Commercial Aviation News

Split Schimitar winglets on a Southwest Boeing 737-800.

A look at the first Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner for launch customer Air New Zealand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSOCeFjgVYo#t=11

Etihad Airways has been on a shopping spree, buying stakes in airlines around the world.

http://graphics.wsj.com/etihad-airways-shopping-spree/?mod=e2tw

Emirates brought thousands of aviation fans together today when it operated a one-off A380 service at Glasgow Airport to mark its 10 year anniversary and continued commitment to Scotland.

BA to fuel planes with rubbish

British Airways has joined forces with Solena Fules to build the world's first facility to convert landfill waste into airline fuel. The Green Sky project will take place in the Thames Enterprise Park, part of the site of the former Coryton oil refinery in Thurrock, Essex. A thousand construction workers will be hired to build the facility, which is due to be completed in 2017, creating up to 150 permanent jobs. The airline says approximately 575,000 tonnes of post-recycled waste, normally destined for landfill or incineration, will instead be converted into 120,000 tonnes of clean burning liquid fuels using Solena's integrated technology.

The partnership will see BA purchase all 50,000 tonnes per annum of the jet fuel produced at market competitive rates, for the next 11 years. Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways' parent company IAG, said: "The sustainable jet fuel produced each year will be enough to power our flights from London City Airport twice over with carbon savings the equivalent of taking 150,000 cars off the road." Solena will use its patented high temperature plasma gasification technology to convert the waste efficiently into synthetic gas and then into liquid hydrocarbons.

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2011129

From Emirates Airlines this morning...

On this day in 2005, the A380 –the world’s largest passenger aircraft- took to the skies for the 1st time.

Guess who's birthday it is today!

JetBlue To Connect Salt Lake City and Orlando

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jetblue-connects-salt-lake-city-150000018.html?soc_src=mediacontentsharebuttons

James Hogan introduces the First Class Apartment on A380 In a 1-1 configuration, a first for commercial aviation. Etihad Airways.

You could check this out for a quick visualization...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Or-NXKfVc

Delta adding Trans Atlantic flights this coming winter...

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2014/05/05/delta-air-lines-inc-will-soon-add-flights-to.html

Time lapse of an A319 formerly in US airways colours and then transformed into American livery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg8-O1FcsrI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A look at onboard a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1PbAWhjfI

Canada, following the lead of the United States and the European Union, on Monday relaxed official restrictions on using mobile devices in flight while maintaining a ban on transmitting information. Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said air passengers could now use smartphones, cameras, electronic games, tablets and computers throughout a flight. Under current Canadian rules, such devices must be shut down during takeoff and landing.

Passengers, however, will only be able to enjoy the new freedom if the airline they are flying on updates their safety manuals and can guarantee that during takeoff and landings all passengers are able to follow crew instructions. "We wouldn't have approved this if we were concerned that it would affect either the safety of air travellers or of crews," Raitt told a news conference. She also said the ban on sending or receiving emails and phone calls in flight would remain in place. The US Federal Aviation Administration announced similar measures for users of personal electronic devices last October. The European Union followed suit in December.

(Reuters)

Guess that didn't work out too well for this Delta Boeing 737...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=557241537717802&set=vb.122548417853785&type=2&theater

Jetblue's new Fly-Fi system...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TIHUzsZ7V0#t=230

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 collided with a JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 at Boston Logan airport today while it was pushing back from its gate. The Southwest 737 was departing for a flight to Kansas City. While pushing back, its wingtip struck and damaged the right horizontal stabiliser of the JetBlue A320, which was parked at a neighbouring gate. (FG)

Jetblue introduces MINT

http://www.nycaviation.com/2014/06/preview-jetblue-introduces-mint/#.U5jXYl5N3wJ

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is prepared to invest up to EUR€1.25 billion (USD$1.7 billion) in Alitalia over the next four years under a possible tie-up between the two carriers, Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said. Of that, EUR€560 million would be used to buy new shares in the Italian airline and the rest would be invested in aircraft, design and training, Lupi told reporters in Rome. Alitalia, which received a EUR€500 million government-engineered rescue package last year, risks running out of cash by August unless it can find a cash-rich partner. A union source said Lupi told a meeting of Italian union representatives on Wednesday he hoped the long-awaited deal with Etihad would be completed by July 15.

Alitalia chief executive Gabriele Del Torchio said on Monday he was confident an agreement would be reached in a few weeks. Alitalia, once a national icon whose staff wore uniforms designed by Giorgio Armani, is now a symbol of economic malaise in a country struggling to emerge from recession. The airline, which employs 14,000 people, would have to cut jobs to meet conditions set by Etihad, which already has stakes in Air Berlin and Aer Lingus. Lupi said the two sides had discussed possible lay-offs of 2,251 Alitalia staff as a condition for Etihad's investment at Wednesday's meeting, broadly in line with previous reports.

(Reuters)