JetPhotos.Net Aviation News

Hawaii-based Mokulele Airlines says it will start offering nonstop jet service to Maui’s Kahului Airport from Kailua-Kona, Lihue and Honolulu on Feb. 1, a month earlier than previously announced. Mokulele has been serving the Honolulu-Kahului route with Cessna propeller aircraft, but will start using Embraer jets. Tickets were being sold starting Tuesday.

Several of the largest U.S. airlines have joined in a lawsuit to block stronger federal rules on crew rest during the longest international flights. The FAA rules would require that pilots on the longest international flights get more rest before flying again. The extra rest would be required even when only 10 percent of flights on a particular route exceed 16 hours. The FAA was trying to address pilot fatigue, which unions and others have argued is a growing safety concern, especially on flights that can run 16 hours or longer. The petition was filed Dec. 24 in the federal appellate court in Washington by American, Continental, UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, US Airways, JetBlue and two smaller carriers.

38 people were injured as Continental Airlines Boeing 737-524 N18611 (cn 27324) crashed on a flight from Denver to Houston Saturday night. The 737 was reportedly taking off from the Denver International Airport when something went wrong, causing the aircraft to leave the runway surface and crash into a ravine where it caught fire. Passengers were evacuated via inflatable slides; no life threatening injuries were reported, and there was no immediate word on the cause of the accident.

Qantas has announced to the Australian Stock Exchange that talks have ended with British Airways regarding a potential merger. No agreement was reached regarding the merger however both airlines will continue to cooperate via the Joint Services Agreement and the oneworld alliance.

At their annual board meeting the current members of Star Alliance have decided to accept the application of Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines adds some new destinations in Africa to the Star Alliance network and enhances the presence of the alliance at Brussels Airport.
Lufthansa, who has just recently invested into Brussels Airlines, will help the new member with the integration process.

The Boeing Company (Seattle/Chicago) has announced another delay to its long awaited 787 Dreamliner program. The aircraft manufacturer now expects the 787’s first flight to take place in the second quarter of 2009 and first delivery in the first quarter of 2010. The new schedule reflects the impact of disruption caused by the recent Machinists’ strike along with the requirement to replace certain fasteners in early production airplanes.

European Aviation Air Charter, based in Bournemouth, entered the hands of administrators on December 2, 2008.
Owner Paul Stoddart sited high fuel costs as a primary reason when informing staff of the closure.
The company was formed in 1989 as European Aviation, operating BAC 1-11 aircraft on ad-hoc charters.

Qantas and British Airways have confirmed they are in talks over a potential merger. Qantas has stated it has no choice but to merge with another airline in order to survive, despite posting record profits.
Both airlines would keep their own branding, as with the Air France-KLM merger, and would have a combined fleet of more than 400 aircraft.
Regulatory restrictions, particularly with the Qantas Sale Act, would have to be resolved before any merger could move forward.

The week-long siege of Bangkok’s two main airports by anti-government protesters continued into the new business week Monday, with Thailand’s economy is taking a big hit from the closure. With no tourists getting in or out of Bangkok’s international and domestic airports, and no exports going out either, business experts say the damage to the economy will be deep and widespread. The Federation of Thai Industries estimates the economy is losing as much as $85 million a day because of the crisis. Thousands of anti-government protesters, led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, have occupied the airports for a week. The PAD demands that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resign and accuses him of acting on behalf of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been convicted on corruption charges.

Mesa Air Group wants to buy the Aloha Airlines name in U.S. Bankruptcy Court at a hearing starting Tuesday in Honolulu. If successful, Mesa, which operates interisland carrier go! in Hawaii, plans to re-brand go! under the Aloha name. The privately held Aloha ended its passenger service March 31 after the 61 years in business and just weeks after declaring bankruptcy.

Airbus A320-232 D-AXLA (msn 2500) crashed into the Mediterranean sea off the coast of France today while conducting a test flight. The aircraft, which had been operating for XL Airways Germany on lease from Air New Zealand, was in the process of being returned to its owner. The A320 had departed the southern city of Perpignan, France with 7 crew members aboard, and Air New Zealand has confirmed that three of its own crew were killed.

