Virgin Atlantic today welcomed the announcement by the European commission that it is to open an investigation into the proposed BA/American Airlines alliace with Iberia. BA and AA recently applied for permission to fix prices and schedules on routes across the Atlantic. Steve Ridgway chief executive of Virgin Atlantic said: “The European Commission have rightly begun an investigation, under their own initiative, because they understand that consumers will be worse off if this alliance proceeds. The proposals would create a monster monopoly, which would mean that BA/AA and Iberia would be way too dominant on key routes into and out of Heathrow airport.

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Stefan Schaffrath (41) has been appointed new Head of Media Relations at Airbus S.A.S., effective 1 September 2008. In this position he will be responsible for the management and coordination of the Airbus’ press activities worldwide and act as the company’s spokesperson. Maggie Bergsma (42) is appointed as his Deputy. Stefan Schaffrath and Maggie Bergsma will report to Rainer Ohler, Senior Vice President Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. Stefan Schaffrath joined Airbus in July 2007 as Deputy to the Vice President Media Relations. Before joining Airbus he held several positions at Lufthansa in the Corporate Communications, Corporate Politics and Corporate Environmental Issues departments. Stefan Schaffrath started his professional career in 1993 and holds a Master of Science degree in Geophysics.

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Grupo Marsans, Spain’s largest tourism and transport group, has taken delivery of its first directly purchased Airbus A330-200 aircraft for its subsidiary Air Comet. The aircraft was formally handed over to Gonzalo Pascual, President of Grupo Marsans and Ignacio Pascual, CEO of Air Comet, in a ceremony held in Toulouse attended by Rafael Alonso, Senior Vice President Latin America, Carribean & Spain, Customer Affairs. The delivery is the first aircraft from an agreement for a total of 17 A330-200 ordered in December 2006. The aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, has 283 seats in a two-class configuration, offering business-class lie-flat and highly comfortable economy class seats. The A330-200 will become Air Comet’s backbone aircraft offering daily services to main destinations from Spain to Latin America.

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No matter where they are in New Zealand, air travellers with a cell phone can now txt any arrival or departure flight number to 8808 and receive instant arrival and departure flight information - including delays and cancellations. FlightCHECK, a new txt-based flight checking service is launched today. To use this exciting new service, you simply txt your flight number to 8808. Web users can also search for flight numbers or look at all New Zealand airports’ departures and arrivals online at http://FlightCHECK.co.nz The FlightCHECK software has been designed and developed by Kiwi company YouTXT Ltd, to offer travellers (as well as meeters and greeters) real-time domestic and international flight information. Powered by the most comprehensive flight information service in the world, FlightCHECK is an anytime, anywhere information service available to air travellers from Auckland Airport to Stewart Island.

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SEATTLE, August 28, 2008-Japanese artist Toshiro Sawanuki is renowned for his inspiring paintings of peaceful planets in an infinitely diverse universe. His images reflect the artist’s devotion to humanity, harmony and joy. Harmony of the Universe: The Art of Toshiro Sawanuki is an exhibition of 30 paintings on view in The Museum’s Great Gallery beginning Saturday, Sept. 20. The exhibit runs until Jan. 4, 2009. This is Sawanuki’s first major exhibition in the United States. Sawanuki’s quiet, tender personality and his strong desire for peace enable him to capture the silence, purity and depth of the universe’s vastness. The depth and perspective of his space works project an overwhelming power and dynamism.

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SEATTLE, August 27, 2008-Capt. Arieh Oz was one of the pilots during the 1976 raid to save Israeli and Jewish hostages held by pro-Palestinian terrorists at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. In 1991, Oz piloted an El Al 747 that carried the largest number of passengers ever put on a single plane-1,087-during Operation Solomon, a 36 hour rescue mission that transported over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Capt. Oz visits The Museum of Flight on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. in the William M. Allen Theater to talk about his experiences of being a pilot during some of Israel’s most important and daring humanitarian missions. The program is free with Museum admission.

