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NEWS

Republic becomes North American CSeries launch customer with firm order for 40
Republic Airways Holdings, fresh off reporting another profitable year with net income of $39.7 million, yesterday placed a firm order for 40 CSeries aircraft valued at $3.06 billion.
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Discussion

Iberia's profit streak ends with €273 million loss
Iberia Group ended what may be its final year as an independent carrier on a sour note, reporting a consolidated net loss of €273 million ($369.8 million) for 2009, reversed from a €32 million surplus the prior year.
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AirAsia back in the black
AirAsia earned a MYR549.1 million ($161.1 million) profit in 2009, reversed from a restated MYR496.6 million loss in 2008, as it opened four new bases and grew market share "in every market we serve," according to CEO Tony Fernandes.
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Air China, Cathay sign cargo JV accord
Air China and Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday signed a framework agreement in Beijing establishing a jointly owned, Shanghai-based cargo airline built on the assets of Air China Cargo.
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Blakey: Philly move to ADS-B represents huge stride for NextGen
Philadelphia International Airport is at the forefront of a technological revolution that will lead to safer, more efficient air travel, writes AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey in an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer. When the airport switches on its satellite-based flight tracking system in the next few days, controllers will be better able to monitor and sequence aircraft in the area -- a first step to reduced emissions, shorter flights and reduced delays. As the first major U.S. city with ADS-B technology, Philadelphia represents a "great foundation" for NextGen, Blakey writes. She urges policymakers to accelerate the program elsewhere in the country.
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Congress presses FAA to act on anti-icing rule
Lawmakers on Wednesday pushed the FAA to take more aggressive action on NTSB recommendations regarding anti-icing requirements for low-flying aircraft. The chairman of the House aviation subcommittee said it was "unacceptable" that regulations have not been implemented 13 years after being proposed. The rules would apply mostly to commuter airlines and general aviation aircraft due to the time they spend at lower altitudes, where "instant icing" is more likely to occur.
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Other News

UK Competition Appeal Tribunal yesterday issued a final order overturning the Competition Commission's March 2009 ruling ordering BAA to sell London Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow International. The order follows the Tribunal's December decision agreeing with BAA's claim regarding apparent bias in the Commission's decision ordering the breakup of the airport group because a commission member also was a paid financial adviser with links to Manchester Airport Group, which was in the running to purchase LGW before it was sold to Global Infrastructure Partners.

The Tribunal's order was condemned by Ryanair, which said it was "damaging to competition, damaging to consumers and damaging to British tourism. As a result of this decision, the sale of Stansted and one of the BAA's Scottish airports will now be delayed for a minimum period of two years with the result that traffic at Stansted will continue to decline." The Competition Commission may appeal the order or begin a new investigation into BAA's airport holdings.

Tiger Airways and Tiger Airways Australia parent Tiger Aviation Group posted a net profit of S$14.1 million in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, reversed from a S$7.9 million loss in the year-ago period. Third-quarter operating profit was S$23.5 million, boosted by a 29% year-over-year increase in revenue to S$139.5 million. President and CEO Tony Davis said the turnaround was "driven by traffic growth across both our airlines, increasing ancillary revenues and a focus on cost containment." Unit cost fell 16% and CASK excluding fuel was cut 4%. "With this result, our year-to-date underlying operating profit, excluding fuel hedging losses of S$22.2 million and IPO-related expenses of S$7.6 million, was S$36.6 million, a S$68 million turnaround from the previous financial year," Davis said. Load factor rose 4.6 points to 87.6% on a 23.3% lift in capacity to 1.96 billion ASKs.

American Eagle Airlines is installing nine first class seats on each of its 25 CRJ700s and will offer "the same level of outstanding service customers experience on American Airlines" beginning July 2. By that time it also will have taken delivery of two of the 25 CRJs it has on order, all of which will be equipped with the new product. Economy cabins will comprise 63 or 65 seats. First class will be available on flights from Chicago O'Hare to Atlanta, Washington National, Newark, Houston Intercontinental, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, San Antonio and Salt Lake City and from Dallas/Fort Worth to Cleveland, Milwaukee, Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock.

United Airlines yesterday finalized its order for 27 787-8s worth $4.2 billion at list prices, Boeing announced. The contract includes 50 purchase rights. UA said it expects to take delivery of the 787s, as well as the A350s it also plans to acquire, between 2016 and 2019. It said it expects its Airbus order to be finalized this quarter.
Discussion

Alaska Airlines, which tested Row 44's inflight Internet service last year, has chosen instead to offer Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on its passenger fleet, excluding combis, by year end. The decision will prompt Aircell to add coverage in Alaska. It currently provides Wi-Fi coverage in the lower 48 states but said it wants "to ensure the service is available to the airline's namesake state." A 60-day customer trial of Row 44's inflight Internet conducted onboard an AS 737-700 last year found that 96% of passengers would use the service again.

An AS spokesperson said that Row 44 is "a great product" but that the "decision to go with Aircell had to do with their proven track record. . .the equipment is lower in cost, and that coupled with the ease of installation and the speed of installation really weighted heavily on our decision." Gogo can be installed on an aircraft during one overnight visit. AS is working with Aircell to install the service on one 737-800 for testing and said it will outfit the rest of its fleet, beginning with -800s serving longer routes, "once Aircell's equipment has been certified for Alaska's 737s" by FAA. Service will start at $4.95 and go up based on flight length and device used. Alaska's fleet numbers 115 aircraft.

American Airlines and China Eastern Airlines are negotiating the latter's possible entry into oneworld, AA CFO Tom Horton said this week in comments cited by Reuters. CEA is in the market for an alliance and was hoping to make a decision by last week. Horton also said that oneworld is talking with a Brazilian airline about oneworld membership. TAM is committed to Star Alliance but Gol remains in play and currently codeshares with AA.

Third 787 joined Boeing's flight test program. Aircraft ZA004, the fourth test aircraft built, took off Wednesday at 11:43 a.m. local time from Everett. Boeing said the fourth aircraft was scheduled to fly before ZA003 because the data it is collecting "is needed more quickly both for certification and development of the 787-9." ZA004 flew for 3 hr. 2 min., reached 30,000 ft. and 255 kt. and "operated flawlessly," according to Capt. Heather Ross. ZA004 will be used to test aerodynamics, high-speed performance, propulsion performance, flight loads, community noise and ETOPS.

Ryanair will launch service to Kos and Volos from Frankfurt and Bergamo and to Rhodes from Bergamo and Pisa in May.

AirTran Airways will launch the following seasonal service: Daily flights from San Antonio to Baltimore and Orlando International on May 27, daily Allentown-Atlanta on May 4, four-times-weekly Asheville-Tampa on May 4, weekly Wichita-MCO on May 27 and daily Harrisburg-ATL on May 4.

Cabot Aviation delivered the fourth of seven 737-200s to Karachi-based Shaheen Air International. Aircraft were purchased by Sharjah-based KAL Aviation from Aerotrans Leasing.

GuestLogix reached a multiyear agreement with Republic Airways to deploy its retail transaction platform and OnTouch, its branded onboard store design.



AVIATION QUOTE

America, the land of the free, is turning itself into the land of the free ride. [U.S. airlines] are operating in protected markets. They are hoovering up public funds and they still can't make a profit.

— Rod Eddington, CEO British Airways, regards competing against so many bankrupt U.S. airlines, 23 September 2005.



AEROSPACE TERM

Heat Sink

1. In thermodynamic theory, a means by which heat is stored, or is dissipated or transferred from the system under consideration.

2. A place toward which the heat moves in a system.

3. A material capable of absorbing heat; a device utilizing such a material and used as a thermal protection device on a spacecraft or reentry vehicle.

4. In nuclear propulsion, any thermodynamic device, such as a radiator or condenser, that is designed to absorb the excess heat energy of the working fluid.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

The Boat Race

Once upon a time BA and Virgin decided to have a boat race on the Thames. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach peak performance. On the big day they were as ready as could be and Virgin won by a length.

BA were discouraged and senior management set up a project to investigate the problem. Its conclusion was that the Virgin team had 8 people rowing and one person steering. The BA team had one person rowing and eight people steering.

Senior management immediately hired consultants to study team performance. Millions of pounds were spent and several months later they concluded that there were too many people steering and not enough rowing. The following year the team structure was changed to 4 steering managers, 3 senior steering managers and one executive steering manager.

