Monthly Archives: April 2011

Boeing puts a second 747-8 Intercontinental into flight testing

Boeing (Chicago) on April 26 put a second Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, designed by Boeing as RC021. Destined to Lufthansa as D-ABYE (msn 37826), N6067U successfully made its first flight on April 26. The airplane completes the two-airplane test fleet for the 747-8 Intercontinental.

N6067U was piloted by Captains Keith Otsuka and Ron Johnston, with Ralph Chaffin serving as system operator and Greg Lichneckert as flight analyst, RC021 took off at 9:26 a.m. Pacific time from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The airplane completed a three-hour, twenty-minute flight landing at 12:46 p.m. at Paine Field. During the flight, the airplane reached an altitude of 28,000 feet (8534 m) and airspeed of 275 knots, or about 316 miles (509 km) per hour.

RC021 will be used primarily for testing the various interior systems that will be on the Intercontinental, such as heating, venting and air conditioning, smoke detection and galleys. In addition, Boeing will conduct fuel consumption and function and reliability tests on the airplane. The 747-8 Intercontinental flight-test program will perform approximately 600 hours of flight testing.

British Airways doubles capacity on Its London City-Palma route

British Airways-BA CityFlyer Embraer ERJ 190-100SR G-LCYM (msn 19000351) MAN (Nik French), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

British Airways (London) has increased capacity on its London City-Palma de Mallorca service by 50 per cent to meet the demand for seats this summer.

With additional frequency and larger aircraft the airline will be providing over 25,000 seats to the Spanish holiday island direct from the Docklands.

Due to the high early season demand, the three-times-a-week flights will increase to six-days-a-week, excluding Saturdays, in July and August. The Friday and Sunday flights to Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza, on new BA CityFlyer Embraer ERJ 190 aircraft, will continue until October 31.

British Airways through BA CityFlyer now operates 39 leisure flights from London City Airport. The airline has also added more frequency to popular destinations of Nice and Ibiza.

British Airways will also launch new routes to Faro and Malaga in June, all from London City. The four times-a-week flights to Faro start on June 7 and the three times-a-week flights to Malaga start on June 8. Both routes will operate year round.

British Airways flies to 12 destinations from London City airport including Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Faro, Barcelona, Nice, Madrid and Malaga.

Flights are operated by wholly owned British Airways’ subsidiary BA CityFlyer.

BA CityFlyer Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Pluna Lineas Aereas orders three additional Bombardier CRJ900s

Pluna Lineas Aereas Bombardier CRJ900 (CL-600-2D24) CX-CRB (msn 15169) SCL (Alvaro Romero), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Pluna Lineas Uruguayas (Montevideo) has ordered three additional Bombardier CRJ900 jetliners.

Pluna Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Pluna Route Map (including those in association with Iberia):

Air Canada to retire the Air Canada Jazz brand, all will become Air Canada Express

Air Canada Jazz (Chorus Aviation) Bombardier CRJ100 (CL-600-2B19) C-FSJJ (msn 7058) IAD (Brian McDonough), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Air Canada (Montreal) announced today (April 27) it has decided to gradually retire the Air Canada Jazz brand. All regional carriers will begin operating under the Air Canada Express brand. Aircraft will be repainted during normal repainting cycles. Jazz Air will continue to use the Jazz name and livery for their independent (non-Air Canada) operations.

Air Canada Jazz Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Air Canada Jazz routes operated by Jazz:

LAN Airlines produces a $97.2 million 1Q net profit

LAN Airlines (Chile) Boeing 767-316 ER WL CC-CZW (msn 29227) (80 Years) JFK (Ken Petersen) (orders 3 more), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

LAN Airlines (Chile) (Santiago) reported net income of $97.2 (US) million for first quarter 2011, an increase of 10.1% compared to the $88.3 (US) million reported in first quarter 2010.

This result is despite the consolidation of $11 (US) million losses generated in the Colombian operations of AIRES, and also reflects LAN’s successful management under the current scenario of increased fuel prices.

