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Commercial Aviation

Emirates cancels 70 A350s after A380 deal
Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is cancelling its order for 70 A350s, comprising 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s. Airbus has confirmed the cancellation. It says the decision follows talks with the Dubai-based airline over its fleet requirement, following the carrier's order for 50 A380s placed during the Dubai air show last year.
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Emirates A350 cancellation cuts Trent XWB backlog by £2.6 billion
Rolls-Royce says Emirates’ cancellation of orders for 70 A350s will cut its backlog for the Trent XWB by about 3.5%, but it is hopeful the slots will be taken up by other carriers. “As a result of today’s announcement, our order book will reduce by around 3.5% or £2.6 billion ($4.4 billion),” says Rolls-Royce in a statement. “The order for 70 A350 aircraft was confirmed in 2007 as part of a larger $8.4bn announcement relating to a total of 120 aircraft, all with TotalCare services. The options for the additional 50 aircraft, and the TotalCare contracts were not included in the amount captured in our order book.
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Boeing receives order for 777-300ER BBJ
Boeing Business Jets has received an order from an undisclosed customer for a 777-300ER aircraft configured for VIP use. “2014 continues to be a positive year for BBJ with strong order activity,” says Steve Taylor, president, Boeing Business Jets. “Customers are showing strong interest in our wide-body VIP products and the BBJ 777-300ER is an airplane that really provides unmatched comfort and range on long-haul flights.” Boeing adds that the 777-300ER has a cabin size of 3,641 square feet (338 square meters) and a range of 9,200 nautical miles (17,000km).
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Boeing seeks FAA waivers to deliver first 787-9 in June
Boeing needs a last-minute regulatory intervention to avoid a delay of the entry-into-service date later this month for the 787-9. The company has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to quickly approve exemptions that would allow the 787-9 to be delivered on schedule despite two critical flight systems deemed non-compliant with airworthiness regulations. “The certification process provides a method for identifying component issues that do not result in an immediate safety concern but need to be addressed,” Boeing said. “We have followed that process and proposed plans to the FAA to address two components on the 787-9.” The requested exemptions would cover a newly-discovered reliability problem with the ram air turbine (RAT) and a functional issue with the altitude-select dial on the mode control panel, according to a Boeing petition for relief filed on 4 June.
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CSeries restarts engines, but rules out Farnborough debut
Bombardier has restarted engine ground runs for the CSeries test fleet 13 days after an uncontained engine failure, and reaffirmed entry-into-service is set for the second half of next year. The company has introduced a new “control measures” to prevent the malfunction that occurred on engine No. 1 of the FTV-1 test aircraft on 29 May, Bombardier says. The new procedure was adopted after Bombardier and engine supplier Pratt & Whitney developed a “good understanding of what happened” on 29 May, Bombardier says, without elaborating. Bombardier and P&W parent United Technologies officials have previously confirmed the source of the uncontained failure was in the low-pressure turbine of the PurePower PW1500G geared turbofan.
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JetBlue happy with Mint demand ahead of launch
Demand for JetBlue Airways new Mint premium product is “where we want to be” less than a week ahead of its launch, says director of product development Jamie Perry. The product will make its debut on the first of 11 dedicated Airbus A321 aircraft (registration N923JB) between New York JFK International and Los Angeles International airports on 15 June, joining American Airlines and United Airlines offering dedicated premium products in the market. “We’re very happy,” says Perry onboard the inaugural aircraft during a simulation on the ground at JFK on 10 June. “We think we have a very competitive product and service.”
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Airbus A330 Upgrade May Pressure Jet Prices
Airbus and Boeing are heading towards a showdown over the prices of their smaller twin-aisle airliners as Airbus draws closer to a decision to upgrade its 20-year-old A330. Airlines meeting last week in Doha witnessed an increase in the marketing rhetoric from the plane makers as a proposed upgrade of Airbus's A330 threatens to eat into demand for Boeing's newer 787 Dreamliner. With a carbon-fibre shell and new systems, the 787 aims to render older jets like the A330 obsolete and caused Airbus to come up with its own lightweight rival, the A350, which is due to come into service in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Malaysia Airlines Revival Plan Ready Within A Year
Malaysia will unwrap plans to restructure loss-making Malaysia Airlines within six to 12 months, a state investor said, as a slump in business since the disappearance of flight MH370 leaves the carrier set to exhaust its cash reserves by mid-2015. Moves to rescue Malaysia Airlines have been expected by investors since ticket sales slumped after the unexplained loss of MH370 on March 8. Already squeezed into three years of losses by intense local and longer-haul competition, MAS turned in its worst quarterly performance in two years in January-March. Azman Mokhtar, managing director of state investor Khazanah, which owns 69 percent of the airline, said on Tuesday the government is committed to formulating a revival plan for the airline within a year because its operating cash reserves are on course to run out by then.
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Australia Chooses Firm To Map Sea Floor In MH370 Search
Australia has signed a contract with a private company to map the sea floor around where missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is believed to have crashed, a crucial step towards continuing an underwater search later this year. Months of searches have failed to reveal any trace of the missing Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 passengers and crew shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the plane was deliberately diverted thousands of miles from its scheduled route before eventually crashing into the Indian Ocean.
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Ryanair Bond Issue To Cut Financing Costs
Ryanair borrowed EUR€850 million (USD$1.15 billion) at an effective interest rate of under 2 percent in its debut bond auction on Tuesday, opening a new source of funding the budget carrier said would give it a significant advantage over rivals. The seven-year bond, which will be listed on the Irish stock exchange, secured total orders of over EUR€6 billion with a final coupon of 1.875 percent, half of the 3.875 percent coupon paid by rival Air France-KLM for a four-year bond last week. Ryanair, which analysts say already has the lowest cost base of any airline in Europe, has a BBB+ rating from Standard & Poor's and Fitch, making it the highest rated airline in the world.
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Alaska Air ranked as one of top companies in Northwest
Alaska Air Group, based in Seattle, was listed as number three on a Best of the Northwest list of public companies in the region. "The Pacific Northwest has been a growth area. Alaska has captured a significant chunk of that growth," said Michael E. Levine, a former airline executive. Alaska CEO Brad Tilden said: "The transformation over the last decade has been all about cost. We're trying to balance low fares and lots of service to the destinations (passengers) want, with a strong and successful company that can grow and buy new airplanes and has the capital to add new services."
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First-class upgrade deal is offered by US Airways, American
US Airways and American Airlines are letting each other's loyalty-program members upgrade to first class in a reciprocal deal that begins July 11. American Airlines AAdvantage fliers and US Airways Dividend Miles members can be eligible for an upgrade on either airline if one is available.
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747-8I order could provide boost for Boeing
Boeing and Emirates are in discussions about the 747-8I, which could provide a boost for the aircraft manufacturer, analysts say. "For Boeing a big order means that it has enough orders in backlog to produce the Boeing 747-8I until the end of the decade," writes Dhierin Bechai.
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Frequent fliers save time with PreCheck
Travelers who fly often should consider enrolling in the Transportation Security Administration's PreCheck program, this article says. Participants in the program are issued Known Traveler Numbers, which allow them access to special security lines at the airport where they are excused from some of the more onerous screening chores, like removing their shoes and belts.
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Philly airport workers weigh in on labor issue
The low-paid airport workers who cheered when Mayor Nutter signed an executive order in May that extended minimum wage benefits to subcontractors such as them are not cheering anymore. Three weeks have passed since the mayor's order, applying the $10.88 minimum wage requirement to subcontractors, went into effect. But the paychecks of many of those airport workers still reflect $7.50 hourly wages. The order applies to any bids or proposals issued after May 20, and starting Jan. 1, all proposals and contracts will include a $12-an-hour minimum wage requirement.
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DFW Airport emerging as an international hub
On any given day, voices speaking Arabic, Korean, Dutch or Portuguese can be heard throughout Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. And on Wednesday, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese will join the conversation as American Airlines launches its first nonstop service to Shanghai and Hong Kong from North Texas. The flights to China, which will operate daily, connect DFW to one of the most dynamic parts of the world and mark another step in transforming the airport, which opened 40 years ago with the wordRegional in its name, into a global hub.
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Aviation Quote

