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Max production halt suggests grounding ‘could go long’: Ascend
Boeing’s decision to suspend 737 production in January is unlikely to have an immediate effect on residual values of the aircraft type, but the longer-term outlook is much less certain, in the view of Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Ascend by Cirium.
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United links San Francisco and Dublin from June 2020
United Airlines will add a daily San Francisco-Dublin flight beginning next summer and thereby become the first airline to directly link the two tech centers on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
The flights, to be operated on a Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner, will be United’s fourth direct connection between North America and the Irish capital. The Chicago-based carrier already operates flights to Dublin from Chicago, Washington Dulles and Newark International airports. United also offers seasonal service to Shannon, on Ireland’s west coast, from Newark.
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SriLankan, Qatar expand codeshare agreement
SriLankan Airlines will add 18 new points to its codeshare agreement with fellow Oneworld alliance member Qatar Airways, building on the partnership that first began in 2016.
SriLankan will be adding its code on Qatar’s flights out of Doha to European cities such as Helsinki, Budapest, Munich, Lisbon and Edinburgh. The expanded codeshare also includes points in North and South America, such as Chicago, Houston and Sao Paolo.
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'Incredibly challenging' year slams Cathay traffic
Cathay Pacific and sister carrier Cathay Dragon continued to witness sliding passenger traffic figures, with inbound traffic for November falling a whopping 46% year-on-year.
This was a further slowdown compared to figures for October, which saw a 35% drop year-on-year.
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Hong Kong Airlines’ woes offer hard lessons
Embattled Hong Kong Airlines may have been spared sanction, but the airline is still a far cry from the confident carrier of years’ past. What went wrong along the way, and what lessons hold for the Hong Kong airline market?
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Cebu Pacific becomes latest IATA member
Philippines low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific has joined IATA, becoming the second carrier from the country to be part of the trade association.
Cebu Pacific says IATA membership will help it “gain access to expertise and learnings” about best practices and innovation.
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Sun Country to fly cargo for Amazon
Amazon has hired Sun Country Airlines to deliver its packages in Amazon Air-branded aircraft, a huge expansion for the Minnesota-based ultra-low cost carrier and promising to represent up to 20% of the airline’s business.
The six-year deal is a “first-of-its-kind for a scheduled service passenger airline”, Sun Country says on 17 December, adding that it is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2020.
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Compostable security bags to be trialled by London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is set to become the first major airport in the UK to trial fully compostable security bags to be utilised by passengers carrying liquids within their hand luggage.
If the trials are deemed successful, the new environmentally-friendly alternative will replace the annual 11 million non-compostable plastic bags handed out to passengers in the terminal.
LinkMilitary
NAVAIR engineers help solve Sikorsky CH-53K exhaust re-ingestion problem
Engineers from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) helped Sikorsky solve the CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter’s gas re-ingestion problem.
The US Marine Corps (USMC) helicopter gets its heavy lifting capacity from three General Electric T-408 engines, rated at 7,500shp (5,520kW) each. However, Sikorsky has struggled to integrate the big engines, with exhaust gas re-ingestion being the “most troublesome” issue, NAVAIR says on 17 December.
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F-35A formally enters South Korean service
The Lockheed Martin F-35A has entered operational service with the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) following a ceremony in the central city of Cheongju, where the nation’s 17th fighter wing is based.
According to a report in South Korea’s official Yonhap News Agency, no press was invited in order to keep the event low key, so as to not irritate the country’s volatile neighbour, North Korea.
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Aviation Quote
Our nation is indeed fortunate that we can still draw on an immense reservoir of courage, character, and fortitude, that we are still blessed with heroes like those of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Man will continue his conquest of space. To reach out for new goals and ever-greater achievements, that is the way we shall commemorate our seven Challenger heroes.
- President Ronald Reagan
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Trivia
General Trivia
1. Why do some pilots in the Navy’s Blue Angels recommend that their guest passengers (members of the media, et cetera) eat bananas before a demonstration flight?
2. In what motion picture did the star of the movie say, “Now, I don’t propose to sit on a flagpole or swallow goldfish. I’m not a stuntman; I’m a flier.”
3. In 1935, Cosby Harrison crashed his Swallow while flying in stormy weather. What well-known aviation business was begun as a result of his accident?
4. What was the first airline to offer transcontinental passenger service, and what type of aircraft was used?
5. Pilots know that temperature generally decreases with altitude in the troposphere. Why does it increase with altitude in the stratosphere?
6. The Lockheed L–1011 was the first airliner to incorporate direct lift control. What is DLC?
