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Russian manufacturer to modernize the Ilyushin Il-96
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) has signed an agreement with Ilyushin Aviation Complex to modernize the Ilyushin Il-96. The new version, Il-96-400M, will be a development of the Il-96-300, UAC said in a statement Feb. 10. The aircraft fuselage will be extended by 9.65 m and will be equipped with PS-90A1 engines, a modernized version of the PS-90A that is used to power the Il-96-300.
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Is A380 nearing the end?
Not long ago it was the future. Now the A380 is officially a museum piece. Two flight test examples of the world’s biggest airliner are set to spend the rest of their lives in heritage centres in Paris and Toulouse. To be fair to the slow-selling superjumbo, lots of other types end up as dusty exhibits while still in the full flush of production – in February, curators also got their hands on the A320 testbed.
LinkAirlines
Air Baltic expects 2016 profit of near-double-digit euro millions
Air Baltic chief executive Martin Gauss has predicted that the Latvian carrier will achieve an almost "double digit" euro-million profit for the full year. Speaking to FlightGlobal at the Airlines for Europe (A4) summit in Brussels on 8 February, Gauss cited reduced costs of financing, lower-than-expected operational costs associated with the introduction of the Bombardier CS300, and passenger growth as reasons that the airline foresaw posting a third consecutive year of profit.
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Air France readies offer after talks on new long-haul arm
Air France has emerged from a phase of pilot union talks on a planned new medium- to long-haul unit, and is next seeking flightcrew backing for a proposed agreement drawn up by management. At a press briefing in Paris on 9 February, Air France-KLM Group chief executive Jean-Marc Janaillac said: "Discussion has been ongoing with the pilot union for weeks now."
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Alaska Air's capacity, RPMs grew in January
Alaska Air Group has reported a 6.9% increase in revenue passenger miles for January. Capacity was up by 7.6% for the period compared with the previous year.
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Arik Air To Fight Government Takeover
Nigerian carrier Arik Air’s management said they will challenge in court the takeover of the airline by the country’s state asset management body. The Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has taken control of the airline and installed a receiver “to instill sanity in the nation’s aviation sector.”
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British Airways Union Announces More Strike Days
British Airways cabin crew working under ‘mixed fleet’ terms will strike again this month in support of a claim for a wage increase. The four day strike will start at 00:01 on February 17 and end at 23:59 on February 20. The industrial action follows two three-day strikes, the second of which ends February 11th.
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Emirates, Delta Spar Over Spare Part
An Emirates flight from Seattle to Dubai was delayed for over six hours after it was unable to use a spare part made available by Delta Air Lines. Emirates located a replacement hydraulic part, which costs only about $300, at Delta’s SeaTac maintenance base. The part was fitted to the Boeing 777 and the aircraft cleared for use, but Emirates claims a senior manager from Delta’s Atlanta base ordered the part to be removed and returned.
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Wet-leased airberlin A320s begin service for Eurowings
Three airberlin Airbus A320s operating in Eurowings colors launched Feb. 10 from Hamburg to Manchester, Stuttgart and Nuremberg. The flights are part of a six-year wet-lease agreement between airberlin and the Lufthansa Group, which was approved unconditionally at the end of January by federal antitrust authorities. Under the wet-lease agreement, airberlin will lease 38 Airbus A319/A320 aircraft—which are stationed at German and Austrian airports—to Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Eurowings and Austrian Airlines. Eurowings will take 33 of the aircraft and Austrian will take the remaining five. The deal also includes a codeshare between Lufthansa and airberlin equity parent Etihad Airways.
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Jazeera 2016 profit falls in ‘challenging’ market
Kuwaiti hybrid carrier Jazeera Airways reported that its net profit for 2016 dropped by almost 30%, to KD10.8 million ($35.4 million), compared to KD15.4 million for 2015. The profit was achieved on revenues of KD52.8 million, down 10% on 2015’s figure of KD56.8 million. The final quarter of the financial year saw Jazeera return a rare loss, recording a deficit of KD1.2 million compared to a profit of just over KD900,000 last time.
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Jetstar Pacific, ACG sign A320s sale and leaseback arrangement
Ho Chi Minh City-based low-cost carrier (LCC) Jetstar Pacific Airlines will sell and leaseback 10 new Airbus A320-200s to US-based lessor Aviation Capital Group (ACG).
Jetstar Pacific, a 70/30 joint venture between Vietnam Airlines and the Qantas Group, ordered the 10 A320s in September 2016, valued at $980 million at list prices.
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Southwest gives $586M to employees in profit-sharing
Southwest Airlines continues to invest in its employees, announcing $586 million in profit-sharing payments, the 43rd year in a row the airline is making the payout. "Our people-first approach, which has guided our company since it was founded, means when our company does well, our people do really, really well," said CEO Gary Kelly.
