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Laser strikes over Cleveland airport prompt FBI probe

The FBI has launched an investigation after pilots landing at the Cleveland airport were distracted by lasers more than two dozen times since December. The FBI announced the probe Friday and it comes after incidents on Wednesday and Thursday in which laser beams were aimed at aircraft flying into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Fox 8 Cleveland reports. Those laser strikes are believ...

Passengers can learn from A380 captain’s new crew survival guide

A trend emerging from the bookshelf targets road warriors who are desperate for tips on how to overcome jet lag, weeks on the road and dicey food choices. None, however, comes with the experience of the true road warriors – pilots – the men and women who sit in the heady air at the front of the plane surrounded by glowing computers who guide us safely through our collective journeys....

Airlines Embrace Star Wars Droids, Hobbits and Batman to Capitalize on Hollywood Ties

With its new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice campaign, Turkish Airlines becomes the latest airline to announce a high-profile Hollywood franchise brand cross-over. The airline has partnered with Warner Bros to become the official carrier sponsor of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will debut in theaters around the world starting on March 25, 2016. Turkish Airlines has announ...

Air Transat taps Lufthansa Systems for mobile navigation solution

Lufthansa Systems announced that Air Transat has opted for its Lido/mPilot mobile navigation solution and will also use the precise navigation data from the Lido/FMS database. The two companies have signed a seven-year contract for these solutions. “Using the Lido/mPilot navigation app is an important step for us in moving toward a paperless cockpit. The app’s functions and intuitiv...

Kuwait Airways retires 1,350 Kuwaiti nationals, targets profitability

Loss-making Kuwait Airways has let go of 1,350 Kuwaiti nationals during the last two years, part of a plan to cut costs and return to profit by 2019, the chief executive of the state-owned carrier told Reuters on Thursday. The airline has struggled to recover from Iraq’s 1990-91 invasion of Kuwait. Complex bureaucratic procedures have further sidelined it from the boom in Gulf aviation ov...

The Rare Case When a Woman Gives Birth In Flight

What happens to a baby if it’s born 35,000 feet in the air over the Pacific Ocean? Well, the answer isn’t so cut and dry. In fact, there isn’t even an answer that applies to every birth that happens in the skies. Most airlines set restrictions about how late into a pregnancy a woman is allowed to travel. Southwest Airlines recommends against air travel beginning the 38th...

Elon Musk has an idea for an electric plane that can take off vertically

Answering an audience question at the Hyperloop Pod competition awards ceremony at Texas A&M University earlier this week, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said of his next great idea: I have been thinking about the vertical takeoff and landing electric jet a bit more. I think I have something that might close. I’m quite tempted to do something about it. That could be something. Unli...

Hawaiian Airlines employees educate passengers on not taking lava rocks from Hawaii

Talk about going beyond the call of duty. Two Hawaiian Airlines passengers showed aloha to a family of passengers that unknowingly took a box’s worth of lava rocks and black sand from Hawaii Island with them in their carry on. Malia Mahi recounted that when the family was deplaning on Maui she noticed a piece of lava rock sticking out of a child’s backpack and politely...

British Airways flight attendants win the right to wear pants

You'd be forgiven for thinking that, in the year 2016, female flight attendants working for British Airways are allowed to wear pants. But if you thought that before Friday, you'd be wrong. Female cabin crew who have joined the airline's "mixed fleet" since 2012 have been subject to a dress code that requires a skirt, unless they applied for a waiver on medical or relig...

Massive, speedy robots ready to build composite wings for Boeing 777X

To fabricate the composite parts of the giant wings of Boeing’s 777X, Mukilteo-based engineering firm Electroimpact has designed and built a new generation of robotic machines that haven’t been previously shown to outsiders. Inside a new building just west of Paine Field in Everett, a team of young engineers recently gave outsiders the first glimpse at a technological advance critic...