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Zurich/Newcastle, August 29, 2008 – Swissport International, the world’s leading provider of ground handling services for the air transport sector, and Tina Barbour, CEO of Swissport/Groundstar UK, are to part company by mutual agreement as of 31st August 2008. Mark Faulkner, who is currently general manager of Amey-Colas, will assume overall responsibility for Swissport UK’s ground handling activities on September 1. Tina Barbour has led Swissport’s UK Ground handling business as Chief Executive Officer since June 2005 and prior to that she was the Operations Director from 2002. During her tenure, Swissport/Groundstar UK has been particularly successful in developing strong relationships with several leading UK carriers, including those in the rapidly growing low-cost sector. Swissport thanks Tina Barbour for her dedication and all that she had achieved throughout the past seven years and offers her every good wish for her professional and personal future.

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In September and October Lufthansa is inviting its First and Business Class passengers on a culinary journey through the realm of haute cuisine. For eight weeks, Lufthansa Star Chef Alfred Friedrich will be offering passengers on long-haul flights from Germany a modern take on French-Mediterranean delicacies. His creations for First Class include terrine of braised Provençal vegetables with tapenade and fillet of pike perch wrapped in Savoy cabbage on celery puree with apple jus. In Business Class, passengers will be offered a range of specialities, including fillet of smoked salmon with artichokes in pine nut vinaigrette and braised halibut in tarragon stock with root vegetables. Alfred Friedrich originally hails from Austria. After a period as chef de cuisine at the Residenz Heinz Winkler restaurant in Aschau in the Chiemgau region of Upper Bavaria, he moved to Frankfurt, becoming chef de cuisine at Zarges, a gourmet establishment in the famous, restaurant-lined street known as “in der Fressgass”. Initially founded in 1959 as a butcher’s shop, Zarges is still run as a family business. The gourmet restaurant, bistro, bar, café and butcher’s shop, all in the French 18th-century style, now extend over three floors.

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SAVANNAH, Ga., August 29, 2008 – Gulfstream Aerospace has named Matt Huhn scheduling director, Product Support. In this newly created position, Huhn is responsible for scheduling service center activities at 12 sites: five Gulfstream Service Centers in the United States, one Gulfstream Service Center the United Kingdom and six General Dynamics Aviation Services facilities, all of which are in the United States. Huhn has 15 years of aviation experience. He previously served as business sales manager for the Gulfstream Service Center in Dallas. Prior to that, he was based in the Seattle area as a regional sales manager for Gulfstream and General Dynamics Aviation Services Product Support sales. He also was a service team manager for the Appleton, Wis., Gulfstream facility.

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TACA will use the aircraft on several routes in the Caribbean and Central America São José dos Campos, August 29, 2008 – Embraer delivered the first EMBRAER 190, today, to TACA Airlines, from El Salvador. The deal was announced last October, and the aircraft will be used on several routes in the Caribbean and Central America. TACA has a total of 11 firm orders for the EMBRAER 190, with options to purchase another 15. “We are especially proud to deliver the first aircraft to one of the most important and fastest growing airlines in Latin America,” said Mauro Kern, Embraer Executive Vice President, Airline Market. “We are certain that the EMBRAER 190 is the right airplane for TACA’s expansion on the continent, providing the right capacity for midsize markets, where TACA is growing very quickly.”

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São José dos Campos, August 29, 2008 – Embraer delivered, last Thursday, the first of five EMBRAER 190 jets to China’s Kunpeng Airlines Co. Ltd., one of the largest operators on the Chinese regional aviation market. In July 2008, during the 46th Farnborough Airshow, in the U.K, Embraer announced a firm order for five EMBRAER 190 jets by Kunpeng. “We are very glad to see our EMBRAER 190 serving more Chinese passengers through the reliable operation of Kunpeng Airlines,” said Mauro Kern, Embraer Executive Vice President, Airline Market. “We believe that the EMBRAER 190, with its superior performance, economics and comfort, will meet our Chinese customer’s fleet needs, and contribute to its growth plans and success.”

