Based at RAF Mildenhall, in the UK, the 21st Special Operations Squadron (SOS) with its 250 personnel, as part of the 352nd Special Operations Group (SOG) was officially deactivated on October 9, 2007. The 21st SOS, known as the ‘Dust Devils’, flew the Sikorsky MH-53M Pave Low IV helicopter until the last flight from their home base on September 13. All five Pave Lows in the fleet took the air for the final flight, which included aerial refuelling with their 67th SOS stable mates flying a MC-130P Combat Shadow. Up until deactivation, the 21st SOS were the USAF Special Operations European Command’s only vertical lift unit, their tasks are to be taken over by the US Army. Held on continuous stand-by they can be tasked at a moments notice with a broad range of operations, from Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) to humanitarian relief. For most of the year they will find themselves on Special Operations duties away from Mildenhall.

Read more »

HOUSTON, Dec. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) has announced that it will accept tickets for standby travel from passengers who were originally scheduled to fly on MAXjet Airways following that airline’s cessation of service, on Dec. 24, 2007. MAXjet customers will be accepted for travel on a standby basis on Continental flights between Los Angeles/Las Vegas/Newark and London Gatwick from Dec. 24, 2007 through January 6, 2008. Passengers will be charged a $50 per flight segment ticketing fee, plus any applicable taxes and security fees. Continental will waive the current fuel service charge normally required for Newark to London passengers. Proof of confirmed ticketing on MAXjet flights will be required to qualify for the special rate on Continental.

Read more »

MONTREAL, Dec. 24 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada confirms that it has received today a statement of objections from the European Commission that sets out the Commission’s preliminary assessment in its investigation into alleged anti-competitive cargo pricing activities, including relating to the levying of certain fuel surcharges, among a number of airlines and cargo operators, in breach of EC antitrust laws. Air Canada, which was not subject to investigations at its premises when the Commission began its enquiries, has voluntarily been cooperating with the Commission in its investigation and will continue to do so. Air Canada is studying the statement of objections and will respond in writing in accordance with normal procedure.

Read more »

101 Squadron celebrated its 90th birthday on July 12, 2007. To commemorate the event a special 90th anniversary paint scheme, sponsored by BAe Systems, was applied to the tail of its aerial refueling tanker VC-10 C.1K serial ‘XV105’. Formed at South Farnborough in 1917, 101 Squadron immediately saw action flying FE.2’s to bomb at night on the western front over Ypres and the Somme. During World War II they were part of Bomber Command flying the Blenheim, Wellington and finally the Lancaster. Carry on their bombing role at 101 Squadron became the RAF’s first jet bomber squadron at Binbrook when it received the Canberra in 1951, replacing the Lincoln. Action was seen at Malaya and Suez before operating the Vulcan at Finningley and later Waddington. Perpetuating involvement in bombing in every major war, the Vulcan’s of 101 Squadron flew the famous ‘Black Buck’ missions on the Falkland Islands in 1982. In 1984 the Squadron were given the Air to Air Refuelling (AAR) role with the VC-10, eventually flying missions over Kosovo in both Gulf Wars.

Read more »

Gulf Air passengers on flight GF 154 on 20 December traveling from Bahrain to Manila received a special honour from the President of the Philippines Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Philippines President, leading a team of officials, greeted and shook hands with each of the 220 Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as they came out of the arrival hall from the Gulf Air flight. The event was organized by the government of the Philippines to give special recognition to the OFWs returning home to spend their Christmas and New Year vacation with their near and dear ones. For the second year in a row, Gulf Air was honoured to be chosen for this event by the Philippine government from among more than 30 airlines that operate to Manila.

Read more »

The rapid and decisive intervention of the airport operating company Aeroporti di Roma successfully solved the critical situation of the 170 passengers - flying to Katowice and stuck at Ciampino – of a Wizz Air low cost flight, cancelled due to bad weather conditions. The long wait was turning into a protest, slowing down the operations of Rome second airport, and particularly at the time of Christmas holidays. Considering the serious humanitarian reasons, relating to the presence of households with minors, among whom many few months old babies, ADR made its best efforts to solve this serious problem.

Read more »

VATSIM and MITRE’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) have joined together to conduct aviation systems research using the VATSIM network as a test environment for proof of concept and hypothesis testing of new ATC solutions. Richard Jenkins of VATSIM writes, “This program is the direct result of the exacting standards required to fly and control on VATSIM and is a direct tribute to your tireless efforts to simulate as real as it gets. Today VATSIM leaves the world of purely a hobby and moves into the real world, making its contribution to future ATC systems and aviation safety.”

