China Southern to leave SkyTeam

China Southern has announced that it will leave the SkyTeam alliance next year as it pursues new partnerships with carriers around the world. In disclosures to the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, the carrier says it will not renew its SkyTeam membership from 1 January 2019, and that it will complete the transition arrangements within the year. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

Manufacturer had concerns about engine part that led to woman's death on Southwest flight

(CNN)The design of an engine fan blade that snapped on a Southwest flight in April, breaking an airplane window and partially sucking a woman out of it, has been a concern since the engine's earliest days, the manufacturer told investigators at a hearing Wednesday. The hearing before the National Transportation Safety Board and an NTSB report also revealed frightening new details about the chaotic scene aboard Flight 1380, when pilots heard a loud bang, wind roared into the cabin through… (www.cnn.com) Mehr...

Aerial Support Key to Fighting Southern California Fires

As a resident of Agoura Hills, one of the communities evacuated as a result of the devastating Woolsey Fire, I was closely watching the progression of the fire as it quickly ravaged the hillsides surrounding our neighborhood. The fire flared up on Thursday afternoon and within less than 30 hours had burned through 70,000 acres, fueled by raging Santa Ana winds topping 50 mph. The strong winds prevented aerial firefighters from attacking the flames. The only reason few homes in Oak Park, Agoura… (www.flyingmag.com) Mehr...

Japan Airlines pilots failed alcohol tests 19 times since since August 2017 causing 12 flight delays

Japan Airlines pilots have failed breathalyzer alcohol tests on 19 occasions since August 2017, causing 12 domestic flight delays due to pilot switches, JAL officials have revealed to the Mainichi Shimbun. The major airline introduced a new type of detector for in-house checks that month. The revelation comes on the heels of the arrest of a JAL co-pilot in London by British police in October this year for allegedly arriving for duty on a flight to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with alcohol levels… (www.airlive.net) Mehr...

Prankster posing as ATC, uses walkie-talkie to order Argentinian aircraft to takeoff

As part of a prank, a private pilot in Argentina used a handheld communication device to give instructions to active aircraft at the Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP) in Buenos Aires. (www.gatechecked.com) Mehr...

Boeing Guidance on 737 Max Stall Protection System Under Fire

Boeing failed to communicate with 737 Max operators new procedures for addressing cases in which the airplane’s automatic stall prevention system commands the nose of the airplane downward, potentially resulting the kind of steep dive that appears to have led to the fatal crash of Lion Air Flight 610, according to pilot union officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal. Meant to improve pitch response at high angles of attack and prevent pilots from raising the airplane’s nose too high, the… (www.ainonline.com) Mehr...

Airbus indicates A321XLR would have over 100t MTOW

Airbus is looking at taking the maximum take-off weight of the A321neo above 100t in order to extend the range of the type beyond that of the new A321LR. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

Pilot gender imbalance will take time to fix: EasyJet

A global imbalance in the number of female compared with male pilots is going to take "some time to change", believes EasyJet’s chief operating officer Chris Browne. Speaking at the Accelerate Aviation conference in London today, Browne says that worldwide only 5% of pilots are female and that "until recently" they could all fit on board a single Airbus A380. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

JetBlue Rolls Out Face Recognition Boarding Passes

JetBlue rolled out today its latest passenger experience upgrade at New York-JFK, where customers flying to select international destinations can board their flights via a biometric self-boarding gate that is powered by a facial recognition technology that verifies travelers with a photo capture. (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Gulfstream G600 approaching the finishing line

Gulfstream has almost wrapped up certification tests on its G600, with flight into known icing, and function and reliability trials the only evaluations remaining before US approval is granted for the super-large-cabin, long-range business jet later this year. The five aircraft in the flight-test fleet have accumulated more than 2,700h across 715 sorties, and the aircraft remains on track for service entry in early 2019, the US airframer says. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

Airbus likely sold 10 A330neo jets to Delta

U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines has emerged as the probable buyer for 10 Airbus A330neo jets worth $3 billion, industry sources said, in a boost for the becalmed European model. Airbus announced an order for 10 of the 300-seat aircraft in its latest monthly order update on Friday, but withheld the name of the buyer for the Oct. 30 deal. Two industry sources, asking not to be named, said Delta was the buyer. A third said Delta had been looking to expand an existing order for 25 A330neo aircraft.… (www.yahoo.com) Mehr...

United Airlines announces Boeing 787-10 aircraft will operate between Newark and six European destinations

United Airlines today announced it will operate its newest Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner on six trans-Atlantic routes from its Newark hub beginning in March 2019. United was the first North American airline to take delivery of the 787-10, and is also the first airline in the world to have the entire family of Boeing’s 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10 Dreamliners in its fleet. United’s 787-10 features 44 United Polaris® business class seats, 21 United® Premium Plus seats, 54 Economy Plus seats and 199 standard… (worldairlinenews.com) Mehr...

