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COMAC launches C919 inaugural flight
China’s Commercial Aircraft Corp. (COMAC) launched the first flight of its C919 narrowbody May 5. The aircraft departed from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and flew over Shanghai’s neighboring county of Qidong, in the Jiangsu Province, for 1 hour and 20 min.
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IAG net profit falls 74% in 1Q; operating profit up 9.7%
International Airlines Group (IAG) posted a first-quarter net profit of €27 million ($29.6 million), down 74% from net profit of €104 million in 1Q 2016. The company said adverse currency movements played a significant part in the profit drop. Revenue for the quarter was €4.9 billion, down 2.8% from the year-ago figure of €5.08 billion.
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Air Canada posts $28 million 1Q net loss as fuel costs soar
Air Canada incurred a 2017 first-quarter net loss of C$37 million ($27.8 million), reversed from a net profit of C$101 million in the 2016 March quarter, as rising fuel costs hit the bottom line. Air Canada executives pointed to record first-quarter revenue of $3.6 billion, up 9% year-over-year (YOY), and the fact that the airline continues to aggressively grow, which they believe will pay off long term.
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Jazeera profits slip again in 1Q as economy slows
Jazeera Airways announced a net loss of KD900,000 ($2.96 million) for 1Q 2017 as it continued to be hit by a slowing economic backdrop and excess capacity in the area. The Kuwaiti hybrid carrier achieved the result on revenue of KD10 million, down 15.3% on the same period in 2016. Load factor was 72%, down 0.9% from 1Q 2016.
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Airbus books $4.8 billion in April commercial aircraft orders
Airbus booked firm orders* for 25 commercial aircraft from six customers in April, valued at approximately $4.8 billion, more than doubling the April commercial aircraft sales total of Boeing. The Toulouse-based manufacturer delivered 46 aircraft to 30 customers during the month (compared to Boeing’s April deliveries of 51 aircraft to 32 customers).
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NAV Canada, FAA flight test Aireon ADS-B space-based tracking system
Space-based ADS-B developer Aireon said three separate flight tests involving the data-collecting technology were conducted by NAV Canada, FAA and private vendor Polaris Flight Systems in March, demonstrating the system’s inflight messaging and receiving capability as comparable to ground-based receivers.
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Norwegian evaluates long-haul flights from Germany
European low-cost carrier (LCC) Norwegian is continuing its long-haul expansion by studying long-haul routes from Germany, although the LCC would not confirm specific routes. “Norwegian is growing in Germany,” a spokesperson in Oslo told ATW. “Also, 250 [ordered] aircraft are coming to Norwegian. We see a potential for long-haul flights from Germany,” she said.
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Air Lease Corp. posts $85 million 1Q net profit
Commercial aircraft lessor Air Lease Corp. (ALC) posted $84.9 million in net income for the 2017 first quarter, down 8.5% from $92.9 million in 1Q 2016. Los Angeles-based ALC’s revenues for the quarter totaled $360.2 million, up 4.9% over $343.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The company’s expenses increased 13.5% year-over-year (YOY) to $226.3 million; operating income for the quarter was $133.9 million, down 7% YOY.
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Turkish Airlines, Middle East Airlines to codeshare
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA) and Istanbul-based Turkish Airlines will codeshare beginning May 15. Star Alliance member Turkish will place its TK designator code on SkyTeam member MEA´s double-daily Istanbul Ataturk-Beirut flights; in return MEA will place its ME designator code on Turkish’s 3X-daily flights on the same route.
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Wizz Air to begin St. Petersburg service
Central and Eastern European low-cost carrier (LCC) Wizz Air will launch 2X-weekly Budapest-St. Petersburg Airbus A320 service Aug. 27, becoming the first foreign LCC to operate to Russia’s Pulkovo International Airport. Wizz Air received a Budapest-Moscow Vnukovo designation and launched flights to the Russian capital in 2013. Since then it has carried 440,000 passengers between the two cities, Wizz Air said.
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ATSB airs safety concerns on ATR pitch controls
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has called on ATR to quickly complete an engineering assessment of the type's pitch control system, amid possible concerns that a serious design flaw may be present in the ATR 42 and 72 series.
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A350-1000 undergoes fuel-flow tests in the UK
Airbus's A350-1000 has completed fuel system tests in the UK as part of the twinjet's certification program. One of the three test aircraft, MSN71, was flown to Cardiff where the tests were performed over 3-4 May.
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Boeing's CSeries trade complaint lacks credibility
In perhaps the most back-handed compliment one manufacturer can pay another, Boeing feels so threatened by the Bombardier CSeries that it has filed a formal complaint with the US government. Mirroring a previous move by Embraer with the Brazilian government, Boeing accuses the Canadian manufacturer of exploiting billions in explicit government subsidies to sell commercial aircraft well below cost.
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First Italian F-35B rolls off Cameri line
The first short take-off vertical landing Lockheed Martin F-35B assembled outside Fort Worth, Texas, rolled off the final assembly and check out (FACO) facility 5 May in Cameri, Italy. Lockheed and Leonardo operate the Cameri FACO, owned by the Italian Ministry of Defense, which will complete full assembly of both the conventional take-off landing F-35A variant and F-35B. Leonardo also assembles wings for the F-35A at the Cameri site, as a second-source supplier to Lockheed.
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Norwegian investigators no closer to pinpointing root cause of H225 crash
Analysis concluded after the fatal crash of an Airbus Helicopters H225 last year revealed that gearbox components made by one of two suppliers were more susceptible to surface degradation, Norwegian investigators have disclosed. The latest interim report from the SHT agency into the fatal loss of the CHC Helikopter Service-operated rotorcraft (LN-OJF) has been released to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the event.
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Vega needn't thank its lucky stars
When launching rockets, there may be grades of failure – explosion and debris being total, payload damaged or in wrong orbit being partial – but anywhere along that scale is a financial and mission disaster. Success, on the other hand, is absolute – and absolutely, totally delightful.
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Aviation Quote

“I think it's dumb as hell, for Christ's sake all right, to sit here and pound the shit out of each other and neither one of us making a fvcking dime.
Well —
I mean, goddamn! What the fvck is the point of it?
Nobody asked American to serve Harlingen. Nobody asked American to serve Kansas City. . . . If you're going to overlay every route of American's on top of every route that Braniff has, I can't just sit here and allow you to bury us without giving you our best effort.
Oh sure, but Eastern and Delta do the same thing in Atlanta and have for years.
Do you have a suggestion for me?
Yes, I have a suggestion for you. Raise your goddamn fares twenty percent. I'll raise mine the next morning. You'll make more money and I will too.
Robert, we can't talk about pricing.
Oh, bullshit, Howard. We can talk about any goddamn thing we want to talk about.”

- Robert L. Crandall and Howard Putnam, from United States v. American Airlines Inc. and Robert L. Crandall, U.S. District Court, CA383-0325D.

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