NewsCommercial
Boeing exceeds delivery goal in 2015
Boeing surpassed its delivery target of up to 760 aircraft in 2015 by delivering 762. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner said the company will continue "getting our products to our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible." Boeing delivered 723 aircraft in 2014.
LinkAirlines
Airberlin ends 2015 with increased capacity utilization
Airberlin, which is undergoing an extensive restructuring process, said capacity cuts toward the end of 2015 enabled it to increase capacity utilization by 0.9 percentage points to 79.9% year-over-year.
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Estonian Air declared bankrupt
Estonian Air has been formally declared bankrupt, following a European Commission (EC) decision that it received illegal government aid. The national carrier of Estonia closed its doors on Nov. 8, following the EC decision the previous day. This made it liable to repay €85 million ($92 million) it had received in state aid. The state-owned airline had a small fleet of three Bombardier CRJ900s, two CRJ700s and a single Embraer E170, which had been due to leave the fleet in December.
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JetBlue offers nonstop service from JFK to Fla.. city
JetBlue Airways debuted nonstop service from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Daytona Beach, Fla., this week. "Daytona Beach features so many exciting and sunny attractions that we knew it was time to offer travelers new flights and better value to this top destination," said Scott Laurence, senior vice president of network planning at the carrier.
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Indonesia suspends three Lion Air route licenses
The Indonesian Transportation Ministry (ITM) has suspended three Lion Air route licenses and has reprimanded the Indonesian low-cost carrier (LCC). The action came after both Lion Air and Batik Air had failed to operate flights on certain routes for 21 consecutive days. The three routes, from Jakarta to Surabaya, Medan and Pontianak, had been allocated to Lion Air and its subsidiary Batik Air.
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Ryanair carries more than 100 million passengers in 2015
Ireland-based low-cost carrier (LCC) Ryanair said it transported 101.4 million passengers in 2015, becoming “the first airline to reach this international traffic landmark.”
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West Atlantic CRJ200 cargo aircraft crashes in Sweden
A West Atlantic Bombardier CRJ200 converted freighter crashed in Sweden near the Norwegian border after disappearing from radar during a mail transport flight. Swedish authorities said the aircraft, found in a mountainous region, was destroyed. According to Gothenburg-based West Atlantic, a European mail and express freight carrier, the CRJ200PF was en route from Oslo to Tromso, Norway late on Jan. 7. At 11:31 p.m. local time, just over 20 minutes after taking off, the pilots of flight PT294 declared mayday; the aircraft then disappeared from radar and lost contact with.
LinkAirports
Aberdeen Airport closed after heavy rain damages runway
Aberdeen Airport was closed Jan. 7 after extreme rainfall caused problems with the runway surface. An inspection of the runway shortly after 5 p.m. local discovered a 35cm/13in area of bubbling of the tarmac on the sole 1950m/6400ft runway’s centerline. The resulting closure led to 22 incoming flights being either canceled or diverted, with 15 outbound flights also canceled.
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Delta inks deal for major terminal move at LAX
Delta Air Lines has signed a letter of intent to consolidate its operations to terminals two and three at Los Angeles International airport, a move that could leapfrog its facilities ahead of those of other carriers at the airport. “We have a very big effort underway in Los Angeles,” says Richard Anderson, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based carrier, in a recorded message to employees on 7 January. “We’ve signed a letter of intent with the city of Los Angeles to rehabilitate LAX [terminals] two and three and relocate our operation in what will be the biggest terminal facility there.”
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Delta Granted Right To Stay At Dallas Love Field
Southwest Airlines must make room for rival Delta Air Lines in its gates at Dallas Love Field Airport, a US district court has ordered. The decision lets Delta maintain its five daily flights between Atlanta and space-constrained Love Field, sparing the carrier from having to cancel the flights of thousands of passengers who have already booked their trips.
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Southwest celebrates decade of success at DIA
Southwest Airlines launched service at Denver International Airport in 2006, and the carrier now offers almost 200 flights from DIA a decade later. "It's on an expansion path that's greater than almost all of our other airports," said Andrew Watterson, senior vice president of network and revenue management for Southwest. "So Denver is on its way to becoming our crown jewel."
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Mortar rounds reportedly caused Dec. 23 explosion at Istanbul airport
Turkish news agency Anadolu has reported that mortar rounds fired near Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport on Dec. 23 led to the explosion that killed one cleaning staff member and injured another on board a Pegasus Airlines aircraft. An investigation has revealed four mortar rounds were fired from a forested area around two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the airport at 2.15 a.m. local time.
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Military
Airbus A400M Deliveries To Turkey Delayed
Deliveries of two Airbus A400M military transport planes to Turkey in 2016 are expected to be delayed and talks are ongoing on delivery of a replacement for one that crashed on its maiden flight last year. Ankara signed a deal for 10 of the Airbus heavy cargo and troop carriers in 2003 as part of a group of seven European NATO nations, expecting its order to be fulfilled by 2018.
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Lockheed’s ship-killing missile completes load testing on F/A-18
The US Navy has completed in-flight load testing of the Lockheed Martin-built long-range anti-ship missile, or LRASM, on the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and will now move to noise and vibration trials. The final flight carrying an inert “mass simulant vehicle” occurred on 6 January over the navy’s Patuxent River, Maryland test site, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
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Aviation Quote
If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial.
— Wilbur Wright, from an address to the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago, 18 September 1901.
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Trivia
General Trivia
1. Piper named 11 types of aircraft after Native American tribes. Which was the first, and how many can you name?
2. Why does it appear to the casual observer(Standing abeam and at a distance) that a departing B747 or A380 climbs at a lower airspeed than a smaller jet, such as an 737 at the same speed and climb angle?
3. What WW2 airplane was known as the "Whistling Death?"
4. Acrophobia is the fear of heights, what is the fear of flying in an aircraft called?
5. Name a well-known type of aircraft in which the pilot could extend the landing gear from the wheel wells, but could not retract them?