Airbus in talks to delay some A320neo deliveries: sources

Airbus is renegotiating delivery schedules for its revamped A320neo jet and has told some airlines the aircraft will be delayed by around two months, industry sources said. The European planemaker missed a 2015 target for delivering the first aircraft, an upgraded fuel-saving version of its best-selling medium-haul jet, due to what it described as issues with documentation for its new Prat...

ASL Aviation Group Signs Conditional Agreement To Acquire TNT Airline Operations

ASL Aviation Group has reached agreement to acquire the airline operations of TNT Express N.V. (hereafter TNT), comprised of TNT Airways (Belgium) and Pan Air Líneas Aéreas (Spain). The agreement is conditional on the completion of the intended acquisition ofTNT, which is expected in the first half of 2016. The change of ownership and control of TNT&r...

AAC Completes First Head-of-state Boeing 787-8

Completions specialist Associated Air Center (AAC) redelivered the industry’s first head-of-state-configured Boeing 787-8 to an undisclosed customer. (In 1989, AAC completed the first head-of-state-configured 757-200 for the same customer.) AAC’s in-house team designed the interior. Its 2,404 sq ft of cabin space can accommodate 82 passengers in three cabin zones, while...

CFM claims 50-second start-up time for A320neo engine

Start-up times are not a problem for the Leap-1A engine nearing entry into service in mid-2016 for the Airbus A320neo, manufacturer CFM International says. Each of the two Leap-1A engines installed on an A320neo need 50s to spool-up after the activation sequence is started, says CFM executive vice-president Allen Paxson, speaking on a teleconference with journalists on 5 February....

Airbus Helicopters’ H145 demonstrates its ability to perform offshore missions

The twin-engine multipurpose helicopter H145 has successfully proved its operational capabilities for challenging offshore missions. During a two-day flight trial in late January the established offshore operators Wiking Helikopter Service GmbH and HTM Offshore were able to test the H145 in all the relevant fields of offshore operations. Both aviation companies collaborate closely to offer their c...

Canada mulls new UAV guidelines

Transport Canada is preparing to introduce new guidelines for the operation of unmanned air vehicles similar to those being proposed in Europe. The new regulations were first introduced in May 2015, and are considered to be more risk-based than those currently used, which only distinguish between the commercial or recreational operation of small UAVs. A consultation between May and August ga...

ANALYSIS: Changi’s T4 a jigsaw piece to a bigger picture

When Singapore’s Changi Airport announced plans for a fourth terminal in March 2012, to replace its six-year old Budget Terminal, the reception was mixed. The same sentiment lingers a year before Terminal 4 is set to begin operations, in mid-2017. Analysts question T4’s effectiveness to complement the wider Changi airport and its facilities, especially with its l...

British Airways to exit London City if charges raised

British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has warned it would consider leaving London City airport should any new owner raise service charges to cover the GBP2 billion (USD2.915 billion) asking price. In August last year, the airport's majority shareholder, Global Infrastructure Partners, put the airport up for sale with several entities - Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, Atlantia Spa, Macq...

Pulkovo-3 in Avinode TOP 5

St. Petersburg Airport in January was able to get ahead of Nice, Zurich and London Farnborough. St. Petersburg Center for Business Aviation "Pulkovo-3" (operated by "JetPort SPb") got the fifth place based on January 2016 statistics in the ranking of the most popular airports in Europe, according to Avinode. "Pulkovo-3" was able to bypass the airport of Nice, Zuric...

Suicide Bomber May Have Caused Explosion In Somali Jet

The explosion was not enough to destroy the airplane — but it reportedly sent the alleged bomber plunging toward the earth. The explosion that forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing in Somalia earlier this week may have been caused by a suicide bomber, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN and the Wall Street Journal. The Daallo Airlines airplane was scheduled t...

Poland scraps $3 billion Airbus heli deal, launches Lockheed talks: report

Poland has decided to scrap the $3 billion deal for 50 Airbus utility helicopters and will buy only a few aircraft from the European company, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday citing defense sources. The move, coming months before a NATO summit in Warsaw where Poland is expected to seek more allied presence on its territory, could strain Warsaw's ties with France and delay...