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United to offer 6 daily flights connecting London's Heathrow, Newark Liberty
United Airlines will increase the frequency of its flights from London/Heathrow to its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport, this summer to six-times daily. The airline will operate an additional sixth daily Heathrow-New York/Newark nonstop service during the period April 5 to October 28, 2017 (both dates westbound), offering more flights per day to Newark Liberty International Airport than any other carrier operating from London Heathrow.
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United CEO brings culture of listening to airline
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz has created UnitedAirtime.com as a place for employees and customers to provide feedback, bringing the airline a culture of listening. While Munoz has "prepared himself to ride the airline's upswing with a fresh-faced leadership team, which includes recently appointed president Scott Kirby, Munoz continues to find ways to stay grounded and contribute to the causes he champions, such as diversity and education," writes Katie Sehl.
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United praises new terminal at Bush Intercontinental
United Airlines is touting the new Terminal C North at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport as a prime example of the type of new infrastructure that is much-needed in the air travel system.
LinkAirports
Montréal-Trudeau registers seventh successive yearly rise in traffic
Montréal-Trudeau International Airport welcomed a record 16.6 million passengers in 2016, close to a 7% rise on the previous year. It also marked the seventh successive year that the gateway has registered an upurn in passenger numbers. The results, say Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), strengthen its third-place ranking on the list of Canada’s busiest airports.
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Self-boarding biometric technology on trial at Amsterdam Schiphol
Amsterdam Schiphol is trialling a new a ‘biometric self-boarding’ system for passengers in conjunction with Dutch national flag carrier, KLM. The new technology allows passengers who volunteer to take part in the trial to board their flights without having to show their boarding pass and passport to airline staff at the departure gate.
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Charlotte Douglas grows in popularity with local travellers in 2016
Charlotte Douglas International Airport expects to record a slight dip in passenger traffic in 2016, but believes that a 7% rise in travellers beginning their journey at the North Carolina gateway and a rising route network ensure that it was still a good year. The airport also expects to register a 14% rise in cargo volumes if the provisional year end figure of 154,477 tons for 2016 is confirmed. It says the upturn was principally driven by a 13% increase in FedEx shipments and the introduction of a new all-cargo carrier, ABX Air.
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Military
Murky AW101 delivery perplexes Indonesian defence officials
Jakarta will launch an investigation into the delivery of a Leonardo Helicopters AgustaWestland AW101 VIP helicopter, part of a deal that was apparently cancelled. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the Indonesian air force ordered three AW101’s in a VIP configuration on 24 November 2015.
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IAI reveals export version of Heron TP
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed an export-specific version of its Heron TP medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle, which will be displayed for the first time at this month's Aero India show in Bengaluru. Adapted from the baseline Heron TP – which has been in Israeli air force service since 2010 and was also selected by the German air force – the XP model has been designed to comply with the restrictions imposed by the international missile technology control regime 2 (MTCR 2) agreement. One of the main changes has been to reduce its payload capacity from more than 1t to 450kg (991lb).
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Leonardo returns to T-X competition alone
Leonardo has decided to compete for the US Air Force’s $16 billion T-X trainer contract despite the withdrawal last month of Raytheon as the company’s US partner and prime contractor. The decision by the Italian manufacturer creates and at least three-way competition for the contract to replace the Northrop T-38C with 350 new aircraft and training systems, with Boeing/Saab offering a clean-sheet design and Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries proposing a slightly modified T-50A.
LinkRegulatory
Report: Europe on verge of new, anti-Gulf aviation policy
The European Commission (EC) is preparing an imminent revision of an aviation policy that may take aim at the major Gulf airlines and their increasing penetration into the European market. Reuters reported Feb. 10 that the EC, the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union (EU), will seek to penalize unfair competition by imposing duties, or suspending services or rights of a non-EU airline that is deemed to have enjoyed illegal subsidies or other favorable treatment, such as preferential slot allocation from its home government.
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Trump: FAA administrator should be ‘a really good pilot’
During a White House meeting with US airline and airport executives, US President Donald Trump was surprised to learn that FAA administrator Michael Huerta is not a pilot and said it would be “better to have a pilot” leading the agency. Huerta’s five-year term as administrator is set to last until Jan. 7, 2018. “Is the gentleman who’s the head of the FAA right now not a pilot?” Trump asked, according to a transcript of a portion of the meeting released by the White House. “I’d like to find out because I think it maybe would be good to have a pilot, like a really good pilot who knows what’s going on … And I would think you need a very sophisticated person in that job and … frankly, being a pilot would be helpful.”
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Aviation Quote
If I should come out of this war alive, I will have more luck than brains.
- Captain Manfred Baron von Richtofen, in a letter to his mother upon being decorated with the Iron Cross.
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miamiair wrote:Google Airports
vikkyvik wrote:miamiair wrote:Google Airports
Am I seeing double or did we not just have these ones on Friday?
