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Muddle remains in Boeing middle of the market
In 2003, Boeing's in-house magazine Frontiers made a bold claim about a new product category it for the first time dubbed the "middle of the market" or MoM, which the article defined with aircraft optimized with 180-250 seats and a 3,000-6,500nm range. "MoM is a big market space that is quiet now but will be a large part of the next growth phase," the magazine declared.
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Alaska Airlines to remodel 11 airport terminals in Alaska
Alaska Airlines plans to renovate 11 airport terminals in rural Alaska to better serve customers. The $30 million renovations will be completed within three to five years. "We really view those internally … as one sort of overall effort to really re-invest in the state of Alaska," said Joe Sprague, senior vice president of communications at the carrier. This is another example of how airlines are investing in airport infrastructure across the country.
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Alaska sticking with traditional loyalty program, CFO says
Alaska Airlines said the carrier has no plans to switch its frequent flier program to a revenue-based model. "We're sticking with the traditional model," said Chief Financial Officer Brandon Pedersen. "It gives us an opportunity to look at how we perform versus how others perform."
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Cathay Pacific to retire A340s in 2017
Cathay Pacific Airways plans to retire all of its Airbus A340-300s by the end of 2017, according to the carrier’s latest fleet plan. The Hong Kong-based airline phased out four last year, leaving seven in the fleet. One was sold in February, and two more will leave the fleet this year. The remaining four will depart in 2017. Cathay also has advanced retirement plans for its last three Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft to this year from 2017.
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Germanwings crash probe opts against cockpit door rethink
French investigators maintain that the risk of an external attack on the cockpit outweighs the risk of pilot interference, and have steered away from recommending changes in secure cockpit doors. The armored cockpit door was used as a barrier to lock a Germanwings Airbus A320 captain out of the flightdeck while the first officer deliberately put the jet on a collision course with terrain.
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Hawaiian Airlines to increase Ohana flights to Lanai
Hawaiian Airlines is increasing services with its Ohana turboprop operation in the wake of flight cuts by local competitor Island Air. Ohana will increase to five from three direct daily roundtrips between Honolulu and the island of Lanai on May 16. The announcement came several days after Island Air said it will cut its own Lanai service as of March 31. Ohana’s current roundtrips between Honolulu and Lanai are supplemented by a Honolulu-Molokai-Lanai roundtrip. After the changes, there will be five direct daily flights from Honolulu to Lanai, and four in the opposite direction plus the service that stops in Molokai. Ohana operates three ATR 42-500 passenger aircraft.
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Juneyao Air Expects To Triple Fleet By 2020
Juneyao Airlines expects to nearly triple its fleet size by 2020 and orders for new aircraft have already been placed, its chairman said. The Shanghai-based carrier and its low-cost subsidiary 9 Air will have 150 planes by 2020, up from 57 at the end of 2015, Wang Junjin told reporters on the sidelines of China's national parliamentary meeting in Beijing.
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Lufthansa eyes Iranian market
Lufthansa and Iran Air have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation between the two companies as they explore “further business and partnership opportunities.” Reports from Iran have talked of Lufthansa Group’s assistance in several areas, including corporate restructuring and IT, but Lufthansa spokesman Boris Ogurslky said further details were covered by a confidentiality agreement.
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United to launch service from SFO to Hangzhou, China
United Airlines plans to launch service between San Francisco and Hangzhou, China. "We look forward to welcoming Hangzhou to our global route network using the customer-favorite 787-9 Dreamliner," said Jim Compton, chief revenue officer at United. The flights will start this summer if approved by regulators.
LinkAirports
American to change terminals at Wash. airport
American Airlines is relocating its ticket counter to a different terminal on Wednesday at Spokane International Airport in Washington. "The move assists in rebalancing passenger flows between the two terminals and better utilizes existing services such as passenger screening and food, beverage and retail concessions," said Todd Woodard, airport spokesman.
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Military
CH-53K project expands to 120kts and two test helicopters
Sikorsky's first CH-53K King Stallion has achieved speeds of 120kts as the heavy-lift helicopter development project presses forward with flight envelope expansion and adds a second test aircraft to the mix. The Lockheed Martin-owned rotorcraft manufacturer says its second triple-engine giant achieved flight on 22 January, and the two developmental aircraft have logged 35 flight hours since CH-53K flying began on 27 October.
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Rafale exports boost Dassault's 2015 defense sales
Dassault has attributed a 12-fold year-on-year increase in defense sales to its success with exports of the Rafale multi-role combat aircraft, having secured orders from Egypt and Qatar in 2015. Defense order intake at the French manufacturer for the 12 months to 31 December was €8.3 billion ($9.2 billion), up from €693 million in 2014. It attributes the “large increase” to the sales of a combined 48 aircraft to the two Middle East nations last year.
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US Navy orders 28 H-1s as Army seeks more UH-72s
The US Navy has ordered 12 UH-1Y Venoms and 16 AH-1Z Vipers from Bell Helicopter for $461 million as the Army seek another 16 UH-72A Lakotas from Airbus Helicopters. Operated by the Marine Corps, the Venom and Viper are 85% common and are delivered off Bell’s mixed production line in Amarillo, Texas. According to a navy contract announcement on 11 March, the Lot 13 Venom and Viper order is due by February of 2019.
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Aviation Quote
I pay those guys to fly, so let them fly. I'll be damned if I'll pay them to just sit there.
— reportedly Eddie Rickenbackerer CEO Eastern Airlines. Eastern aircraft were some of the last to be equipped with autopilots, his pilots saying if it wasn't in Captain Eddie's SPAD he won't buy it. Quoted in 'Human Factors in Multi-Crew Flight Operations' by Orlady & Orlady.
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Trivia
General Trivia
1. What is unusual about the control tower at Wellington International Airport in New Zealand?
2. Who was “Chicken” Kamikaze?
3. There were five space-shuttle orbiters that circled the Earth: Atlantis, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Endeavor. What was the total number of orbital missions launched, and during how many years were they flown?
4. Pilots know that 0 degrees Celsius represents the freezing point of water. What is the significance of 0 degrees Fahrenheit?
5.What was the first turboprop airplane to enter production in the United States?
6. A VFR pilot with seaplane and landplane ratings takes off from a lake in an amphibian, flies for an hour, and then lands on a hard-surface runway. How must the flying time be logged?
a. all as seaplane time
b. all as landplane time
c. half seaplane, half landplane
d. It does not matter.
7. Why did British Spitfires regularly take off for battle with bright red patches of tape on their leading edges?
8. True or False: Excluding the effects of magnetic deviation, the magnetic compass in an airplane points to the magnetic north pole.
