Airlines

Washington, D.C. -- Nov 5, 2009 – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, and Byron Dorgan today sponsored legislation to prohibit the use of personal wireless communication devices by the flight crew while operating commercial aircraft.

Klobuchar, an Aviation Subcommittee member, and Franken joined Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan to introduce the legislation in response to the recent Northwest Airlines incident in which pilots claimed they were distracted by working on their computers and did not respond to radio calls for 91 minutes. The plane flew 150 miles past its destination of Minneapolis-St. Paul.    » read more »

Oct. 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Data from NASA's National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) project, a survey administered to pilots in order to track safety-related incidents during air travel, should not be used to measure rates or trends in safety in the National Airspace System, says a new report from the National Research Council. Deficiencies in several aspects of the survey design make the data gathered unreliable.    » read more »

HOUSTON, Nov. 2 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today reported an October consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 82.5 percent, 3.5 points above the October 2008 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 83.0 percent, 3.5 points above the October 2008 mainline load factor. The carrier reported a domestic mainline October load factor of 85.4 percent, 2.4 points above the October 2008 domestic mainline load factor, and an international mainline load factor of 80.4 percent, 4.5 points above October 2008. All four October load factors were records for the month.

During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on-time arrival rate of 75.1 percent and a mainline segment completion factor of 99.8 percent.    » read more »

Boeing Capital Corp.'s Walt Skowronski Announces Retirement

CHICAGO, Oct. 15 -- Boeing Capital Corporation (NYSE: BA) President Walt Skowronski announced today that he will retire from the company at the end of the year.

Boeing has named Mike Cave to Skowronski's leadership role, effective Jan. 1, reporting to Corporate President and Chief Financial Officer James Bell. Beginning today, Cave will assume the role of deputy to Skowronski to ensure a smooth transition of customer and investor relationships.

Shep Hill will assume Cave's responsibilities as senior vice president of Business Development and Strategy, while retaining his role as President, Boeing International.    » read more »

Qatar Airways makes historic journey from London to Gatwick to Doha --- New Gas to Liquids fuel offers diversity of supply and better local air quality to busy airports.

12/10/2009 -- A Qatar Airways aircraft this evening completed the world’s first commercial passenger flight powered by a fuel made from natural gas.

The historic journey from London Gatwick to Doha took over six hours and was operated with an Airbus A340-600 aircraft using Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines.

Shell developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquids (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene fuel. The State of Qatar is set to become the world’s leading producer of GTL kerosene when it is put into commercial production from 2012.    » read more »

CHICAGO, Aug. 27 -- The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) today announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner is expected by the end of 2009 and first delivery is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk. The company projects achieving a production rate of 10 airplanes per month in late 2013.    » read more »

Effort encourages customers and employees to ‘Go Zero’

CINCINNATI, July 8, 2009 – Delta AirElite Business Jets announced a comprehensive effort to offset the annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of its headquarters offices in Cincinnati and a complementary initiative to help address the CO2 emissions associated with customer travel. The program was developed with The Conservation Fund, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting land and water resources.    » read more »

Airlines will offer more destinations and improved service in the US-Australia and US-South Pacific markets

Jul 08, 2009 -- ATLANTA, and BRISBANE, Australia, July 8 -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group (ASX: VBA) announced today they plan to seek regulatory approval to form a joint venture that will expand both carriers' reach between the U.S. and Australia and the South Pacific.

The alliance will allow Delta and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group to compete more effectively in those markets by collaborating on route and product planning, codesharing on their respective networks and extending frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access to customers of both airlines.    » read more »

Introduces legislation mandating airline carrier disclosure on travel websites; Legislation will require online travel websites to alert passengers if the tickets are for regional airline carriers

June 23, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced new legislation requiring online travel websites to notify customers, on the first page after they enter in a search for airline tickets, as to what carriers will be running their flight. Some travel websites already provide this information to customers when they book online, but many do not.    » read more »

EVERETT, Wash., June 23 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) today announced that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.

The need was identified during the recent regularly scheduled tests on the full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur.    » read more »

Airlines continue to send repair work abroad despite security and safety concerns

June 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week followed up on a series of Department of Transportation Inspector General reports that have exposed gaping loopholes in the security and oversight of foreign repair work on domestic, commercial aircraft.

McCaskill questioned the heads of the national and regional airline associations about the industry’s increasing outsourcing of airline maintenance, including to non-FAA certified repair facilities.    » read more »

HOUSTON, June 17 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced the results of its Jan. 7, 2009, biofuel demonstration flight, which was conducted in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell's UOP. The biofuel blend performed as well as or better than traditional jet fuel, displaying an approximately 1.1 percent increase in fuel efficiency over traditional jet fuel in different stages of the demonstration flight.

Overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions related to using a biofuel of the nature used on the Continental demonstration flight are estimated to be reduced by 60 percent to 80 percent as compared to traditional jet fuel.    » read more »

Murray Demands Halt to Illegal, Unfair Airbus Subsidies in Letter to E.U.; Calls subsidies "trade-distorting," "completely unacceptable," and "a major step in the wrong direction"

June 16, 2009 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter to Ambassador John Bruton, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the U.S, expressing deep concern over reports that Airbus is seeking $5 billion in additional launch aid from four European Union countries, and urging an end to Airbus subsidies.    » read more »

Boxer and Snowe craft legislation on NTSB recommendations, greater FAA oversight for flight safety following Buffalo commuter plane crash

June 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) today announced the One Level of Safety Act, bipartisan legislation to restore confidence in America’s commercial aviation industry by addressing a number of the issues that came to light during the recent National Transportation Safety Board hearings on the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 outside of Buffalo, New York.    » read more »

EVERETT, Wash., June 17 -- Final assembly has begun on the first Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner destined for delivery to launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan.

ANA and Boeing launched the 787 program with a firm order for 50 of the all-new composite jetliner. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

Boeing and ANA celebrated the occasion with a traditional "Kagami wari" ceremony, the breaking open of a wooden "Taru" (sake barrel) lid with wooden mallets.    » read more »