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Boeing will open a second assembly line for its long-delayed 787 jetliner in South Carolina, expanding beyond its longtime manufacturing base in Washington state to take advantage of economic incentives and a nonunion work force. The Chicago-based airplane maker said Wednesday it chose the site in North Charleston over Everett, Wash., because it best suited plans to boost production of the highly anticipated jet, designed to carry up to 250 passengers.

South Carolina offered Boeing $170 million in incentives and relief from sales taxes on things like fuel used in test flights.

Boeing also has long complained about the business climate in Washington and frequent strikes by production workers. At Boeing’s plant in North Charleston, workers last month voted against continued representation by the International Association of Machinists.

55 airlines have ordered 840 of the planes since the program was launched in 2003 — far more than any other Boeing plane at the same stage of development.

A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego overshot the Minneapolis Airport by about 150 miles Wednesday evening, and federal investigators are looking into whether the pilots had become distracted, as they claimed, or perhaps fell asleep. Air traffic controllers lost radio communication with the Airbus A320, carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew, when it was flying at 37,000 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

There was no communication with the airplane for more than an hour as it approached the airport, the board said. An FAA spokesman said the agency was tracking the airplane on radar, so it knew the aircraft’s position during the period without radio contact.

The aircraft flew over its intended destination – Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport – and continued northeast for approximately 150 miles over the next 16 minutes. The airport’s controllers then re-established communication with crew members, who said they had become distracted, the safety board said. “The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness,” the board said in a news release.

A board spokesman said the agency is examining all possible explanations for the mishap, including whether the pilots may have fallen asleep.

Six people have been killed after a cargo plane crashed on takeoff from Sharjah Airport. The Sudanese registered plane, a Boeing 707 operated by Sudan Airways on lease from Azza Air, veered sharply to the right after take-off and flipped before crashing. Boeing 707-320 ST-AKW (pictured above) is reported to be the aircraft involved.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an international flight into Atlanta’s major airport landed on a taxiway instead of a runway early Monday. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Delta Flight 60, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was cleared to land about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Runway 27R but landed instead on Taxiway M, which runs parallel to the runway. The flight had 194 passengers and crew aboard, according to CNN affiliate WXIA. No other aircraft were on the taxiway, and there was no damage to either the taxiway or the plane, a Boeing 767, Bergen said.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday proposed fines against two of the nation’s largest airlines, saying the airlines flew planes on hundreds of occasions in violation of FAA or airline safety standards. The FAA is seeking a $5.4 million fine from US Airways and a $3.8 million fine from United Airlines for unrelated violations.

The US Airways case involved the greatest number of planes – eight. The FAA alleges US Airways operated the eight aircraft on a total of 1,647 flights last fall and winter while the planes were in a potentially unsafe condition.

The FAA said it issued an AD requiring airlines to inspect Airbus A320 aircraft for possible cracking of a landing gear part. But US Airways operated two Airbus A320s on a total of 43 flights without complying with the ordered inspection. The airline also operated an Embraer 190 aircraft on 19 flights without performing an inspection to prevent a cargo door from opening during flight, according to the FAA. The remaining five cases involve the airline’s failure to follow its own maintenance procedures, the FAA said.

The United Airlines case involves one aircraft, a Boeing 737. According to the FAA and the airline, a pilot noticed a low fuel pressure indication while on a flight from Denver, Colorado, on April 28, 2008. The pilot shut down an engine and returned to the Denver airport. United mechanics who inspected the engine found that two shop towels had been used to cover openings in the oil sump area, instead of protective caps.

Singapore Airlines has started its daily A380 service bound for Melbourne, the carrier said on Wednesday. The airline said that a super jumbo touched down at Melbourne Airport early Wednesday morning and will embark on its return journey with over 450 customers on board, and touching down in Singapore Wednesday evening. Melbourne is the second Australian city and sixth city in Singapore Airlines’ network to receive the A380. Singapore Airlines currently operates 21 weekly flights between Singapore and Melbourne, including the daily A380 service.

Top Air India pilots called off their strike over planned pay cuts Wednesday, after nearly 200 called in sick over five days, causing some 400 flight cancellations, long delays, and a temporary freeze in bookings, officials said. Bookings reopened Wednesday. International flights should return to normal by day’s end and domestic flights by Thursday morning, said Air India spokesman Jitender Bhargava. Bhargava said the strike affected about half the airline’s operations, causing losses of 830 million rupees ($17.3 million) in three days. The total losses are still being calculated, he said. The disputed performance-linked pay cuts of up to 50% have not been ruled out but will not be implemented until they are further discussed with employees, Bhargava said.

Four people were injured, two critically, in the crash of a South African Airlink Jetstream 41 turboprop Thursday. The aircraft had just departed Durban on a positioning flight to Pietermaritzburg when the crew declared an emergency due to an engine failure. The airplane crashed near a school perimeter shortly after. Both pilots were injured critically, and a flight attendant suffered serious injuries. An employee working on the school’s grounds was also slightly injured. There were no passengers aboard.

Airbus Thursday raised its outlook for the global market for large commercial airliners over the next 20 years, with demand driven by emerging economies, expanding airline networks, growing low-cost carriers and the need to replace inefficient aircraft. The Toulouse, France-based company said it now estimates demand at some 25,000 aircraft worth $3.1 trillion through 2028. That’s an increase of 2.9% compared to its projection in February, 2008, of a potential market of 24,300 planes worth $2.8 trillion.

