CommercialFAA To Order Boeing 767 Safety Checks - ReportThe US FAA plans to order safety checks of more than 400 Boeing 767s because of elevator flight control surfaces that may jam and possibly cause some pilots to lose control of the aircraft, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday. An order by the Federal Aviation Administration, set for publication in Monday's Federal register, calls for enhanced inspections of the elevator flight control mechanism, which helps planes climb and descend, the business daily reported. Elevators that do not work correctly have not been identified as causing a 767 accident, the Journal reported.
LinkBond Starts Payments Over Scottish Helicopter CrashAn air services company that operated a police helicopter which crashed into a pub in Glasgow, Scotland, killing 10 people, has started to pay compensation to victims and their families. The Bond Aviation Group said although the cause of the accident remained unknown, it was committed to ensuring proper compensation was paid to all of those who had suffered loss as a result of the accident. It did not say it accepted liability. The twin-engine Eurocopter EC135, made by a unit of Airbus, crashed into the roof of the busy Clutha bar on November 29, killing the three crew on board and seven other people while dozens others were injured.
LinkLufthansa Seeks Injunction Against ATC StrikeLufthansa is seeking a temporary injunction against a one-hour strike called by German air traffic controllers for January 29, a spokesman for the airline said on Friday. "From Lufthansa's point of view, the announced industrial action by the GdF union is a 'political strike' and illegal," the spokesman said, adding that the strike had no goal related to wage or working conditions. The Air Traffic Controllers European Unions Coordination (ATCEUC), which represents 14,000 flight overseers across 28 European countries, has called on its members to take action on January 29 to protest planned safety and savings targets by the European Commission.
LinkThai Air Sees Lower Passenger Growth In 2014Thai Airways said on Friday it aimed for passenger growth of 4 percent in 2014, lower than the 4.6 percent growth to 20 million in 2013. The slower growth forecast was attributed to weak economic outlook and the impact from domestic political unrest, the carrier's acting president Chokchai Panyayong told reporters.
LinkLion Air to convert 787 order into narrowbodiesLion Air plans to convert its order for five Boeing 787 aircraft into narrowbodies, says its president director Rusdi Kirana. It will likely be converted into Boeing 737s.
LinkUnited builds San Francisco hub with new concourseUnited Airlines will move into the new boarding area E at San Francisco International airport on 28 January, as it continues to leverage the hub to expand its operations to Asia. “We are delighted to be moving into this beautiful new boarding area,” says Jeff Smisek, chairman, president and chief executive of the Chicago-based Star Alliance carrier, during a media event on 24 January.
LinkBoeing hits 10 per month rate target on 787Boeing has rolled out the first 787-8 built at the rate of 10 aircraft per month, completing a quintupling of the production rate over the past two years. The 155th 787 to exit final assembly since the first flight test aircraft rolled out in 2007 is scheduled for delivery to International Lease Finance (ILFC), which has assigned the aircraft to Aeromexico. Boeing’s output on the 787 now equals the rate set by the Airbus A330 last April and matches the highest output for a widebody aircraft in history. Boeing, by comparison, builds the 777 at a rate of 8.3 per month.
LinkBoeing 'Not Satisfied' With 787 ReliabilityThe reliability of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is improving but is still not satisfactory, Mike Fleming, Boeing's vice president for 787 support and services said on Friday. The Dreamliner's reliability rate is now around 98 percent, meaning that two out of every 100 flights is delayed, above the 97 percent reported in October but still short of the firm's target, Fleming told a news conference in Oslo, where Norwegian Air Shuttle, one of his most affected customers, is based. "I'll tell you that's not where we want the airplane to be, we're not satisfied with that reliability level of the airplane," Fleming said. "The 777 today flies at 99.4 percent... and that's the benchmark that the 787 needs to attain.
LinkSuperjet stretch still years away: SukhoiSukhoi ‘s civil aircraft division is playing down the likelihood of near-term emergence for a stretched Superjet, although the proposal remains under examination. It says that a Superjet featuring “increased passenger capacity” is “running through the project definition study”.
