CommercialSearch For MH370 Moves To Site Of First 'Ping'An Australian naval vessel carrying an underwater drone involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 left port on Saturday on its second mission to scan part of the Indian Ocean where the longest sonar "ping" was heard over a month ago. The Ocean Shield is heading to the area where a signal was first located and heard for some two hours on April 5, about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northwest of Perth to launch the Bluefin-21 submersible. More than two dozen countries have been involved in the hunt for the Boeing 777 that disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people, mostly Chinese, on board in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
LinkCost Rows Overshadow Safety Response To MH370The United Nations is leading a high-level effort this week to improve the way aircraft are tracked to address public concerns over the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. But the official response to the missing aircraft and a similar event in 2009 has already been clouded by rows between plane makers, airlines and pilots about costs and surveillance, new documents show, raising questions about how fast regulators can act. Papers issued as European agency EASA toughened guidelines for black-box flight recorders last week show disputes about the economic and safety benefits, as manufacturers urged delay and pilots resisted pressure for more cockpit monitoring.
LinkDrone Nearly Collides With American Airlines JetAn American Airlines aircraft almost collided with a drone above Florida earlier this year, a near accident that spotlights the growing risk from the rising use of unmanned aircraft, the US air safety regulator said. The pilot of the airliner told authorities a small, remote-control aircraft came dangerously close to his plane about 2,300 feet above the ground over Tallahassee Regional Airport, said Jim Williams, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Office. "The airplane pilot said that the UAS was so close to his jet that he was sure he had collided with it," Williams said at an industry conference on Thursday, referring to an unmanned aircraft system.
LinkIAG Reports EUR€150 Mln Q1 Operating LossIAG on Friday reported an improved first-quarter, with a halving of losses at troubled Spanish carrier Iberia putting it on course for a rise in annual profits. Iberia has in recent months settled a number of employee disputes on work and pay which IAG has said will see the Spanish carrier return to profit this year. "The performance so far this year has been one that has pleased us significantly given the reduction in operating losses in the first quarter. We're particularly pleased with the continued progress being made in Iberia," chief executive Willie Walsh told reporters. He added that the company, Europe's largest airline by market value, was on track to make an operating profit of EUR€1.8 billion in 2015.
LinkTurkish Air Posts Deeper First Quarter LossTurkish Airlines posted a much deeper first quarter loss than expected on Friday despite rising sales, as it battles tough competition from low-cost competitors. Turkish, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, said its net loss widened to TRY226.3 million lira (USD$110 million), ten times the loss of a year ago. Sales rose to TRY5.13 billion lira from TRY3.59 billion in the same period last year.
LinkAmerican adds hundreds of jobs and extends lease at TempeAmerican Airlines just renewed a 5-year lease at Rio West Business Park in Tempe, Ariz., and plans to bring hundreds of new accounting, information technology and customer service jobs. "As we have said, the new American Airlines will maintain a significant corporate presence in Arizona," said Matt Miller, spokesman for American Airlines.
LinkAmerican posts 4.7% increase in passenger traffic for AprilAmerican Airlines Group reported a 4.7% increase in passenger traffic for April on a year-over-year basis. American also expects passenger revenue per available seat mile to rise by up to 6% for the second quarter.
LinkAmerican Airlines reconfigures Airbus order Airbus took 78 orders in April but remained behind Boeing in the battle for new business after a relatively quiet month dominated by the reshuffling of existing orders, data released by the European planemaker showed on Wednesday. The planemaker unit of Airbus Group (AIR.PA) said it had received 236 orders up to the end of April and cancellations for 94, bringing its net order total for 2014 to 142 aircraft. U.S. planemaker Boeing (BA.N) has said it booked 335 gross orders and 288 net orders up to April 29. Airbus data reflected some reallocation of an order from American Airlines for 260 Airbus A320-family planes in 2011. That deal, a record at the time, was due to be split equally between versions of the revamped A320neo family and the existing generation of Airbus medium-haul jets known as A320ceo.
LinkEnvoy Air CEO: We will keep flying around 200 aircraftPedro Fábregas, the CEO and president of Envoy Air, reassured employees about the future of the regional carrier. "As American has previously stated, 25 of our Embraer 140 aircraft will be retired by the end of 2014 and Envoy will continue to fly approximately 200 aircraft for the foreseeable future -- including our 47 larger Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft," he said.
LinkSouthwest plans for gentle rollout of new reservation systemSouthwest Airlines will continue working with reservation software provider Sabre Corp. as it transitions to provider Amadeus IT Holding SA, said Randy Sloan, the airline's chief information officer. Sloan says the overlapping system should prevent problems when switching systems. He said "we've worked very hard to create a plan with as low a risk option as you can get when implementing a major piece of technology like this."
LinkSouthwest Airlines expands mobile boarding passesSouthwest Airlines is expanding its use of mobile boarding passes. The airline recently announced travelers can use mobile boarding passes at Chicago's Midway airport. It has also expanded the use of mobile boarding passes in Dallas, Houston, Baltimore/Washington, Orlando, Phoenix and Denver.
LinkSouthwest reports 4.4% increase in RPM for AprilSouthwest Airlines reported a 4.4% increase in revenue passenger miles for April, as compared to April 2013. Meanwhile, Southwest capacity dipped 0.6% for April.