Read more »

Birmingham International Airport (BIA) today reassured travellers that the Midlands’ premier gateway remains well and truly open for business. The Second City continues to receive First Class air services. The reassurance was given after confusing national media reports, relating to potential industrial action elsewhere. BIA is not involved in any potential action. BIA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, John Morris, said: “It’s business as usual at BIA. If you were to listen to some of the London-Centric news reports, you’d be excused for thinking that air travel could be at a standstill across the country. This is plainly nonsense. The standard of reporting this morning may have caused distress and confusion to those enlightened people who always choose to avoid the hassle of London.

Read more »

DALLAS, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ — Southwest Airlines will fly 171 Texas Army National Guard soldiers from North Carolina to Texas on Sunday, Dec. 23. The 436th Chemical Company of the Texas Army National Guard is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, waiting for deployment to Afghanistan. They recently got news that their deployment has been delayed, so now they are able to spend the holidays with their families, and Southwest Airlines is making it possible! The soldiers will arrive in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio on Sunday courtesy of Southwest. Southwest Airlines Employees and Customers will be alongside their families to welcome home the soldiers! “Southwest Airlines is happy to be able to grant this Christmas wish for these troops to reunite with their families,” said Southwest Airlines President Colleen Barrett. “We are so proud of what these soldiers are doing for our country, and we are blessed to give back.”

Read more »

The Jamaica Tourist Board and Thomsonfly have annnounced a new direct service to Montego Bay, Jamaica, starting 5th May 2008 and operating all year round from BIA. The flights are not only great news for Brits keen to discover the beautiful island on holiday, but also for the Midlands’ vibrant Jamaican community who like to travel back to Jamaica for holidays frequently. These new flights mean a potential 14,000 extra visitors to the island, and with Thomsonfly’s extremely competitive prices for both all inclusive holiday packages and flights only, it is hoped to draw a significant increase in visitation to Jamaica from the Midlands in 2008.

Read more »

SAS Group confirms that it has received a Statement of Objections from the European Commission within the framework of an industry-wide investigation of the air cargo sector, involving a large number of cargo companies and air carriers, including SAS Cargo. In the Statement of Objections the EU Commission alleges that certain investigated practices in the air cargo sector constitute infringements of EC competition rules. SAS Group intends to review the Statement of Objections immediately and will also have to review the underlying documentation as soon as it has received access to the Commission’s comprehensive investigation file. Therefore SAS cannot comment on the alleged irregularities until this review has been completed.

Read more »

SAS Sverige is to introduce the new summer destinations of Zagreb and Stavanger. In addition, two routes to Nice will be opened in the summer, one from Ängelholm and one from Växjö. The Stockholm - Tromsö route will also be operated during the summer. Due to increasing demands from customers, there will also be an increase in the number of departures from several Swedish, Scandinavian and European destinations, which will be introduced on March 30.

Read more »

The directors of Auckland International Airport Limited (Auckland Airport) have signed a confidentiality deed with an international party which has expressed interest in the company. Chairman of Auckland Airport, Tony Frankham, said the party had initially expressed an interest when the board asked its financial advisors to seek any other takeover offers in November. Following the signing of the confidentiality deed, this party has been provided access to preliminary due diligence. “This party is the one referred to in our Target Company Statement sent to shareholders. We are releasing this notice today to confirm the position to the market. Auckland Airport will keep the market informed of any significant developments with this party or any other party should they come forward” he said.

Read more »

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Clyde S. ‘Chip’ Jones has been appointed chief operating officer for Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The appointment was made by David King, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Ala., which manages the Michoud facility. Jones will be responsible for day-to-day management and operation of the 830-acre Michoud facility, which employs more than 4,000 workers. Michoud is responsible for the design, manufacture and assembly of the space shuttle’s external tank. Michoud also has been selected to support NASA’s Constellation Program for the agency’s exploration missions to return to the moon and travel beyond. Work there has already begun for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, while planning is underway for the Ares launch vehicles, all part of the Constellation Program.

Read more »

WASHINGTON - NASA has signed a $465.7 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin, New Orleans, for space shuttle external tanks. The modification aligns and extends all activities associated with the production contract for the tanks to the launch schedule for the space shuttle’s retirement date of 2010. The modification supports the agency’s priorities of safely flying the space shuttle, completing construction of the International Space Station and NASA’s long-term plan to return astronauts to the moon and beyond.

Read more »

STRATFORD, Conn., - The first H-92® helicopter to feature fly-by-wire technology has completed its first successful flight, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced today. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX). The historic first flight took place on Dec. 20 at 9 a.m. from the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The new fly-by-wire technology is designed to significantly improve aircraft maneuverability, safety and effectiveness. Sikorsky currently has two development programs which will feature the FBW technology, the X-2 Technology™ demonstrator, and the newest model of the BLACK HAWK helicopter, the UH-60M.

