Airlines

ExpressJet to Operate 22 Aircraft as Replacement Flying for United Express

November 16, 2009 -- CHICAGO, Nov. 16, 2009 – UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA), the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, today announced that ExpressJet Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: XJT) will operate 22 ERJ-145 aircraft under the United Express brand.

This new flying, which will begin on May 1, 2010, will replace flying previously done by other United Express partner carriers whose contracts have expired and is consistent with the 2010 capacity outlook United provided in its third quarter earnings conference call.    » read more »

EVERETT, Wash., Nov. 16 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) has completed installing reinforcements within the side-of-body section of two more 787 Dreamliners.

Over the weekend, employees at Boeing's facility in Everett, Wash., finished reinforcing the full-scale static test airframe and the second Dreamliner designated for flight test. Installations were completed Nov. 11 on the first flight-test airplane.

The modification entails installing new fittings at 34 stringer locations within the joint where the wing is attached to the fuselage.    » read more »

System Traffic Down 4.1 Percent from August 2008

November 13, 2009 - The number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines in August 2009 declined by 4.1 percent from August 2008, dropping by 2.8 million to 65.0 million, the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today reported . August was the 17th consecutive month with a decrease in passengers from the prior year .

BTS, a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, in a release of preliminary data, reported that U.S. airlines carried 4.1 percent fewer domestic passengers than in August 2008. International passengers on U.S. carriers decreased 4.5 percent .    » read more »

November 9, 2009 -- Flights operated by the nation’s largest airlines arrived on time at a higher rate this past September than in either September of last year or in August 2009, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 86.2 percent in September, higher than both September 2008’s 84.9 percent and August 2009’s 79.7 percent.    » read more »

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 »