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A350 completes Australia and New Zealand visits
Airbus’s A350-900 made its first flight across the Tasman Sea on 5 August, completing a less than 3h flight from Sydney to Auckland. Prototype aircraft MSN5 – currently involved in route-proving and function and reliability test campaigns – arrived in the Australian city earlier the same day, following a visit to Johannesburg in South Africa.
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Boeing, SAA To Make Jet Fuel From Tobacco
Boeing has teamed up with South African Airways to develop jet fuel from a tobacco plant as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions and promote green energy in Africa's most advanced economy. The jet fuel will be made from a hybrid tobacco plant known as Solaris, which will be produced by alternative jet fuel maker SkyNRG, both companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. Test farming of the plants, which are nicotine-free, is ongoing in South Africa, with biofuel output expected in the "next few years", the companies said. "By using hybrid tobacco, we can leverage knowledge of tobacco growers in South Africa to grow a marketable biofuel crop without encouraging smoking," Ian Cruickshank, SAA's Group Environmental Affairs Specialist, said.
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IATA Sees Risks To Demand From Ebola, Russia
The outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, conflict in the Middle East and a possible trade war with Russia could all hurt air travel this year, IATA said. "All have the potential to dent demand," Tony Tyler, Director General of IATA, which represents around 240 airlines, said. "We are optimistic that the industry will still end the year with an improvement in profitability over 2013. But the regional impact of some of these risks will challenge some airlines more than others," Tyler said in a statement. The Ebola outbreak that began in West Africa in March has killed 932 people so far and governments and global health authorities are struggling to stop it spreading.
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Cabin Stowaway Caught After Flying To Los Angeles
A ticketless woman managed to sneak aboard a Southwest Airlines flight undetected at San Jose Airport and fly to Los Angeles in at least the second major security breach involving a stowaway there this year. The ticketless passenger, 62-year-old Marilyn Jean Hartman, was arrested on Monday after arriving in Los Angeles on a Southwest flight when a headcount turned up an extra passenger before the plane continued on to Phoenix, said a San Jose airport spokeswoman. Hartman, who had been nabbed earlier this year in an unsuccessful stowaway attempt at San Francisco Airport, was arrested after she couldn’t produce a boarding pass, officials said.
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Lion Group Breaks Into Aircraft Leasing
Indonesia's Lion Group, which has an order backlog of about 500 Boeing and Airbus aircraft, has clinched the first deal for its leasing subsidiary in a key diversification move for one of the world's fastest-growing airlines. Two years after setting up shop in Singapore, Transportation Partners (TP) has signed a deal to lease three new Boeing 737-800s to 9 Air, the low-cost airline of China's Juneyao Airlines. Though TP's deal with 9 Air involves three aircraft, the potential is significant in a market like China where airlines will need nearly 6,000 new aircraft over the next 20 years. Many of those aircraft will be leased rather than bought as carriers seek to cap long-term commitments.
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UK faces engineering skills crisis
UK industry has a deficit of 10,000 engineering students and apprentices per year, according to training organisations Semta and the Aviation Skills Partnership (ASP), which are attempting to bridge the gap. The deficit continues despite the number of international students coming to the UK to study. At the recent Farnborough air show, the two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding and pledged to work together to promote engineering-related aviation careers, apprenticeship frameworks and other opportunities to young people, with the aim of increasing the flow of British talent into the sector.
LinkAirports
American Airlines CEO shares integration progress
Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines, said customers will see new milestones soon from the merger of American and US Airways. "There are a series of them, but the next major one will be the integration of the frequent-flyer programs," he said. "They're separate today, and we're planning to integrate those" in the first six months of 2015.
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Etihad, Poste Italiane Prepare Partnership
Etihad Airways and Poste Italiane are preparing a partnership after the Gulf airline makes a planned investment in Italy's troubled flag-carrier Alitalia, a person close to the matter said. Etihad is due to sign a deal by the end of this week to take a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, which Italy hopes will turn around the airline which has made a profit only a few times in its 68-year history. Etihad chief executive James Hogan met Francesco Caio, head of Alitalia shareholder Poste Italiane in Rome on Wednesday, the person close to the matter said, describing the meeting as "positive". The two chief executives discussed possible synergies relating to ticket sales, holiday insurance policies and e-commerce, and would meet next week to continue the talks, the source added.
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Hawaiian Airlines allows flexible rebooking due to storms
Hawaiian Airlines announced the carrier would waive change fees for passengers affected by Hurricane Iselle and Tropical Storm Julio. Travelers scheduled to fly on Thursday or Friday will be allowed to change their reservations through Aug. 12 without incurring change fees.
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Southwest CEO offers tips for successful business travel
Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, shares his tips for productive business travel. "All of us like nonstop flights, of course, but I try to look at the big picture and leverage trips as much as possible," he writes. "I plan a lot of my travel a year in advance and I try to accomplish more than one task per trip."
