Tag Archives: Boeing

Ryan International decides to liquidate, shuts down and terminates all employees

Ryan International Airlines (Rockford) yesterday (January 11) reversed its bankruptcy reorganization path from reorganization (Chapter 11) to liquidation (Chapter 7). The charter airline suddenly shut down and laid off all of its employees. The airline is still talking with prospective investors but it is a long shot for the airline to restart operations.

The airline went into Chapter 11 reorganization in March 2012. Previously the company was established by Ron Ryan in Wichita, KS and started operations on March 3, 1973 as Ryan Aviation. In 2005 the company was sold to the Rubloff Development Group which moved the company to Rockford (near Chicago) in 2006.

Read the full report from Channel 13 in Rockford: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Boeing 757-2G5 N929RD (msn 23929) at Miami displays the 2004 livery of the company.

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AirTran Airways to fly from Chicago Midway to both Montego Bay and Punta Cana

Southwest Airlines Company (Dallas) has announced new nonstop service between Chicago (Midway) and both Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

The flights, subject to governmental approvals, will be operated by Southwest’s wholly owned subsidiary AirTran Airways.

AirTran Airways nonstop flights between Chicago (Midway) and Montego Bay*:

  • Begin Sunday, April 14
  • Will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays

AirTran Airways nonstop flights between Chicago (Midway) and Punta Cana*:

  • Begin Sunday, May 19
  • Will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays

*air service subject to governmental approvals

Southwest and AirTran currently operate a combined 200+ daily departures from Chicago (Midway) including daily service to Cancun, Mexico, which began in May 2012.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Boeing 737-7BD N295AT (msn 32677) of AirTran Airways arrives at the Atlanta hub.

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FAA to review the power system of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Washington) is expected to announce today a complete review of the electrical system on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner due to the recent incidents according to this report by Bloomberg Businessweek. The aircraft is not expected to be grounded.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

The new type was also involved in two no-related incident today.

Read the full report from Reuters: CLICK HERE

Boeing today the following statement:

“Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers.

The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily. Its in-service performance is on par with the industry’s best-ever introduction into service โ€“ the Boeing 777. Like the 777, at 15 months of service, we are seeing the 787’s fleet wide dispatch reliability well above 90 percent.

More than a year ago, the 787 completed the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA. We remain fully confident in the airplane’s design and production system.

Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today’s safe and efficient air transportation system. While the 787’s reliability is on par with the best in class, we have experienced in-service issues in recent months and we are never satisfied while there is room for improvement. For that reason, today we jointly announced with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the start of a review of the 787’s recent issues and critical systems.

We welcome the opportunity to conduct this joint review. Our standard practice calls on us to apply rigorous and ongoing validation of our tools, processes and systems so that we can always be ensured that our products bring the highest levels of safety and reliability to our customers.

Just as we are confident in the airplane, we are equally confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception. With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever. We expect that this review will complement that effort.”

AeroSvit struggles to maintain operations

AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines (Kiev), which filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization on December 29, is struggling to maintain its downsized operations on schedule. One flight from Bangkok to Kiev was delayed due to problems with the prompt payments for airport services in Bangkok due to the time difference and being on a cash basis. The airline has apologized an stated the transfer of funds had been delayed according to this report by the Kyiv Post.

The airline has called on its service providers to fulfill their contractual agreements.

As previously reported, AeroSvit is turning over most of its European routes to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Stephen Tornblom. According to the report, the New York flights could also be impacted. Boeing 767-33A UR-VVV (msn 25536) on the ramp at New York (JFK) is assigned to the long-range routes which the airline is trying to maintain.

AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines:ย AG Slide Show

Boeing 787 Dreamliner operators stand behind the aircraft and their orders

Batik 787K65681-01

Boeing 787 Dreamliner operators are still publicly bullish about the new type and understand there always problems with a new type of aircraft. Each operator, and soon-to-be operators, are standing steady with their orders despite three recent episodes involving the aircraft.

ANAย was forced to cancel a 787 Dreamliner scheduled flight from Yamaguchi to Tokyo due to brake problems according to this report by Reuters.

Boeing remains “extremely confident” in the aircraft despite the recent incident. Boeing believes it can work through the issues as there are many redundant systems to insure safety.

Read the full report:ย CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Boeing. Batik Air, Lion Air’s new subsidiary, will be a future operator of the 787.

WSJ: United Airlines found a wiring problem on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner

United Airlines (Chicago) has reportedly found improperly installed wiring on one of its newly delivered Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, the same system that caused the JAL 787-8 fire in a battery at Boston according to the Wall Street Journal.

Read the full WSJ report about the latest problems with the new aircraft: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing. The pictured Boeing 787-8 N26906 (msn 34829) at Los Angeles was handed over on October 31, 2012 to the carrier. It is unclear which aircraft is involved. United has taken delivery of six Dreamliners.

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Airberlin issues a statement concerning the new delayed opening of the new Berlin Bradenburg Airport (BER)

Airberlinย (airberlin.com) (Berlin) has issued the following statement concerning the new delay for the opening of the new Berlin airport:

“Airberlin is disappointed about the latest postponement of the opening date for the new airport Berlin-Brandenburg BER. This will have an adverse effect on all passengers and on airlines. Airberlin has already insisted many times on receiving a reliable opening date which can therefore be planned around. A renewed postponement means that the unsatisfactory situation for all passengers will continue.

