CommercialBomb Scare Causes Brief Brazilian Airport ClosureA bomb threat left in a Brazilian airport caused a TAM Airlines flight to make an emergency landing and briefly closed the airport in the Amazonian city of Manaus on Saturday, five months before the country hosts the World Cup tournament. A note that said a bomb was onboard TAM flight 3540 was found in a bathroom at Brasilia's Juscelino Kubitschek airport, airport officials said. That flight, which had already left Brasilia bound for Boa Vista, evacuated passengers via emergency slides when it landed on the runway at Eduardo Gomes airport in Manaus.
LinkSouthwest Pilots Confused By Lights Of Wrong AirportThe pilots of the Southwest Airlines plane that landed at the wrong airport in Missouri last week told investigators they mistook the bright runway lights of a smaller airport for their intended destination at Branson Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The pilots told NTSB investigators they did not realize they were at the wrong airport until they had landed, which required heavy braking to get the Boeing 737-700 with 124 passengers aboard stopped on the shorter-than-expected runway, the NTSB said in a statement. Southwest has suspended the two pilots from flying. The jet landed at Clark Downtown Airport instead of at Branson Airport, the main commercial air strip near Branson, which has a much longer runway. The airports are about 7 miles (11 km) apart.
LinkMega-Merger Restores Air Finance CrownTwenty years after the spectacular collapse of Irish tycoon Tony Ryan's plane leasing business, Ireland has restored its grip on the world's aircraft fleet with a mega-merger that could pave the way for a wave of multi-billion dollar IPOs. The USD$5 billion takeover of US leasing giant ILFC by AerCap, a firm that emerged from the ruins of Ryan's pioneering Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), is set to send ownership of its fleet of 1,000 jets to Shannon, in the west of Ireland where GPA pioneered the plane leasing industry in the 1980s. A disastrous bet on an airline boom that was cut short by the Gulf War led to GPA's effective collapse in 1993 and an exodus from Shannon.
LinkNorwegian unconcerned by fresh 787 battery problemsNorwegian’s chief executive Bjorn Kjos says he is unconcerned by the recent battery problems experienced by Japan Airlines on one of its Boeing 787s and says no contingency plans have been drawn up should his fleet of Dreamliners need to be grounded. “Even with the 737 now and again you have these battery failures, I don’t think you would have heard this incident if it had not been for the earlier battery problem. But it worked out as it should do, it vented on board and it was during a technical test,” he told Flightglobal during the RunwaysUK conference in London.
LinkAmerican’s Washington National slots auctioned in four bundlesThe slots that American Airlines is divesting at Ronald Reagan Washington National airport will be auctioned in four bundles, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has split the available 44 slot pairs into two bundles of 14 pairs, one bundle of 12 pairs and one bundle of four pairs, said MWAA chief operating officer Margaret McKeough in a presentation to the airport authority’s board on 14 January. JetBlue Airways will retain eight slot pairs that it already leases from Fort Worth, Texas-based American.
LinkBrazil To Add 1,973 Flights For World CupBrazil's aviation regulator ANAC said it will likely grant airlines' requests to add 1,973 new flights to deal with the demand expected during World Cup soccer matches in June and July. Although the expansion in flights and routes represents only 1 percent of the existing system in Brazil, the number of requests exceeded the 1,500 new flights that had previously been expected. "We will grant all the requests. The system has the capacity to handle those new flights," ANAC's head, Marcelo Guaranys, told reporters in Brasilia.
LinkBeluga a whale of a transport aircraft for large cargoThe unique appearance of the Airbus A300-600ST has earned the freighter aircraft the nickname of "Beluga." The humpbacked Beluga has been modified to transport large cargo, such as aircraft parts, and cargo can be loaded and unloaded through the front of the aircraft. Airbus is considering building a Beluga XL, which could be based on the A330 and travel longer distances.
LinkUnited expects Q4 financial results to include $158M in special chargesUnited Continental Holdings expects its fourth-quarter financial report to include $158 million in special charges for personnel and integration costs.
LinkSurvey: Business travelers fly Delta most oftenDelta Air Lines was the airline listed on the most expense reports by business travelers in 2013, according to a survey from Certify. The survey also found that business travelers spent 22.5% of their travel budget on meals, and 15.7% on airfare.
LinkSouthwest extends partnership with DISHSouthwest Airlines has extended its agreement with DISH that provides travelers using Internet-ready devices with free access to live TV channels and on-demand shows. The arrangement now runs through Dec. 31. "Southwest is in the business of providing exemplary customer service and this partnership with DISH has been very popular with our customers," said Kevin Krone, chief marketing officer for Southwest. "Free is a great thing for customers in this industry and having DISH providing this amenity through 2014 will continue to make our onboard experience even more entertaining this year."
LinkOmnibus spending bill includes $7.3B for FAA staffingThe House of Representatives and Senate passed the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill this week, and the bill includes $7.3 billion for staffing at the Federal Aviation Administration, which will make furloughs unnecessary. The bill also recommends funding the agency's aircraft certification service and transitioning to unleaded fuel in piston aircraft.
LinkTSA opens PreCheck processing center in Tenn. airportThe Transportation Security Administration celebrated the grand opening of a PreCheck processing center at the airport in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday. "TSA PreCheck is enabling us to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to transportation security, as we look for more opportunities to provide the most effective security in the most efficient way," said John Pistole, TSA administrator.
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