Commercial Aviation News

American and U.S Air closer to merger

American and U.S Airways are closer to merging because their respective boards have all agreed on terms and conditions, so-to-speak. Comment on the issue at hand is expected to come today. The merged air-carrier will retain the American name and be based in Fort Worth, Texas and also be a member of the One World Alliance. It would have hubs at Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York John F. Kennedy (JFK), Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington National.

The new American livery especially on the tail is not as simple as it may look. Take a look at this shot and view the tail. The detail in those three colours is immense. Alternating light and dark bands of colour gives so much detail when viewed close up.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/American-Airlines/Boeing-737-823/2225212/L/

Airbus are ditching the use of lithium-ion batteries onboard their new A350 XWB. They are reverting to nickel-cadmium batteries so, this likely has to do with the troubled nature of the type batteries on Boeing's 787s.

The pending merger between American and U.S Airways leaves one question unanswered, what will the new livery be of the planes in the fleet of the merged airline? American JUST unveiled their brand new and rebranded logo and livery that debuted on one of their Boeing 737-800s and later on a Boeing 777 from DFW to Sao Paulo. What we do know is that for now, American will keep the new livery.

American plans to have up to 73 aircraft painted in the new livery by the end of this year. In the short term, American plans to repaint eight Boeing 737-800s and five Boeing 757-200s by the end of July.

Now Boeing is restating that they are standing by the use of lithium-ion batteries onboard their Boeing 787s even though Airbus said that they will be ditching the use of them onboard their A350 XWB (extra wide body). In essence, Boeing says...indeed, the li-ion chemistry offer "significant benefits" when appropriate protections are in place.

Lufthansa eyeing purchase of 100 narrow-body, eight widebody

German flag carrier Lufthansa is looking to purchase some 100 narrow-body aircraft as well as eight wide-body aircraft. Lufthansa is expected to drop/retire some of the aircraft in their current fleet. Lufthansa currently operates a mix of Airbus and Boeing widebodies and narrowbodies, but plans to phase out a fleet of 17 Boeing 737-300s and 22 737-500s by 2016.

Airbus plans to introduce the A320 NEO into service in 2015, and Boeing schedules entry into service for the re-engined 737 Max in 2017. "It is now all the more important to invest all available resources in the Group in order to drive that future programme forward," according to Lufthansa chief executive Christroph Franz.

Malaysia Airlines firm ATR orders

Malaysia Airlines firm on ATR-72-600 orders. They have firmed for 20 ATR-72-600 aircraft and 16 options for the same type. These aircraft are expected to go to MAS' smaller offshoot airlines, Firefly and MASwings. Deliveries are expected to start mid-2013.

Jet Blue shows off first A320 with Sharklets

Jet Blue shows off their first A320 outfitted with Sharklets.

Kingfisher Airlines, the struggling Indian airline has been put under more pressure because it has had it's Indian Airport slots taken away. Further more, the airline apparently stopped flying international routes and then had a successive grounding of it's fleet which killed any potential progress. By December 2012, Kingfisher was stripped of its licence to fly. So now, what's next for Kingfisher? Certainly other airlines will be happy to take up airport slots given up by Kingfisher Airlines.

Airbus seems to be reconsidering their position on the lithium-ion battieries issue that has been plaguing their competitor, Boeing. They say that perhaps they may reconsider the use of the battery techology the near future. Airbus has switched to nickel-cadmium batteries in light of problems which grounded the Boeing 787 in January. We shall see.

Here is a look at the firt A350 XWB test aircraft rolling outside of the assembly plant minus its engines which of course are yet to be fitted on the pods.

Bombardier Licenses Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. to Provide Passenger-to-Freighter Conversions for CRJ100 and CRJ200 Aircraft

US Airways to add nine CRJ900s

US Airways has agreed to add nine Bombardier CRJ900s to its regional jet fleet this year. The aircraft will enter the US Airways Express fleet between April and July, 2013.

Air China announce mega order...

Chinese carrier Air China has recently announced that it is ordering a number of new aircraft from airframer Boeing. Air China has put in orders for two Boeing 747-8s, twenty Boeing 737s and nine Boeing 777s. It says the flag-carrier will take two passenger 747-8s and a 777-300ER along with 20 737-800s, while Air China Cargo has agreed to purchase eight 777Fs.

ALC piles on the orders for longer range triple sevens

ALC or Air Lease Corp has added to its order book for the longer range triple seven from Boeing, the 777-300ER. The company is adding ten of the long-range widebodies to the orderbook estimated to be around 3.2-billion in value. They now have a total of 15 orders for the 777-300ER.

Air India to get major cash from Indian Government

Indian airline Air India is expected to get a major cash injection from the Indian government to the tune of $909 million dollars. Air India is a state-owner carrier so the goverment is obligated to pump that kind of money into their airline.

BA reveals route for new A380 fleet

British Airways, a One World member, reveals that it will fly its first Airbus A380 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. In fact, they say that they have already opened ticket sales for the first flight. BA are expected to take delivery of their first A380 in July with the first flight on October 15, 2013.

Titan Airways adds first A320 to its fleet

Titan Airways is a British charter airline and they have revealed that they have added their first Airbus A320 to their fleet, which is also the first Airbus in the fleet as well. The other types of aircraft in the fleet presently are four Boeing 737s, three 757-200s, a 767-300ER, two BAe 146s and an Avro RJ100. The A320 makes up the twelfth aircraft in the fleet.

I thought this was a very nice gesture by the airline.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/airline-holds-flight-help-man-reach-dying-mothers-bedside-1C8727586#

The high-profile Battery problems with the Boeing 787-8 is slowing Boeing's expansion. We are not talking about expansion of the 787-8 model. Remember there are three variants of the 787, the -8, -9, -10X. It is the 787-10X that may feel the pinch from the continued groundings of the companies Dreamliner 787-8. The 787-10X is the stretched version, well the -9 is too but the -10X will be the largest of them all and assembly may be very well held up if this battery issue and FAA reservation continues.

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