LinkAiports
DFW considering international passenger lounge
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport officials want to commission a $1.2 million study on whether the airport should build a premium lounge for international travelers. If the board approves a proposed contract, L.E.K. Consulting will study lounges at other international airports and suggest possible partners for the project. "While our current lounge offering is competitive from a domestic standpoint, it is absolutely not competitive from an international and global perspective," said DFW CEO Sean Donohue.
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DIA to feature tapas bar in Concourse C expansion
The gateway says the firm has been charged with creating a 'unique, architectural, cultural and enhanced customer experience'. DIA began construction in September 2013 on five new gates that will be utilised by Southwest Airlines, and the expansion project is expected to be completed in November 2014. The new concourse will be designed as an airy, light-filled, easy-to-navigate space, and the design approach, DIA says will reinvent the way passengers experience gate areas and feature a mix of urban and natural architectural features, integrated with technology.
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Sea-Tac Airport to undergo $1 billion renovation
The Port of Seattle plans to move forward with almost $1 billion in renovations at Sea-Tac Airport. The port will update the North Satellite by adding gates, and will also update the South Satellite by adding a new international arrivals area nearby. Other improvements include updating electrical work and reconstructing the center runway.
LinkMilitary
Kuwait receives first KC-130J tanker
Lockheed Martin has delivered its first of three KC-130J tanker/transports to the Kuwait air force, providing the service with a new air-to-air refuelling capability. Carrying the registration KAF 326, the short-fuselage aircraft will be followed by another two contained within a production order signed in 2010. These are to be handed over before the end of this year.
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US C-130T deal would bolster Manila’s transport fleet
The US has approved the possible sale of two Lockheed Martin C-130T tactical transport aircraft to the Philippines. In a late July statement, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the possible Foreign Military Sales deal. The package also includes 10 Rolls-Royce T56-16 engines (of which two are spares), sustainment and support for three years, and other support services and equipment related to the package. The cost of the deal is $61 million, but the DSCA notes that it has yet to be concluded.
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Aviation Quote
You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.
— Paul F. Crickmore
On This Date
--- In 1917... The Morane-Saulnier A. I. Parasol fighter airplane makes its first flight in France.
--- In 1919... Capt. Ernest C. Hoy becomes the first pilot to fly over the Canadian Rockies when he carries mail from Vancouver, British Columbia to Calgary, Alberta in a Curtiss JN-4 biplane.
--- In 1928... One of the most successful designs of the day, the first Curtiss Model 50 Robin, takes to the air. A typical Robin has a wingspan of 41 ft. and a length of 25 ft., 8 in. with a 185-hp engine.
---In 1931... Jim Mollison lands after flying from Australia to England in 10 days, knocking two days off the existing record.
---In 1951…First flight of the McDonnell F3H Demon 125444.
---In 1959…The first ever television images of earth from space are transmitted from the Explorer 6 satellite.
---In 1967…Aerolíneas Argentinas and Iberia jointly inaugurate the world's longest non-stop air route, between Buenos Aires and Madrid.
---In 1971…The Apollo 15 spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific, 330 miles north of Hawaii, having been the fourth manned moon mission.
---In 1976…The Viking 2 probe enters a Martian orbit after an 11 month trip from Earth.
---In 1980… Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first solar powered flight.
---In 1990…Operation Desert Shield begins, as the first American air patrols, troops and equipment land in Saudi Arabia to discourage an Iraqi invasion. Iraq had annexed neighboring Kuwait five days earlier.
---In 1997…Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Cape Canaveral for mission STS-85.
---In 1997… Fine Air flight 101 crashed at Miami International Airport. The DC-8-61(N27UA) did not have the cargo properly restrained, and shifted at rotation. NTSB Report
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
Gear Pins Installed
While taxiing out in sequence behind a Lufthansa airliner at Frankfurt, a C-130 crew noticed an orange "Remove before flight" streamer hanging out of the Lufthansa nose wheel well (their nose gear locking pin was still installed). Not wanting to cause too much embarrassment by going thru the controller, the 130 crew simply called the Lufthansa aircraft on the tower frequency:
"Lufthansa aircraft, Herky 23." No reply.
They repeated the transmission and again there was no reply. Instead, the Lufthansa pilot called the tower and asked the tower to tell the Herky crew that "the professional pilots of Lufthansa do not engage in unprofessional conversations over the radio."
The 130 pilot quickly replied, "Frankfurt tower, can you please relay to the professional pilots of the Lufthansa aircraft that their nose gear pin is still installed?"
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Queso wrote:Thanks for picking my picture as the Editor's Choice for today!
Queso wrote:Thanks for picking my picture as the Editor's Choice for today!