LinkJetBlue adds service from Boston to 3 international destinations JetBlue Airways, the largest carrier at Logan International Airport, said Thursday that its winter schedule will offer nonstop flights from Boston to new destinations in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Saint Lucia. Service on all three routes is scheduled to begin Nov. 1, running once a week on Saturdays. The new destinations represent JetBlue’s 52d, 53d, and 54th nonstop routes out of Boston, the airline said. The new destinations are Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia, Costa Rica; Gregorio Luperón International Airport in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; and Hewanorra International Airport in Saint Lucia.
LinkInvestors eyeing U.S. airlinesMost U.S. airline shares are taking off, and investors have pointed to JetBlue, Hawaiian, Delta, Alaska, Southwest, American and United as potentially attractive for investment. Delta has an average "buy" rating and the other carriers are rated "outperform." JetBlue has an average rating of "hold."
LinkBoeing survey: Aircraft financing will be plentifulFinancial institutions and banks plan to step up financing for aircraft, according to a survey from Boeing, which found 70% of institutions active in the sector planning to increase financing. "There is a lot of equity out there that is finding aircraft asset classes attractive and there's a lot of appetite from institutional investors especially in China and in Russia," said Kostya Zolotusky, managing director for capital markets development and leasing at Boeing Capital Corporation. Experts predict demand for aircraft financing will reach $125 billion in 2015.
LinkALPA opposes Norwegian Air's business modelReaders of the Washington Post may run across a full-page ad this week that implores them to "Deny NAI." That somewhat cryptic message is part of a seven-figure ad campaign by the Air Line Pilots Association, International -- the group's latest attempt to keep Norwegian Air Shuttle, Europe's third-largest budget carrier, from bringing its low-cost model to the United States as Norwegian Air International. Norwegian says the "misleading" and "dishonest" campaign simply shows that American airlines and pilots are afraid of competition. But industry groups here say they're up for more competition, so long as it doesn't come in the form Norwegian Air wants to take: a Norwegian-named airline based in Ireland that employs Thailand-based crews through a Singaporean pilot supply company.
LinkBoeing: We learned discipline from 787-8 for 787-9 certification Boeing likes to refer to “discipline” when it describes the approach it has taken with the 787-9, discipline in defining the firm configuration of the airplane and discipline related to the program’s engineering plan. Speaking recently to a group of reporters assembled at Boeing’s offices in Everett, Washington, vice president of 787 development Mark Jenks outlined how the company learned from the well-documented mistakes made during development of the 787-8 and how that education translated into near flawless execution on the 787-9, starting with the firm configuration in mid-2010. “We did a very disciplined job on the -9 to make sure that we met all of those criteria for that major gate so that the airplane was verified to meet all our customer requirements, that the risks had all been appropriately addressed and that we were ready to proceed in to doing the detailed design, releasing the engineering, building the tools and building the initial airplanes,” said Jenks. “So really the discipline of the -9 started with that process… The next phase was really about how we executed the engineering plan, and really again bringing a lot of discipline to bear on the basic execution of designing the airplane and releasing all the engineering models to build.”
LinkTransparent Airfares Act is moving quickly in CongressA bill to eliminate a Transportation Department regulation requiring them to advertise fare prices that include all taxes and fees that's backed by 33 lawmakers and supported by U.S. airlines and unions is moving at Mach speed. "Consumers are better served when they can buy airfares like they buy any other product," said Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president of Airlines for America, which represents major carriers. "I think what's confusing is to have airfares treated differently."
LinkTSA randomly chooses air travelers for screening at PreCheck lanesThe Transportation Security Administration uses a randomizing application to select air passengers who are not enrolled in the PreCheck program for screening in the faster security lanes. The random assignment of the perk is part of a "managed inclusion" program the agency rolled out last year.
LinkDFW adds 10 gates to Terminal BDallas/Fort Worth International Airport showed off an expansion in Terminal B on Thursday that added 10 gates. "These new gates give DFW Airport additional capacity for hosting flights in Terminal B, and a beautiful new space for customers to enjoy as they await their flights," said Sean Donohue, airport CEO, in a statement.
LinkSurvey: Reward seat availability increases to 72.4% of flightsA recent survey found that frequent flier seats were available on 72.4% of flights on the world's 25 largest carriers, up from year-ago levels.
LinkHeathrow appoints John Holland-Kaye as new CEO Heathrow Airport Ltd. said Development Director John Holland-Kaye will succeed Chief Executive Officer Colin Matthews, entrusting him to lead the fight for a third runway to defend its position as Europe’s busiest hub. The executive, who joined Heathrow five years ago, will take over as CEO from July 1, the London-based company said in a statement today. As development director, he oversaw the construction of the new Terminal 2, due to open next month. Heathrow, the home base of British Airways, is eking out capacity while it seeks a third landing strip. The airport was listed with London Gatwick as suitable for expansion by a state-backed study of runway requirements, which will submit revised plans next week ahead of the final recommendations due in 2015.
LinkSurvey: 5 favorite airports of U.S. travelers Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport gained the unusual distinction of topping two rankings in a new survey: It topped the lists for both most favorite and least favorite airports in the nation. A survey by Expedia.com founds respondents’ favorite airports were, in order: Atlanta, Denver, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth and Orlando International. Their least favorite airports were Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Houston’s Bush Intercontinental, New York JFK and New York LaGuardia.
Link 
