Commercial
Airbus completes paint job on first US-built American A321
Airbus has rolled out the first US-built American Airlines A321 of the paint shop at the Mobile, Alabama facility.
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Boeing LIFTs 737 seating options
Boeing is to unveil its latest economy class seat for its top-selling narrowbody at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) which opens tomorrow in Hamburg – which it developed with the product’s inventors after meeting them when they unveiled a prototype at last year's show. The LIFT by EnCore seat for the 737 NG and Max will be available as a factory fit and retrofit, and is the first seat specifically designed to complement the Boeing Sky Interior, says the airframer.
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Airlines
Alaska Air Group announces plan to acquire Virgin America
Alaska Air Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines, announced plans to acquire Virgin America. The acquisition would allow Alaska, based in Seattle, to further expand its west coast presence in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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American Airlines to restart Philly-Bermuda service
American Airlines plans to restart service from Philadelphia to Bermuda on Tuesday. The direct service will fly into L.F. Wade International Airport on a daily basis.
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ANA retires Boeing 737-700ER
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has retired the Boeing 737-700ER aircraft from its fleet. In response to queries made, the carrier says the type’s retirement was made in line with plans to raise capacity on routes previously operated by the aircraft to the larger Boeing 787. One such route includes the Tokyo Narita-Mumbai route.
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China Eastern reports net profit up 33% in 2015
China Eastern Airlines reported a net profit of CNY4.54 billion ($64 million) in 2015, up 33% compared to net income of CNY3.42 billion in 2014. Full-year operating revenue rose 4.6% to CNY93.84 billion while expenses dropped 3% to CNY77.15 billion.
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CSA Czech Airlines increases summer operations
CSA Czech Airlines announced it will slightly increase its summer operations compared to last year and launch or relaunch 11 destinations. For the main summer season, CSA will wet lease a Boeing 737-400 for six months from May. From the end of April, it will add a fourth ATR 72-500 to its fleet.
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EasyJet bases 10th aircraft at Berlin Schoenefeld
UK low-cost carrier (LCC) EasyJet will base its 10th Airbus A320 family aircraft at Berlin Schoenefeld Airport and plans to launch new routes to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Pristina and Catania this spring. Berlin became EasyJet’s first German base in 2004 and has the largest market share of all airlines at Schoenefeld. Since 2004, EasyJet has carried more than 46 million passengers to and from Germany, and more than 30 million to and from Berlin.
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JetBlue offers snack box with gourmet cheese on select flights
JetBlue Airways is offering a gourmet cheese snack box with cheese selected by Beecher's Handmade Cheese in New York City. Cheese lovers can purchase the snack box on flights from New York City to Los Angeles or San Francisco. The cheese is also designed to pair with in-flight wine selections.
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Nordica launches services from Tallinn to Vienna, Berlin
Estonian flag carrier Nordica launched 5X-weekly Tallinn-Vienna and 6X-weekly Tallinn-Berlin services last week. According to its website, the carrier also operates eight routes from Tallinn to Brussels, Kiev, Oslo, Amsterdam, Vilnius, Stockholm, Trondheim and Munich. This year, Nordica plans seasonal flights to Nice, Split and Paris from spring—and Rijeka, Odessa and Edinburgh from summer.
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UPS expands early delivery service
UPS has renamed its earliest package delivery service as UPS Next Day Air Early. Last month, UPS added 12,680 zip codes to the service, allowing it to reach 98% of business addresses. "Already we've seen manufacturers, healthcare companies and professional services, such as financial firms, respond to the expansion," said Alan Gershenhorn, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of UPS.
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Airports
Brussels Airport reopens with restricted service
Brussels Airport has reopened and begun its first flights since the March 22 terrorist attacks, but the airport is operating a very limited service with extra security measures. On Sunday, April 3, three Brussels Airlines aircraft departed for Faro in Portugal, Turin in northern Italy and Athens. The airline is continuing to operate out of the Belgian airports in Antwerp and Liege while service ramps up out of its hub-base Brussels, where 11 people died and dozens were injured after two suicide bombs detonated in the main terminal. More people were killed and injured in bombings at the city’s train stations.
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TSA opens temporary PreCheck center at O'Hare airport
The Transportation Security Administration opened a temporary TSA PreCheck enrollment center at Chicago O'Hare International Airport today. The facility will be open from Monday through Friday until May 13.
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Power outage at Manila Airport cancels more than 80 flights
More than 80 flights were canceled and at least 14,000 passengers stranded at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) following a major power outage April 2-3. The five-hour power outage mainly affected the airport’s domestic Terminal 3. However, full operation of the terminal and all its support functions was not completed until around noon on April 3.
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Military
Italy's swing-role Typhoons fly high at Red Flag
In early February, an Italian air force test pilot made history by becoming the first aviator to cross the Atlantic at the controls of a Lockheed Martin F-35. Identified by the service as Maj Gianmarco, he delivered the service’s first of the fifth-generation type – built at a national final assembly and checkout facility inside Cameri air base – to NAS Patuxent River in Maryland. The Lightning II is now undergoing electromagnetic testing, after which it will support Italian pilot training at Luke AFB in Arizona.
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Boeing's KC-46 test run complicated by C-17 refuelling issue
The Boeing C-17 heavy cargo aircraft has become the sticking point in an otherwise speedy KC-46A aerial refuelling demonstration phase, with officials confirming that “higher-than-expected boom axial loads” have delayed trials with that aircraft and the A-10 attack airplane. C-17 testing began shortly after the successful passage of fuel to a Lockheed Martin F-16C in January, but with the turbulent “bow wave effect” generated by two large aircraft flying in line, the refuelling system indicated that the loads were too high to begin passing fuel.
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miamiair wrote:ANA retires Boeing 737-700ER
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has retired the Boeing 737-700ER aircraft from its fleet. In response to queries made, the carrier says the type’s retirement was made in line with plans to raise capacity on routes previously operated by the aircraft to the larger Boeing 787. One such route includes the Tokyo Narita-Mumbai route.
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bhmbaglock wrote:7000 miles on a 737? Had no idea that they were essentially using a BBJ to open new routes. Pretty interesting strategy actually.