No cause found yet for Leicester City helicopter crash

UK investigators have so far been unable to discover why a Leonardo Helicopters AW169 lost control and crashed shortly after take-off, killing all five on board. In its initial report into the 27 October incident, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch says that the "cause of the apparent loss of yaw control has yet to be determined". "Investigation of the tail rotor control system is being carried out as a priority," it says. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

Alaska Airlines Returns To Paine Field After 55 Years: Bookings Now Open

Alaska Airlines has opened bookings for its 18 daily brand-new flights from Paine Field (PAE) to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, and Phoenix, all set to launch on February 11, 2019, pending on government's approval. The carrier is now officially returning to PAE after a 55-year hiatus. (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Check out Delta's new Canadian airliner that's trying to challenge Boeing and Airbus

In April, Bombardier Aerospace announced a mega order with Delta Air Lines for 75 of the company's C Series airliners in a deal worth up to $5.6 billion. Shortly after the deal's announcement, Bombardier flew one of its C Series demonstrators down to Delta's Atlanta headquarters for journalists and the airline's staff to get a closer look. (www.businessinsider.com) Mehr...

SoutWest finishes the check of CFM56-7B engines it started after the April 17 incident

Dallas - The US low-cost operator SouthWest Airlines has finished the inspection of all CFM56-7B engines of its 737 fleet following the April 17 incident. (airlinerwatch.com) Mehr...

About 50% of flights in Europe face delays after computer system failure.

Airports across Europe warned of disruptions on Tuesday (Apr 3) after a technical problem at Eurocontrol, the agency that runs the EU’s air traffic control system. The Agence France Presse news agency is now reporting that Eurocontrol has said that around half of all flights in Europe are facing delays. UPDATE Eurocontrol: As from 1520 UTC, we have reopened the access to its flow management system while remaining in Procedural Contingency mode. This is the next step in re-establishing normal… (www.airlive.net) Mehr...

Emirates Profits Drop By 53%: High Fuel Prices, Currency Instability

Emirates’ profitability has been reduced by 53% according to its published reports released this week. Profits dropped to $296 million due to a 37% increase in fuel costs as well as the negative impact of currencies in certain markets. The Emirates Group’s revenue, however, has increased by 10% to $14.8 billion from $13.5 billion in the same period last year. (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 flight #WN1486 stabilizer damaged during takeoff

Southwest flight #WN1486 experienced bird strike minutes after take-off from Pittsburgh-Intl Airport (KPIT). Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 (reg. N8509U) from Pittsburgh to Ft. Myers was damaged on takeoff due to bird strike with a goose to the stabilizer. Pilots quickly decided to return to Pittsburgh. (www.airlive.net) Mehr...

Les dirigeants de Bombardier sous examen de l'AMF.

L'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) va déclencher une enquête sur les transactions des dirigeants de Bombardier effectuées avant que l'entreprise procède à des mesures importantes, un licenciement de 5000 employés, geste susceptible d'influencer le cours de l'action. Les vérifications déjà entreprises par l'Autorité vont non seulement se poursuivre, mais on demandera en surplus que les transactions liées au programme spécial dont ont profité les dirigeants soient… (www.lapresse.ca) Mehr...

Lufthansa Group Orders Six A320neo Aircraft

LONDON – The Lufthansa Group has exercised its option to acquire six further Airbus A320neo aircraft. The latest agreement brings the group’s order count of the aircraft type to 122, totaling 77 A320neos and 45 A321neos. On top of this, Lufthansa signed an order for an additional three A320ceo aircraft, bringing the total order count of the CEO variant to 273. .@Lufthansa Group firms up order for six more #A320neo and three #A320ceo, taking Group’s order to 122 A320neo family aircraft and 273… (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Latam Unveils First Painted 777, Adds Montego Bay To Its Network

LATAM Airlines welcomed its first Boeing 777-300(ER) fully painted in the airline’s new colors. Also, it announced the addition of a new Caribbean destination from Lima to Montego Bay, Jamaica, starting from July 1, 2019. The Boeing 777 arrived from Abu Dhabi this week, sporting the airline’s revised livery. For the new route to Montego Bay, however, the aircraft of choice will be the Airbus A320, offering 174 passengers in a three-class configuration. (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Azul sees mounting delays in A330neo programme

Brazilian carrier Azul is in "very tough" discussions with Airbus over when it will take its first A330-900, as customers face nearly year-long delays for the re-engined widebody. "We're having very tough discussions with Airbus on when," Priscilla Branco, head of aircraft programmes at the Viracopos-based carrier, tells FlightGlobal at the ISTAT Latin America forum in Lima today. (www.flightglobal.com) Mehr...

In Photos: Airbus Delivers 85 Aircraft in October

European planemaker Airbus delivered 85 planes in October, also logging the same quantity of orders across its both single-aisle and widebody programs—a significant increase from last month’s 37 units. Among the 85 planes features the first A220-100 for Delta, delivered on OCT26. (airwaysmag.com) Mehr...

Portuguese fighters to scramble second time for another airplane in emergency in less than 24 hours

Lisbon - Fighters took off from Monte Real air base, Leiria, to give support a Boeing 737 aircraft from the Dutch airline Transavia that declared emergency after taking off from Funchal. (airlinerwatch.com) Mehr...

Bombardier CS100 completed test flights to 5.5-degree London City approach.

Bombardier capped a series of CS100 tests at London City Airport (LCY) with a nonstop transatlantic flight to New York JFK on March 25, demonstrating the range capability of the smallest CSeries airliner from the airport closest to central London. CS100 flight-test aircraft FTV2 completed eight flights from LCY over two days on Mach 22-23, to validate the aircraft’s ability to operate into the airport, with its 5.5-degree approach and short runway. (www.airlive.net) Mehr...