LAN Airlines paid $12.0 million for a 98.9% indirect stake in AIRES, Colombia’s second largest airline, in 2010.

LAN is also moving ahead with a merger with TAM. On April 20, 2011, the TDLC announced that a public hearing will take place on May 26, 2011 in which the interested parties, including LAN and TAM, may provide their opinion regarding the business combination.

AIRES Colombia Slide Show: CLICK HERE

UPS exceeds expectations, produces an operating profit of $1.43 billion

UPS-United Parcel Service Boeing 757-24A (PF) N407UP (msn 23729) PAE (Nick Dean), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

UPS-United Parcel System (Atlanta) has announced diluted earnings per share of $0.88 for the first quarter of 2011, a 24% improvement over the adjusted $0.71 for the prior-year period. Global revenue grew 7.3%, producing a 21% increase in operating profit to $1.4 billion.

On a reported basis, diluted earnings per share and operating profit increased 66% and 37%, respectively, over the same period last year.

Investigation of Southwest Airlines’ April 1 incident involving Boeing 737-3H4 N632SW reveals manufacturing defects

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 N632SW (msn 27707) FLL (Bruce Drum) (hole rips open on fuselage en route, lands safely), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Southwest Airlines’ (Dallas) April 1 incident involving this Boeing 737-300 continues to be investigated. The investigation is uncovering quality control issues concerning the manufacturing process.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a preliminary report on Monday (April 25) concerning the April 1 incident which raises new questions concerning the bonding process of the aluminium fuselages on older 737-300 aircraft.

The examination of the damaged skin showed microscopic cracks extending from at least 42 of 58 rivet holes connected to the rupture according to this report by Reuters.

Please read the full report: CLICK HERE

Southwest’s Boeing 737-7Q8 N799SW leaves the runway at Chicago Midway

Southwest Airlines (Dallas) has issued the following statement concerning yesterday’s incident at Chicago’s Midway Airport:

“Southwest Airlines’ flight WN 1919 exited the runway at Chicago’s Midway Airport while landing at approximately 1:33 p.m. CT on April 26. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-7Q8 registered N799SW (msn 28209), arrived from Denver International Airport, where it had departed at 9:56 a.m. MT.

The preliminary passenger list, still subject to verification, indicates that the aircraft carried 134 passengers, five lap children, and five crew members. Initial reports are that no one was injured. The passengers have been safely deplaned from the aircraft using air stairs and have been bused to the terminal.

Southwest officials are working with passengers to get them to their final destinations. The airline is making outreach to each Customer onboard the flight to refund their roundtrip and issue them two complimentary roundtrip passes as a gesture of goodwill.

Southwest officials are in direct contact with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as they perform an investigation into the cause of this incident.”

The aircraft left the end of the runway and got mired in the mud. There was no apparent damage to the aircraft.

Watch a video from CNN: CLICK HERE

ILFC finalizes its order for 100 A320neo Family aircraft

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (Los Angeles), has announced that it has finalized an order for the purchase of 100 A320neo family aircraft from Airbus.

The final agreement with Airbus provides for model flexibility but initially includes both A320neo and A321neo for a total of 100 aircraft. Deliveries will start in 2015. As noted previously, Pratt & Whitney has been selected to power a minimum of 60 units with their PurePower PW1100G offering.

Hawaiian Airlines remains profitable for the first quarter

Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-33A ER N591HA (msn 33423) SEA (Bruce Drum), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (Honolulu), parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (Honolulu), reported consolidated net income for the three months ended March 31, 2011 of $0.9 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, on total operating revenue of $365.6 million. This result compares with net income of $0.2 million, or $0.00 per diluted share, on total operating revenue of $298.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010. An adjusted net loss reflecting economic fuel expense of $3.2 million, or $0.06 per share, compares to adjusted net income of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share, in the prior year period.

Hawaiian Slide Show: CLICK HERE