21 May, 2012
MD83 of American Airlines Makes Emergency Landing
Ryanair warn of low profits
04 April, 2012
23 March, 2012
New books from Jason Shaw
16 March, 2012
03 March, 2012
The Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies Of All Time book launched
20 January, 2012
More A380 Woes
Wing cracks on the A380 have grounded some of the super jumbo aircraft.Airbus has insisted the double-decker plane, used by Emirates and Qantas airlines among others, is safe to fly.
However, European aircraft safety authorities have ordered the checks on nearly a third of the A380 fleet in service.
Hairline cracks were discovered on the wings on a number of "non-critical" brackets known as "rib feet" inside the wings during routine inspections, Airbus said.
Similar flaws were spotted earlier this month during the repair of the Qantas aircraft which suffered an engine blow-out after taking off from Singapore in November 2010.
The latest cracks have been described as more significant and it is believed that mainly A380s run by Singapore Airlines and Emirates were affected.
But Airbus's Justin Dubon told Sky News that with more than 2,000 such brackets in each wing - a total of 4,000 per plane - cracks on a small number of rib feet would not affect wing performance.
He added that the cracks were a result of the manufacturing process and not caused in flight.
Airbus aircraft are manufactured in pieces in its engineering centres across Europe and assembled in Toulouse - the wings are assembled in the UK, in the Cheshire town of Broughton.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued an order for A380 aircraft which have completed 1,800 flight cycles - take-off and landing - to be visually inspected by January 28.
Planes which have completed between 1,300 and 1,799 flight cycles are required to have the checks within the next six weeks.
With many of the A380 delivered to airlines recently, some of the aircraft which need repairs may still be under a manufacturer's warranty.
The world's largest jetliner, which has two floors and can carry up to 853 passengers, entered service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines.
The A380 costs $390m (£251m) on average after Airbus announced a price increase on Wednesday.
10 January, 2012
Gay Movies
17 November, 2011
Singapore Airlines Big Boeing Order
The order was first announced on 10 August 2011 but attributed on Boeing's Orders Deliveries website to an unidentified customer. In total, Singapore Airlines has ordered 85 Boeing 777s, 27 of which are 777-300ERs.
"This order is part of our ongoing fleet expansion and modernization program, which enables us to offer our latest cabin products to our customers," said Goh Choon Phong, chief executive officer for Singapore Airlines (SIA).
"The additional 777-300ERs will also help us further strengthen the Singapore Airlines network, providing our customers even more travel options." SIA currently operates nearly every 777 model produced, including the 777-200, 777-200ER, 777-300 and 777-300ER.
Lion Air's roar for 230 Boeing 737's
UK biggest airlines join forces
15 November, 2011
Emirates Massive Boeing Order.
UA and CO merge moves ahead.
"We are not doing painting and spackling here," he told a group of business executives in Chicago. Like a large construction project, the integration of United and Continental airlines is having its share of drama: meshing disparate cultures; the issue of new union representation contracts running behind schedule; some disgruntled pilots; customer confusion; and a long to-do list that includes minute details such as the proper verbiage when warning flight attendants to prepare for takeoff.
Executives at United Continental maintain that crucial operational issues have been addressed and that the merger is proceeding without major glitches. "From my perspective, things are on track," says Jim Compton, United Continental's chief revenue officer. "Merging two airlines is a long process and complicated. We have a lot of work ahead of us." United and Continental announced their $3 billion merger in May 2010, creating the world's largest airline to be branded "United." They said they would generate up to $1.2 billion from cost savings and new revenue from their combined flight networks. The combined airlines would generate annual revenue of about $29 billion (based on 2009 financial results), they said.
Shareholders approved the deal in September 2010. For now, the two carriers are flying under their own banners, and the company doesn't expect to finish merging the two reservation systems until the end of March. But some early integration tasks, such as painting planes and replacing signs, are proceeding quickly. Other crucial customer service issues — aligning frequent-flier programs, recoding kiosk software, agreeing on a reservation system standard — have made progress, too, Compton says. United Continental also has begun to rejigger the combined fleets by shifting some planes to better matching routes. For example, a United Boeing 777 plane, with both first- and business-class cabins, has replaced the business-class-only 757 jet used by Continental from Newark to Brussels, considered a premium market.
Mark Ozenick, an aviation consultant at SSA & Co., says dealing with mechanical and hardware issues is easier than combining and transforming the culture. "Where mergers fail is when they don't humanize the process and are not integrating the culture," he says. "Continental has a reputation for being very customer-centric. United not so much. At least that's the perception in the marketplace."
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Still learning how to make aircraft, but I am buying 55 of them
Qatar Airways accused the aircraft maker of “still learning how to make aeroplanes”. Akbar Al Baker, the outspoken chief executive of the expansionist Gulf carrier, used the platform of the Dubai air show to strongly criticise Airbus’ new widebody aircraft, the A350, and to threaten to pull a big order for other planes.
He gambled on fear of a potential massive order loss to get a much better deal from Airbus. It's been reported although not confirmed that his public bashing of Airbus saved his company nearly $20,000 on each of the 55 air frames he later ordered.
The order for 55 aircraft with Airbus is worth $6.4bn at list prices, but we know that the list price is nowhere near the price Qatar will be paying.
Qatar is the launch customer for the manufacturer’s popular new narrow-body plane, the A320 Neo. The gulf airline currently has a fleet of 103 aircraft, which Mr Al Baker expects to increase to 170 by 2016.
Mr Al Baker told a morning press conference that he didn't feel he could go anywhere with Airbus, over a “large” order of planes. “Unfortunately I feel Airbus is … still learning how to make airplanes,” he said. Mr Al Baker piled on further embarrassment on the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company complaining its planned new A350 long-haul aircraft was taking so long.
Qatar have ordered 50 of the A320 Neo short-haul aircraft and five A380 superjumbos.
Frontier to cut jobs.
Company officials said the reductions in Frontier’s workforce, which totals about 5,000, may be accomplished through attrition or voluntary leaves rather than all of them as layoffs. The reductions are expected to be at Frontier’s primary hub airports in Denver and Milwaukee. The carrier is cutting more than 20 flights a day, roughly one-third, of its traffic at Milwaukee.
Frontier still has a handful of flights daily at Indianapolis International Airport. Republic Airways acquired the financially distressed Frontier and Midwest airlines two years ago and combined them under the Frontier brand name. Since then, Republic Airways has struggled with Frontier’s profitability in the face of rising fuel prices and the stiff headwinds of competition. The current strategy is to position Frontier among the ultra low-fare carriers while flying larger airplanes with more seats to sell. Last week, Chief Executive Bryan Bedford told Wall Street analysts that the company’s board of directors has agreed to hire an advisor to assess the financial future of Frontier and possible options to sell the airline to another carrier or to investors or an equity fund or to spin it off to shareholders.