Read more »

Bloomfield, Conn. (Dec. 21, 2007) –Kaman Helicopters has successfully completed Formal Qualification Testing (FQT) of the Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS) Software for the Egyptian SH-2G(E) Super Seasprite helicopter. This marks a significant milestone in the Upgrade Program for the Egyptian Air Force (EAF). The EAF operates nine Super Seasprite helicopters out of their base at Borg El Arab, Egypt. The FQT process is a comprehensive review of the entire software integration into the DAFCS that validates and qualifies every requirement as defined in the Software Requirements Specification (SRS). This testing was completed, witnessed by, and accepted by NAVAIR over a two-week period of time.

Read more »

On Friday evening, December 21, Arianespace boosted two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO): RASCOM-QAF1, built by Thales Alenia Space for pan-African operator RASCOMSTAR-QAF, and Horizons-2, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation for the operator Horizons 2 Satellite LLC, a joint venture of Intelsat and JSAT.

Read more »

São José dos Campos, December 21, 2007 – Embraer has received confirmation from U.S.- based Republic Airways Holdings of 11 options for the EMBRAER 175 jet. The aircraft will be operated by its subsidiary Shuttle America and will fly under the Delta Connection brand name. First delivery is scheduled for July 2008. The value of the deal, at list price, is US$ 341 million, based on January 2007 economic conditions.

Read more »

São José dos Campos, December 21, 2007 – The third Phenom 100 jet took its first flight, today, from the test runway at the Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto facility, outstate São Paulo, Brazil, and will join the aircraft flight test campaign, performing interior function and reliability tests. This jet, the first to be completed in the newlyinaugurated hangar at the same site, will be outfitted with the interior designed in partnership with BMW DesignworksUSA. The fourth aircraft is in the final assembly stage and will be used in the Phenom 100 maturity campaign.

Read more »

MONTREAL, 21 December 2007 — Preliminary figures for 2007 released today by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) indicate that passenger traffic on the world’s airlines increased by about 6.6 per cent over 2006, in terms of passenger-kilometres performed. Passengers carried on scheduled services grew by around 6 per cent to 2.2 billion. Statistics supplied by ICAO’s 190 Contracting States also show an overall increase of about 5.5 per cent over 2006 based on tonne-kilometres performed, a measure which includes passenger, freight and mail traffic.

Read more »

The AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s just-released 2007 Joseph T. Nall Report, an analysis of general aviation accidents from the previous year, shows that general aviation accidents are continuing on a downward trend. The number of accidents per 100,000 flight hours decreased from 7.19 in 1997 to an all-time low of 6.32 in 2006, while the fatal accident rate dropped 7.4 percent during the same time frame. “Even with a slight uptick in the number of hours flown in 2006 compared to 2005, pilots are flying fewer hours than they did five years ago,” said Bruce Landsberg, AOPA Air Safety Foundation executive director. “But the accident rate shows pilots are flying safer.” For example, from 2002 to 2006, the number of accidents declined by 10.8 percent, while the number of estimated flight hours decreased only 5.9 percent. The general aviation accident trend for 2006 also matches the long-term downward trend, with total accidents decreasing 8.3 percent and fatal accidents decreasing 6.5 percent from 2005.

Read more »

Wichita, December 21, 2007 - Bombardier Learjet today announced the appointment of Jason Moir as Learjet sales director, central United States. Reporting to Ed Thomas, regional vice-president, Learjet sales, US., Mr. Moir is responsible for the sale of new Learjet business aircraft in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado. Mr. Moir holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. He has held various positions at Bombardier over the past eight years. From 2001 to 2004 he was based in Tucson, Arizona where he was responsible for strategic sourcing on new development programs including the Bombardier Learjet 40 and Bombardier Learjet 45 XR aircraft as well as the Bombardier Challenger 300 jet.

Read more »

ATR and Philippines-based carrier Cebu Pacific today announced the purchase of 4 ATR 72-500s. These aircraft are the conversion into firm orders of 4 of the 8 option aircraft included in the previous contract for 6 firm plus 8 option aircraft inked earlier this year. Today’s deal, which includes new options for 4 additional aircraft, brings to 10 the total firm orders of ATR 72-500s. Cebu Pacific will take delivery of these ten aircraft during 2008 and 2009. All the aircraft will be configured with 72 seats and will feature state-of-the-art technological innovations in the field of communications and navigation aid tools and passenger comfort.

Read more »

Vietnam Airlines has signed a contract for 10 A350-900 XWBs, as well as for 10 additional A321s. This announcement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the aircraft on 1st October 2007 in the presence of Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam during his state visit to France. An additional ten A321s covered under the MOU have now been confirmed as firm orders for the new Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Company, in which Vietnam Airlines is a major shareholder. The respective contracts were signed in Hanoi today by Mr Pham Ngoc Minh, Chief Executive Officer of Vietnam Airlines, and Mr Tran Long, Chief Executive Officer of Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Company, with John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer – Customers.

Read more »