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Qantas welcomed the release today by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) of its preliminary investigation report into the depressurisation incident and diversion to Manila of the B747-400 operating QF30 on 25 July 2008. The report indicates that one of the aircraft’s 13 passenger oxygen system cylinders failed and that while the fuselage and some flight systems sustained damage, the aircraft continued to operate safely and landed in Manila without further incident. The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said the preliminary report was a factual account of the incident and investigation to date.

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Qantas announced today it would grow its North American network with the commencement of expanded codeshare relationships with US carriers Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Qantas Group General Manager Sales and Distribution, Mr Rob Gurney, said the airline would codeshare on Horizon Air services between Los Angeles and Flagstaff (Arizona), Boise (Idaho), Reno (Nevada), and Alaska Airlines services between Honolulu and Seattle (Washington) and Anchorage (Alaska). “North America remains a key market for Qantas that continues to grow and we are always looking at opportunities to expand our network. We recently added new codeshare destinations operated by American Airlines from Los Angeles to Austin, Nashville, San Jose, Fresno, Santa Barbara and Monterey,” Mr Gurney said.

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The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (HKCAD) signed an enhanced memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the maintenance of aircraft today. This agreement is an expansion of the MOU signed in December 2004 that allowed for both civil aviation authorities to recognise each other’s approvals given to maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies to maintain components of aircraft registered in the country, without the need to obtain separate approval. Today’s enhancement includes the recognition of maintenance of aircraft and engines, in addition to aircraft components.

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Zoom Airlines, the low-cost transatlantic carrier, today announced that it has suspended operations with immediate effect. All flights have been cancelled and passengers are being advised to seek bookings with alternative airlines. Zoom said that the unprecedented rise in the price of aviation fuel which resulted in a $50 million increase in operating costs during the last year and the general economic downturn had made it impossible for operations to continue. Zoom Airlines comprises Zoom Airlines Inc, based in Canada, and Zoom Airlines Ltd, based at Gatwick. Earlier today both companies began administration proceedings. The airline employs 450 staff in Canada and 260 staff in the UK and operated flights from six UK airports, London Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast, Cardiff as well as Paris and Rome. It flew to eight destinations in Canada, New York, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and Bermuda. Hugh and John Boyle, the founders of Zoom, said today: “We deeply regret the fact that we have been forced to suspend all Zoom operations. It is a tragic day for our passengers and more than 600 staff.

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Establishing a passenger terminal in the airport’s cargo area will seriously impair conditions for the growing cargo traffic in the south-eastern area which has been developed especially for that purpose. That is Copenhagen Airport’s conclusion after a meeting held today with the investor group behind the proposed project of building an alternative low-cost terminal. Copenhagen Airports A/S has for some time been asking the investor group to specify the plans enough for it to determine whether it would warrant further consideration. “After the meeting today, I must say that the proposed project is just not good enough. It could very well be highly profitable for the investors – in the same way as if I was able to force through a plan of setting up a platform of my own in the Copenhagen central railway station or my own grand stand in the “Parken” national stadium. But as the proposed project does not at all fit in with the overall plan for the airport, going ahead with the proposed project would lead to poor transport conditions for passengers, a sharp deterioration of conditions for cargo traffic at the airport and a number of unsolved operational and capacity problems within the airport area,” said Brian Petersen, CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S.

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PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has climbed out of the large crater that it had been examining from the inside since last September. “The rover is back on flat ground,” an engineer who drives it, Paolo Bellutta of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, announced to the mission’s international team of scientists and engineers. Opportunity used its own entry tracks from nearly a year ago as the path for a drive of 6.8 meters (22 feet) bringing the rover out over the top of the inner slope and through a sand ripple at the lip of Victoria Crater. The exit drive, conducted late Thursday, completed a series of drives covering 50 meters (164 feet) since the rover team decided about a month ago that it had completed its scientific investigations inside the crater.