With households and companies trying to preserve cash amid the global economic slowdown, Airbus expects airline passenger traffic to contract 2% this year but to expand 4.6% in 2010. Longer term, airline passenger traffic will remain resilient to the cyclical effects of the airline sector and should grow at an average annual rate of 4.7% through 2029, requiring 24,100 new aircraft worth $2.9 trillion, Airbus said. That figure includes 10,000 jets to replace aging aircraft. Cargo traffic, currently depressed due to weak economic activity, is expected to grow by 5.2% annually on average over the forecast period, Airbus said. This will require 3,440 additional freighters, of which 850 will be new aircraft, with the remainder conversions from passenger jets.

In its 2008 long-term market outlook, Airbus had projected average annual passenger traffic growth of 4.9% and cargo traffic rising by 5.8% over 20 years.

AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, said Thursday it obtained $2.9 billion in additional liquidity and new aircraft financing, which should help the company finance its previously ordered Boeing 737s. The company also said it was strengthening its network by reallocating capacity to hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami and New York and intends to enhance its fleet.

Virgin Nigeria now has a new name: Nigerian Eagle Airlines. The announcement was made by the company’s chief executive officer Dapo Olumide during a press briefing on Thursday at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. Olumide said that the airline’s name change was to herald the rebirth of a new airline as well as promote Nigerian culture.

Federal safety officials are ordering the replacement of Airbus airspeed sensors of the kind suspected of playing a role in loss of Air France Flight 447 and all 228 aboard in June. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice published Thursday that U.S. airlines operating Airbus A330s and A340s must replace at least two of three sensors on the plane made by European electronics giant Thales Corp. Approved replacements are made by North Carolina-based Goodrich Corp. The order affects 43 planes operated by Northwest Airlines and US Airways. FAA said the sensors can become blocked by ice crystals at high altitudes. The European aviation safety agency finalized a similar order on Aug. 31.

Southwest Airlines will temporarily halt flights on three routes early next year as it deals with a decline in air traffic and tries to bend its schedule to fit seasonal demand. The airline published a new schedule Tuesday that covers flights from next Jan. 9 to March 12. The airline will cut one flight per day on 92 routes and increase service on 42 routes, usually by one trip per day as well.

Southwest also will suspend service between Albuquerque (ABQ) and Portland (PDX); and between Manchester (MHT) and Phoenix (PHX) with flights resuming in February. Flights between Kansas City (MCI) and Seattle (SEA) will stop in January and resume in May, according to the airline. Conversely, Southwest will add nonstop service from St. Louis (STL) to Boston (BOS) and Minneapolis (MSP) in January.

American Airlines is eliminating 921 flight attendant jobs as of October 1, including 228 employees that will be furloughed and another 244 who have two-month involuntary leaves, the airline said Tuesday. The total jobs lost were less than the 1,200 positions that the airline had warned of in June when it revealed that it would be making further cuts in its flying capacity for the fall.

After battling steadily waning passenger numbers and a critical lack of cash for most of the past year, SkyEurope Airlines Tuesday ceased all operations while its holding company initiated bankruptcy proceedings. The Bratislava-based airline - the first low-cost carrier in central Europe when it started eight years ago in the run-up to expansion of the European Union in 2004 - canceled all flights from its hubs in Bratislava, Vienna and Prague, leaving passengers stranded across Europe. It was unclear how many passengers were affected. SkyEurope couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Boeing Company today announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner is expected by the end of 2009 and first delivery is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010. The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk. The company projects achieving a production rate of 10 airplanes per month in late 2013.

Boeing Chief Financial Officer James Bell also confirmed that the first three 787 airframes will not be sold, and will be written off after taking part in initial flight testing.

Southwest Airlines launches service today from Boston’s Logan International Airport, even as it shrinks its overall flying for the first time ever. The aircraft for the 10 daily flights – five each to Chicago’s Midway Airport and Baltimore/Washington International – were taken from weaker routes on Southwest’s flying schedule of 3,300 daily departures.

Ryanair is due to make Leeds-Bradford Airport its 34th European base, with the low-cost carrier set to offer dozens of new routes to Europe from the Yorkshire hub. Starting in March 2010, the Irish airline will offer a total of 63 return flights a week to around a dozen top European holiday destinations. These include Palma, Malaga and Murcia in Spain, as well as Nantes in neighbouring France. In addition, Ryanair will offer flights from Leeds-Bradford to Pisa, Venice and Faro, with the airline revealing that it intends to create as many as 1,000 jobs through this latest expansion.

Boeing said on Friday an Italian supplier stopped production in June on two sections of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner after structural flaws were found on fuselages. Alenia Aeronautica halted production because of wrinkles in the fuselage skin caused by flaws in subcomponents of the one-piece composite barrel, said Boeing spokeswoman Loretta Gunter. Flaws were found on 23 airplanes, starting with the seventh in production, Gunter said. She said a solution has been designed and patches will be applied to all the planes built so far. The carbon-composite 787 has been delayed repeatedly. On June 23, the same day as the Alenia Aeronautica production halt, Boeing announced another delay to the first test flight of the 787.

On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered. A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.

The equipment failures, all involving Northwest Airlines Airbus A330s, were brief and were noticed only after safety officials began investigating the Air France crash — on a Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight — and two other recent in-flight malfunctions.

The discovery suggests the equipment problems are more widespread than previously believed. And it gives new urgency to airlines already scrambling to replace air sensors and figure out how the errors went undetected despite safety systems.