CommercialAustralian PM 'very confident' signals are from MH370's recordersAustralian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he is "very confident" the signals picked up in the search for MH370 are from the flight recorders of the missing aircraft, and that the search area has been narrowed down significantly. Speaking to reporters in Shanghai on Friday 11 April, Abbott, who is on a visit to North Asia, says: "We have very much narrowed down the search area. It's been very much narrowed down because we've had a series of detections, some for quite long periods of time. Nevertheless, we’re now getting to the stage where the signal from what we’re very confident is the blackbox is starting to fade, and we’re hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires.” Abbott declined to give more information, saying details will first be provided to Chinese president Xi Jinping later this evening. The prime minister's comments set the media on high alert and social media platform Twitter abuzz, which quickly prompted the Joint Agency Coordination Centre to put out a statement, saying there has been "no major breakthrough" in the search for MH370, which is taking place between 1,600-2,400km northwest of Perth.
LinkNew Signal Stokes Optimism In MH370 SearchA new acoustic signal was detected on Thursday in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, further boosting confidence that officials are zeroing in on the missing plane after weeks of searching. The signal, which could be from the plane's black box recorders, brings to five the number of pings detected in recent days within the search area in the Indian Ocean. The first four signals were detected by a US Navy Towed Pinger Locator (TPL) aboard Australia's Ocean Shield vessel, while the latest was reported by an aircraft picking up transmissions from a listening device buoy laid near the ship on Wednesday.
LinkTourists Evacuated As Cyclone Nears Australian CoastTourists and coastal residents were evacuating parts of the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday as a powerful cyclone intensified in the Coral Sea and made its way towards Australia's northeast. Cyclone Ita is forecast to make landfall on Friday north of the tropical city of Cairns, bringing with it the possibility of widespread flooding and damage, emergency officials said. Wind gusts of up to 280 km/h (175 mph) are forecast, bringing with them torrential rain, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. "The sea is likely to rise steadily up to a level which will be significantly above the normal tide, with damaging waves, strong currents and flooding of low-lying areas extending some way inland," the bureau said.
LinkRyanair Joins Rivals In German Expansion MoveLow cost carrier Ryanair plans to expand at Germany's Cologne airport, joining rivals in boosting services in Europe's largest economy and providing more competition for Lufthansa on its home territory. Ryanair will base one aircraft and open up five new routes in October from Cologne, in Germany's most populated federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Ryanair said it is investing more than USD$90 million in Cologne. The new routes are to Dublin, London Stansted, Madrid, Riga and Rome Ciampino, reflecting Ryanair's move into larger airports, rather than smaller regional airports. The airline joins rivals such as easyJet and Spain's Vueling, all of which are hoping to take advantage of Germany's strong economy and its citizens' love of foreign travel.
LinkUS Upgrades Philippines Civil Aviation StatusThe US FAA has upgraded the civil aviation status of the Philippines to let its airlines operate new direct flights to the United States while the European Union lifted a ban on Cebu Pacific Air. The US Federal Aviation Administration's upgrade to category 1 followed a downgrade to category 2 in 2008 because the Philippines lacked oversight laws for air carriers and fell short of international safety standards. National carrier Philippine Airlines continued to fly to the United States despite the 2008 downgrade, but it has been limited to 28 flights a week to four US destinations and only with certain aircraft. Hours after the FAA announcement, the European Union took Cebu Pacific Air, the country's biggest carrier in terms of passenger numbers, off a list of banned airlines "The good news doesn't end there," Julian Vassallo of the European Commission told a news conference in Manila.
LinkHawaiian CEO bullish on growthShares of Hawaiian Airlines have more than doubled in the last 12 months, and the carrier plans to expand its international service this month with flights to Beijing. "We are actually pretty bullish on growth," said Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO. Dunkerley also said Asia presents "a tremendous source of growth for us and we're playing a macro shift towards people getting to that income level where they can contemplate international trips.".
LinkAmerican Eagle to relocate corporate headquartersAmerican Eagle announced the carrier plans to move its headquarters to Irving, Texas, beginning in July. "It will be the first time in our company's 16-year history that we have one central location for our 600 headquarters employees," said Pedro Fabregas, president of American Eagle. The carrier is also changing its name to Envoy on April 15.
LinkAir Canada taps Gogo to provide in-flight Wi-Fi serviceAir Canada announced an agreement with in-flight Wi-Fi provider Gogo to outfit its planes with Gogo's Air-to-Ground broadband network. Air Canada will begin offering Wi-Fi service to passengers on its North American routes in May. All of its planes will be updated with the new technology by December 2015.
LinkUnited: 31% of planes have Wi-Fi, more coming Of the 221 planes equipped with Wi-Fi, more than half, or 151 planes, are A319s and A320s. These planes fly in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America. United made news last year when it became the first U.S. carrier to offer satellite-based Wi-Fi on overseas routes, but a relatively low number of Wi-Fi-equipped planes travel on these overseas international routes.
LinkSouthwest unveils aircraft with split scimitar wingletsSouthwest Airlines flew its first flight on Wednesday with an aircraft equipped with "split scimitar winglets." The split scimitar design improves the aerodynamics of the aircraft and reduces fuel consumption by up to 5.5% compared to aircraft without winglets. Southwest had previously used some aircraft with blended winglets, which reduce fuel consumption by 3.5%.
LinkHouse Committee unanimously approves bipartisan Transparent Airfares ActThe House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved The Transparent Airfares Act of 2014, a bipartisan bill enabling air travelers to see exactly how much of their ticket price goes to federal taxes. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., reverses DOT's Full Fare Advertising Rule, enabling airlines to declare government taxes and fees separate from base fares in advertised prices. Shuster said airline passengers deserve to know what they are paying for, yet the DOT rule in place hides the government-imposed taxes and fees on consumers. "Americans are paying higher and higher government imposed taxes and fees to travel by air. It is only fair that consumers know what they are paying for," said Shuster. Airlines for America CEO Nicholas Calio noted the airlines and their passengers pay 17 different taxes and fees, which totaled more than $19 billion last year alone. "We need government to stop looking at us as a cash cow and look at us as an economic engine," said Calio.
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