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TUCSON, Ariz. — NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, having completed its 90-day primary mission, is continuing its science collection activities. Science and engineering teams are looking forward to at least another month of Martian exploration. Due to the spacecraft’s sufficient power and experiment capacity, NASA announced on July 31 that the mission would continue operations through Sept. 30. Once the lander finishes collecting science data, the mission teams will continue the analysis of the measurements and observations. “We have been successful beyond my wildest dreams, and we’re not done yet learning from Mars about its secrets,” said Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

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CANOGA PARK, Calif., Aug. 29, 2008 – Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company, will help scientists map, measure and monitor the environment by boosting the next-generation GeoEye-1 commercial satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sept. 4. GeoEye-1 will be onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, procured by Boeing Launch Services, which will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s RS-27A engine. It will be the 224th flight boosted by the RS-27 family of engines. GeoEye-1 will have .41-meter resolution (in the panchromatic mode), which is the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system in the world. The satellite is designed to map natural and man-made features to within three meters of their actual location on Earth without ground control points. This degree of accuracy has never been achieved in a commercial image system, and may be applied to everything from national and homeland security, to natural resource and environmental monitoring.

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Royal Air Force Search and Rescue crews from 202 Squadron based at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, are featured in RAF Rescue; a new eight part television series starting Thursday 4th September at 23:10 on ITV Border. RAF Rescue was filmed over the spring and summer of this year and focuses on all aspects of ‘A’ Flight’s Search and Rescue team who keep the iconic yellow Sea kings in the air performing numerous rescues each year. From pilots to ground crew, to the winchmen who precariously dangle hundreds of feet below the helicopter; RAF Rescue follows all their efforts around the clock as they carry out life-saving missions.

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As her 17th birthday approaches, Air Cadet Sally Cluley is preparing to become Britain’s youngest qualified pilot after passing her General Flying Test and qualifying for her Private Pilots Licence (PPL) at the POM flying school in Humberside yesterday, Thursday 28 August 2008. Sally, still a month short of her 17th birthday, will have to wait until her birthday, 28 September 2008, before she can officially claim the title and she hopes to receive her licence on her big day. A member of 1947 Squadron, based at Birstall in Leicester, for two years, Sally passed her General Flying Test in a Piper Cherokee aircraft. The Air Training Corps is a military-based youth organisation parented by the Royal Air Force, providing a variety of opportunities for young people aged 13 to 20. Activities include flying, gliding, target shooting, leadership, adventure training, aviation studies and general military training. The Squadron also participates in many weekend camps on both RAF stations and at military training facilities.

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Veterans Minister Derek Twigg has expressed his sadness at the death of Gladys Powers, who may have been the world’s last female First World War (WW1) veteran. Mrs Powers was born in Lewisham, and died aged 109 in British Columbia, Canada, on 14 August. She emigrated from the UK shortly after the end of WW1 and lived the majority of her life as a Canadian citizen. Her funeral in Canada is today. In her memoirs Mrs Powers refers to her having served with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and later the Women’s Royal Air Force. This could make her the last female veteran from any country to have served during the First World War. However all but a few of the Service records of the women who served during World War One were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940, making it impossible to formally confirm her time in the military.

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This week the Royal Air Force held the first combined flight safety meeting at the Basrah International Airport, which is becoming a significant transport hub for Iraq’s second city. The meeting, that was hosted by the Group Captain Dean Andrew, the Commanding Officer of 903 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW), brought together a host of key Iraqi Air Force and Basrah International Airport management to develop a strategy to bring the airport flight safety into line with international standards. “This meeting was a real mile stone in the ongoing development of Basrah International Airport into a fully functioning commercial hub. This is a small, but significant step will enhance the attraction of Southern Iraq to investors from all over the world allowing commerce and reconstruction to flourish,” said Group Captain Andrew.

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WINNIPEG – 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S. will play host to Operation Alouette Mobile during the month of September, which will involve the deployment of CF-18 fighter aircraft and some 250 personnel from 3 Wing Bagotville, Que. The deployment is taking place to allow for runway construction at 3 Wing Bagotville, a main operating base for CF-18 aircraft. The base has an important NORAD mandate, which has men and women on alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The deployed contingent will still be required to maintain their NORAD commitments during the exercise.

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On Aug. 7, 2008, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced the Government’s plan to fulfill the recommendations and conditions of the “Manley Report,” one of which was to secure high performance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) before February 2009. The plan includes:

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