according to analysts at J.P Morgan. Allied Pilots Association President Capt. Keith Wilson also weighed in, noting consolidation has helped the industry to stabilize. "It makes no sense for the Justice Department to conclude now that airline industry consolidation is somehow undesirable," said Wilson.
LinkCharlotte airport would benefit from AA-US Airways merger, analysts sayCharlotte Douglas International Airport could benefit from the US Airways-American Airlines merger, analysts say. "If this merger goes away now, Charlotte unfortunately would miss out on a lot of future growth," said aviation analyst Mike Boyd. The airport in Charlotte, N.C., serves as a hub for US Airways.
LinkN.Y. restaurateur Danny Meyer to work with DeltaThe barbecue guru who opened Shake Shack and Blue Smoke in New York and other locations has signed a deal with Delta Airlines to upgrade the quality of the airline's food. Restaurateur Danny Meyer, who is now working with Delta to create the menu, will see his creations first hit airline trays in early 2014 on flights between JFK and London-Heathrow.
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