You've got to expect things are going to go wrong. And we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected.

— Neil Armstrong, 2005 movie Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon.

On This Date

--- In 1926... The first flight of the Ford A-AT trimotor, an all-metal monoplane which competes with the three-engine Fokker and becomes a pioneer American airliner. It is known affectionately as the “Tin Goose.”

---In 1928... The first rocket-powered manned airplane flight is made by Frederich Stamer from the Wasserkuppe peak in the Rhön Mountains of Germany. His tail-first glider flies about one mile.

---In 1931... The Handley Page HP-42 four-engine biplane enters service with the British airline Imperial Airways and sets new standards of passenger service and comfort. It carries 40 passengers.

---In 1971... British pilot Shelia Scott makes the first flight by a light plane from equator to equator via the North Pole. Flying in a Piper Aztec D, she covers 34,000 miles (54,718 km).

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

Destroyer In Port

A destroyer pulled into Borneo for liberty. Cut down to a skeleton watch, most of the ship was empty for the night. A few piers down, a ship was loading local cargo for export. Among the crates was an orangutan, who broke out of his cage. The ape traveled the waterfront in the dark, and finally reached the destroyer. He climbed the mooring lines, boarded, and climbed up the smokestack. Inside the stack, the confused animal made it down to the engine room, and started wandering around. He came to an electrical panel, opened for maintenance, ignored the safety ropes, and managed to make contact with an extremely high voltage contact. Bright blue spark and the ship is suddenly dark throughout.

A few minutes later, two hull techs are searching with their flashlights for the problem. They come on the dark burnt hairy body. They shine the flashlight on his long, long arms. They look at each other. They look at his short stubby legs. They look at each other. They look at his face for a long time.

Finally, the third class tells the seaman: 'Okay, his legs are too short for a machinist mate, his arms are too long for a boiler tech, and he's too hairy for an electrician. Call the wardroom, see if any of the junior officers are missing.'

Trivia

General Trivia

1. Upon touchdown, the rudder of a Space Shuttle orbiter splits open and becomes a speed brake. What well-known general aviation airplane incorporated such a feature long before America’s manned space program started?

2. The first air-to-air refueling occurred on 12 NOV 21. How was this accomplished?

3. What was so unusual about the 1931 French-built Makhonine MAK-10 monoplane?

4. What was the name of the famous 1930s airship that was involved in a New Jersey accident and claimed more lives than any other accident in a dirigible?

5. The primary purpose of feathering a propeller following an engine failure is to reduce drag and improve engine-out performance. What are two other important reasons for feathering?