A performance/appraisal system was set up to give the rower more incentive to work harder and become a key performer. They concluded he must be given empowerment and enrichment. The next year the big day arrived and Virgin duly won. BA laid off the rower for poor performance, sold off the paddles, cancelled capital investment and halted development of the new boat.

Then they gave high performance awards to the consultants and distributed the money saved among senior management.



TRIVIA

Aircraft ID

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.

2. Antonov An-72

6. Ilyushin Il-62?
10. 9. Vickers VC-10? (ahem... usually, the last picture is #10... )
Could well be the other way round as well...

1. Boeing 737-900
2. Antonov AN-74
3. Boeing 757-200
4. Douglas DC-3
5. DeHavilland DHC-4 Caribou
6. Ilyushin IL-62
7. Boeing 767-400
8. Flying boat of some sort, no idea which one.
9. Vickers VC-10 K3

JLAmber wrote:1. Boeing 737-900
2. Antonov AN-74
3. Boeing 757-200
4. Douglas DC-3
5. DeHavilland DHC-4 Caribou
6. Ilyushin IL-62
7. Boeing 767-400
8. Flying boat of some sort, no idea which one.
9. Vickers VC-10 K3

Hard to argue with those answers. Is #8 the Japanese Shin-Wah (sorry, don't remember that name very well) PS-1/US-1?

Where are you getting those great Aviation Quotes from the last several days? Great job!

And who gave us the Editor's Choice picture today? Absolutely fantastic, one of the best airliner pictures I've ever seen, and I know it must have been very hard to capture.

Queso wrote:Hard to argue with those answers.

:cough: I got lots wrong :cough:

JLAmber wrote:

Queso wrote:Hard to argue with those answers.

:cough: I got lots wrong :cough:

WE got a couple of them wrong, and that's OK. Silhouettes are always a challenge because there are a lot of similarities.

Queso wrote:Where are you getting those great Aviation Quotes from the last several days? Great job!

I second that.

Queso wrote:And who gave us the Editor's Choice picture today? Absolutely fantastic, one of the best airliner pictures I've ever seen, and I know it must have been very hard to capture.

I added a link to the JetPhotos picture page (if you click the picture). There is more info about the photo there, and you can also access the other photos from this photographer. There are a lot of air-2-air and cockpit photos there, telling a bit about Mr. Bailebao's profession.

Zak wrote:

Queso wrote:And who gave us the Editor's Choice picture today? Absolutely fantastic, one of the best airliner pictures I've ever seen, and I know it must have been very hard to capture.

I added a link to the JetPhotos picture page (if you click the picture). There is more info about the photo there, and you can also access the other photos from this photographer. There are a lot of air-2-air and cockpit photos there, telling a bit about Mr. Bailebao's profession.

Thanks, Zak. I saw the name but didn't recognize it. I wondered if it was one of "our" guys, i.e. someone who posts here.

I'll plump for an A332 for 7.

1. Boeing 767-400
2. Antonov AN-72
3. Boeing 757-200
4. Douglas DC-3
5. De Haviland DHC-4
6. Ilyushin IL-62
7. Airbus A321
8. Shin Meiwa US-1/PS-1
9. Vickers VC-10

1. Airbus A330-300
2. Antonov AN-72
3. Boeing 757-200
4. Douglas DC-3
5. Uh...what everyone else said.
6. Ilyushin IL-62
7. Tupolev Tu-204
8. Uh...
9. Vickers VC-10

Click Click D'oh wrote:8. Shin Meiwa US-1/PS-1

I figured you'd remember the name of that one. I don't know why I always want to call it "Shin-Wah", leaving out the "Mei" part.

A slight correction for the first few players, the first airplane is an A-330, not an A-300.

My apologies for the error.

ANSWERS:

1. Airbus A-330
2. Antonov An-72
3. Boeing 757-200
4. Douglas DC-3
5. DeHavilland Canda DHC-4A
6. Ilyushin Il-62M
7. Tupolev 204
8. Shin-Meiwa US-1
9. Vickers VC-10

miamiair wrote:A slight correction for the first few players, the first airplane is an A-330, not an A-300.

Must be the A333? Looks too long to be the A332

The VC-10 is the RAF's K3 refuelling variant - it has the refuelling pods on the wings.