LinkA350 heads to Canada for cold-weather testsAirbus’s second flight-test A350 aircraft has departed Toulouse on a transatlantic sortie to Canada where it will undergo cold-weather testing. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered aircraft, MSN3, is heading for Iqaluit where current temperatures are around minus 30C. Airbus says the twinjet will spend about a week at the airport exposed to the freezing environment as part of the A350-900 certification program.
LinkJetBlue, loved by investors, going it aloneJetBlue's focus on the travel experience, for which its brand has become known, and its operating margin that beats other airlines have helped to triple its shares since 2009. So far, JetBlue hasn't seriously explored mergers, and investors seem to be responding with approval.
LinkUnited: Consistently reliable in 2013United Airlines provided a "consistently reliable operation in 2013," Jim Compton, United's chief revenue officer, told analysts during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. United says it's received good customer-satisfaction ratings. Among its 2014 initiatives are plans to add power hubs and bars at gates at all of United’s domestic hubs and Wi-Fi to one plane per day.
LinkAmerican offers bonuses to employees who outdo competitionAmerican Airlines Group is offering cash incentives to its employees that can outdo its rivals on on-time arrivals and departures, baggage handling and customer satisfaction. "But in order to excel at [on-time departures], we must be ready. That means no matter your job, you're there on time, in position, in uniform, with your tools and equipment, trained, rested and ready to go out there and excel. In doing so, we'll be safe, reliable, and well on the road to restoring American as the greatest airline in the world," Chief Operating Officer Robert Isom said.
LinkDelta's last DC-9 calls Charlotte, N.C., homeThe last DC-9 that took flight now has a permanent home in the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C., also home to aviation artifacts such as the fuselage of the "Miracle on the Hudson" jetliner. The Delta Air Lines DC-9 "is the last one we know of flying for a scheduled airline in the United States," said Wally Coppinger, the museum's executive director.
LinkSingapore Airshow to feature Airbus A350Airbus Group is displaying its A350 at the Singapore Airshow, a sign in part of the company's interest in the Asia-Pacific market. "The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market for the air transport industry and will drive future demand for wide-body aircraft in all seat categories," Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier said in the statement.
LinkLove Field gates await change of handsThe two gates American Airlines must divest at Dallas' Love Field as part of its merger settlement with the Department of Justice are awaiting a change of hands, but it remains unclear when another airline will get them. "There is no process underway yet for the divestiture of those two gates," says Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly. "I assume when that happens, that will be public and there will be an auction or a bidding process."
LinkALPA and ex-TWA pilots reach agreement A group of ex-Trans World Airlines pilots who sued their former union nearly 11 years ago over their American Airlines seniority will split a proposed $53 million settlement with the Air Line Pilots Association. The two sides agreed to the settlement Thursday, less than two months before the two sides were to face off in U.S. District Court in New Jersey to decide how much ALPA should pay the ex-TWA pilots. The plaintiffs were expected to seek damages of about $250 million. The agreement must be approved by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas before it would become final. The case involves American Airlines’ 2001 acquisition of TWA assets, the hiring of TWA employees and the seniority given TWA’s 2,300 pilots by American’s pilot union, the Allied Pilots Association. APA placed the 2,500 most senior American pilots at the top of the list. It then folded in about 1,100 of the most senior TWA pilots into the AA list at a ratio of about one TWA pilot for every eight AA pilots. The American union then put the remaining TWA pilots at the bottom, after the most junior American pilots.
LinkNew flight patterns at O'Hare Christopher Payne knows too well what thousands of Chicago-area residents are going through as they learn to live with the ruckus caused by new flight patterns at O'Hare International Airport. He has put up with the window-rattling thunder of jet engines for as long as he can remember and since 2008 has been keeping a log of the worst days, when planes would fly directly over his house. The 48-year-old grocery store business manager has lived most of his life in Park Ridge, a suburb where it has often been necessary to stop conversations in midsentence until airplane noise subsides and, in the summer, to wipe oily jet fuel residue off of outdoor furniture on a daily basis. Then, last October, his neighborhood got quiet. "There were times I had to turn on the air conditioning just because I had to close the windows,'' he said. "I couldn't even read the newspaper. Since then, we've gone from constant noise to relative quiet. It has transformed my neighborhood for the better."
Link 