Because of the latest postponement, Airberlin expects the airport company to do everything possible in Tegel to achieve an even better standard. Airberlin itself incurs considerable expense in passenger control for the rising numbers at the old airport and will continue to do everything to keep the effects on our passengers to a minimum. The additional service staff will also be available to Airberlin passengers in Tegel in the future, and ensure that the process runs as smoothly as possible.

Airberlin continues to place great emphasis on BER. As the market leader in the German capital, airberlin intends to expand its position, grow continuously and further build up the hub with international long-haul flights.”

In other news, Airberlin has appointed a new CEO.ย As of January 7, 2013, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, 56, will take over the post of Chief Executive Officer of Air Berlin PLC from Hartmut Mehdorn, who has been in the position on a transitional basis since September 1, 2011. At the same time Prock-Schauer will become an Executive Director on the Board of Directors of Air Berlin PLC. Hartmut Mehdorn will remain a member of the Board.

Copyright Photo: Gunter Mayer. Boeing 737-86J D-ABMJ (msn 36872) was the 2012 “Flying home for Christmas” Santa Claus logojet. The airliner is pictured resting overnight at Nuremberg.

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A fire breaks out in the battery compartment of a Japan Airlines’ 787 on the ground at Boston’s Logan Airport

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Japan Airlines-JAL‘s (Tokyo) flight JL 8 with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (JA829J) arrived from Tokyo (Narita) at Boston (Logan) this morning at 10 a.m. (1000). The 173 arriving passengers and 11 crew members had just disembarked according to this report by the Boston Globe. The cleaners who boarded the aircraft reported smelling smoke and a fire was discovered in the lower level battery compartment. The airport ARFF units put out the fire out before it could spread.

Boeing has been investigating electrical issues on other 787 Dreamliners and has issued the following statement:

Regarding Mondayโ€™s event onboard a Japan Airlines (JAL) 787 at Boston Logan Airport, we are working closely with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), our customer and other government agencies. JAL has reported that smoke detected while a 787 was on the ground after passengers disembarked and during cleaning was traced to the battery used to start the auxiliary power unit (APU).

As is standard practice within the industry, it would be premature to discuss additional details at this stage as the investigation is ongoing. However, nothing that weโ€™ve seen in this case indicates a relationship to any previous 787 power system events, which involved power panel faults elsewhere in the aft electrical equipment bay. Information about the prior events has been shared with the NTSB and they are aware of the details.

Boeing is cooperating with the NTSB in the investigation of this incident. Before providing more detail, we will give our technical teams the time they need to do a thorough job and ensure we are dealing with facts, not speculation.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Video:

Japan Airlines-JAL:ย AG Slide Show

Copa Airlines is coming to Boston

Copa Airlines (Panama City) will the new destination of Boston and the Panama City-Boston route starting on July 10. The new spoke route will operate daily with Boeing 737-700 aircraft according to a report by Airline Route.

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Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero. Boeing 737-71Q HP-1370CMP (msn 29048) prepares to land at Santiago, Chile.

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Route Map:

Please click on the map for the full size view.

Please click on the map for the full size view.

WestJet reports a record December load factor of 81.9 percent

WestJet Airlines (Calgary) today announced December 2012 traffic results with a record load factor of 81.9 percent. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs), or traffic, increased 7.2 percent year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), grew 6.0 percent over the same period. The airline flew 17.4 million guests in all of 2012 which is a year-over-year increase of 8.6 percent or approximately 1,383,000 additional guests.

“We are very pleased to close out the year with six consecutive monthly load factor records and ย  record high loads in all four quarters. Our positive momentum culminated in 2012 with a new single-day record of flying more than 57,000 guests on December 21st,” said WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky. “Our forward bookings continue to be strong and I want to thank our more than 9,000 WestJetters for their great efforts and caring attitudes, despite challenging weather, that ensured another memorable holiday travel season for our guests.”

December 2012 traffic results

December 2012 December 2011 Change
Load factor 81.9% 80.9% 1.0 pts.
ASMs (billions) 2.006 1.893 6.0%
RPMs (billions) 1.642 1.532 7.2%

 

Fourth quarter
2012
Fourth quarter
2011
Change
Load factor 81.9% 78.7% 3.2 pts.
ASMs (billions) 5.487 5.329 3.0%
RPMs (billions) 4.493 4.194 7.1%

 

Full-year 2012 Full-year 2011 Change
Load factor 82.8% 79.7% 3.1 pts.
ASMs (billions) 22.064 21.186 4.1%
RPMs (billions) 18.263 16.891 8.1%

 

WestJet reached a major milestone in early December, when it took delivery of its 100thย Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft. In 2013, WestJet will take delivery of an additional five Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft and seven Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft. “With the delivery of its first two Q400s scheduled for June and the launch of its first schedule in February, excitement is building as WestJet Encore gets closer to providing more communities with access to our low fares and caring guest experience,” added Gregg Saretsky.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography. Boeing 737-8CT C-GWSZ (msn 37092) in the special “Care-antee” color scheme taxies from the gate at Toronto (Pearson).

WestJet:ย AG Slide Show