More Information:

- A320-232 D-AXLA History & Info (JetPhotos.Net Aircraft/Airframe Database)

- Forum discussion of the accident (JetPhotos.Net Discussion Forums)

Photo: A320 D-AXLA (msn 2500) is seen at Düsseldorf, Germany in July, 2007 (Photo Copyright Emiel Pijpers)

From February 2009 on Lufthansa plans to connect Milan Malpensa to business centres in Europe. 6 A319 with 138 seats in Business Class and Economy Class will connect Lombardy and northern Italy to Barcelona, Paris, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid. A service to London Heathrow is planned for the summer schedule 2009. It is planned to operate as a new Italian brand and under an Italian Air Operator Certificate (AOC). In cooperation with the Milan airport operator SEA it is planned to enhance the service to Lufthansa passengers including an enhanced lounge product and a fast-track passage through security.

Augusto Fantozzi, the ‘Alitalia Special Commissioner’, has given government approval for the sale of state airline Alitalia to Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) for just over 1 million Euros. The exact sale price has not been revealed.

The Alitalia Staff Unions, who oppose the sale to CAI, have not yet commented on the approval.

The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit has released their report into a First Officer incapacitation event in January 2008. Enroute from Toronto to London Heathrow the First Officer’s mental state deteriorated to the point the Captain declared a PAN phase and diverted to Shannon in Ireland. The Cabin Crew removed the First Officer from the flight deck and a Flight Attendant with flying experience assisted the Captain during the diversion. The First Officer was taken for medical examination and later returned to Canada by Air Ambulance.

The report has made no recommendations.

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) has agreed to pay $7.5 million for bankrupt ATA Airlines’ landing slots at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The deal would include 14 slots, enough to operate 7 flights per day. The deal is subject to approval by the court handling ATA’s bankruptcy filing. If approved, Southwest expects to start flying from LaGuardia sometime next year.

Turkey’s Inter Airlines, based in Antalya, suspended all operations on 13 November, 2008. The airline’s management cited the global financial crisis and high fuel prices for the closure. Their 3 Airbus A321s have been returned to the lessor.
The airline started operations in 2002.

Boeing has announced a delay to the production and delivery schedules of the 747-8 Freighter and Intercontinental. The Freighter will move from late 2009 to the third quarter of 2010 and the Intercontinental from late 2010 to the second quarter of 2011. Boeing has cited issues including supply chain delays, limited availability of engineering resources inside Boeing and the recent Machinists’ strike as contributing factors to the delay.

Austrian state holding company OeAIG declared its intention to negotiate exclusively with the German carrier over the sale of its shares in Austrian Airlines. Russian carrier S7 and Air France / KLM therefore are no longer in the running. OeAIG expects the deal to be finalized within a month.

Financial details on the deal are not confirmed yet, but it looks likely, that it could lead to an agreement similar to the deal between Lufthansa and Swiss.

The preliminary report into the uncommanded Qantas A330 pitch-down has been released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau - ATSB.
The A330-303, VH-QPA, was operating QFA72 from Singapore to Perth on the 7th of October, 2008. Cruising at 37,000 feet it experienced two rapid nose-down pitch events. The autopilot disconnected and the crew temporarily lost control of the elevators. 70 people were injured, 14 of them seriously. The crew opted to divert the flight to Learmonth, Western Australia.
The ATSB has determined that a fault in the Number 1 Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) allowed the Inertial Reference component to send spiked messages regarding the aircraft’s angle of attack to the flight control system. This caused the rapid pitch down events. The investigation is continuing into why the ADIRU generated the false indication. In the mean time the aircraft has been flown back to Sydney for repairs.

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) announced today that it will start nonstop service from both Pittsburgh and Raleigh/Durham to Paris in June 2009. Delta said it is offering the two new routes through its joint venture with Air France, which will connect passengers to other cities in Europe via its Paris hub. Both new routes will be operated by 174-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft.