Billion Dollar News Capsules

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Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has achieved Platinum Airport status from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for adopting 100% bar coded boarding passes (BCBP). ADAC is the first major airport in the Middle East to receive the Platinum Airport status. The aviation industry has set a target of converting to 100% BCBP by the end of 2010, and Abu Dhabi International Airport has adopted the system six months ahead of schedule. The 2D bar coded boarding pass at Abu Dhabi International Airport offers an alternative solution to queuing at the check-in desks, as passengers are now able to get their boarding passes online or at the digital kiosks at the airport. This development provides passengers with more flexible and convenient services, enhancing their travel experience at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Australian carrier Virgin Blue is to quit the New Zealand market after racking up huge losses since its Pacific Blue subsidiary began flying there in 2007.

Aéroports de Paris traffic increased by 3.1% in July 2010 compared with July 2009. Paris airports handled a total of 8.5 million passengers divided up between 5.9 million for Paris-Charles de Gaulle (+3.2%) and 2.6 million for Paris-Orly (+2.8%).

Airports of Thailand reported a higher-than-expected net loss in the third-quarter  due mainly to foreign exchange losses and weak air travel demand during a period of civil unrest. Majority state-owned AOT, which runs six airports, said in a statement it made a net loss of THB516.2 million baht (USD$16.2 million) in the April-June quarter, versus THB1.31 billion net profit a year earlier.

Air Berlin will join oneworld, adding Europe’s fifth largest airline and Germany’s second biggest carrier to the world’s leading quality airline alliance. Air Berlin group member Austria’s NIKI will become an affiliate member of the alliance. A memorandum of understanding between Air Berlin and oneworld was completed in the airline’s Berlin home city, with a formal alliance.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is looking to build airports overseas spurred by the success of private infrastructure companies and also by the need to expand its footprint, the. State-owned AAI is the largest owner and operator of airports within in India but now, it has expressed interest in modernising a small airport at Palali in Sri Lanka and plans to identify other similar projects in neighbouring countries. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is concerned that the rudder control system of A300/A310 as well as A320-family aircraft are susceptible to potentially hazardous rudder pedal inputs at high airspeeds. The US air accident investigation authority sent safety recommendations to EASA. including the possible modification of existing aircraft and introduction of certification standards regarding yaw sensitivity to rudder pedal inputs.

Avmax International has bought two BAe146-200 aircraft from BAE Systems. The aircraft have been delivered to its airline affiliate Regional 1. The regional carrier provides charter and ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, insurance) services both within Canada and internationally with its fleet of turboprop and jet aircraft.

Air Finland has selected Monarch Aircraft Engineering (MAEL) to provide line maintenance at London’s Gatwick and Luton airports as well as Birmingham and Manchester. The two companies have been working together since 2006. MAEL provides line maintenance at destinations in Spain and has also completed base maintenance work at its Luton facility. The Helsinki Vantaa-based leisure carrier operates three 757-200s.

Air Arabia has selected Thales to supply some avionics for 44 ordered A320s, including the flight management system (FMS) and traffic, terrain and transponder collision avoidance system (T3CAS). The ‘TopFlight’ FMS will have the release 1A software version, which allows certain required navigation performance (RNP) approaches and features a GPS-based landing system.

Air Arabia said net profit for the second-quarter fell 44 percent, hit by declining yields and higher fuel prices.Air Arabia made a net profit of AED50 million dirhams (USD$13.61 million), down from AED90 million in the second quarter of 2009, the company said. Turnover increased by 6 percent to AED485 million, while passenger numbers were up 11 percent to 1.1 million in the period. Average seat load factor increased by 4 percentage points to 82 percent, against the year-ago period.

Air Canada reported a second-quarter loss, hurt by higher operating expenses, and said it expects third-quarter cost per available seat mile (CASM), excluding fuel expense, to decline. Canada's largest airline plans to increase its third-quarter system available seat miles capacity by 7 percent to 8 percent. It expects CASM, excluding fuel expense, to drop from 2009 levels by 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent. For the second quarter, net loss was CAD$203 million (USD$199.6 million), compared with net income of CAD$155 million a year ago.

Air France-KLM traffic both the passenger and cargo businesses continued in July, both in terms of traffic and unit revenues. This improvement reflects both an upturn in demand as well as prudent capacity management. Passenger business Traffic rose by 1.2% in July with stable capacity, leading to a 1.1 points increase in load factor to 86.2%. Passenger numbers amounted to 6.9 million. Traffic rose 1.7% with capacity reduced by 2.1%. The load factor gained 2.4 points to 66.2%. Unit revenues per available tonne kilometer (RATK) rose strongly relative to July 2009.

AerCap has signed debt facility agreements totalling $108m. One of the facilities is for the financing of an A330-300 and is provided by KfW IPEX Bank, and the other facility covers the refinancing of an A320-200 and is provided by BNP Paribas. Both facilities have a term of 10 years. AerCap has now closed $835m of new debt in 2010 which brings the total amount of debt accessed by the company over roughly two years to $5.8bn.

Airbus expects to receive an order for 20 to 30 new aircraft in the coming days, the plane maker's chief executive Tom Enders said, it clearly looks like the aviation industry is recovering now after its worst downturn in decades. Airbus pronounced the recession over after unveiling net new orders for 130 planes worth over USD$13 billion.

American Airlines adds "travel guide"  by releasing the first version of its iPhone application. The free app for iPhone and iPod Touch offers customers a new way to stay connected with the airline while they are traveling. It is the latest in a series of technology enhancements from American to improve customer service and give customers more control of their travel experience.

AVISA, one of the world’s leading airworthiness experts has been signed up by easyJet to deliver specialist training to the airline’s engineering and maintenance staff. AVISA training experts delivered a series of courses to around 100 engineering staff, covering all aspects of European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) regulations governing international airworthiness, without which airline operators cannot fly. The series of courses, delivered at easyJet’s headquarters in Luton UK, covered essential Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO) regulations and how to implement them.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. reported second quarter 2010 net income of $58.6 million, or $1.60 per diluted share, compared to net income of $29.1 million, or $0.79 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2009. Excluding mark-to-market fuel hedge losses of $37.6 million ($23.3 million after tax or $0.63 per diluted share) and CRJ-700 transition charges of $3.4 million ($2.1 million after tax or $0.06 per diluted share), the company reported net income of $84.0 million, or $2.29 per diluted share, compared to net income of $26.5 million, or $0.72 per share, excluding special items in the second quarter of 2009.

AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, Inc.,  reported a net loss of $10.7 million for the second quarter of 2010, or $0.03 per share, compared to a net loss of $390 million, or $1.39 per share, in the second quarter of 2009. These results include the impact of significantly higher fuel prices compared to the year-ago quarter. Including the impact of fuel hedging, AMR paid nearly $334 million more for jet fuel in the second quarter, at an average of $2.37 per gallon, than it would have paid at prices prevailing during the second quarter of 2009, when it paid $1.90 per gallon. The second quarter 2009 results included the impact of approximately $70 million in non-recurring charges related to the sale of certain aircraft and the grounding of leased Airbus A300 aircraft prior to lease expiration. Excluding those non-recurring charges, the second quarter 2009 loss was $319 million, or $1.14 per share.

Air Lease Corporation, having secured USD3.3 billion in financing since its launch, continued its ordering spree. After announcing firm orders for 51 A320 family aircraft on the first day of the show, the company followed it up with an order for 54 B737NGs, as well as six options. ALC has also stretched its interest into regional aircraft. It announced an LoI with Embraer for 15 E190s, as well as five options. It followed this up with an order with ATR for 10 ATR 72-600 turboprops and ten additional options.

Aviation Lease and Finance (Alafco) Kuwait's posted a 47 percent fall in net profit in the third quarter of its fiscal year. Net income in the three months to June 30 fell to KWD2.74 million dinars (USD$9.42 million), from KWD5.13 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said. The aircraft leasing company made a profit of KWD7.76 million in the first nine months of its fiscal year, down 6.6 percent from a year earlier.Alafco said nine-month earnings per share fell to 10.45 fils, from 11.19 fils a year earlier. There are 1,000 fils to the dinar.The company's fiscal year starts in October.

Air China announced that it would buy 20 Boeing 737-800s for USD$1.4 billion.The planes, which will be delivered between 2013 and 2015, will boost Air China's fleet capacity by about 5 percent from December 2009, based on available tonne kilometres, allowing it to increase the frequency of flights, the carrier said.

Alaska Airlines is demonstrating the emissions-saving potential of next-generation flight procedures during a series of test flights. It is now seeking FAA approval for the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures, which are based on satellite guidance technology. RNP could ultimately be used by all properly equipped carriers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), where the trials are taking place.

AirAsia, has appointed Sutherland Global Services to establish a world class customer centre to service important guests from the growing Indian market. Sutherland will provide these services from their state-of-the-art center in Chennai.

Airbus is leaning towards a decision to upgrade its narrow-body aircraft, its main source of revenue, with new engines and expects Boeing will follow suit, according to sales chief John Leahy.

Avolon, the aircraft leasing group, acquired two Airbus A320 aircraft from Air Berlin, Germany. The aircraft were acquired under a sale and lease-back structure and will continue to be operated by Swiss-based carrier Belair, a subsidiary airline of Air Berlin.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released Abu Dhabi International Airport’s traffic figures for the first six months of 2010, which showed a strong increase of 11.7% in passenger traffic, when compared to the same period last year.

Airbus has delivered Singapore Airlines’ 11th A380 and Lufthansa’s second A380  taking the A380 in-service fleet to 33 aircraft. These deliveries bring the year’s A380 deliveries by mid-July to 10 putting Airbus well on track to meet its full year’s target of at least 20.

Alitalia has received its first new Airbus A330-200 aircraft from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France. The aircraft is configured in a high comfort three class layout and is the first Alitalia aircraft to feature the new premium economy “Classica Plus” class and a completely updated “Magnifica” business class.

Austrian Airlines has opted for Lufthansa Systems' Lido/RouteManual navigation charts and has also implemented the electronic version, Lido/eRouteManual for flight preparation. The recently-signed five-year contract also covers the use of the Lido/FMS (flight management system) data.

Air Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa’s first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC), announced  the start of its direct services from its latest hub in Alexandria, Egypt, to the UAE’s Capital Abu Dhabi.  Inaugural ceremony held at Abu Dhabi International airport included officials from Egypt and the UAE as well as representatives from Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) and the airline’s management.

Airbus’ sister company Eurocopter will develop and produce all passenger and cargo doors for the A350XWB. The contract has an estimated value of €1.5bn. The work will be done at the Donauwörth facility of the Franco-German-Spanish helicopter consortium in southwest Germany.

Air China is in talks to buy wide-bodied jets from Airbus and Boeing, including A350 and 787 jets, to revamp its fleet. The ongoing negotiations with Airbus and Boeing also cover the exchange of Air China's used jets for new ones, the source said.

Airbus has won an order worth more than EUR€2 billion (USD$2.5 billion) to deliver A330 planes to Russian airline Aeroflot, according to reliable sources.

Aviastar-TU has asked Lufthansa Consulting (LCG) for assistance to enable the company to fulfill the requirements of the EU ETS directive coming into effect from 2012. As Aviastar-TU operates most of its flights to the EU, it is affected by the new regulations. The airline aims to establish a status of compliance with the EU ETS and define which actions have to be taken to be well-prepared, in particular, for passing the verification audit at the end of this year/beginning of 2011. Lufthansa Consulting reviewed the monitoring plans submitted by Aviastar-TU as well as the operations manuals and the relevant organizational charts.

Auckland Airport, New Zealand's main international gateway said it would further defer the building of a second runway. It said it planned to use the existing main runway more efficiently, and that would cope with the expected growth in traffic, although a second runway would be needed in the longer term.

Auckland International Airport reportedly will invest NZ$27.7 million to buy a 25 per cent stake in Queenstown Airport.  Auckland also will have an option to raise its stake to 35 per cent, it said in a statement sent to the stock exchange. Queenstown Airport currently has NZ's fourth-largest number of international visitors.

Air France plans to slash more than 4,000 ground and admin staff jobs by 2013 as a result of financial problems caused by the global economic downturn. Unions have reacted angrily. Air France-KLM employs 103,000 staff and in the year to the end of March declared a loss of EUR1.3 billion.

Alitalia has joined the European Air France KLM Group - USA Delta Air Lines’ alliance. Through the four-way US10 billion a year alliance, passengers now have access to almost 250 transatlantic flights and approximately 55,000 seats each day.

Atlant-Soyuz Airlines launched additional Saturday flight on the route Moscow – Tivat – Moscow. Before this, the airline provided the scheduled air service to Montenegro twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The airline provides the air service from Vnukovo International Airport.

AirAsia will launch a hi-tech user-friendly booking system. The new system will allow the airline to book up to almost 1 million flights a day. The new system is powered by Navitaire, a subsidiary of industry-leading technology and business solutions provider, Accenture.

Aeroflot has posted its results for 2009 showing its net profit has more than tripled, to US$86 million. This is below the $100 million that chief executive officer, Vitaly Savelyev forecast in April, but still a surprising result considering that the full revenue fell 27 per cent.

Asur, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, said in a statement that Copenhagen Airports had agreed to sell its 49 percent in Inversionesy Tecnicas Aeroportuarias (ITA) to Asur Chairman Fernando Chico Pardo. ITA holds about 7.65 percent of Asur's stock.

Air India will add South Korea’s capital city Seoul to its family of routes this summer. The airline will deploy a wide-body B-777 aircraft to fly passengers- four times a week- between the two cities, via Hong Kong from August 1, 2010. In addition, the airlines, has announced the launch of its direct daily flights from Melbourne to Delhi from late October/early November this year. The service also marks the recommencement of Air India’s services to Australia after nearly a decade.

All Nippon Airways said it would buy 15 jets from Mitsubishi Aircraft for about JPY¥69.2 billion (USD$763 million), in a boost to Japan's fledgling project to enter the regional jet market. Mitsubishi Aircraft is stepping up efforts to attract more customers for its MRJ jets, Japan's first domestically developed passenger aircraft, which will compete against Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer's regional jet series.

Aegean Airlines was accepted into the Star Alliance network as the 28th member. Theodore Vassilakis, Chairman of Aegean Airlines said: “Joining Star Alliance is an honour and a great opportunity for Aegean. As of today our customers will enjoy recognition, loyalty benefits and end-on-end global service that Star Alliance is renowned for. At the same time, there will be a ‘star’ on the map, showing that services and access to Greece have been significantly upgraded.”

American Airlines customers departing from London Heathrow (LHR), Colorado Springs (COS), San Jose (SJC) and Washington Reagan (DCA) can now save time and paper by choosing to receive boarding passes electronically on their mobile phones or smartphones. Mobile boarding passes, which use a two-dimensional (2-D) barcode, were rolled out in partnership with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2008 and are currently available to travelers departing on American Airlines and American Eagle flights from 42 airports.

Air India seems to be backing down on its plans to transfer its India-USA flights currently operating via Frankfurt to another European hub. Instead, the carrier is to offer more direct non-stop flights between the two continents, reducing the needs for a European transfer hub. A new integrated terminal, T3, is completed at Delhi International Airport, and Air India will utilize the new facilities to open up more direct non-stop intercontinental flights to Europe, USA, and Australia from the coming winter program.

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national carrier ,which connects Delhi to Almaty is now looking at catering to the MICE and leisure segment of the India outbound basket. Presently, the two segments form 2-3 per cent of the airline’s operations in India, and it has plans to increase this share to 8-10 per cent by the year end. In addition, Air Astana is also looking at increasing the flight frequency on the Delhi-Almaty route to four flights per week from the present three by early next year.

Air China has announced its order for 20 737-800NG aircraft from Boeing. It is thought the deal is worth about $1.4bn to the manufacturer, which is due to start delivery of the aircraft in 2013. The order will be used to expand the airline’s fleet and to meet growing air transport demand in the country. Boeing announced in June that it will increase production rates on the 737NG programme to 35 aircraft per month in 2012. The 737NG family has more than 2,000 unfilled orders from customers around the world.

AirBaltic, the Latvian carrier ,continues its network growth in 2010 by adding yet another new route between Latvia and Sweden. The new route from Riga Airport adds Luleaa Kallax Airport in Northern Sweden, offering three weekly rotations with Fokker 50 aircraft.

Ak Bars Aero, the fourth airline in Russia to operate the CRJ200 aircraft, has now taken delivery of its fifth aircraft. All aircraft are acquired on a leasing contract with Magpie Aviation Leasing and Bank of Scotland.

ACI Asia-Pacific is once again launching the ACI Asia-Pacific Young Executive of the Year Award for the year 2011. The award is now open for application.  The ACI Asia-Pacific Young Executive of the Year Award was first introduced in 2009 with overwhelming responses across the region. The award is the first and only award in the Asia-Pacific region which honors the young airport executives who show strong passion for the aviation industry and propose innovative ideas to address the most pressing issues that the industry is facing today.

Aviation Lease and Finance (Alafco) of Kuwait said it agreed to lease seven Boeing aircraft to Ethiopian Airlines, China's Okay Airways and Russia's Transaero Airlines. Ethiopian Airlines and Okay Airways will each lease three new Boeing 737-800 aircraft for 96 months, Alafco said in a statement. The market price of each aircraft is USD$77 million, the firm said.

Air France-KLM posted a strong rise in unit revenue in the month as growth in both passenger and cargo activity outpaced capacity, which had deliberately been held down during the recession.
Air Berlin's fare yields fell for a third consecutive month as European airlines struggle to emerge from the industry's worst downturn in decades. Yields were down 9.3 percent in June compared with a year earlier, Germany's second-biggest airline after Lufthansa said on Wednesday.

Al Ain, UAE Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) welcomed senior government officials and trade delegations to Al Ain International Airport where Oman Air showcased one of its new Airbus A330-200, after having established its Muscat – Al Ain route in May this year. The new two class A330-200 offers Economy and Business Class cabins. Both are fitted with brand new seats that offer more space, greater comfort, fantastic in-flight entertainment options, and the very latest in communications technology.

Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity data for its members in May 2010, along with a projection for June. The May figures continued to be somewhat affected by the Icelandic volcanic eruption as localised airspace closures were imposed in the UK, Ireland and parts of Portugal, Spain, Southern France and Northern Italy.  In all, the number of flights cancelled was about 10,000 – one-tenth the figure for the extended closures in April. Overall passenger traffic (RPK) was up 4.3% over May 2009, which at -8.2% had been one of the most deeply-depressed periods of the 2008-9 downturn.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released its monthly traffic report, which showed a 12.2% increase in passenger traffic for the month of May 2010, compared to the same month last year. Cargo movements showed a strong 19.4% increase for the same period, while the airport recorded a 12.4% lift in aircraft movements. The top five destinations together recorded a passenger total of 159,609, or 19.2% of all passengers travelling through Abu Dhabi International Airport. Manila took the top spot for the first time, followed by London in second place and Doha in third. Bangkok, affected by the recent political unrest, dropped to fourth place, leaving Bahrain in fifth place.

Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa in association with Global Destinations, organized an experiential visit to Africa for some of their key business partners in India. The FAM trip covered Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Park, the world renowned reserves in Africa.

AirAsia the World’s Best Low Cost Airline announced the launch of services from Hyderabad from July 20, 2010. The launch is also supplemented by an exclusive offer for the local market that provides seats for an amazing low fare.

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) show continued growth in both passenger and freight traffic for the month of May, Asia Pacific-based airlines carried a total of 14.6 million international passengers in May, 17.6% more compared to the same month last year. International passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), grew by 14.6%. With a 3.3% expansion in capacity, the average international passenger load factor increased by 7.3 percentage points to 74.6%.

AirAsia X, Malaysian budget long-haul carrier, plans to launch an initial public offering in the second half of 2011 to tap public funds for growth.

AirBaltic has increased its Dublin services from four to nine flights per week, with 5 flights per week to Riga (Latvia) and 4 to Vilnius (Lithuania).  All flights utilise B737 aircraft with up to 1200 kgs capacity, and late evening departures combine with early morning arrivals and fast connections to provide agents with next day deliveries throughout many European destinations.

Aircastle, the aircraft leasing company has secured $530m in debt financing from the European Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) and $250m from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). Debt financing from the ECAs will support the acquisition of seven new A330s; two new A330-200Fs scheduled for delivery to an affiliate of HNA, the parent company of Hainan Airlines; and five new A330-200 passenger aircraft, which are scheduled for delivery to South African Airways (SAA) during 2011.

AirBaltic, the Latvian national airline has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the TAV Airports Holding A.S. as a Joint Venture partner on a 50:50 shareholding basis for the development, construction and operation of a new passenger terminal at Riga International Airport.

Aeroflot – Russian Airlines is expanding the long haul route network from winter 2010/2011. In winter, Aeroflot will resume the scheduled air service to Male (Maldives) and Denpasar (Indonesia), launching the new scheduled flights to Goa (India), Phuket (Thailand), Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). The flights will be provided on A330 and IL-96 from Terminal D of Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport. The airline will offer the appropriate connections with its domestic and European routes ensuring the highest level of comfort to the transit passengers. 

Air Berlin, Berlin’s “flag carrier”, together with the manufacturer, Airbus, is using the centenary of the ILA as the ideal background for taking delivery of its 50th aircraft of the A320 series. The president and CEO of Airbus, Thomas Enders, handed the aircraft over to the CEO of Air Berlin, Joachim Hunold.

AirBaltic, the Latvian national airline is becoming the first airline in the world to offer roses to its passengers while planes are up in the sky. From the beginning of June, the airBaltic Internet shop will offer people a chance to pre-order a bouquet of roses which the passenger or a member of the airBaltic crew can present to someone else during the flight.  A bouquet of seven roses will cost EUR 20. You can surprise a loved one with pre-ordered flowers, even if you are not travelling together.

Air Charter Service has opened its second Russian office - and its eleventh worldwide - this month in St Petersburg to capitalise on the ever expanding charter market in Russia and the CIS.

Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, and Tantash Group, an Amman-based diversified investment company active in the travel sector have  announced the signing of a joint venture agreement to launch a new low-cost carrier based in Amman, Jordan. The announcement followed a function organised in Amman under the patronage and attendance of his Excellency Minister of Transport, Engineer Alaa Batayneh.

Air Berlin, Germany's second-biggest airline, said the number of passengers its planes carried in May rose by 1.8 percent year-on-year. Passenger volume rose to 2.9 million in the month. But its load factor dropped to 74.0 percent from

Al Bateen Executive Airport, the Gulf Region’s first and only dedicated private aviation airport, newly GCAA-certified has announced a 30% increase in aircraft movements in the first quarter of 2010 versus the same period last year.

Airbus expects to sell at least 20 A380s this year, John Leahy, COO customers, told at the airframer’s wing factory in Broughton, UK. The doubling of the sales target – the company previously aimed to sell just 10 superjumbos in 2010 – comes as a result of a rebound in passenger traffic over recent months.

Airports of Thailand reported a 3 percent drop in quarterly net profit despite a pick up in aircraft and passenger traffic, as it had lower foreign exchange gains than a year earlier. The country's main airport operator, which runs six airports, said in a statement it made a net profit of THB1.78 billion baht (USD$55.04 million) in the January-March quarter, versus THB1.83 billion a year earlier.

Alitalia said quarterly operating losses narrowed, boosted by growth in international passenger volumes. The company, which went bankrupt in 2008 and was bought by a group of Italian investors and Air France-KLM, reported earnings before interest and taxes of EUR€125 million euros (USD$158.8 million) in the first quarter, narrowing from EUR€210 million a year earlier.Revenues rose to EUR€639 million in the period from EUR€515 million a year earlier.

airBaltic starts a route linking the Estonian capital of Tallinn with the Finnish city of Oulu. airBaltic will fly from Tallinn to Oulu two times a week on Thursdays and Fridays. Passengers will board a Fokker 50 aircraft for a flight that will last for 2 hours and 40 minutes. One-way ticket prices will start at EUR 39, including airport fees and transaction costs.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) launched its new brand concept: Shop-Dine-Unwind which signifies a change in strategy from a direct operator to a landlord for its duty free operations. With the change in strategy came the innovation to revise the retail division’s approach and a travel-retail concept and brand that could be transferred beyond the physical borders of the emirate.

Air Transport Services Group has reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2010. Revenues from continuing operations were $160.9m for the 1Q 2010, compared with $211.8m a year ago. Revenues increased 11.7 per cent excluding reimbursed operating expenses and non-recurring severance and retention (S&R) payments, and included gains from each of ATSG’s three airlines and its leasing business.

Air India to receive USD 5 bn government investment. India’s government is to invest USD 0.26bn into Air India as the airline battles with its finances including a long-term debt of USD 5 bn.. The investment is part of a turn-around project which will include route and fleet cuts; it is also expected that staff numbers will be reduced.

Abu Dhabi International Airport saw the arrival of Air France’s Airbus A330 on its first nonstop flight between Paris and Abu Dhabi. Air France flight AF 3848 and was welcomed by the Chairman of Abu Dhabi Airport’s Company (ADAC), H.E. Khalifa Al Mazrouei and other high ranking officials in a ceremony celebrating Air France’s inaugural flight.

American Airlines has introduced direct services between New York JFK and the Spanish capital Madrid. The route complements the carrier's existing flights between Miami and Madrid and Dallas/Fort Worth and Madrid as well as services to the Catalan regional centre, Barcelona from New York JFK.

Air Arabia’s net profit for the three months ending March 31, 2010, stood at AED 50 million, a decline of 51 per cent compared to AED 103 million in the corresponding period in 2009. This decline in profitability was in line with global trends of the aviation industry performance represented by the increase in fuel cost as well as continuous pressure on yield margins. In the first quarter of this year, Air Arabia posted a turnover of AED 482 million, an increase of 4 per cent compared to AED 463 million in the same period of 2009.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has welcomed the first Oman Air flight to touch down at Al Ain International Airport with the airline now operating a daily service between Abu Dhabi’s second city and the Omani capital, Muscat.

Air New Zealand and Australian airline Virgin Blue said they were seeking regulator approval for a trans-Tasman alliance to strengthen their positions in a fiercely-contested market. The tie-up would involve extensive sharing of services, but neither company would seek an equity stake in the other.

Alaska Air Group's shares rose more than 10 percent  as the sector was bolstered by United parent UAL's plan to buy rival Continental Airlines, but some analysts also said Alaska could be a takeover target.

Air China said it would add nearly 100 new planes to its fleet by 2012 and boost capacity as demand rebounds in the world's third largest economy. Shares of Air China rallied on its strong results and outlook, gaining 3.25 percent in Hong Kong and 1.15 percent in Shanghai, outpacing the broader indexes in both markets.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released traffic figures for the first quarter of 2010 with a strong +13.8% passenger increase posted at Abu Dhabi International Airport passenger traffic over the same period last year.

AerCap has released that 1Q 2010 net income was $34.4m, compared with net income of $30m for the same period in 2009. First quarter 2010 net income excluding the impact of the mark-to-market of interest rate caps and share-based compensation was $46.7m, compared to net income of $31.5m in the 1Q 2009 on the same basis.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought the withdrawal of waiver of landing charges for aircrafts having seating capacity of less than 80 passengers and being operated by scheduled domestic operators.

ACI reports Europe’s passenger traffic rose four per cent during February and freight increased 19.8 per cent. The year-on-year increase was hampered by industrial action, namely the four-day strike of France’s air traffic controllers and Lufthansa’s pilot strike, which was planned to cover four days but was suspended after 12 hours. ACI said that the return to growth “compares poorly with 2008 traffic levels”; this year’s passenger figures were down 10.1 per cent on 2008.

Air Berlin, has considerably increased its flights to Israel. In March a third non-stop flight was added to the existing two direct connections between Berlin and Tel Aviv. Air Berlin passengers from Cologne and Munich also have a choice of two non-stop flights a week to Tel Aviv. Two further flights a week from Düsseldorf to Tel Aviv will be included in the schedule from June 2010. There are connecting flights from various German cities.

AviChina’s operating turnover rose 2.39 per cent to CNY5,098m for the year ending December 31, 2009. Net profit for 2009 amounted to CNY161m, rising CNY1,224m from the year before.

Aigle Azur has received its first directly purchased brand new Airbus A319 at a delivery ceremony in Hamburg.This new aircraft will join Aigle Azur’s fleet of ten A320 Family aircraft, comprising three A319s, three A320s and four A321s.

American Airlines became the first US airline to "test next-generation technology and procedures" aboard a 767-300 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Miami using "several" fuel conservation measures, including single-engine taxi on departure and arrival, continuous climb-out and descent, a tailored arrival, and "several key elements" of American's existing fuel conservation program, Fuel Smart. The flight came one day after Air France successfully operated "the very first transatlantic flight optimized from start to finish to reduce noise and emissions levels."

AirAsia, is extending its foot print from Kota Kinabalu to the much awaited Hong Kong destination with direct daily flights, further expanding its international connectivity from East Malaysia. The new route will commence services from 1st June 2010.

Air New Zealand and Continental Airlines have commenced a reciprocal code share agreement, making travel to New Zealand easier and more convenient for Americans from some of the most populous states in the USA. Air New Zealand will code share on more than 540 flights per week to and from Continental Airline’s main hubs serving Houston, New York and Cleveland connecting to Air New Zealand services to and from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Auckland. Continental Airlines will code share on these Air New Zealand trans-Pacific services, including the services via Rarotonga, Apia and Tonga, as well as all Auckland trans-Tasman and domestic New Zealand services and also between Auckland and Hong Kong.

Air Canada launched its California expansion with the inaugural flight of a new service between Toronto and Orange County. The new route is part of a major increase in capacity this summer between Toronto and California that also includes a new route to San Diego, more service to San Francisco and the introduction of a wide-body aircraft, featuring Air Canada's industry leading Executive First service with lie flat suites, on select flights to Los Angeles.

Air India new board has set a one-month deadline for a turnaround plan for the carrier. It also has appointed Gustav Baldauf as its chief operating officer. The revival plan will be a staged one, with milestones reviewed by Air India's board.

Air Berlin, said the number of passengers its planes carried in March rose by 4.8 percent year-on-year. Passenger volume rose to 2.403 million in the month.

airBaltic is to open a new base at Tallinn Airport, in Estonia's capital, on June 1; this is to support the airline’s growth in the region.

Abu Dhabi International Airport has been ranked top in eight customer service categories in the recent Airports Council International (ACI) ASQ results for the Middle East Region - a key benchmark for customer service in the global airports’ industry.

Air India, has teamed with Sabre Airline Solutions to achieve operational efficiencies in key airline functions in a bid to be more cost efficient. Sabre Airline Solutions will move Air India toward having a fully integrated flight control system, providing Air India with solutions from the Sabre AirVision and Sabre AirCentre suites. The Sabre Integrated Operations Control Centre (IOCC) and dedicated hub control centre give Air India an automatic decision aid, making recovery from any irregularities – whether a flight diversion or delay – smooth and efficient.

AerCap has signed a corporate debt facility agreement for $120m with UBS as lead arranger. The facility has a term of five years and will be used for general corporate purposes.

African Airlines Association (AFRAA), based in Nairobi, Kenya, has expressed concern about the European Union’s latest list of airlines banned from the European airspace due to safety concerns. Thirteen of the 17 countries affected by the EU ban are from Africa, with a total of 111 African airlines “blacklisted.”

Air Canada said that its load factor was 82.1 percent in March, up 1.4 percentage points from March 2009. Traffic jumped 9.6 percent to 4.23 billion revenue passenger miles as capacity climbed 7.7 percent to 5.16 billion available seat miles.

American Airlines is bolstering its customer service by joining forces with New York City's tourism organization and JetBlue Airways. The airline will make the announcement.

ACI said passenger and cargo traffic continues to rise, according to reports by the Airports Council International (ACI). Total global traffic grew 6.8 per cent in February 2010, with international traffic up nine per cent and domestic traffic up 4.8 per cent.

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways have formed an alliance which covers John F. Kennedy (JFK) and Boston airports. The deal will allow customers of either airline to book flights on the other carrier’s network at the same time. JetBlue will connect to 12 of American’s international destinations and American customers can access 18 of JetBlue’s domestic flights from the same airports. American also plans to add 23 highly coveted routes from JFK and LaGuardia airports by the end of the year.

Airbus won an order worth USD$3.6 billion at list prices from Malaysia Airlines, more than doubling its 2010 tally in a year where deals have so far proved scarce. Malaysia Airlines firmed up a memorandum of understanding for 15 A330-300 passenger aircraft and an additional order for two A330-200F freighters for operation by its MASkargo unit.

Alaska reported a 2.9-point increase in load factor to 84.5 percent in March 2010, compared to 81.6 percent in March 2009, on a 2.2 percent increase in available seat miles (ASMs) compared to the prior-year period.

All Nippon Airways, headed for a USD$693 million loss in the financial year just-ended, said its profitability has started to bounce back thanks to a recovery in travel demand, particularly in the high-margin business class segment. The airline, Japan's second-biggest by revenue, is also considering starting a low-cost carrier, its president said, eyeing growing demand among budget travellers.

Air Canada inaugurated its first non-stop flight between Calgary and Tokyo, the only direct link between Alberta and Asia.

Air China will launch its first non-stop flight between Beijing and Manila. Round-trip tickets will be available to PhoenixMiles members for only RMB 1,666. In addition, from March 16th to May 31st PhoenixMiles members paying for round-trip tickets with PhoenixMiles will only have to pay half the normal mileage.

Aeroflot and Air France sign code-sharing agreement. The CEO of JSC Aeroflot Russian Airlines Vitaly Savelyev and Air France President Pierre-Henry Gourgeon have signed a Code Sharing Agreement. The Agreement for joint flight operation will replace the existing agreement as of 2002 for the Moscow – Paris – Moscow line.

Air Canada plans to go well beyond the CAD$500 million (USD$490 million) in cost cuts and new revenue-generating activities it set for itself as a goal by the end of 2011, the company's chief financial officer said.

Airports of Thailand (AOT) says it has scaled back expansion plans for Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, but still intends to invest THB62.5 billion in 2011-2016 to increase capacity.

Air Berlin, Lufthansa, dropped about USD$1.7 billion worth of firm orders for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner aircraft to cut its financial obligations. Air Berlin cut its firm order to 15 planes from 25 and the number of options for further 787 aircraft to 5 from 10.

Air China will invest CNUY82.1 million yuan (USD$99.9 million) in Shenzhen Airlines, increasing its stake in the airline to 51 percent and firming its foothold in Southern China.

Aegean Airlines, Greece's largest carrier, said 2009 net earnings fell 22 percent year-on-year to EUR€23 million euros (USD$31 million), hurt by a deteriorating Greek economy. The Greek economy is expected to shrink for a second year in a row as it struggles through its first recession since 1993.

Air China said it will raise about CNY6.5 billion yuan (USD$952 million) via an issue of new shares, becoming the second Chinese carrier to announce fundraising plans . A recovery in domestic and regional traffic has rekindled investor interest, allowing Chinese carriers battered by the global financial crisis to tap the market to reduce debt, and fund fleet expansion and acquisitions in response to growing competition.

Alaska Airlines announced it will offer Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet service on all Alaska's aircraft. With Gogo, Alaska Airlines passengers will be able to browse the Web; access online music, games, podcasts and webcasts; send and receive e-mail; and connect to virtual private networks while flying. The easy-to-use service will provide passengers with full Internet access on any Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or personal electronic device at speeds similar to wireless mobile broadband services on the ground.

Air France-KLM said it would raise capacity on its long-haul flights by 0.8 percent this summer as it sees "tentative signs of recovery".Airlines globally have cut the number of seats on offer during the economic crisis in order to shore up the load factor. The move was designed to stem the losses in average revenue yields per seat.

Air Transport Association of America (ATA) has reported that US passenger revenue has seen an increase after 14 consecutive months of decline. Passenger revenue rose 1.4 per cent during January on a year-on-year basis, according to the report, which is based on a sample group of US airlines. However, the findings also showed that passenger travel declined 0.4 per cent during the month.

ACI World, Director General, Angela Gittens, emphasized the matrix of critical cost factors that will shape airport investments and financial planning choices as the industry begins to climb out of the 2008-09 economic depression. Taking a look at current trends, Gittens commented, “Traffic results are improving in all regions, and the emerging Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) markets have led the way, first with increases in domestic and now in international traffic. As a result, our updated outlook for growth foresees a 3 to 4 percent upturn in 2010.

American Eurocopter announced  that Papillon Helicopters, Inc. has ordered another EC130 B4 to its aerial tour operations in the Grand Canyon and the surrounding area. This is the fourteenth EC130 B4 in the company's fleet. Air China, has announced it will add three more flights a week in addition to its daily non-stop flights from Vancouver to Beijing. The new flights will begin in June 2010.

Air Dolomiti will fly with the navigation charts from Lufthansa Systems. Both companies recently signed a 10-year-contract for the usage of Lido/RouteManual. The agreement also includes an option to migrate to the electronic version of the charts, Lido/eRouteManual. With the innovative solution the regional carrier can optimize its flight operations and benefit from the high quality of the Lufthansa Systems navigation charts.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released its full year traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport, with passenger numbers showing a solid 7.3% growth rate throughout 2009 reaching 9.7 million for the year.

Amsterdam airport operator Schiphol Group said it expected a flat 2010 profit, as it reported a 29 percent drop in 2009 profits on a decline in passenger traffic and freight transport. Schiphol Group, whose Amsterdam hub is the fifth-largest passenger airport in Europe, said it made a net profit of EUR€132 million euros (USD$178.1 million) in the past year, well ahead of a forecast it gave in August of net profit between EUR€40 million and EUR€50 million.

Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air said they have agreed to merge to form a stronger airline better able to compete with European peers. "The company that will be formed as a result of the merger will carry the name and logos of Olympic Air, following the necessary transition and adjustment period during which the name and logos of Aegean will be used in parallel," they said in a joint statement.

Alitalia Group intends to strengthen its position at both Milan Linate and Malpensa with a three-year development plan calling for a "dual-brand and customer hub model" at MXP, including a repositioning of Air One as a Smart Carrier offering low fares on short- and medium-haul routes while reinforcing the Alitalia brand and offering on intercontinental flights. AZ will base two new A330s featuring its new business class at Malpensa and launch flights to Miami in June, adding to its current five intercontinental destinations.

Air Works India Engineering, a MRO provider headquartered in New Delhi, has acquired 85 per cent of the UK-based aircraft painting company Air Livery. The Indian firm reportedly paid $20m for the virtual takeover and intends to run the business as an independent unit within the company.

ASUR, the airport group which operates nine airports within Mexico, has said that its total revenue for 2009 fell 1.18 per cent year-on-year. Operating profit fell 3.35 per cent to 1.34m and EBITDA fell 0.9 per cent to 1.97m. Passenger numbers slipped 12 per cent during the period, however commercial revenue per passenger increased 18.6 per cent to 59.4. For the 4Q 09, revenue slipped 0.34 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA rose 3.32 per cent and passenger traffic rose 4.84 per cent. ($1=MXN12.9)

Air India will receive $174m in state aid, according to announcement by government of India. The equity injection will be paid to Air India's parent company, National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) under conditions that Air India makes considerable changes to hit its cost-cut target of INR2,000 crore during this fiscal.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has signed a landmark 10-year leasing deal with Al Jaber Aviation (AJA), which will see the new leading provider of VIP aviation based at Al Bateen Executive Airport, in the heart of the UAE capital. The deal makes Al Jaber Aviation the largest tenant to sign up at Al Bateen  the region's only dedicated private aviation airport  since ADAC took over the management of the airport in 2009.

Air Arabia's fourth-quarter net profit fell 15.2 percent, to AED115.4 million dirhams (USD$31.43 million).Full-year profit attributable to shareholders was at AED452 million in 2009 compared with AED509.7 million in 2008, it said. The Arab world's largest listed airline by market value has reported a net profit of AED337 million for the nine months to end-September, 2009, up 6 percent from the year-earlier period.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) welcomes Ukraine International Airlines' (UIA) additional weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Kiev, with the carrier now flying five times per week.

Alitalia Group intends to strengthen its position at both Milan Linate and Malpensa with a three-year development plan calling for a "dual-brand and customer hub model" at MXP, including a repositioning of Air One as a Smart Carrier offering low fares on short- and medium-haul routes while reinforcing the Alitalia brand and offering on intercontinental flights.

Asur, Mexican airport operator posted a 23 percent year-on-year drop in net profit in the fourth quarter, after the H1N1 flu outbreak led fewer people to travel. The company, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, earned MXP160 million pesos (USD$12 million) between October and December, the company said.

Air Berlin approved plans to raise its stake in former race car driver Niki Lauda's airline Niki to 49.9 percent from 24 percent, in a move to expand in Eastern Europe. Air Berlin, Germany's second-biggest airline after Lufthansa, said it agreed with the Lauda foundation to indirectly acquire 25.9 percent of the shares of Niki, opening the door to a full takeover.In connection with the increase of its shareholding, Air Berlin will grant the private Lauda foundation a EUR€40.5 million euro loan, Air Berlin said.

Austrian Airlines is the first carrier to use the new upgrade feature of Lufthansa Systems' Internet check-in solution. Passengers can buy an upgrade to Business Class while checking in online. This enables Austrian to generate extra revenues in times of permanently low yields.

AirAsia has taken a 30 per cent equity stake in Vietjet Air (Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company) to establish a Vietnam-based joint venture low-cost airline which will carry the name Vietjet AirAsia. The new airline will operate domestically and internationally and currently is finalising details regarding routes, frequencies and launch of flights.

American Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL) have applied for antitrust immunity which will underpin their JV to operate flights between North America and Asia. The pair now await approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT).

ASM, the global aviation route development expert, has been instrumental in the introduction of a second route between the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpar and Iran, with the announcement that Mahan Air is to introduce a once weekly flight to Shiraz. Since 2006.

ADAC welcomed aviation experts to Abu Dhabi Airport's MTC Peer Review Programme. The delegations of aviation industry peers, for the first time ever, spent three days in “think-tank” workshops, in the UAE's capital, discussing new developments and the upcoming Midfield Terminal Complex at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The Abu Dhabi Airports Peer Review Programme aims to provide a platform for collaboration and furthering best practice in airport development between some of the most experienced airports and aviation professionals from three continents.

AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, and Tata Sons have signed a Shareholders' Agreement for the formation of an Indian joint venture company which will establish in India a final assembly line for the AW119 helicopter for the worldwide market. The agreement was signed in New Delhi by Mr. Giuseppe Orsi, CEO, AgustaWestland and Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons. The joint venture company will be responsible for AW119 final assembly, completion and delivery while AgustaWestland will retain responsibility for worldwide marketing and sales.

Airbus is showing support for the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity by featuring the official logo on its largest passenger aircraft - the A380. In addition to pioneering greener flight, to which the flagship A380 pays testimony, Airbus is using its global outreach to back the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) Green Wave initiative, designed to educate young people about the importance of biodiversity, its role in their future and the steps they can take to nurture the nature around them.

Air India is offering attractive discounts on tickets purchased for First and Executive class travel on its international services originating out of India. A 50 per cent discount will be available on the highest market basic fare for First Class travel to the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Tokyo, Jeddah and Riyadh. Passengers buying an Executive Class tickets for travel on AI designated flights to the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, as also on IC designated flights to Dubai, can avail a 40 per cent discount on the highest market basic fare. All applicable taxes and levies will be extra.

Airports Council International (ACI) and the Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) have signed an agreement to open a new ACI Training Centre, making Abu Dhabi the 10th global training hub in the world and the second in the Middle East region.

American Eagle Airlines, is to provide a first class service on all of its CRJ-700 jets. Customers may now purchase a First Class seat on any CRJ-700 flight for travel starting July 2.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) eleased its full year traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport, with passenger numbers showing a solid 7.3% growth rate throughout 2009 reaching 9.7 million for the year. Abu Dhabi International Airport is one of the few aviation hubs in the world to have achieved a healthy growth, while it has considerably outperformed the negative global average (-3.0%). Cargo traffic also demonstrated a robust increase of 7.0%, while total flights amounted to 102,118, up 9.6%.

AerSale has completed an initial $250m equity raise with Green Equity Investors, an affiliate of Leonard Green & Partners. AerSale is a global provider of aftermarket aircraft, engines, and their component parts to airlines, leasing companies, and OEM/MRO service providers.

Air India, expects to receive its first infusion of INR20 billion (USD430 million) from the Indian Government by 31-Mar-2010, as it enters the initial stages of its challenging restructure, targeted at the rationalisation of its fleet and route network to reduce its cost base and provide the carrier a more stable footing. At least USD1 billion is expected to be required by the airline, as losses are expected to reach USD800 million in the 12 months ending 31 -Mar-2010.

All Nippon Airways has converted its 28 787-3s on order to 787-8s, and now has 50 -8s on order. Boeing now has no orders for the 787-3, and says it will continue to assess the market viability of the -3.

Air Corsica has taken delivery of the first two A320-200s, which were orginally intended for Iberia. The first of the aircraft, powered by CFM-56-5B6/P engines, was delivered on December 3, the second is delivered in mid-January.

Alitalia Group presented its three-year development plan for service at the Milan airports that calls for the consolidation of Alitalia's premium service from Linate, a new intercontinental route from the Malpensa airport and the launch of a new business model for Air One flights, with important objectives of passenger growth and destinations within 2012.

Air China has agreed to buy 20 A320 aircraft from Airbus with a list value of USD$1.63 billion. The aircraft will be delivered between 2011 to 2014 and will be supplied at a significant discount by Airbus, Air China said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.

AirAsia announced its acquisition of a 30% equity stake in Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (Vietjet Air) to establish a Vietnam-based joint venture low-cost airline which will carry the name Vietjet AirAsia.

Air Canada reported a smaller than expected quarterly loss as Canada's biggest airline shrunk its fuel bill and beat its own target for cutting costs.

Air France-KLM unveiled a worse than expected third quarter operating loss of EUR@245 million euros and forecast more heavy fourth quarter losses after a later than predicted pickup in unit revenues.

Airbus said that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell six Airbus A330-200 aircraft to Hong Kong Airlines. Hong Kong Airlines, set up in 2006, operates flights out of Hong Kong to China and other parts of Asia. Besides the A330s, the Hong Kong carrier also has 30 single-aisle A320 aircraft on firm order for future delivery, Airbus said.

Asur Mexican airport operator said its January passenger traffic fell 4.6 percent from a year before as fewer international passengers arrived at its flagship Cancun facility.

Air Berlin, second-largest airline company, in creased its revenue per available seat kilometer (ASK) in January 2010 to 5.24 Eurocents, i.e. an increase of 5.6 percent over the corresponding month of the previous year (January 2009:4.96 Eurocents).

Aer Lingus has declared itself a hybrid or "civilised" carrier in a bid to reposition itself against its low-cost rival, Ryanair. The airline's new business model affords its customers services Ryanair doesn't - such as pre-paid meals, central airport hubs and speedy check-in, yet it stops short of the high-end legacy carrier's scope of product. Christoph Mueller, CEO of Aer Lingus, has been attempting to stem costs by EUR97m ($135m) by the end of 2011 and fend off Ryanair's attempts at an unfriendly takeover.

Auckland International Airport plans to raise NZD$126.4 million (USD$89.6 million) through an issue of new shares, the company said. It said it would offer eligible shareholders one new share for every 16 currently held at a price of NZD$1.65 each, a 14 percent discount to the company's last traded price.

Amsterdam Airlines has selected A J Walter Aviation to provide power-by-the-hour support for two A320s, with a third arriving shortly. The contract is for a period of five years. The airline, which provides both charter and leasing services, says its fleet is expected to total six aircraft by 2011.

AAR has become an authorised distributor of Quest International's "AirManager" air filtration and sterilisation system. The two companies signed an agreement in which AAR will also provide design engineering services and manage the Supplemental Type Certificate processes required to install and operate the product on a variety of commercial aircraft.

Airport Strategy and Marketing Limited (ASM), the world leader in route development for airports, has been engaged by Cairns Airport in a project to establish scheduled services to China.

Air India has successfully cleared the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) audits for 2009. The combined NACIL has successfully completed the audit and received confirmation of audit closure from the auditing company, AQS, which is based in Germany.

Air Malta has chosen Sabre's 'Flight Plan Manager1 software to improve its airline operations planning, including fuel use and CO2 emissions management. The Mediterranean carrier already employs the IT provider's 'Movement Control' and 'Crew Control' applications.

Air France continues to innovate by gradually introducing on its short-haul flights, a brand new seat on its Airbus A319, A320 and A321 fleets operating on the domestic network. Air France's new short-haul seat, designed jointly by Air France and Recaro, which received an award for innovation at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, provides additional comfort and more space with.

Air China is to receive a CNY1.5bn ($220m) capital injection after its parent, China National Aviation Holding, was awarded the funds from the government. Air China is to use the capital to acquire a minority interest in its cargo unit, Air China Cargo, and to replenish its working capital. The airline is now in a good position to finalise an air cargo joint venture with Cathay Pacific Airways, and the venture is on course to be operational by the stated target from June 30,2010.

Air Nostrum and ATR have signed a global maintenance agreement (GMA), valued at approximately $25m, for the supply of spare parts and maintenance services for a fleet of 10 ATR 72-600s, which the airline will introduce in 2011.

AirAsia announced integration of its website AirAsia.com with Akbartravelsonline.com, a travel website operated by Akbar Travels of India. Travellers can now book AirAsia flights online from akbartravelsonline.com.

Air   Berlin,   Germany's   second-largest airline company, transported  a total of 27,911,193  passengers (including those travelling on the TUIfly routes acquired on 25 October 2009),  thus  confirming  the company's spring   2009   forecast   with respect to the development in the number of passengers travelling with  Air Berlin.

American Airlines and its partners in the Oneworld alliance sweetened their offer to Japan Airlines to USD$1.4 billion to keep the struggling national carrier from joining the rival SkyTeam group.

Auckland International Airport Limited (Auckland Airport) has agreed to purchase a 24.55 per cent interest in North Queensland Airports (NQA).
 
Air India has assembled, tested and delivered CF6 80C2 Engine S/No: 695 296 belonging to a Customer routed through Aerostar, earning approx. USD 300,000 in December2009. Air India had recently entered in to a strategic marketing alliance with Aerostar Asset Management, a Dubai based Company, to form "The A Team" for providing Engine repair management solutions to Operators in the Gulf and Middle East region to begin with.

Air Berlin and SR Technics (SRT) have signed a ten-year engine maintenance contract covering CFM56-7B, CFM56-5B and PW4168 engines forthe airline's 737NG.A320 and A330 fleets.

Aer Lingus signed a 20-year lease contract for hangar 6 with Dublin Airport Authority last month (December 2009). The former SR Technics facility has a floor space of 23,000m2 (247,500ft2), enough to accommodate up to two 747 and five 737 aircraft at once.

 

Airports of Thailand plans to spend THB76.5 billion ($2.26 billion) through 2016 to nearly double the capacity of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to 80 million passengers per year. A domestic passenger terminal scheduled for construction over the next four years will cost THB9.13 billion and increase annual passenger capacity to 65 million.

Airports Authority of India said that it reported a net profit of INR6.87 billion ($147.4 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, on revenue of INR41.86 billion. Capital expenditure during the year totaled INR25.48 billion.

Airports Council International released its Airport Economics Survey 2009, reported that global airport revenue reached an estimated $96 billion and predicted that 2010 traffic "is expected to rebound and may well exceed moderate predictions of +2% per annum next year" in the absence of a "major setback." It said 709 airports serving some 3.4 billion passengers participated in the 2009 survey.

Air India has assembled, tested and delivered CF6 80C2 Engine S/No: 695 296 belonging to a Customer routed through Aerostar, earning approx. USD 300,000 in December 2009.  Air India had recently entered in to a strategic marketing alliance with Aerostar Asset Management, a Dubai based Company, to form “The A Team” for providing Engine repair management solutions to Operators in the Gulf and Middle East region to begin with.  The Facility notched up two more landmarks accruing a total saving of approx. USD 650,000.

Amadeus, Lufthansa German Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines have signed a long-term full content agreement. The agreement, which is valid until the end of 2014, will guarantee travel agents worldwide access to the full range of Lufthansa and SWISS content through Amadeus, with no surcharge.

Air India plans in 2010 to spin-off its cargo handling and MRO businesses into separate units and also focus on AIR INDIA EXPRESS as LCC rather than launching new brand as previously planned.

Allegiant Air agreed to purchase 18 MD-80s from SAS in 2010; five will be parted out for spares and remaining 13 are expected to satisfy essentially all expected aircraft growth through the end of 2011.

Aeroflot said that nine-month net profit reached USD$170.4 million, up 20.7 percent from the year-earlier period, thanks to the company's anti-crisis cost-cutting measures. Sales totalled USD$2.46 billion in the first nine months of 2009, down 31.2 percent from a year ago.

All Nippon Airways formally decided to order 10 planes from Boeing for about USD$2.1 billion to tap new passenger demand as Tokyo's Haneda airport expands.Japan's second-largest carrier said that it will place a JPY185 billion yen order for five Boeing 777-200ER jets, to be delivered between April 2012 and March 2014, and another five 767-300ER models, to be delivered between April 2010 and March 2012.

Air China has signed an exclusive partnership with the Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN). More than 100,000 EAN products will now be available to Air China customers across 27 overseas markets. More Product Offerings on Local Sites This exclusive deal marks the first time that Air China has worked with a partner to offer global customers accommodation.

Alitalia and Etihad Airways exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that confirms the airlines’ intention to operate a codeshare agreement from the start of the Northern Summer season in April 2010, subject to government approvals. The agreement will mean Etihad customers around the world will be able to fly to two new Italian destinations, Rome and Naples. Alitalia customers will be able to fly directly from Italy to Abu Dhabi and will have greater and easier access to the airline’s expanding network of more than 55 destinations.

Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, reported that passenger revenue, based on a sample group of carriers, fell 7 percent in November 2009 versus the same month in 2008. This marks the 13th consecutive month in which passenger revenue has declined from the prior year, fueled primarily by the 12th consecutive month of ticket price declines.

American Airlines Inc. is among 12 international airlines that have signed on the dotted line with two different producers of alternative fuels — AltAir Fuels LLC and Rentech Inc. As part of the agreement, the airlines are in line for a future supply of alternative aviation fuel, the ATA said.

Air Canada is now offering a daily non-stop service between Montreal and Houston, further enhancing connection and routing possibilities for customers through both Montreal and the Texas hub of its new Star Alliance partner, Continental Airlines.

Airbus announced that the A320-family final assembly line China (FALC) in Tianjin has achieved its 2009 target, with the delivery of its 11th A320-family aircraft. The aircraft was delivered to Deer Air, an airline part of the HNA Group.

Air India will operate additional flights to augment capacity to popular holiday destinations - Port Blair and Goa, thus ensuring that tourists from various States of India and all over the world, are not disappointed for want of seats on a flight.

Air Transport Association of America has announced that 15 airlines from the US, Canada, Germany and Mexico have signed MOUs with AltAir Fuels and Rentech – for the entire output of two new biofuel facilities that will be constructed in Mississippi and Washington state.

AirTrain JFK, which connects travelers by rail to and from the airport, celebrates its sixth year in operation.  Since its first year, ridership on the service has literally doubled as airport travelers learn that it is the quickest, least expensive way to get to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport. To mark its sixth year of operation, the Port Authority has introduced new amenities at AirTrain JFK facilities including interactive signs and a new Welcome Center at the Jamaica Station. These improvements make access to AirTrain services and navigation through terminal facilities even easier for airport passengers.

AirAsia  X signed a five-year extension of agreement with Swiss asset management company Unitpool to support the airline’s ambitious cargo growth plans. With the extension of this agreement, Unitpool will provide for AirAsia X unit load devices (ULDs), which are needed to support the airline’s fast growing cargo operations, until 2014.

American Airlines and its American Eagle regional affiliate are to increase their networks and schedules from their key hubs - Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare, Miami and New York -adding six new destinations to the oneworld map during the next flying season.

Airports Council International (ACI), on behalf of airports worldwide, urged delegates at the UNFCCC COP/15 meeting in Copenhagen to adopt a global sectoral approach for aviation, recognizing the commitment of aviation partners – airports, airlines, air navigation service suppliers, and manufacturers – and their support for the central role played by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on behalf of the entire aviation industry.

Asiana Airlines said it will build a 2.5 bay sized second hangar at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea. The new 63,800m2 (686,700ft2) facility will accommodate two 747s and one 767 at once and cost approximately KRW110bn ($94m). The construction is scheduled to start at the end of 2010 and be completed in April 2013.

Air Algerie, Algeria's national airline, has placed an order for four ATR 72-500s at a list price value of $82m. The aircraft, which will be equipped with 66 seats and Pratt & Whitney 127M engines, will be delivered by ATR in 2010.

Airports of Thailand, the country's main airport operator, said it planned to spend THB76.5 billion baht (USD$2.3 billion) in 2010-2016 to expand the capacity of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. It planned to boost annual handling capacity at the capital's main airport to 80 million passengers, which should be enough to accommodate rising air traffic volume until 2019, it said. The company has said the airport carries almost 40 million passengers a year and its current capacity is 45 million.

Air France-KLM reported a 3.2 percent fall in passenger traffic for November but saw gradual improvement in unit revenues, while a "more dynamic" cargo sector underscored signs of a fragile economic recovery. The airline, the world's biggest by revenue, offered 2.9 percent fewer seats in November and its passenger load factor slipped 0.2 of a point to 78 percent.

Air Canada welcomes Chinese government's decision to grant approved destination status to Canada. Air Canada welcomed the decision by the Government of China to grant Canada Approved Destination Status, making it easier for Chinese nationals to visit Canada.

Alitalia and Aeroflot have signed a MoU to extend their bilateral relationship and to develop new routes between Italy and Russia. The airlines will codeshare on Alitalia's services to Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Aeroflot's Asia routes, and will also expand dual access to loyalty programmes. Other harmonies include passenger service, IT and charter and cargo traffic.

Allied Aviation, has announced it wants to purchase International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) at favorable terms for taxpayers, but says it is being passed over in the sale process. It has been reported that Allied Aviation, a privately-owned company, is offering to pay $12bn, in return for government credit support for three-five years that will give it time to restructure the business, said Bob Rose, Allied president.

AMR Eagle Holding has firmed up its option for 22 CRJ700s, at a list price of $779m. The parent company of American Eagle Airlines will receive the aircraft directly from Bombardier as from June 2010. The company announced the option in September; it is thought the aircraft will be used on flights from Chicago and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

American Airlines said it and other members of the oneworld airline alliance along with private equity fund TPG are willing to invest $1.1bn in Japan Airlines (JAL) to prevent it partnering with Delta Air Lines and the rival Skyteam group. Delta has said that it and other SkyTeam members are ready to offer JAL a total financial aid package of about $1bn, including a $500m equity investment.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol welcomed 47.4 million passengers and handled over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo in 2008, ranking as Europe's fifth-largest passenger and third-largest cargo airport.

Airbus has contracted Stork Fokker to develop and manufacture the composite outboard wing flaps for the A350XWB. The aircraft's new flap system will allow differential flap settings, which will enable the centre of lift to be moved depending on the loading scenario.

Air Austral, based in Saint Denis, La Réunion, has ordered two A380s, the most advanced, spacious and eco-efficient airliner in service today. Powered by Engine Alliance engines and seating around 840 passengers in a single-class configuration, the aircraft will be operated on the high-density route from La Réunion to Paris, France.

Abulhoul Aviation establishes new amphibious air service based in Fujairah.   New service up and down East coast initially and building up to regional flights to Oman & GCC countries. Tourist flights along East coast servicing 5 star hotels and tourist community. Company will be based at Fujairah International Airport.

Air Berlin Group has signed an agreement with Lufthansa Technik (LHT) to provide component support for its entire fleet. Under the total component support contract, which has already taken effect, the MRO company will manage supply of components for the airline group's 737, A320-family, A330 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft. Air Berlin has transferred "a large part" of its spare parts inventory to LHT and will have access to the MRO provider's material warehouses in Hamburg and Frankfurt.

Air Berlin Group reported a doubled Q3 net profit, up from EUR45.1m in 2008 to EUR95.2m in 2009, but also registered an 8.2 per cent decline in its quarterly sales, due to capacity reductions in connection with a cost saving programme. Revenue fell from EUR1,061.4m in Q3 2008. The company confirmed its previous forecast that it will achieve a better operating result than in 2008.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released the October 2009 traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport showing strong growth throughout 2009. ADAC recorded a 7.0 per cent increase in passengers over the course of 2009, to date, and during the month of October saw a 2.8 per cent increase in Passengers and 24.3 per cent increase in Cargo against the month of October in 2008. It was also noted that in the extra-ordinary circumstances provided by the inaugural Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009 event.

Air India’s bonanza for senior citizens in the age group 65 years and above, are now eligible for a 20 per cent discount for travel in First and Executive classes on Air India’s international flights. The discount is available only on tickets purchased from Air India reservation offices in India.   Applicable on the basic fare of market fares, the offer will be valid for outbound travel commencing on or before March 31, 2010. 

Air France-KLM has registered a 20 per cent revenue decline and a EUR543m operating loss during the first half of the financial year 2009/2010, ending October 31, the Franco-Dutch airline group disclosed total revenues amounted to EUR10.77bn (-19.9 per cent).

Airbus has signed a letter of intent to sell four A320 and two A330 aircraft to Senegal Airlines. Senegal Airlines, the new national carrier of the West African country, will launch services to other African destinations in early 2010.

Airbus  has launched a new large wingtip device, which can increase payload-range performance and reduce CO2 emissions by 3.5 per cent or 730 tonnes each year without adding any extra weight to the aircraft. Announced at the Dubai Airshow, the 'Sharklet' device is created for the A320-family and will be fitted and flown on the A320 in late 2012 followed by the A321 nine months later and the A319 shortly after that. At a cost of $900,000 per aircraft fit, the Sharklet will create annual savings of $220,000 per aircraft with fuel costs per person lowered by 10 per cent, says Airbus. Payload-range benefits can deliver an increase of 500kg or an additional 500nm at the original payload.

Air Austral has confirmed an order for two A380 superjumbos that will pack in over 800 people in the first all-economy version of the world's largest airliner. Airbus said the La Reunion-based airline would configure the aircraft for 840 passengers, using up its maximum capacity for single-class seating.

Air China has chosen Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines to power 20 new A330 aircraft. The deal is worth $1.5bn at list prices and includes long-term TotalCare service support. The aircraft, to be delivered from 2011, will take Air China's Rolls-Royce powered A330 fleet to a total of 43.

ATLAS Air’s third-quarter profits grew 181 per cent compared to the same period last year. Atlas, the parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, has managed to pull its finances around after posting a 51.9 per cent drop in profits in 2008. For the three months ending 30 September, Atlas reported a net income of US$14.7 million and a revenue of $255.5 million.

ADPI, a subsidiary of Aéroports de Paris, signed a contract on 2 November with the Iraqi Ministry of Transport to carry out the development studies for a new international airport that will be built between the cities of Kerbala, Najaf and Babylon, south of Baghdad, in Iraq.

Air France-KLM's passenger traffic fell 4.1 percent in October but the airline reduced the number of available seats by 5.6 percent, allowing it to fill its planes further and place a floor under average revenues.

Air Mauritius swung to a second-quarter net profit of EUR2.9 million euros, from a loss of EUR2.6 million in the same period last year, thanks mostly to efficiency measures. The palm-fringed Indian Ocean island is a popular high-end leisure destination, but the economic slowdown in key markets has weighed heavily on its tourism sector.

Aer Lingus' 3Q revenues slumped 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Passenger numbers rose by seven per cent to 3.1 million and the carrier's load factor rose by 1.3 percentage points to 80.4 per cent during the July to September period.

Asur  Mexican airport operator  said its October passenger traffic fell 7.2 percent from a year before, hurt by declines in six of its nine destinations, including the resort of Cancun.

Aircastle has reported a third quarter net income of $33.5m, equivalent to $0.42 per diluted common share. The aviation lessor's adjusted net income is $35.7m, or $0.45 per diluted common share. EBITDA is $135m, up $5.8m from the third quarter of 2008. Third quarter total revenues are $165.7m, up by $21.3m from the same period last year.

Alitalia Group achieved a 3Q operating result of EUR15m compared to losses of EUR210m in the 1Q and losses of EUR63m in the 2Q. Operating loss for the first nine months, from January 13 (the date of the airline's startup under ownership of Compagnia Aerea Italiana SpA) to September 30, 2009, is at a loss of EUR258m. More than 6.3 million passengers were carried during the period with an average load factor of 74 per cent, this contributed to revenues of EUR838m.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) received the ‘New Airport Development’ award, during a Gala Dinner that took place at the prestigious Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Awards for Excellence (CAPA) in Beijing, China. The awards aim to celebrate bold leaders and projects that motivate and inspire industry peers and colleagues.

Air India’s Engine Overhaul Facility in Mumbai, and Aerostar Asset Management, Sharjah, have created an Engine MRO brand call

Air India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Organizing Committee for being the Official Partner Airline for the Commonwealth Games being held in Delhi in October 2010. Air India thus earned the distinction of being the first Indian and global sponsoring company for the Commonwealth Games.The MoU was signed by Mr Suresh Kalmadi – Chairman of Organizing Committee on behalf of the Commonwealth Games and Mr Arvind Jadhav – Chairman and Managing Director, Air India at a function held in New Delhi.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded Schmid Telecom AG a contract for the supply, installation, training and commissioning of Voice Communication Systems (VCS) for 30 airports in India. Schmid Telecom has already extended the local VCS support team at Schmid Telecom India Pvt. Ltd in Delhi, and will further invest in training and education facilities in India. Under the contract, in addition to the supply of 30 ICS Compact VCS, Schmid Telecom AG will also set up a repair facility and provide the requisite training to Airport Authority of India Technical Support personnel.

Air Astana, has signed a deal for two new E190LR aircraft which will be leased from Jetscape. The aircraft are part of a firm order backlog with Embraer and are due for delivery to Air Astana in March and April 2011.

Aeroflot has confirmed 2009 first half profits of RUB3.5bn ($120m) from RUB2.25bn for the same period last year, this represents a 56 per cent increase year-on-year. These figures came on the back of a 12 per cent fall in passenger revenue.

AirAsia has opted to aggressively expand its India route network in anticipation of robust demand in low fare travel segment. It will add three new routes here in India and commence its daily direct flights to Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia in November .

Abu Dhabi International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to become ‘sister airports’, in a unique twinning arrangement which will see the sharing of technical, commercial and environmental best practices. Under the agreement, the airports will set up joint Working Groups to evaluate ways in which they can work together on a wide range of areas.

Air Arabia Maroc will be flying from EuroAirport to Casablanca. In opening this new route, Air Arabia Maroc is extending its network between North Africa and EuroAirport, providing an important link for the Moroccan community, tourists and business travellers.

Auckland International Airport is planning to raise $125m by selling five-year bonds to retail investors. The offer well remain open until late November. ANZ Bank and Goldman Sachs JBWere are managing the sale.

Asiana Airlines and Turkish Airlines, will form a new code share agreement between the routes of Incheon and Istanbul.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released the August 2009 traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport, which show a 12.4 per cent increase in aircraft movements, a 6.2 per cent increase in cargo and a 2.5 per cent increase in total passenger movement. The double digit growth in aircraft movement can be attributed to the significant number of new airlines establishing routes from Abu Dhabi in the previous 12 months, as well as established carriers launching new routes, including Etihad’s new routes to Athens, Istanbul and Larnaca.

AMR has completed an offering of common stock and convertible notes to add a further $830m to its cash position. AMR has gained $4.2bn in liquidity and aircraft financing in September and now expects to end the third quarter with $4.4bn in cash.

airBaltic and Lufthansa Systems have signed a five-year contract for the IT provider’s flight planning solution Lido/Flight. The market-leading flight planning solution uses a number of parameters to calculate the optimal route for each flight, which leads to fuel savings of up to five percent. The implementation of the new system will be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

Air France-KLM plans to reduce seating capacity on its flights by 2 percent during the winter season to lessen the impact of falling demand.Capacity for the period beginning October 25 will be 1.8 percent lower than a year ago on long-haul services and down 2.9 percent on medium-haul networks, the carrier said.

Association of European Airlines (AEA), has announced a partnership with one of the iconic names in aviation --- Pratt & Whitney.

Air india will deploy the B777- 300ER, B777-200LR to all its seven west-bound destinations and one to Tokyo by replacing A330 and B747-400. As a result, apart from the existing flights to New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and London, the B777 will also be operational on Newark, Paris, Toronto and Tokyo. The airline will also introduce a daily non-stop A319 flight between Chennai and Muscat. In addition, Air India Express flight between Kozhikode and Muscat, and Kozhikode-Doha-Bahrain, will become daily flight.

Austrian Airlines (AUA) has signed a three-year contract with Lufthansa Systems (LHS) to use its 'NetLine Fleet Assigner'. The software suite matches seating capacity as closely as possible to passenger demand and exploits cost saving potentials as regards fuel consumption, maintenance and airport charges. Thereby the solution not only takes constraints such as aircraft range and regional takeoff and landing regulations into account, but also considers fleet size and maintenance times.

Air France-KLM unveiled a 3.7 percent drop in September traffic and reported continued pressure on its unit revenues, but said it had managed to boost the proportion of seats sold on its flights. The Franco-Dutch airline group carried 5.3 percent fewer passengers in September but traffic adjusted for the distance flown by each passenger, the industry's standard way of measuring activity, fell 3.7 percent.

Aer Lingus will cut 676 jobs and remove legacy work practices as part of a restructuring plan to reduce annual operating costs by EUR97 million euros (USD$143 million) by 2011.The airline, which has been rapidly burning through its cash reserves, said 489 operational and support staff will be offered voluntary redundancy but it may seek more cuts if cost savings of EUR74 million are not achieved by 2011.

AirAsia is to postpone delivery of eight Airbus A320-200 aircraft due in 2011."We will defer eight of the 24 deliveries for 2011," AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes quoted. The aircraft will now be delivered in 2014.

American airlines has announced three new exciting promotions for travelers in India. With its “America On Sale” offer, a special economy class fare sale, Double Elite-Qualifying Miles and elite rewards promotion, American is set to make the experience of flying to the US more rewarding than ever before.

Airbus welcomes the latest steps towards the approval by ASTM International, one of the largest voluntary standards developing organizations in the world, for the use of a 50 per cent synthetic jet fuel in commercial aviation. Synthetic liquid jet fuels can be made from biomass, natural gas or coal. All of these are known as xTL fuels

AAR has been selected by Continental Airlines to perform winglet installations for 16 of the airline's Boeing 757-300 aircraft. The work will be performed at AAR Aircraft Services -- Indianapolis, the Company's state-of-the-art maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operation.

Air New Zealand plans to cut capacity and make other cost savings after it reported a 26 per cent fall in full year normalised earnings before tax of NZ$145 million and bottom line net profit down 90 per cent to A$21 million.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) July 2009 traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport, show strong passenger growth in spite of the economic downturn. Passenger numbers for the month exceeded 900,000, as figures show a total of 923,124 people travelled through the airport in the month of July. This was a 10.3 per cent increase over the same month in 2008 which registered 837,129 passengers.

American Airlines said it would charge a USD$50 fee to check a second bag on flights between some cities in Europe, India and the United States. Effective September 14, passengers on those flights pay the new fee to check a second piece of luggage. The first bag is still free.

AMR, affiliate American Eagle, has revealed that its two airlines emitted 29 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) in 2008. This represents a decrease of five per cent from the previous year. However, its operational intensity ratio, or emissions as a percentage of revenue, increased 0.3 per cent as a result of lower payload.

Air India’s Hindi magazine ‘Vimanika’ has been adjudged the Best House Journal of PSUs/Undertakings by the Ministry of Home, Government of India, for 2008-09. The President, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, presented the First Prize to Arvind Jadhav, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, at a function in Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi.

AirBaltic and Lufthansa Systems have signed a five-year contract for the IT provider’s flight planning solution Lido OC. The market-leading flight planning solution uses a number of parameters to calculate the optimal route for each flight, which leads to fuel savings of up to five percent. The implementation of the new system will be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

Air India has expanded its partnership with Singapore Airlines, by entering into an FFP agreement, enabling the frequent flyer programme members of both airlines to earn and redeem mileage points on flights operated by each other.

American Airlines announced it will begin a daily service between Brussels (BRU) and Boston (BOS) via London Heathrow (LHR), starting November 19, 2009. The new service will complement American’s existing two daily non-stop flights between Brussels-Chicago (ORD) and Brussels New York (JFK).

Air Baltic very much appreciates and welcomes the idea of the transportation ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to evaluate the establishment of a single airline for all three Baltic States.

 
Air India, has been designated as the official carrier for Commonwealth Games 2010. Foreign athletes will now get to experience India’s rich culture onboard the Maharaja, which is the mascot of Air India.

Air India (AI), as part of its strategy to provide better connectivity to Tier II cities, is planning to strengthen its network in the north-east region. AI plans to increase the number of weekly flights from the present 65 to around 1,000 over the next three years.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) announced the complete roll out of free Wi-Fi and internet access throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport. Fifty new walk-up kiosks are now fully operational in the newly opened Terminal 3, following the success of 15 walk-up kiosks which were launched in Terminal 1 last year. 

Avient has decided to move its European hub from Vatry (France) to Liege Airport. “This relocation presents us with numerous opportunities for Avient's future development, adding considerable advantages to our operational service capacities", explains Andrew Smith, Avient's Managing Director.

Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity data for its members in July 2009, along with a projection for August. The overall picture remained depressed, with passenger traffic volume 2.3% below the level of July 2008, which itself was already influenced by the market downturn.  The major operating regions posted rather larger deficits:  -4.3% on the North Atlantic, -3.9% on the Far East and -3.4% on cross-border services within Europe.  The impact on the overall figure was mitigated slightly by some growth in African and Middle Eastern services.

Air Arabia is launching a new budget airline with an Egyptian partner, enabling it to open its third hub and diversify away from increased pressure in its home market.

Aer Lingus Group announced that it has completed the acquisition of 5,605,347 ordinary shares at EUR0.05 each in the issued share capital of the company from the trustee of the Aer Lingus Group Employee Benefit Trust.

Air France-KLM said its passenger traffic fell 2.9 percent in August, while its load factor improved slightly thanks to a sharper 4.2 percent decline in capacity. Passenger load factor stood at 84.8 percent, up 1.1 points. The group carried 6.6 million passengers in August, a year-on-year decline of 3.8 percent.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) welcomed the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL)’s new Air India Express direct route to Amritsar in the north of the country. This new route launch increases Abu Dhabi’s already strong connectivity to the Indian subcontinent and is set to better serve the large Indian expatriate community in the Emirate.

ASM, the global aviation route development expert, has announced the launch of a new office in New Zealand to be headed by Gordon Bevan as Principal Consultant.

Airbus has delivered the first of two A318 aircraft equipped with ‘steep approach’ capability to British Airways. The A318 is the largest commercial aircraft certified to land at steeper than usual gradients and has the potential to transform long haul travel between city centres, saving time and cost to the business traveller.

Airbus has delivered its 4000th A320 Family aircraft to Brazilian flag carrier TAM from its Final Assembly Line in Hamburg. The aircraft, an A319, was handed over to TAM in the presence of the President of the Board of TAM, Maria Claudia Oliveira Amaro as well as Airbus President and CEO, Tom Enders.

Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline, has placed a convertible bond amounting to EUR125m, with institutional investors outside of the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.

AirAsia announced the launch of its first long haul low cost route into the Middle East between Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur; further expanding its already vast network in the region beginning on 23 November 2009 with five times weekly flights in time for the peak Haj and Eid-dul Adha travel season.

Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, announced that eight of its member airlines have signed an unprecedented agreement with Rentech, Inc. and Aircraft Service International Group (ASIG) to purchase up to 1.5 million gallons per year of renewable synthetic diesel fuel (RenDiesel) for use in ground service equipment at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) beginning in late 2012.

Austrian Airlines has said its July traffic was 8.9 per cent lower than the same month last year, as the airline cut capacity (measured in ASK) by 11.7 per cent. The load factor was stable at 79.8 per cent. However short- and medium- haul flights saw a 2.2 per cent increase in load factor and specifically a 5.8 per cent increase in flights within Western Europe.

Air Mauritius said it made a net loss of EUR13.19 million euros (USD$18.57 million) for the first quarter ending June 30, mainly due to the global economic picture, a high fuel bill and H1N1 flu.

Air Canada announced that they will start a daily non-stop service between Brussels and Montreal as of next summer. The new route offers good prospects: Montreal is one of the most popular long-haul destinations from Brussels and the main destination in Canada.

AirAsia, the world’s lowest cost airline, has unveiled a 328% increase in core operating profit to in the three months ended 30-Jun-2009, in one of the clearest endorsements to date of the benefits of the LCC model amid this deep economic downturn.

Air India is planning to launch a low cost airline in September. According to Jitender Bhargava, executive director - corporate communications, Air India,

Australia's Transport Department plans to negotiate a comprehensive air services agreement with the EU that would replace bilateral agreements with 17 of the 28 member states, whilst removing most of the regulatory restrictions on airlines.

Afriqiyah Airways has taken delivery of their first Airbus A330-200 aircraft, becoming a new operator of this aircraft type. The new A330 will seat 230 passengers in a two-class cabin and will serve long-haul operations on routes from Tripoli to Africa and Europe.

Air France has announced the auction of 380 seats on each of its two inaugural Airbus A380 flights, operating Paris to New York/JFK on 20th November, 09 and New York/JFK to Paris on 21st November, 2009.

ANA is expecting the number of passengers at Lisbon’s airport to increase to 18 million per year by the year 2017.

Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity data for its members in June 2009. The June figures, while evidently not as extreme as the minus 8.3% recorded in May, remained heavily negative. Overall, passenger volume was down 6.5% on June 2008.

Air Arabia’s net profit for the first half of this year stood at AED 193 million, an increase of 21 per cent compared to AED 160 million for the first six months of last year.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has posted improved results for the second quarter of 2009, with net income of US$11.3 million on pre-tax earnings of US$17.8 million and revenues of US$240 million.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) announced that Ukraine’s leading international carrier, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), will commence the first direct service from Abu Dhabi to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev from 25 September.

Air Canada posted a big operating loss and, with no sign of a recovery in sight, the country's biggest airline said it will cut capacity and CAD$400 million (USD$370.4 million) in costs to cope with the ailing economy and weak demand.

AerCap Holdings announced the results of its operations for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009. Net income was $56.6m, compared with net income of $68.6m for the same period in 2008.

Air France-KLM said passenger traffic fell 3.3 percent in July while its load factor rose 0.7 points to 85.1 percent as it reduced capacity by 4.1 percent.

Air Berlin said its load factor improved for the first time this year as the company reduced capacity faster than demand for air travel declined. The German carrier said its load factor widened by 0.1 percentage point to 83.4 percent in July, which was the first increase since December. Its passenger numbers fell 3.3 percent to 2.81 million, while the company had reduced the number of seats on offer by 3.4 percent.

American Airlines has closed a $276m private placement offering of senior secured notes due 2016, which were priced at par to yield 13 per cent. The purpose of the offering was to refinance, in part, the outstanding $401m principal amount of the company's 1999-1 enhanced equipment trust certificates (1999 EETCs), which are scheduled to be paid in full on October 15, 2009.

AirAsia will be ramping up its frequencies to Melbourne from seven to eleven flights weekly commencing December 1, 2009.

Austrian Airlines Group posted a net result of minus 166.6 million Euro for the first half of 2009, including non-cash impairment losses of 74.3 million Euro resulting from the valuation of aircraft.

AirAsia, has seen solid demand for a share issue to raise up to USD$171.6 million which it will use to reduce its gearing, chief executive Tony Fernandes said.The airline plans to place out up to 481.1 million AirAsia shares, representing a 20 percent stake, to buyers to be identified later.

Air Canada shares rose more than 18 percent after the cash-strapped airline announced a CAD$1.02 billion (USD$944.4 million) financing plan.

AMR the parent company of American Airlines reported a second quarter net loss of $390m, equivalent to $1.39 per share. This compares to a net loss of $1.5bn, or $5.83 per share, for the year-ago-period.

Air Berlin Technik has gained new servicing contracts for three of its maintenance stations. At Munich Airport, Air Berlin Technik will support the Spanish airline Iberia in line maintenance; the servicing facilities at Berlin-Tegel will be used by Estonian Air, and the Air Berlin Technik personnel in Nuremberg will provide technical support for Sun Express.

Airbus delivered the 1000th aircraft from the A330/A340 Family. The aircraft, an A330-300, was handed over to Thai Airways International (THAI) at a special ceremony in Toulouse.

Air Namibia the national carrier of Namibia, represented in India by Aviareps joins the IATA-BSP system as the newest BSP airline in India.

Air Canada has signed an MoU with its regional partner Jazz Air adapting conditions of their Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) to be more: "consistent with market realities".

American Airlines expects to win US approval by October to form an alliance with British Airways and Spain's Iberia. American Airlines parent AMR, British Airways, Europe's third-largest carrier by revenue, and Iberia have applied for US government antitrust immunity to form a transatlantic alliance to work together on fares, schedules and cost cutting.

American Airlines along with United, Delta, Continental and US Airways, have all now recently announced $5 increases in checked-bag fees paid at the airport, to $20 for the first and $30 for the second bag.

American Eagle Airlines will begin nonstop jet service between Charleston International Airport (CHS) and Miami International Airport (MIA), beginning Nov. 19. American Eagle will operate the service with 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jets.

Aabar Investments said it will take a 32-percent stake worth USD$280 million in Virgin Group's space unit Virgin Galactic.

Air India has introduced two types of special fares, NAP-3 and AP-3 on select domestic sectors to encourage air travel during the lean season. No fuel surcharge is applicable on these fares.

Aviall Services has entered into an agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada to supply new OEM spare parts for PW901 engine clients around the world.

Air Mauritius said that it expected to swing to an operating profit for the April-June quarter compared with a loss in the same period last year due to cost cutting. The national carrier said it saw operating profit -- excluding hedge costs and exceptional items -- hitting EUR6.5 million euros (USD$9.23 million) from a EUR14 million loss in the previous period.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has launched its Media Centre, designed exclusively for journalists and PR professionals.

AirTran Holdings reported a higher-than-expected second-quarter profit against a year-earlier loss as it cut operating expenses to cope with weak air travel. The company reported net income of USD$78.4 million, or 56 cents a share, for the second quarter, compared with a loss of USD$14.8 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.

Association of European Airlines has expressed its concern at the continuing trend on the part of airports across Europe to increase the fees they charge to their airline customers in order to compensate themselves for lower traffic levels during the current recession.

Avianca and Lufthansa Systems have renewed the contract for the use of ProfitLine/Price for another two years. Avianca has been optimizing its pricing with ProfitLine/Price since 2005 to maximize the revenue per seat.

All Nippon Airways plans to raise up to JPY141.7 billion yen (USD$1.53 billion) through a planned public share offering to shore up its battered finances.

ADT Security has won a contract from Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) to provide the access control and video surveillance security systems to the new Terminal 3 in Indira Gandhi International Airport, scheduled to open in March 2010. ADT Security will deliver the systems by end of 2009.

Air India Charters inked a contract with Ameco Beijing to provide C check services on eight 737-800s.

Air Arabia, announced launch of a special promotion aimed at bringing families and friends closer to their loved ones living in the UAE offering roundtrip tickets to Sharjah, UAE, from any of the 13 destinations the carrier currently serves in India.

American Airlines has entered into a frequent flyer agreement as well as a Code Share Agreement with GOL Airlines that will provide benefits to members of both American's AAdvantage and GOL's Smiles programs.

Air France KLM released that traffic for June 2009 which was down 6.4% while capacity was down 5% compared to the same period in 2008. The load factor for the month was 80.3%, down 1.1 points.

Air Canada reported a load factor of 80.9% on a consolidated basis with Jazz, versus 82.2% in June 2008, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points. System traffic decreased 9.1% on a capacity reduction of 7.6% system wide.

Austrian Airlines has become the first airline in the world to introduce SMS check-in with IATA mobile boarding passes using pioneering technology developed by the UK’s leading aviation and IT solutions consultancy Real Time.

Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity data for its members in May 2009, along with a projection for June. Passenger traffic in May was down 8.3% which, after making allowance for Easter variations which artificially depressed the March figure, was the worst result of the downturn to date. Far Eastern traffic was down 9.8%, the North Atlantic -8.8%, and traffic in Europe -7.9%. Carriers have managed to increase the tempo of capacity cutbacks, with overall seat-km in May 5.3% lower than in the previous year.

Alaska Air Group said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the fee, which it began charging from July 7, was expected to add about USD$30 million in revenue for its second half.

Air Canada took delivery in Vancouver of its 18th Boeing 777 aircraft, sporting a specially designed livery from nose to tail in recognition of the carrier's role as Official Airline of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. With the delivery of fin 742, a 777-300ER, Air Canada completes its fleet-wide renewal program.

Air Jamaica is to sell two A320-200 aircraft that have been with the airline since their delivery in 1996/7. The airline is currently going through a restructure and is reducing its fleet size and increasing unit productivity.

Air Namibia has introduced the concept of online “Self Check-In” System. The “Self Check-In” System allows one to check him/her self in from the convenience of their home or office.

Aero-Chef from Cochin-based Kott Software is a pioneering ERP solution for Flight Kitchens / Airline Caterers and is a web based application enabling centralized management. The solution is targeted both at Airlines and Inflight Caterers. With low margins and large volumes being the rule of the game - proper costing, budgetary control, preventing wastage and informed decision-making has become as critical as ever.

Al Bateen Executive Airport has secured full aerodrome certification from the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in recognition of its high standards in all areas of operations.

AeroMobile sys

Air India could be considered in the near future, an initial public offering of shares depending on the revival of equity markets, India's aviation minister said. An IPO, mooted in 2007, was shelved as market turmoil last year spooked domestic and international investor appetite for new issues. But the benchmark Indian stock index has risen 54 percent so far in 2009, after a 52 percent fall last year.

Air France-KLM posted a narrower than expected fourth quarter loss after capping staff costs, but scrapped its dividend as it waits for elusive signs of a recovery in passenger and freight demand. Europe's largest airline by revenue reported a fiscal fourth quarter operating loss of EUR574 million euros as the economic crisis deepened but said declining traffic may have bottomed out. The figures brought the Franco-Dutch airline group's operating loss before interest, tax and exceptional items for the year to March 31, to EUR129 million in a dramatic flip from last year's profit of EUR1.4 billion.

Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines agreed to operate as one airline over the North Atlantic, seeking to boost their 25 percent share of the world's busiest market as the industry scrambles for savings.The profit-sharing venture between the two largest airlines on each side of the ocean had been expected for months but underpinned a strong rally in Air France-KLM shares after it unveiled narrower than expected full-year losses.The pact between Delta and Air France-KLM has won anti-trust clearance in the United States and involves sharing revenues and costs on 200 transatlantic flights and some 50,000 seats a day.

American Airlines introduces a whole new approach to frequent flyer award travel with launch of one-way flex awards .Customers Can Combine Various One-Way Awards to Best Meet Travel Needs. Having invented the frequent flyer concept when it launched the AAdvantage® programme nearly three decades ago, American Airlines has now further revolutionised award travel by introducing an exciting new feature called “One-Way Flex Awards”.

Air India has introduced daily direct flight between Ahmedabad and Frankfurt. With the introduction of the direct flight, passengers travelling from Ahmedabad and neighbouring places like Anand, Nadiad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Bhavnagar will now be able to reach Frankfurt in just 9 hours 15 minutes instead of the earlier 12 hours 50 minutes, thereby saving about three and half hours travel time taken while travelling via Mumbai.

AirAsia Berhad has recorded a 591 per cent increase in its core operating profit, which rose to RM166m ($47.49m) for the period ending March 2009. Revenue for the quarter rose 33 per cent to RM714m ($204.27m), while passenger numbers increased by 21 per cent to 3.1 million. Load factor for the airline was 70 per cent, yields (revenue per ASK) was up 12 per cent. "Thai AirAsia has outperformed industry performance considerably and has captured a significant market share," the company said.

Air India’s Frequent Flyer Programme ‘Flying Returns’ members can now avail 50% discount on room tariff (upto 30th September 2009), 35% discount on room tariff (from 1st October 2009 to 31st March 2010) and 25% discount on Food & Beverage Services in the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) chain of hotels, as part of a joint promotion being introduced.

AirAsia s planning a MYR500 million ringgit (USD$143.1 million) rights offering as it expects debt levels to climb this year, its chief executive said. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said the airline has finalised the size of the planned issue at MYR500 million but it has not decided on the timing.<

Air India has successfully carried out a major ‘2C’ Check for the first time on an Airbus 330 aircraft resulting in substantial savings in foreign exchange. The ‘2C’ check was carried out with in-house expertise. The aircraft, after the major check, was test flown at Mumbai. Air India has two leased Airbus 330 aircraft in its fleet.

All Nippon (ANA), Japan's biggest domestic airline, has made predictions of a full year profit of YEN3bn ($31m) compared to a loss of YEN4.26bn. Tomohiro Hidema, ANA's CFO said that the airline will cut costs by YEN73bn as a result of lower fuel prices, landing fees and wages. ANA made cost cuts of YEN18bn last year yet still reported a loss.

American Airlines’ new service from DFW International Airport to Madrid took place from DFW’s International Terminal D. The new flight also transport First Lady of Texas Anita Perry as she leads a Texas trade delegation to Madrid.

Aer Lingus slashed its outlook and reshuffled management in the face of diving revenues and passenger numbers as rival Ryanair ruled out another bid for the beleaguered carrier. Shares in Aer Lingus fell 20 percent, making it the biggest loser on the Irish stock index, after the company forecast losses this year would be materially worse than the EUR79 million euro bottom range of market expectation.

AirAsia, American Express and Maybank announced the roll out of AirAsia’s acceptance of American Express Cards for bookings starting from on-line and through its Call Centres and sales counter. This new partnership will further ease convenience for both consumer and corporate travel and improve tourism.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released the March 2009 traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport. The figures show an overall passenger increase of 7.9 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year, and a daily average of 24,833 passengers. Aircraft movements also increased by 4.5 per cent.

Aeroflot saw the rate of decline in its passenger numbers increase in March, but managed to outperform Russia's airline industry as a whole by a wide margin in the first quarter, it said. The state-controlled airline carried 13.4 percent fewer passengers in the first quarter of 2009 than in the same period of 2008, a sign of continuing weakness in consumer spending.

Airbus, and the Russian Technologies State Corporation’s integrated structure VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, the Russian Titanium manufacturer, have signed the biggest and longest-term contract in the history of Airbus/EADS cooperation with Russian industry.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has welcomed its 43rd airline to Abu Dhabi International Airport. The new route, established by Sun Air, a privately-operated Sudanese airline, will provide the UAE capital with another air link to Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Abu Dhabi will be the airline’s second destination in the UAE.

American Airlines, which invented the frequent flyer program when it launched the AAdvantage program nearly three decades ago, has further revolutionized award travel by introducing an exciting new feature called “One-Way Flex Awards.” One-Way Flex Awards offer a whole new approach to frequent flyer award travel, creating even greater value for AAdvantage members.

Air India will introduce a daily direct flight between Ahmedabad and Frankfurt providing convenient connections to Newark and Chicago at Frankfurt, the new international hub of Air India. Passengers coming in from Newark and Chicago will connect to Ahmedabad at Frankfurt.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) is promoting Abu Dhabi’s first luxury airport in the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa regions (MENA); dedicated solely to private jet to the international business aviation community at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE); which took place in Geneva .

Air China, which posted bigger-than-expected 2008 losses, returned to profit in the first quarter of 2009, helped by an exceptional gain and lower fuel costs. The country's flag carrier posted a net profit of CNY981.2 million yuan (USD$143.6 million) in the three months ended March, down 5.7 percent from the same period last year, based on Chinese accounting standards.

American Airlines placed its first 757 into international service on a flight between JFK and Brussels. American is in the process of reconfiguring 18 of its 124 757s for use on international routes.

American Airlines parent AMR reported a quarterly net loss on weaker travel demand, although it was much smaller than expected. The company said its first-quarter net loss was USD$375 million, compared with USD$341 million a year ago.The results include the impact of a USD$13 million charge, reflecting the value of future lease payments related to aircraft retirements in the quarter.

Air France-KLM unveiled a 9.4 percent slump in passenger traffic in March and another bleak month for cargo, as the global economic crisis continues to depress business travel and the flow of goods.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) reports total passenger numbers at Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport declined 17.8% year-on-year to 480,759 passengers in Feb-2009. Domestic passengers led the decline, falling 21.4% year-on-year to 368,728. International passenger growth also continues its downward trend, declining 3.1% year-on-year to 112,031 passengers.

Association of European Airlines (AEA) has given its full backing to initiatives developed within the WHO and the ICAO to address the threat of a swine flu epidemic. The air transport sector is well aware that it has a front-line profile when the spectre of global pandemic raises its head – as demonstrated by the experience of SARS in 2003.”

Air Canada reported an operating loss of $188 million for the first quarter of 2009 compared to an operating loss (before a provision for cargo investigations and proceedings) of $12 million in the first quarter of 2008. A net loss of $400 million in the first quarter of 2009 included losses on foreign exchange of $101 million. A net loss of $288 million in the first quarter of 2008 included a provision for cargo investigations and proceedings of $125 million and losses on foreign exchange of $89 million.

Alitalia occupancy rates have climbed from 43% when it was relaunched in January to around 65-66% at present, just below break even point.

Airbus has selected Goodrich to supply the external video system for the A350 XWB, which is expected to generate more than $1bn in original equipment and aftermarket revenue over the life of the programme.

Air Berlin officially opened its new hangar 7 at Düsseldorf airport. Measuring 220m (720ft) by 90m (295ft), the EUR65m facility ($87m) can accommodate up to three wide-body aircraft and is the largest aircraft maintenance hangar in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. A photovoltaic system measuring 1,269m2 (13,950ft2) has been installed on the roof.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) applauded Air India Express’ commitment to their expanding Abu Dhabi operations, as the airline launched two new routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and increased its frequency of service to Cochin from five to six flights per week.

Air India will be operating additional flights to Port Blair from Chennai and Kolkata to meet the increased passenger traffic demand during the summer holiday season May-June 2009.

Association of European Airlines (AEA), has welcomed the conclusion of a comprehensive EU-Canada Air Transport Agreement which paves the way for a lightly-regulated common aviation area encompassing the EU, Canada and the air routes between the two. The agreement was signed at the EU-Canada Summit in Prague. In the first phase of the agreement, EU and Canadian airlines will have unrestricted access to EU-Canada routes, with full pricing freedom, mirroring the EU-US agreement which came into effect in 2008.

Air India, which has the largest frequent flier membership base in the country, has introduced a Member Get Member acquisition scheme in an effort to further widen its reach. Under the short-term scheme upto May 5, 2009, members of Flying Returns can earn mileage points by introducing new members. Every Flying Returns member who introduces a friend or acquaintance will earn 500 mileage points per enrolment, with a cap of five references. The points will be credited to the valid member's account once the new member undertakes his/her first qualifying travel on Air India (AI or IC) designated flights within a year of registration. Enrolment can be done online at www.flyingreturns.co.in

Al Ain International Airport has been awarded the Aerodrome certificate from the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) following the successful ‘Operation Volcano’ aircraft crash simulation exercise including airport safety oversight audit.

ALAFCO’s Chairman and CEO Ahmad Alzabin announced that the company succeeded in placing 3 aircraft whose leases expire in the first half of this year. The leases for 2 aircraft, an A320-200 and a B737-800, with China Eastern Airlines were extended for terms of 3-6 years.

Air France-KLM unveiled a 9.4 percent slump in passenger traffic in March and another bleak month for cargo, as the global economic crisis continues to depress business travel and the flow of goods.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) announced another major milestone in the development of Abu Dhabi International Airport with the full transfer of flights from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, ensuring smooth transition for all passengers. ADAC also declared the new terminal fully operational.

Air Canada will launch the only daily service between Vancouver and Paris to meet seasonal travel demand. Between July 1, 2009, and September 29, 2009, the carrier will operate daily one-stop same plane flights linking Vancouver with the Frenchcapital during the busy summer season.

Air Arabia, has announced that it has been recognised by Airbus, one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, for achieving the highest operational utilisation in the world. This is for the fourth consecutive year that Air Arabia maintained the lead among all global airlines operating Airbus A320 aircraft.

Air Canada needs to make sharp cuts in its aircraft fleet and operations, and probably cannot do that without filing for bankruptcy protection.Canada's largest airline has spread its operations too thin, and should reduce its domestic routes by 57 percent and international routes by 53 percent, said Jacques Kavafian of Research Capital.

Aer Lingus saw a huge surge in bookings in March to a monthly record of more than 1 million, it said. The former state airline posted an after-tax loss for 2008 and said it would not meet its earlier forecast for a pre-tax profit in 2009.

AirAsia X stated it plans to increase revenue to USD273 million in 2009, after slightly more than two years of operations, an increase from approximately USD68 million in 2008. The carrier also expects to report a profit in 2009.AirAsia X reported a net profit margin of 35% and 30% in Dec-2008 and Jan-2009, respectively, with yields for pre-sold tickets for 2009 reportedly improving 20% year-on-year (off a low base).

Association of European Airlines has released traffic data for the first two months of 2009. The figures reveal the extent of the current downturn; compared to the corresponding months of 2008, passenger traffic was down 3.9% in January and 8.8% in February, although this latter figure was measured against a 29-day month last year and a truer figure would be minus 5.5%.Taking the two months together and adjusting for the extra day last year, the market decline is 4.6%.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman, Mr. VP Agrawal, signed Memorandum of Understanding with Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Mr. M Madhavan Nambiar. This memorandum spells the targets to be achieved by AAI on key performance areas during the year 2009-10. AAI is targeting a Gross Margin of Rs.1700 crore and 77% Customer Satisfaction.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) is the only airport in the Arab region to be named in the Airports Council International’s (ACI) Airport Service Quality Survey. This accolade is testament to ADAC’s commitment to create a customer-focused, world-class airport facility.

Advantage West Midlands (AWM), the regional development agency of the British Midlands, has established India as one of their key markets for sourcing potential investors, tie-ups, mergers and acquisitions for the local companies located in the region.

AirAsia needs to raise MYR3 billion ringgit (USD$823.5 million) next year as it expects to take delivery of another 24 new aircraft, a company official said. Mohshin Aziz, investor relations manager at AirAsia, said the MYR3 billion was on top of the MYR2 billion planned for 2009.
Air Canada shares sank 22 percent as analysts speculated the resignation of its chief executive, and the naming of a replacement known for his restructuring expertise, may signal its second filing for creditor protection in six years.

Abu Dhabi International Airport has welcomed the first Bahrain Air passenger plane at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The airline will initially operate nine flights per week from Abu Dhabi, with plans to increase frequency to double daily in the medium term.

Air Berlin said it had agreed to take a stake of up to 20 percent in TUI Travel's German airline TUIfly, and TUIfly will take up to 20 percent in Air Berlin.

Air France-KLM fell as much as 7.3 percent at the start of trading after Europe's largest airline warned of a EUR200 million euro (USD$271.4 million) operating loss in its financial year ending March 31.

Airbus Americas and Airbus China Beijing Campus have achieved certification according to the ISO 14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems. This international standard requires organisations to develop an integrated, structured approach in setting and achieving environmental policies and objectives with the goal of supporting protection of the environment, prevention of pollution and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Abu Dhabi International Airport released its traffic figures for February 2009, which showed a strong increase of 6% in passenger traffic from India, over February 2008, while aircraft movements increased 4.9 per cent.

AirAsia is increasing its flight frequency between Kuala Lumpur and Guilin, China to daily direct flights from 01-May-09. Initially, AirAsia had launched its Guilin route in Jul-08 with four direct weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal and Liangjiang Airport in Guilin.

Aeroflot has implemented a new automated control system of air operations. The system covers all aspects of the flight management, including flight planning, flight control, daily plan optimization and decision making in failure situations.

Air India, which has been inducting new aircraft at an average pace of two/three aircraft a month since July 2007, will continue to do so in the next fiscal, notwithstanding the global slump in air travel during the recent past.

Airbus is adapting production rates of its A320 Family programme from 36 to 34 a month from October 2009 onwards. Production rates of the A330/A340 family will be paused at the current level of 8.5 a month, and not increased further as previously planned.

Abu Dhabi International Airport released its traffic figures for January 2009 and, amidst the backdrop of a worldwide slowdown, has posted a healthy 10 per cent rise in passenger traffic over the same month last year. Abu Dhabi International Airport passed a significant milestone by handling over nine million passengers in 2008 (an airport record), having exceeded conservative expectations over the previous two years with an unparalleled, 30-plus percentile growth rate.

Association of European Airlines, representing Europe’s most important network airlines, has described the adoption of the EU’s Airport Charges Directive by Council as an ‘important first step’ in addressing a serious deficiency in the air transport value chain, but believes that current pricing practices of airports, as yet not covered by the new rules, are seriously damaging airlines.

Airbus held onto the top spot in global airliner production for the sixth year running in 2008 with a 7 percent rise in deliveries to a record 483 planes, the European plane maker said.

Alitalia agreed to sell a 25 percent stake to Air France-KLM for EUR323 million euros (USD$429 million), giving the Franco-Dutch airline wider access to Europe's fourth biggest travel market after years of courtship.

Austrian Airlines is significantly expanding its flight schedule from Vienna to Dubai, creating a more attractive flight experience than ever before: From 1 March 2009.

Air Canada has launched its new 'Escape Pass', giving customers the opportunity to make multiple getaways affordably across North America.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) by induction of four non-official Directors on its Board, can now exercise its Miniratna Powers. AAI had been accorded the status of Miniratna Category-I . This will enable AAI to decide and implement the decision befitting the status of 'Mini Ratna'.

Airport Authority Hong Kong Board accepted a proposal from Cathay Pacific Services to defer the completion of its new cargo terminal by a maximum of 24 months to mid 2013. The two parties signed a supplemental agreement recently.

Air Austral, the airline based in Saint Denis, La Reunion, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus for the purchase of two A380s in a single-class configuration. In such a configuration, the A380 will offer unprecedented level of fuel economy, further emphasising the eco-efficient nature of the aircraft. In a single-class configuration the aircraft will seat around 840 passengers in the widest economy class seats and the service proven quietest cabin in the sky.

Aviall Services announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide aftermarket distribution agreement with General Electric for unique spare parts of the widely-popular GE CF34-3 aircraft engines for the remaining life of the engine. Aviall plans to assume these spare part distribution responsibilities to CF34-3 customers over the next few months.

Airbus starts construction work on the final assembly line for the A350 XWB, the new highly efficient wide-body aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2013. The 74000m2 factory will house the first stages of final assembly for the A350 XWB: the joining up of the fuselage and wings.

AirAsia guests are in for further savings when the leading low cost carrier implements a new baggage policy that is very much simpler and more convenient effective 13 January 2009. Dubbed “Supersize”,
Air India has awarded a new three-year passenger services contract in Chicago to Worldwide Flight Services (WFS). The new agreement extends a working relationship between the two companies that began in 1998.

American Express Saudi Arabia LTD, has signed an agreement with the UAE's national airline, Etihad Airways, to issue co-branded credit cards to customers across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).The new co-branded credit card is packed with unique features and airline benefits to support the AMEX customers 'global lifestyle. This will be the first airline co-brand for American Express in the Middle East.

Air India Express, the low-cost carrier of the national airline Air India, will operate additional flights to Dubai and Kuwait from the south Indian port of Mangalore, in response to higher demand from travellers to the Gulf countries from this region. The number of flights from Mangalore to Dubai will be increased to 10 a week from the present seven a week.

Air Works, India's leading aviation service provider since 1951, announced that it has been appointed as an authorized service center for Agusta Westland helicopters in India. Under the contract, Air Works will provide maintenance, repair and support services to owners and operators of Agusta Helicopters in India.

Aer Lingus reported a 4.6 percent drop in its December passenger numbers, two days after its Irish rival and predator Ryanair posted double-digit growth.

Aeroflot said it hoped to boost profit to about 9.3 billion roubles (USD$328.3 million) in 2009, more than in any other year, despite expectations of weaker demand for air travel.

AirAsia welcomed 2009 with a BIG Regional Sale. The leading airline makes flying more affordable by offering airfares from as low as *RM9 for its domestic and international routes.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has announced that Abu Dhabi International Airport has received regulatory approval for enhanced low visibility operations. This approval, the first of its kind in the Middle East, allows for aircraft to be able to safely maneuver in low visibility conditions when previously aircraft would have stopped operating.

Air India has announced attractive incentives jointly with GDS major Galileo for its approved travel agents. The joint promotional programe aims at increasing sale on Air India domestic sectors (both IC and AI designated flights), by travel agents using the Galileo terminals.

AirAsia X, the low-cost carrier based in Malaysia, is planning to expand its routes to India in 2009. The carrier is looking to expand its routes to Indian states including New Delhi, Amritsar and Mumbai.
Air India and Indian Airlines is expected to increase their net revenue out of Bahrain from US$18 million to US$20 million a year. The airlines operate 20 flights a week to India - to Mumbai, Kochi, Trivandrum, Calicut and Mangalore.

Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), a new aviation regulator, will come into effect by March 31, 2009 in India. The Indian airports will have a tariff regulator in line with international practices once AERA becomes operational.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) will construct a new integrated passenger terminal building adjacent to the existing terminal at Veer Savarkar Airport in Port Blair. The proposed new terminal, estimated to cost about INR3.22 billion, will have the capacity to handle one thousand passengers per hour.

Abu Dhabi International Airport has released the airport's traffic figures upto November 2009 with growth rates demonstrating a continuing bucking of worldwide industry trends with sustained passenger growth of 32.3%. Traffic for the month of November alone, over the same month previous year, also showed significant growth with a passenger increase of 27.4%.

Asian Aerospace recently concluded discussions with the Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre (BAC) to use its facilities for static aircraft display area purposes. In addition, Asian Aerospace will be able to construct chalets at Hangar 2 of the BAC, which is about 5-10 minutes' drive from the exhibition center.

Air India has effected a substantial reduction in its basic fares on domestic sectors. As many as 20 major sectors will offer a benefit of an average reduction of 52 per cent in basic fares. The benefit of reduced fares will be extended to other sectors soon.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has commenced the management and operation of a new dedicated air terminal on Sir Bani Yas Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The terminal was built by Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), which is developing the Sir Bani Yas Island tourism proposition as part of its multi-experiential Desert Islands destination.

Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras, launched by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, inaugurated service with three E195s and two E190s operating twice-daily Campinas-Salvador, and twice-daily Campinas-Porto Alegre.

Air Arabia (PJSC), has been named 'Low-Cost Carrier of the Year' for the second consecutive year, at the Aviation Business Awards 2008. This honour comes in recognition of Air Arabia's exceptional level of services, growth, outstanding performance, and reliability.

Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity data for its members in November 2008. As foreseen in the previous report, the slight revival in the October figures was an anomaly, and November traffic posted a resounding drop in volume compared to the previous year, of 4.7%.

AirAsia said it expected passenger growth in 2009 of 4-5 million to add to its 19.5 million travelers in 2008, despite a global recession and political problems in Thailand.

Abu Dhabi International Airport, has welcomed announcement by Singapore Airlines that from 15 March 2009, daily flights will link the UAE capital and the Asian city-state of Singapore. The carrier's existing three-times a week service between Singapore and Abu Dhabi will go daily as part of plans that will also see Singapore Airlines extend its network, through Abu Dhabi, by offering flights to Kuwait City four-times a week.

A.P Moller-Maersk said it had sold its 50 percent stake in Martinair to Air France unit KLM after EU competition regulators approved the sale. The Commission had opened an in-depth investigation in September because of concerns regarding the deal's potential impact on transport in particular between Amsterdam and Curacao and Aruba in the Dutch Antilles.

Alitalia pick Lufthansa as its partner, synergies will be more than EUR500 million euros, a member of the German airline's board said. A group of Italian investors is relaunching Italy's flag carrier as a smaller airline. The company has said Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are battling for a stake of up to 25 percent.

ACI Europe has recorded decrease in passenger service in Europe in October 2008. Total volume of flights dropped by 2.6%, total passenger service via the European airports dropped by 4%. Vnukovo International Airport demonstrated a stable growth of the key figures. According to ACI Europe, the passenger service of Vnukovo International Airport increased by 12.8% in October 2008.

Brazilian civil aviation agency ANAC and EASA have granted the Rolls-Royce AE3007A2 engine its type certificate. The 9,440lb (42kN) thrust engine will power Embaer’s Legacy 650 business jet and had already been certified by the FAA in April. All engine development testing has been completed and to date four engines have accumulated over 300 flying hours and cycles on two flight-test aircraft.

Boeing has forecast that the Indian aviation market will require 1,150 commercial jets valued at approximately US$ 130 billion over the next 20 years. This estimate is an upward revision of 150 aircraft (50 B737 types and 100 twin aisles) compared to Boeing’s previous forecast of 1,000 commercial aircraft, valued at US$ 100 billion required till 2029.

Bombardier Aerospace announced that Porter Airlines of Toronto has signed a firm order to acquire four Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners and has taken options on an additional six Q400 NextGen aircraft. Based on the list price for the Q400 NextGen aircraft, Porter’s firm order is valued at approximately $120 million US, which could increase to $308 million US should all six options be converted to firm orders.

British Airways (BA) has reported a pre-tax loss of £164m over the April-June quarter, mainly due to volcanic ash-cloud disruption and a protracted cabin crew strike. Last year it made a £148m loss in the same period.However, the flag carrier is confident that it is on the path to recovery, citing a fall in total costs for the quarter of 3.3 per cent compared with the year-ago period. BA forecasts that it will break even for the year as a whole, causing its shares to rise nearly three per cent in early trading.

Brussels Airport in June welcomed 1.59 million passengers: 1.6% up on June 2009. Intercontinental traffic grew strongly. Several new destinations that were inaugurated this summer show a strong startup performance (United Airlines to Chicago, Air Canada to Montreal, Hainan Airlines to Shanghai). Older existing long haul routes also show strong load factors, to the US as well as to Asia and Africa. Brussels Airlines started to operate four new direct routes in Africa in the beginning of July (Accra, Cotonou, Lomé and Ouagadougou). This establishes a new record : never before in history, such a broad choice of long haul destinations has been offered from Brussels Airport. Passenger growth for the first half year remained negative (-2.6%), due to the volcanic ash cloud in April.

Boeing’s 2Q profits have slipped just as industry analysts had forecast. The manufacturer’s net income fell 21 per cent to $787m during the 2Q 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. Jim McNerney, Boeing’s optimistic CEO, described the results as reflecting: "Another solid quarter of operational performance for the company". The company’s revenue fell nine per cent from $17.1bn to $15.6bn on an operating margin of 8.4 per cent (down 0.5 percentage points) and its share price slid 1.9 per cent to $67.32 on the news.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its international debut landing at the Farnborough Airport  in support of the Farnborough International Airshow.. This is the first international trip made by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The airplane came via nonstop flight to Farnborough, U.K., from Seattle.

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner touched down in Britain on Sunday on its first trip outside the United States, thrilling hordes of eager plane spotters who came out to see the breakthrough carbon-composite plane.

BAA's passenger traffic in June was affected by British Airways cabin crew industrial action at the start of the month. BAA's UK airports handled 9.5 million passengers, a drop of 1.7% on June 2009. Without the impact of industrial action, it is estimated that Heathrow would have seen 140,000 more passengers in May and would have seen a 2.5% increase on last June.

Bombardier has built the first all-composite manufacturing validation unit (MVU) for the Learjet 85's pressure fuselage section. The MVU was built in Montreal, where the programme’s structural design team is located, using actual production tooling and with support from the aircraft’s future manufacturing plant in Queretaro, Mexico.

Bristol Airport recorded increase in passger numbers by 8.5 per cent in June, it has revealed, with the biggest rise coming in scheduled international flights. Over 583,000 passengers passed through the airport in May, to bring the total for the year so far to more than 2.5 million. Passenger numbers for scheduled international flights rose by 13.2 per cent compared to June last year. Shaun Browne.

Boeing said that issues raised in its 787 Dreamliner flight tests could delay first delivery of the long-awaited carbon-composite aircraft into the first part of 2011, but the company also expects an uptick in new plane demand over the next two decades.

Bombardier said that privately owned Australian aviation company AVWest ordered four of its ultra-long-range Global Express XRS jets worth about USD$213 million in total. Bombardier is the world's No. 1 business jet maker. A slump in the sector in the past couple of  years as a result of the economic downturn and sagging corporate profitability have pressured the company's shares.

BAE Systems has arranged the long-term lease of a Boeing 767-300ER to Loftleidir Icelandic - but the aircraft is off for warmer air. The aircraft, owned by Presidential Flight of Abu Dhabi, has been sub-leased to Air Nuigini of Papua New Guinea.

Brazilian aerospace group Embraer predicted a rebound in regional jet deliveries over the next two years as the commercial aviation industry posts a stronger than expected recovery from recession. "By 2012 we can be back to the record levels of 2008," Luiz Chiessi, vice president of market intelligence for the company's airliner business, told a media briefing.

British Airways (BA) is launching an exclusive private jet service for its passengers flying within North America and the Caribbean. The UK flag carrier has found another way around the ban on it operating domestic flights within the US by partnering with CitationAir, the private jet subsidiary of Cessna Aircraft Company.

British Airways has reportedly lost £98m as a direct result of the cabin crew strikes during May and has said that further costs are likely to be recorded. The airline estimated it will loose £7m each during each day of the 20-day strike and has reportedly recorded a 5.8 per cent decline in passenger load factors for the financial year (starting April) to date. The airline, which is currently experiencing a five-day strike has further bad news – it has been found the worst airline for lost baggage according to the insurance company, LV.

Boeing has won an order from a Russian state company for up to 65 planes, nearly half its net order for 2009, beating European rival Airbus and a Russian manufacturer. Buyer Russian Technologies, which operates carrier Rosavia and has a deal with Aeroflot to buy aircraft on behalf of the flag carrier and lease them.

Boeing and Canadian industry partners have launched the Canadian Composites Manufacturing Research and Development consortium (CCMRD). The aim is to develop and transform the latest technical and academic knowledge into practical solutions and enhance Canada's global competitiveness.

Brussels Airlines suffered a 10 percent fall in sales and a net loss of around EUR€40 million euros (USD$49 million) in 2009. Brussels Airlines, in which Lufthansa took a 45 percent stake last year, was hit by both the economic crisis and by an unsuccessful fuel-hedging strategy. The operating loss was EUR€73 million in 2009, compared to EUR€4.7 million a year earlier, spokesman Geert Sciot said.

Bangladeshi expatriates and other travellers who have been pressing for improved services at two of the country’s major regional airports have had their wishes granted, thanks to a successful new collaboration between Biman Bangladesh Airlines and SITA, the air transport IT specialist. SITA’s AirportConnect check-in platform is now fully functional at Chittagong Shah Amanat International and Sylhet Osmany.

Bombardier confirmed that All Nippon Airways placed an order for five of its Q400 turboprop aircraft for USD$159 million. The Tokyo-based airline also took options for another five aircraft, which would increase the value of the deal to USD$332 million if the options are converted to firm orders.

Boeing said it received 20 orders for widebody 777s.The order, worth USD$4.1 billion to USD$5.2 billion at list prices, was placed by one or more unidentified customers and brings the total orders for Boeing commercial planes to 112 in 2010.

Bombardier is conducting an active sales campaigns for its new CSeries 100-to-150-seat jets with 64 airlines and leasing companies throughout the world. The company is in talks with a wide range of companies including ‘mainline’ airlines, low-cost carriers (LCCs) and lessors.

Brussels Airport launched the Brussels Airport Awards for airlines and airport partners who distinguished themselves in the areas of punctuality and efficiency, environment and safety and joint marketing efforts.

British Airways carried 22.4 percent fewer passengers in April year-on-year after a volcanic ash cloud swept over Europe, leading to a six-day shutdown of airspace which left millions of passengers stranded.

Boeing and RwandAir  announced an order for two Next-Generation 737-800s. Based in Kigali, Rwanda, the airline is renewing and expanding its fleet to broaden its network. RwandAir currently operates a fleet of regional jets.

Boeing announced London-based Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd. as a maintenance, repair and overhaul partner for the aerospace company's GoldCare service offering for the 787 Dreamliner. Under the agreement, Monarch will provide scheduled maintenance operations in support of the 787 fleet.

BAA has sold its 50 per cent stake in The Airport Property Partnership (APP) to Segro, the commercial property group, for £224m. APP, a 50/50 JV with Aviva Investors, owns 18 industrial warehouses in or near Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh and Gatwick airports.

Boeing Company announced that TUI Travel PLC, the world’s leading leisure travel company, is the launch customer for GoldCare. The agreement to support the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet covers 13 airplanes currently on order by TUI.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) signed an agreement with Moveo Systems to deploy the first of its kind multi-lingual human interactive airport solution at the Bengaluru International Airport by July 2010. Moveo Systems will set up easy-to-use interactive and intuitive touch panel Kiosks at strategic locations across the airport that will enhance interaction levels with passengers, making travel for them more engaging and exciting.

Boeing’s deliveries slipped 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year. The manufacturer announced that it had delivered 108 commercial aircraft during the quarter; this compares to 121 that were delivered in the same period in 2009. However net orders rose considerably on a year-on-year basis from minus four last year to 83 this year. In comparison Airbus delivered 122 aircraft this quarter but took orders for 60.

Boeing has partnered with Stirling Energy Systems to complete the commercialisation and deployment of Boeing's XR700 high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar power technology. Through a licensing agreement with Boeing, Stirling has acquired the sole rights to develop, manufacture and deploy the HCPV product globally.

British Airways Property Services has achieved the Carbon Trust Standard, the first carbon award to require an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and make real reductions year-on-year. The accreditation lasts for two years, during which time continuous improvement must be maintained.

British Airways carried 11.4 percent fewer passengers in March year-on-year, hit by seven days of strikes which could cost the carrier nearly USD$70 million, and added its merger with Spanish airline Iberia was on track."The traffic numbers reflect the industrial action which took place last month and the impact of that is between GBP£40 and GBP£45 million pounds (USD$68.5 million)," George Stinnes, BA's group treasurer told.

BOC Aviation’s net profit after tax rose 28 per cent to $137m for the financial year ending 31 December 2009. Last year was a "unique year" for BOC, the company said, as it ramped up aircraft investment in a counter-cyclical strategy, which it adopted in 2007. The company's total assets rose 61 per cent to $5.8bn during the same period. During last year, the Bank of China invested an additional $100m in equity to boost portfolio growth.

Bulgaria Air will use Lido/RouteManual, the navigation charts from Lufthansa Systems, for its Airbus and Boeing fleet. The two companies recently signed a five-year-contract to this effect which also includes an option to migrate to the electronic version of the charts (Lido/eRouteManual).

British Airways said it would not sign a merger agreement with Spanish airline Iberia although a deal to create the world's third largest airline by revenue deal will be sealed soon.

Bombardier Aerospace, revenues totalled $9.4 billion compared to $10 billion last fiscal year, while EBIT reached $473 million, or 5.1% of revenues, compared to $896 million, or 9%, for the same period last year. Bombardier Aerospace’s backlog reached $16.7 billion as on January 31, 2010, compared to $23.5 billion at the same date last year. The group recorded 11 net orders (213 gross orders and 202 cancellations) in fiscal year 2010, compared to 367 net orders (423 gross orders and 56 cancellations) last fiscal year. Deliveries totalled 302 aircraft, versus 349 last fiscal year. Bombardier Aerospace delivered 176 business aircraft in fiscal year 2010, compared to 235 aircraft last year. In spite of this lower level of deliveries, Business aircraft increased its revenue market share leadership to 32% compared to 31% last year.

British Airways’ recently acquired £100-million luxurious First cabin landed in Mumbai onboard BA 199 before departing on its return flight for London Heathrow.  This is the first time that Indian travellers will be able to experience the luxurious new service in India. With stiff competition in industry, the carrier plans to re-establish its position as a global premium airline with an investment of £100 million.

Bahrain Air started operations to Bangladesh with a non-stop flight to the capital, Dhaka. Civil Aviation Affairs, Bahrain Airport Company, airline and Bangladeshi Embassy officials, travel agents and guests attended a ceremony to mark the occasion.

Brussels Airport says that in summer 2010 the long haul network will be larger than it ever was in the past. The previous most successful season was the summer of 2000 with 155 weekly long haul flights, supported by the large long haul fleet of Sabena.  In 2010 Brussels Airport hosts a record number of 166 weekly long haul departures.

Bombardier Aerospace and the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) announced that Bombardier's aircraft dismantling operations have officially been accreditated by AFRA. The accreditation, which was awarded following a comprehensive two-day audit, covers teardown efforts for CRJ100/200 regional jets at Bombardier's Service Centers in Bridgeport West Virginia and Tucson, Arizona.

British Airways (BA) is set for a record full-year loss after announcing a nine-month deficit of GBP342m. However, the carrier made a surprise GBP25m operating profit in the three months to December 31 - its first quarterly profit at an operating level in more than a year - as opposed to a loss of GBP51m the previous year and analysts' expectations of a loss of between GBP90m and GBP110m.

British Airways could save around GBP£100 million pounds a year in costs after moving a step closer to a tie-up with oneworld partners on transatlantic routes. Shares in the airline were up after the US Department of Transportation (DOT) tentatively allowed BA, American Airlines and its partners antitrust immunity.

British Airways plans to build a plant that will produce biojet fuel from plasma gasification of biomass, reports 'The Engineer'. Touted as Europe's first sustainable jet-fuel plant, the facility will process all types of biomass and residue feedstock that will primarily be sourced from local waste management facilities.

Bengaluru International Airport received the ISO 14001:2004 certification, the internationally recognized Environmental Management System (EMS) Standard. Bangalore International Airport attained the certification after a series of audits by DET NORSKE VERITAS (DNV) at BIAL offices and key airport sites. All critical sites of the airport will be assessed annually to ensure continual development of the EMS currently in place.

British Airways (BA) has been given the nod of approval by the US Department of Transport (DOT) for its proposed tie-up with American Airlines and Iberia. The DOT has agreed a draft agreement to grant the carriers anti-trust immunity. If the agreement holds, it will be a considerable boon to the struggling flag carrier, adding more routes and potential customers.

BMI, British Midland International, has announced a new codeshare with sister airline SWISS. Under the agreement, bmi will codeshare with SWISS, also part of the Lufthansa group, on all UK to Switzerland routes including Zurich, Geneva and Basel.

Bombardier is threatening the Airbus-Boeing duopoly with a $3.06bn deal to sell 40 of its new CSeries aircraft to Republic Airways. Bombardier, says the agreement includes options for an additional 40 aircraft. If those options are exercised, the deal would be worth about $6.34bn.

Boeing is seeing improved demand for commercial planes and fewer deferral requests as the airline industry claws its way out of an economic downturn, the company's chief executive said.

British Airways new First takes off on a Boeing 777 bound for Chicago, The Windy City. The airline has invested £100 million in its flagship brand drawing on its rich heritage to create an exclusive experience based on classic design and understated luxury. The design of the new cabin is inspired by premium brands like Aston Martin and Jaguar.

Bahrain's Civil Aviation Affairs (BCAA) has contracted SITA to deliver air/ground data link systems aimed at enhancing air traffic safety at Manama International Airport and in airspace under its control.

Boeing plans to start constructing a MRO facility for 777 and 787 aircraft in cooperation with Air India in the city of Nagpur, central India, this year. The new plant, which is estimated to cost $100m, will take two-and-a-half years to complete and is scheduled to be operational in 2013.

Brussels Airport 17 million passengers in 2009 - down 8.2 % on pep. Although traffic has shown signs of recovery in recent months, Brussels Airport closed off the year 2009 with 17 million passengers and 450,000 tonnes of cargo carried. The economic crisis has caused passenger numbers to drop by 8.2% on pep, following two years of strong growth (7% in 2007; 3.6% in 2008) (17.8 million passengers in 2007; 18.5 million in 2008).

Boeing, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Etihad Airways and Honeywell's refining technology subsidiary, UOR have agreed to establish a bioenergy research institution and demonstration project in Abu Dhabi. The 'Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project' (SBRP) will focus on saltwater agricultural systems as a possible biofuel source for aviation and other areas.

Boeing will supply the first 787 to Air India by the second quarter of 2011, said Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar, adding that more planes would be delivered to the national carrier at a later stage.

BizJet International, Lufthansa Technik's wholly-owned US subsidiary, delivered its first A318 Elite at the end of 2009. The aircraft has been equipped with a VIP cabin-interior during its seven-month completion. Work on the second of a total of eight A318 Elites started in January 2010. This aircraft is to be handed over mid-year. The six other aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to Airbus until the end of 2013.

BAA, has said it handled a total of eight million passengers during December, a 0.9 per cent drop compared to last year's figures. Though bad weather conditions caused an estimated 1.9 per cent, or 150,000, reduction in passengers, BAA said that cargo tonnage across the airports was up a healthy 20 per cent on last year.

Boeing recorded 481 commercial airplane deliveries in 2009, matching the company guidance of 480-485 airplanes. The Commercial Airplanes backlog remains strong at 3,375 airplanes. Boeing registered 263 gross and 142 net commercial orders for the year as air travel and freight declined and carriers worldwide experienced severe economic challenges.

Boeing said it has completed initial airworthiness testing on the 787, which will enable more crew members to take part in flights and allow more aircraft to join the flight test programme. "The airplane has been performing as we expected," said Scott Fancher, VP and GM of the 787 programme.

BioJet, an aviation biofuel developer in Santa Barbara, California, and Great Plains Oil & Exploration, a producer of Camelina-based fuels in Cincinnati, Ohio, have teamed up to jointly develop Camelina cultivation and associated refinery projects in the US, Europe, South America and Asia.

Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), Air China and Qatar Airways have expressed interest to start operations from Bengaluru in summer 2010. Air China is keen to start operations on Shanghai–Chengdu–Bengaluru route and Qatar Airways has plans to deploy an A321 arriving daily from Doha. In addition, Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur is also scheduled to begin operations in April 2010. Airlines like Lufthansa and Air France that had reduced frequencies, have expressed reinstatement of the same.

Boeing said it has acquired a Finmeccanica share in a US facility that assembles the fuselage of its 787 Dreamliner, in a deal that makes the airframer the sole owner of the entity and gives it more control over production. A Boeing subsidiary acquired Alenia North America's half of Global Aeronautica last year, the South Carolina fuselage subassembly facility for the 787. Boeing said it will integrate the facility with the rest of its operations in North Charleston, South Carolina.

BAA said it would move quickly to install full-body scanners at London's Heathrow airport after the failed Christmas Day attack on a US-bound plane. "Now that the government has given the go-ahead, we will introduce full-body scanners as soon as practical," a spokesman for BAA, owned by Spain's Ferrovial said.

BAA has won an appeal against the Competition Commission ruling that it must sell three of the seven UK airports, including Stansted and Gatwick, within two years. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) concluded "with the greatest reluctance" that a claim by BAA of "apparent bias" was justified.

Brussels Airport1.2 million passengers in November: approaching figures of 2008.The decline in the number of passengers for the month of November (1,242,000 against 1,261,000 last year) was again an improvement on the previous month and, at 1.5%, the smallest decrease since the crisis began. The only declines are now in European business travel, also in low-cost with the failure of Sky Europe.

British Airways said that its pension deficit had increased to GBP3.7 billion pounds (USD$6 billion), giving Spain's Iberia a get out clause if it wants to call time on their long-planned merger.BA said an actuarial review had revealed a GBP1 billion deficit at its Airways Pension Scheme (APS) and a further GBP2.7 billion black hole at its New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS).

British Midland Airways (Bmi) and Lufthansa Technik (LHT) have signed a five-year MRO contract for more than 50 IAE V2500 engines that power the airline's A320-family fleet. The German MRO provider will take care of all aspects of maintenance, repair and overhaul for the engines.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner took to the sky for the first time, ushering a new era in air travel as it departed before an estimated crowd of more than 12,000 employees and guests from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The flight marks the beginning of a flight test program that will see six airplanes flying nearly around the clock and around the globe, with the airplane's first delivery scheduled for fourth quarter 2010.

Bmi will optimize its codeshare management using  Sched Connect from Lufthansa Systems. Both companies recently signed a three-year contract to this effect. The Star Alliance member currently has 29 codeshare partners. SchedConnect is the most advanced system of its kind available today and offers a high degree of automation.

Bmi will optimize its codeshare management using SchedConnect from Lufthansa Systems. Both companies signed a three-year contract to this effect. The Star Alliance member currently has 29 codeshare partners. SchedConnect is the most advanced system of its kind available today and offers a high degree of automation.

Brussels Airlines has now joined the 'family' of Star Alliance members becoming the 11th member. The alliance benefits from new routes brought to its network, including eight destinations within Africa: Bujumbura, Burundi; Conakry, Guinea; Kigali, Ruanda; and Monrovia, Liberia. Brussels Airport will now become one of Star Alliance's hubs. Passengers of Brussels Airlines can benefit from three of Star Alliance's fare products, including the Round the World fare, Europe Airpass and Africa Airpass.

British Airways (BA) has recorded a further slump in its passenger demand in November. Passenger capacity, measured in ASK dropped 6.2 per cent from the year-ago in 2008. Traffic in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) dropped 4.3 per cent and load factor rose 1.5 points on last year to 75.9 per cent. In the figures breakdown, premium traffic fell 1.7 per cent and other traffic 4.8 per cent.

British Airways, Virgin, Airbus UK, Rolls-Royce, BAA  and BAE Systems have signed to the Sustainable Aviation Manifesto, calling for a single global framework for emissions. The manifesto will explain how the UK aviation industry will hit CO2 emission targets.

Bombardier the world's No. 3 civil aircraft maker and No. 1 train maker earned USD$168 million in its third quarter, ended October 31. That was down from USD$226 million a year earlier in 2008.

Bombardier has announced a cut in the production rate of the CRJ and a consequent slashing of 715 jobs. The global downturn has dried up orders for the CRJ - the only firm order for the CRJ was earlier in 2008, when Spain's Air Nostrum signed up to purchase 15 CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft.

Brussels Airlines will manage its codeshare flights with SchedConnect from Lufthansa Systems. The companies signed a 5-year contract to this effect. The Belgian airline offers around 180,000 codeshare connections per year with 26 partners.

Brussels Airport 1.5 million passengers in October, down 5.8% on pcp. In October 1,498,700 passengers used Brussels Airport. Whereas the number of passengers with Brussels Airlines and long-haul carriers is picking up again, the intra-European flights continue to show negative growth. As the autumn holidays fell in October 2008 and not in November like in 2009, the number of leisure travellers also decreased on October 2008.

Boeing, which expects airlines to return to profitability in 2011, said that Middle East carriers would need 1,710 new jets over the next 20 years, valued at about USD$300 billion. The aircraft manufacturer also said it expects passenger traffic to grow at a rate of 4.9 percent each year over the next 20 years.

British Airways’ and Iberia’s boards have agreed a binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting out the basis for a proposed merger of the two companies.

BAA, the debt-laden operator of Britain's Heathrow airport is to raise GBP500 million pounds (USD$831 million) in equity to help shore up its balance sheet as it works to access cheaper bond financing.

B/E Aerospace, the world's biggest supplier of aircraft interior products, reported lower quarterly profit that beat estimates, pointing towards a gradual recovery in global economic conditions.

Brussels Airlines successfully completed the switch from its frequent flyer programme, Privilege, to Lufthansa's loyalty programme, Miles & More. More than 200,000 customers have transferred to Miles & More since May 2009. Most of the new Miles & More members in Belgium have already received a Miles & More card with the respective status and the Brussels Airlines logo.

Boeing Company reported $1.56b net loss on $16.69b revenues in 3Q09 vs $695m net profit on $15.29b in strike-affected 3Q08; BCA lost $2.84b on $7.88b (vs $394m profit on $6.95b in 3Q08), reflecting previously announced reclassification to R&D of costs incurred through July for the first three 787 flight-test aircraft, spending on those planes for August/September, and charge for 747-8 program (totaling $3.7b). Boeing's backlog fell to $320b ($253.9b for BCA) from $327.8b ($257.4b) at the end of June.

Boeing forecasts that the Asia Pacific region will rank as the world's largest aviation market over the next 20 years, requiring 8,960 new commercial jets valued at approximately $1.1 trillion.

Boeing and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of India signed an agreement for the production of flaperons for use on Boeing’s 777 series commercial jetliner. The work will be performed in Bangalore, India.  The 777 flaperons are a highly complex composite assembly that is instrumental in controlling the airplane’s maneuverability in flight. 

Boeing has confirmed that it will soon announce the location of its second 787 production line, great news for many airlines desperate for some information about when they will take delivery of aircraft. Boeing has also confirmed what many of us knew already, that the going has been tough during the third quarter, but the surprise was that during this period Boeing's sales actually edged up nine per cent!

Bombardier Aerospace - the world's third-largest civil aircraft manufacturer - announced it selected Amsterdam Airport. Schiphol as its location for a new European Service Centre. From this location the company will service its entire European business jet fleet, comprising more than 400 planes including Bombardier's Learjet, Challenger and Global Aircraft Families.

BAA has agreed to sell Gatwick Airport to an entity controlled by Global Infrastructure Partners, which also owns London City Airport and the port of Great Yarmouth. Of the sale price of £1.51bn (US$2.5bn), £55m is conditional on future traffic performance. BAA said the proceeds would be used to primarily repay part of the company’s debt.

Brussels Airport handled 1,623,400 passengers in September, a decrease by 7.6% on pcp. The decrease was slightly higher than in August (-4.4%). The number of long-haul passengers again showed a positive trend in September, but the number of intra-EU passengers and the holiday traffic dropped. With Sky Europe suspending all operations the low cost activity also lost ground. Cargo With 35,198 tonnes carried, cargo traffic was down 27.7% on the same month last year. Leaving incidental factors such as the bankruptcy of Cargo B aside, the decrease in traffic is in line with that at other European airlines.

Boeing said it expects a pre-tax charge against third-quarter results of approximately $1bn due to increased production costs and the difficult market conditions affecting its 747-8 programme. About $640m of the charge reflects higher estimated costs to produce 747-8s at both Boeing and supplier facilities. The remaining $360m of the charge relates to challenging market conditions and the company's decision to maintain the 747-8 production rate at 1.5 aircraft per month nearly two years longer than previously planned, deferring an increase to two per month. Brussels Airlines has extended its codeshare agreement with bmi - London Heathrow will be offered in codeshare with the British airline. The Brussels Airlines customers will then be able to choose from seven daily flights to London Heathrow and two to London Gatwick.

BAA airports passenger traffic at fell 2.6 percent in September, matching modest declines of recent months and raising hopes of a recovery, the company said as cargo volumes shrank at their slowest pace for 10 months. The UK operator, majority owned by Spain's Ferrovial, saw passenger numbers at Heathrow, its flagship airport, fall 0.3 percent, while the load factor, which measures the percentage of available seats sold, rose 4.3 percent, it said.

British Airways has launched the first longhaul all-business service flight between New York and London City Airport. Two uniquely configured Airbus A318s will fly twice daily on the new route, which links the hearts of the world's two biggest financial centres. The historic launch flight bears British Airways' flight numbers, BA001 to BA004, formerly used by Concorde

Boeing confirmed an order for three 737NGs in a deal with Turkmenistan's national flag carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines. The order for three 737-700s is worth approximately $192m at list prices. Turkmenistan Airlines' all-Boeing fleet includes 717s, Classic and Next-Generation 737s, 757s and one 767.

Bombardier posted a 22 percent decline in quarterly profit as cancelled orders for business aircraft continued to exceed new orders. Bombardier earned USD$202 million in the second quarter, ended July 31. That was down from USD$259 million a year earlier.

Boeing said its 787 Dreamliner would finally make its first flight by the end of this year, with initial delivery expected in the fourth quarter of 2010. Shares of the Chicago-based company rose to a five-month high as the statement helped answer questions that have surrounded the lighter, more fuel-efficient 787 aircraft, said Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities.

Boeing has completed the installation of the GEnx-2B engines on the 747-8F prototype. The 747-8F will be 17 per cent more fuel efficient than the 747-400F, according to Boeing. It should also have a noise footprint that is 30 per cent smaller than its predecessor, making it a QC2-compliant aircraft on both departure and arrival.

Bmi will push a large-scale expansion plan at East Midlands Airport, UK, by introducing eight new European routes. The low-cost airline will also add an extra three aircraft to the base and increase frequency on a number of its major routes.

British Airports' Authority (BAA) confirmed that it has seen its busiest ever August at London Heathrow Airport by a margin of 0.3 per cent. Across the BAA airports group traffic figures were down by 3.1 per cent on 2008, but figures at Heathrow show that it handled 6.4 million passengers in August 2009.

Brussels Airport, board of Directors have decided to postpone the opening of the low cost terminal until the start of the summer season in 2011 to allow for further consultation regarding regulated charges and conditions of use which will continue ahead of the planned opening.

Boeing announced one of its largest plane orders of the year as African carrier Ethiopian Airlines agreed to buy five twin-aisle 777s worth USD$1.3 billion at list prices.

Bombardier Aerospace has terminated its firm and conditional order purchase agreement with Jet Republic in respect of all aircraft. The order for 110 Learjet 60 XR aircraft, consisting of 25 firm orders and 85 conditional orders, to Jet Republic was originally announced on June 20, 2008.

British Airways (BA) is seeking advertisers to fill space on its online boarding passes to boost its revenues. The advertisements will be printed on the 12 million online, printable passes; additionally BA will post advertisements on its website.

Boeing released that the company's training organization, Alteon, will be renamed Boeing Training & Flight Services. The new name will be phased in across the organization's global network in the months ahead. The new name reflects the organization's expanded capabilities for providing flight, maintenance, cabin safety and flight operations training.

Bombardier said that it has cancelled its firm order purchase agreement with Italian low cost carrier MyAir for 15 CRJ1000 regional jets. Bombardier said the decision comes as MyAir, which recently had its license suspended by Italian aviation authorities, is facing "an uncertain situation

Birmingham International Airport has awarded ASM, the global aviation route development experts, a two year contract to provide advice and support to the Airport’s Market Development function, including market research, campaign management and support for the creation of a new route development strategy.

BAA returned to growth in July while its flagship airport, London Heathrow, recorded its third busiest month on record. Numbers of passengers grew 1.2 percent in Europe and 4.8 percent across the long-haul network, excluding North Atlantic routes.

Belle Air has opted for Lido FMS (Flight Management System) and will fly with Lufthansa Systems’ comprehensive navigation data for cockpit systems. Both companies signed a five-year contract to this effect.

Bombardier Aerospace said it received a firm order for five Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners valued at about USD$159 million. Montreal-based Bombardier said the airline, which has requested to remain undisclosed, has also taken options on an additional five Q400s aircraft, which could raise the contract value to USD$332 million.

Brussels Airport featured among the top 50 twice in annual global "TOP 50” of airport lounges published by the Business Traveller. The Business Traveller jury was especially charmed by Brussels Airlines’ “Sunrise lounge” in the T zone and the Jet Airways lounge in Pier B.

British Airways (BA) wants to off-load its in-the-red airline, Open Skies. It's believed BA is hoping to sell a majority stake of the airline, but also retain at least some of the shares.

British Airways (BA) posted a GBP94m operating loss in the first quarter. This is the flag carrier's first loss for the period since privatization in 1987. The figure compares with a profit of GBP35m in the same timeframe last year.

British Airways has opened a new luxurious lounge for its premium passengers at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

Bahrain International Airshow 2010, Arena Group and Lea International, have been awarded a GBP17m ($28m) contract for the construction of the show's site.

British Airways (BA) and Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) have signed a five-year training agreement for pilot training and simulator time for the airline's fleet of E170 and E190SR aircraft.

Boeing said its quarterly profit increased more than expected to USD$998 million. Its 2009 earnings forecast was unchanged between USD$4.70 and USD$5 per share.

Bangkok Airways recently launched the “flyer pass”, the first prepaid sets of tickets designed to fulfil different lifestyles when it comes to hassle-free and value-for-money travelling.

Boeing and members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, an airline-led industry working group, announced that several leading air carriers have been accepted as members to the group. Existing members welcome the new group members Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, TUIfly and Virgin Blue.

Boeing forecasts that over the next 20 years the Indian market will require 1,000 commercial jets valued at approximately $100 billion – a market that represents over 3 percent of Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ forecasted market worldwide. Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar shared the company’s market data and forecast at a media conference focused on Boeing’s view of India’s commercial airplane market.

Boeing and General Electric have signed an agreement for the use of the open system architecture for condition-based maintenance (OSA-CBM) by the machinery information management open systems alliance organisation. It is hoped the use of the architecture will simplify aircraft condition-based maintenance systems and become an industry standard.

Bahrain Air, the privately-owned national carrier of Bahrain, commenced the direct daily flights on Mumbai-Bahrain sector recently. The airline will operate as a low cost carrier and cater to business class travellers. This is the third destination that Bahrain Air is operating from India. It is positioning itself as a low-cost airline and is looking at starting flights from more Indian destinations to the Middle East.

Boeing and Brazilian planemaker Embraer have won deals worth a total of USD$333 million to supply Algeria's oil company Sonatrach subsidiary Tassili with seven planes, Sonatrach said. Boeing secured an USD$228.5 million deal to sell to Tassili Airlines, an affiliate of Sonatrach, four 150-seat 737-800s.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has sent a request for proposal (RFP) for the lease of three 777-200ER / 777-200 aircraft. The airline has said the aircraft could be powered by any engines and it is open to offers from operators, owners and/or lessors. The Indian airline is seeking an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) lease for 12 months with or without option for conversion to aircraft, maintenance and insurance (AMI) after six months and then to dry lease after 12 months.

British Airways has confirmed that its new all-business flights between London City and New York JFK will start from 29 September. They will operate daily initially, other than Saturdays when the UK airport is closed, increasing to twice-daily from October, using the flight codes reserved for BA's supersonic Concorde operations until they were suspended in 2003 - BA001, 002, 003 and 004.

Bombardier Aerospace has announced the launch of iflybombardier.com, an interactive customer portal aimed at assisting CRJ Series and Q-Series aircraft operators boost their operational efficiency. This powerful site features a set of diagnostic services and work processes that draw on the extensive fleet performance history of CRJ and Q-Series aircraft.

BMI, the former British Midland Airways, will effectively become part of Lufthansa, the finale of what was sometimes a saga started in 1999 when the German carrier agreed to purchase the Donnington-based airline. An out-of-court settlement has been made to pay Sir Michael Bishop (technically BBW Partnership Ltd), a total of UKP223m (E265m) for the BBW stake of 50% plus one share in the UK carrier.

British Airways said nearly 7,000 staff had agreed to voluntary pay cuts in a bid by the airline to save costs as it battles a downturn in travel. Chief executive Willie Walsh, who had already promised to work for nothing in July, said the actions of the 6,940 BA staff, equivalent to 17 percent of its workforce, would save the airline up to GBP10 million pounds (USD$16 million).

Brussels Airport handled 1,544,000 passengers, a decrease by 9.8% on the previ

British Airways slumped to a record loss, nearly doubled its debt pile and abandoned its dividend, adding the tough conditions made it impossible to give any guidance for the current period.Europe's third-biggest airline by revenue posted operating losses of GBP220 million pounds (USD$347.5 million), compared to a profit of GBP875 million in 2007/08.

Boeing forecasts a $3.2 trillion market for new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years and takes into account the industry's near-term realities, including a global economic recession, declining passenger and cargo traffic, and unpredictable fuel prices.

Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has forecast passenger traffic and cargo tonnes will start to recover in Sep-2009 or Oct-2009 onwards. Passenger traffic at Bangalore (Bengaluru) International Airport fell for the 11th consecutive month, down 21.8% year-on-year, to 643,905 in Mar-2009. Domestic traffic led the decline, down 27.6% year-on-year to 517,772 passengers, while international traffic neither fell or improved, reporting 126,133 passengers. The decline in traffic was also the result of a 19.1% fall in aircraft movements during the period.

Bmi and Virgin Atlantic have finalised the signing of a codeshare deal which will bring an extra nine new destinations to its network from London Heathrow. The agreement, which commences allows bmi to sell direct flights between London Heathrow and Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, Boston and Miami, as well as Dubai, Nairobi and Delhi.

BAA has signed a deal with IT services company Carillion to supply cabling systems at Heathrow Airport’s soon-to-be-finished Terminal 5C. Due for completion in 2011, the new building’s seven floors will be kitted out with high performance, secure fibre and cable connections designed to support a host of different uses, according to Carillion. The system will be used for passenger information displays, gate desk computer systems and baggage handling security, as well as at 15 retail units and 12 local aircraft stands.

Bombardier has awarded a five-year service contract to Aerosource to cover the repair and overhaul of air driven generators (ADG) used on the worldwide fleet of Challenger and CRJ aircraft.

Boeing has announced a series of improvements to the 737 which could reduce both fuel burn and carbon emissions by two per cent, and save airlines an average of $150,000 a year. The manufacturer estimates that it will achieve half of the fuel burn improvement through drag-reducing changes to the airframe.

Bombardier Aerospace, Lufthansa Flight Training (LFT) and Lufthansa Technical Training (LTT), have signed the first Authorised Training Provider (ATP) agreement for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft. The agreement will ensure that European operators of CSeries aircraft have access to training services.

Bombardier Customer Services has formally opened a new component repair and overhaul center for commercial aircraft in Dallas. The $4.3m facility, located south west of Love Field Airport, will cater for Bombardier’s growing number of customers across the US as well as Central and South America.

British Airways is unlikely to experience a rebound in passenger traffic until 2011 as recession drags on, chief executive Willie Walsh told."I don't see a sign of improvement in the economic environment. It will get worse before it gets better,"BA's projections did not include a recovery before 2010, Walsh said.

Boeing has issued a profit warning for the first quarter and announced a 29% cut in B777 production rates, citing the "significant deterioration in the business environment for airlines and cargo operators driven by unprecedented global economic conditions".Boeing will reduce monthly production of the B777 from seven to five from June 2010 and will also delay previous plans to modestly increase B747-8 and B767 production.

Boeing, Rolls-Royce, RUAG Aerospace and Deharde Maschinenbau have entered into a collaborative research agreement to explore the potential of fuel-efficient open-fan (open rotor) propulsion technology for future commercial airplanes. Using technologies and techniques contributed by each of the parties, tests of a model concept airplane with open-fan engines are planned for early in 2010 at the RUAG Low Speed Wind Tunnel in Emmen, Switzerland.

BAA, saw a 10 per cent drop in passenger numbers and suffered a sharp loss in the first quarter of 2009. The operator of London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, said its outlook on passenger numbers was "slightly more cautious" than its previous forecast.

British Airways’ luxurious new lounge for premium passengers and top tier oneworld members opens at Terminal. The 300-seat Galleries Club Lounge is for eligible customers travelling to Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Helsinki, Vienna and Malaga. A second dedicated 250-seat lounge for customers travelling in First will open later in the year at the same time longhaul flights to Sydney, Bangkok and Singapore transfer from Terminal 4.

Boeing said its 787 Dreamliner would be ready for its first flight later in the second quarter, reaffirming a recently announced target for the new plane.Boeing, which is already two years behind schedule for the 787, said it was continuing to analyse data from recent tests on the plane but that initial results were positive.

Boeing announced its nine 2008 Suppliers of the Year, which were chosen from among the company's 10,800 active suppliers worldwide. The winners, from California, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington, were judged on quality, delivery performance, cost, environmental initiatives, customer service and technical expertise.

Bombardier said it has received an order worth about USD$1.44 billion for 20 of its CSeries jets from Lease Corporation International, with an option for it to purchase another 20. The order is the second for Bombardier's new CSeries aircraft, set for entry into service in 2013.

Bombardier Aerospace announced that it now expects to deliver approximately 25% less business aircraft this fiscal year compared to fiscal year 2009, while still expecting to increase deliveries of its commercial aircraft by 10% compared to last fiscal year.

Bombardier reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but said it would cut another 3,000 jobs and scale back production of its business jets this year due to dwindling orders.

Boeing delivered 121 commercial planes in the first quarter of 2009, up from 115 a year earlier, the company said, indicating Boeing is on track to reach its target for deliveries in 2009. The company said 91 of its deliveries were of its 737 Next Generation.

BAA ordered to sell three airports.after a two-year investigation, the UK’s antitrust regulator has confirmed that will force BAA to sell three of its seven UK airports. Two of those must be London Stansted and Gatwick, and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport in Scotland – all three must be sold within two years.

BOC Aviation recorded a net profit after tax of USD107 million for 2008, 32% higher than the USD81 million earned in the previous year. This is the first year that BOC Aviation has achieved a net profit after tax of more than USD100 million.

Boeing announced the opening of its Boeing Research & Technology-India centre, which will help sustain the company’s competitive technological edge while enhancing India’s aerospace capabilities. The center marks another milestone of Boeing’s long term relationship with India.

Boeing will deliver 100 planes worth USD$17 billion over the next four to five years in India, the president of its Indian operations said. Last year Boeing had projected India would need 1,001 aircraft worth more than USD$105 billion over the next 20 years and Keskar said the forecast was still valid despite an economic downturn.

Boeing will pay compensation to national carrier Air India and Jet Airways for the delay in delivery of the 787 Dreamliner, but declined to quantify .Rival Airbus was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation after its A380 superjumbo fell two years behind schedule.

Bombardier said it has received an order worth about USD$1.44 billion for 20 of its CSeries jets from Lease Corporation International, with an option for it to purchase another 20. The order is the second for Bombardier's new CSeries aircraft, set for entry into service in 2013.

BAE Systems UK, leading defense and aerospace company adopts AdaCore’s GNAT Pro development environment. AdaCore has announced a corporate-wide, unlimited-usage licensing agreement with BAE Systems UK, providing every BAE Systems developer in the UK with access to AdaCore’s GNAT Pro Ada development environment.

British Airways is to resume flights to Saudi Arabia, with five services a week from its London Heathrow hub to both Jeddah and Riyadh. It will serve Riyadh with Boeing 777s, and Jeddah with 767s.

Boeing has demonstrated for the first time the ability to deliver streaming video over a mobile, ad hoc tactical network from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to a Chinook helicopter and ground troops. The demonstration proves that the high-bandwidth connection can deliver video beyond line-of-sight to the tactical edge, providing greater situational awareness to warfighters equipped to receive video.

Boeing announced the successful completion of a project that is expected to save approximately 870,000 gallons of water annually - enough to wash 17,400 cars in a line spanning almost 54 miles. Boeing worked with the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California to install motion-activated faucets and more than 400 dual-flushometer toilets and associated valves in 23 buildings throughout the company's Space and Intelligence Systems site in El Segundo.

Boeing Company announced that its Space Exploration division has submitted proposals to NASA for the Ares V Phase 1 Design Support Contracts.

Boeing announced that all of its major manufacturing facilities received the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental certification by the end of 2008, marking achievement of one of the company's most significant environmental goals.

Bengaluru International Airport to charge UDF for domestic passengers. In response to the domestic User Development Fee (UDF) application filed by the Bangalore International Airport Limited, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that effective 16-Jan-09 all domestic outbound passengers from the Bengaluru International Airport is being charged a UDF of INR260 (inclusive of taxes).

Boeing Company has successfully completed the systemwide Critical Design Review (CDR) for its Family of Advanced Beyond line-of-sight Terminals (FAB-T) satellite communications program, paving the way for implementation of a new data capability.

Bahrain Air, the first Premium service carrier with affordable fares, operating within the Middle East and to the Indian sub contentment, will launch direct flights to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, on March 3, 2009.

Boeing said that employment at its Commercial Airplanes business unit is expected to decline by approximately 4,500 positions in 2009 as part of an effort to ensure competitiveness and control costs in the face of a weakening global economy.

Boeing took orders for 662 commercial planes last year, a 53 percent drop from 2007, handing the title of biggest-selling plane maker to rival Airbus indicating the end of an unprecedented three-year boom in airliner sales.

British government's plans to expand London Heathrow Airport could include a new, GBP4.5 billion pound (USD$6.5 billion) rail hub as well as a third runway, transport minister Andrew Adonis said. Adonis told the development of the airport - currently packed to full capacity - could also include investment in new rail links.

British Airways has ordered 11 Embraer aircraft to replace the current short-haul CityFlyer fleet operating out of London's City airport, the airline said. The order includes options for three more aircraft and the whole deal is worth GBP376 million pounds (USD561.7 million) at current list prices, British Airways said.

Boeing has been selected by Southwest Airlines as the lead integrator for the airline's 737-300/-700 flight deck upgrade to incorporate advanced performance-based navigation capabilities. Boeing's role will include design, installation and integration of new hardware and software from multiple suppliers, as well as flight testing and certification.

Boeing announced that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the all-new 787 Dreamliner's scheduled maintenance program. The scheduled maintenance program defines the maintenance tasks and intervals operators will use to maintain the 787 and is documented in the 787 Maintenance Review Board Report (MRBR).

Boeing Company, through its commercial launch business, has received a contract to launch the fourth satellite for the COSMO-SkyMed (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation) program for Thales Alenia Space Italia, prime contractor of the Italian Space Agency. The COSMO-SkyMed spacecraft is expected to be launched in 2010 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a Delta II vehicle in the 7420-10 configuration.

Boeing Company has completed its acquisition of Digital Receiver Technology Inc. (DRT), a Germantown, Md.-based company that develops wireless surveillance products for government customers.

Boeing announced that its Space and Intelligence Systems facilities in El Segundo, Seal Beach and Sylmar, Calif., have received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, a global benchmark of an organization's commitment to understand and continuously improve its environmental performance.

Bulgaria Air opts for NetLine from Lufthansa Systems to enhance its airline resource management. The integrated solution provides optimization tools to speed up planning and operational processes, save costs and improve revenues.

Changi Airport Group welcomed another Chinese carrier to Changi’s network of airlines. Hainan Airlines arrived at Changi’s Terminal 2 on 29 August 2010. The sixth Chinese carrier at Changi, Hainan Airlines will operate four weekly flights on a B737-800 aircraft connecting Singapore (SIN) to Hefei(HFE) and onwards to Dalian (DLC).

Cathay Pacific Airways announced it will add more flights to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Japan as part of the airline’s plan to reinstate more passenger capacity in line with continued strong demand.

Continental Airlines (CAL) is offering a sneak preview of its  Boeing 787 aircraft interior  at the 2010 National Business Travel Association (NBTA) International Convention & Expo, giving customers a glimpse of what's ahead for air travel in the future. The 787 Dreamliner is making headlines for its revolutionary cabin environment and advanced aerodynamic design, allowing it to fly farther, faster and more efficiently. Continental will be the first U.S. carrier to take delivery of the new 787 Dreamliner beginning next year.

Copenhagen Airport, saw July the busiest month ever.  No less than 2,217,290 passengers passed through. The increase was 11.3% year-on-year. The three summer months, June, July and August, are traditionally the busiest months at Copenhagen Airport, and the 2,217,290 passengers, 1,112,078 of whom were departing, made July the airport’s busiest month ever. It was also the first time Copenhagen Airport recorded more than 1.1 million departing passengers in a single month. The number of international passengers rose by 10.1% while the number of transfer passengers rose by 11.7%. Domestic traffic also continued to show strong growth and the number of domestic passengers was 26.3% higher than last year. The previous passenger record at Copenhagen Airport was set in July 2008 when 2,135,667 passengers used the airport. Copenhagen Airport has been one of the fastest growing major European airports this year. The year-to-date growth rate is 6.7%, and the total passenger number for the first seven months of the year was 12,125,726.

Cebu Pacific (CEB) announced that its passengers to Korea and Japan increased in the 1st half of 2010, as compared to the same period in 2009. Because of this, the airline is offering a Korea and Japan seat sale until seats last, for travel from October 1 to November 30, 2010. Manila-Osaka seats are on sale for the ‘Go’ fare of P3,999, while Manila-Seoul (Incheon), Cebu-Seoul and Cebu-Busan seats are up for grabs for the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P2,899. Those with check-in luggage will just add P100 to ‘Go Lite’ fares upon booking.

Chandigarh airport’s  new terminal building is scheduled to be operational by December this year. The terminal building, which will cater to around 500 passengers, features an area of about 12,150 sq m. It will be equipped with modern passenger facilities, three aerobridges with visual docking guidance system, escalators, elevators, baggage conveyer belts and CCTVs. The work on the project commenced in November 2007 and the plan panel has set a deadline of December 2010 for its completion. After commissioning of this project, international flights will also start functioning at the airport.

Continental Airlines and Brussels Airlines announced plans to start codesharing on Continental's trans-Atlantic flights between New York and Brussels, as well as on selected flights operated by each carrier on both sides of the Atlantic. Continental will place its "CO*" code on selected Brussels Airlines-operated flights between Brussels and nine cities in Europe (Bologna, Italy; Bristol, London/Heathrow and Newcastle, United Kingdom; Hanover, Germany; and Lyons, Marseilles, Paris/Charles de Gaulle and Toulouse, France) and between Brussels and 12 cities in Africa (Accra, Ghana; Banjul, Gambia; Bujumbura, Burundi; Cotonou, Benin; Dakar, Senegal; Douala and Yaounde, Cameroon; Entebbe, Uganda; Kigali, Rwanda; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso).

Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it has selected the all-new A350 XWB to form the backbone of its future mid-size widebody fleet, following the signature of a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Airbus for the order of 30 aircraft. The Hong Kong-based airline has selected the A350-900 variant of the aircraft, which is capable of flying over 8,000 nautical miles non-stop. This will enable Cathay Pacific to operate the aircraft across its route network, including its non-stop flights to Europe and North America. The aircraft will be powered by two new generation Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Continental Airlines reported second quarter 2010 net income of $233 million ($1.46 diluted earnings per share). Excluding $24 million of merger-related costs and other special charges, Continental recorded second quarter net income of $257 million ($1.60 diluted earnings per share). Operating income for the second quarter of 2010 was $328 million, up $482 million compared to the same period of 2009.

Continental Airlines has priced $800m aggregate principal amount of 6.75 per cent senior secured notes, which are due in 2015. The notes are guaranteed by the airline’s subsidiaries Air Micronesia and Continental Micronesia and are secured on a number of its routes, takeoff and landing slots, and airport gate leaseholds. Continental said it plans to use $350m of the proceeds to repay its secured term loan facility, due in June 2011. The rest will be used to purchase mileage credits under its branded credit and debit card agreements.

Cathay Pacific Group announced a profit of HK$6,840 million for the first six months of 2010. This compares to a profit of HK$812 million in the first half of 2009. Earnings per share were up 8.4 times to HK173.9 cents. Turnover for the period increased by 33.7% to  HK$41,337 million.
Continental Airlines reported a July consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 88.0 percent, 0.7 points above the July 2009 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 88.5 percent, 0.7 points above the July 2009 mainline load factor. Both load factors were all-time records. The carrier reported a July domestic mainline load factor of 89.1 percent, 1.4 points below the July 2009 domestic mainline load factor, and an all-time record international mainline load factor of 88.0 percent, 2.7 points above July 2009.

Continental Airlines is bringing new seasonal air service this winter to its largest hub, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The new non-stop flight between Houston and Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) in Colorado is set to begin on Thursday, December 16, 2010 and will operate through Sunday, April 3, 2011.

Continental Airlines is bringing new seasonal air service this winter to its largest hub, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The new non-stop flight between Houston and Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) in Colorado is set to begin on Thursday, December 16, 2010 and will operate through Sunday, April 3, 2011.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced it will commence a twice-daily service to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on 31 October in addition to continuing to serve Narita International Airport. Continental Airlines said it would take foreign exchange losses of about USD$10 million in the second quarter from the decline of the euro and the British pound against the US dollar.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,216,215 passengers in June – up 27.5% on the same month last year. The passenger load factor was 85.4%, a rise of 8.6 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 7.7%. In the first half of 2010 the number of passengers carried was up by 8.5% compared to an ASK drop of 0.1%.

Cathay Pacific Airways celebrated the launch of its latest destination with a new three-times-weekly service to Russia’s capital city, Moscow. Flights to and from Domodedovo International Airport (DME) are operated using an Airbus A340-300 aircraft fitted with the airline’s innovative new cabins.

Continental Airlines’ flat-bed seats made their operational debut in November 2009 and are being installed on aircraft used on long-haul international routes. Currently the seats are being installed on Continental's Boeing 777 and 757-200 fleets, with 11 777s and 14 757-200s completed. In addition, Continental took delivery of two new Boeing 777 aircraft outfitted with the flat-bed seats in the end of July.

Cathay Pacific Airways will soon connect all flyers during flights as the airline plans to deploy full broadband connectivity for all passengers on all Cathay Pacific and Dragonair flights. Cathay Pacific and Panasonic Avionics Corporation have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the provision of full broadband connectivity on all Cathay Pacific and Dragonair passenger aircrafts.

China Airlines and China Southern Airlines signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement and also launched a month-long flight attendant interchange program, further raising the level of cooperation between the two airlines to provide even more convenience and value-added services to their passengers.

China Eastern Airlines said its profit for the first half of 2010 would increase by more than 50 percent over the same period a year ago as the country's aviation market recovered rapidly. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the airline said a substantial increase in passenger traffic in Shanghai due to the World Expo and synergies from the absorption of Shanghai Airlines contributed to the jump in earnings.

Continental Airlines announced plans to launch nonstop flights between Newark Liberty and Cairo, Egypt, beginning May 18, 2011, subject to government approval. Cairo, the largest city in Africa and the Middle East, will be the 72nd international destination that Continental serves from its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and the 30th city in Continental's trans-Atlantic route network. Continental serves more nonstop destinations with more flights from the New York area than any other airline.

Continental Airlines announced codeshare cooperation with TAM Airlines on routes within Brazil and between Brazil and the U.S. beginning July 1, 2010.

Changi Airport Group warmly welcomed the announcement by Finnair that it will mount daily non-stop flights between Singapore and Helsinki from May 2011. The flights to the Finnish capital will reintroduce direct air links between Singapore and Finland.

Croatia Airlines has received the operational approval from the Croatian Aviation Safety Authority to fly paperless with Lido/FlightBag from Lufthansa Systems. The innovative EFB solution optimizes information processes in the cockpit and integrates a variety of applications for the paperless planning and execution of flights. Lido/FlightBag significantly reduces costs for Croatia Airlines and eases the workload in the cockpit.
Cathay Pacific Airways was named the winner of the Best Transpacific Airline Award at the 2010 World Airline Awards by Skytrax that took place in Hamburg on 20 May.
Continental Airlines began twice-weekly flights between its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport and Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico, the airline's 30th Mexican destination. Continental serves more destinations in Mexico from the U.S. than any other airline.
Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd, an integrated construction service provider having projects in the industrial, commercial, residential, and infrastructure space has bagged the Rs 200 crores Goa Airport project from the Airports Authority of India.  The project has been awarded to CCCL for construction of the New Integrated Terminal Building at Civil Enclave, Goa. CCCL has established its turf in the Airport infrastructure sphere with its recent win of constructing for a value of more than Rs 200 crores.
Continental Airlines reported a May consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 83.8 percent, 2.9 points above the May 2009 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 84.1 percent, 2.8 points above the May 2009 mainline load factor. The carrier reported a domestic mainline May load factor of 85.4 percent, 0.7 points above the May 2009 domestic mainline load factor, and an international mainline load factor of 82.9 percent, 4.9 points above May 2009. All four May load factors were records for the month.
Cathay Pacific Group and The Swire Group Charitable Trust presented a combined donation of HK$5 million to support UNICEF relief efforts in Qinghai, the western China province left devastated after an earthquake on 14 April. The donation includes around HK$1 million given by local and overseas staff working in Cathay Pacific, Dragonair and other Cathay Pacific subsidiaries, including Cathay Pacific Catering Services, Cathay Holidays, Hong Kong Airport Services and Vogue Laundry. Every dollar raised through staff donations has been matched by the Cathay Pacific Group.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's dominant air carrier, has resumed development of a HKD$5.5 billion (USD$707 million) air cargo terminal in Hong Kong.

China Airlines adds Los Angeles-Guatemala City round trip additional codeshare route on Delta flights. Furthermore, Delta placed its code on CAL’s flights from Taipei to Chiang Mai and Penang on summer schedule.

Continental Airlines reported an April consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 82.9 percent, 0.6 points above the April 2009 consolidated load factor and a mainline load factor of 83.4 percent, 0.3 points above the April 2009 mainline load factor. Both April load factors were records for the month.

Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for March 2010 that show a significant rise in passenger volumes and cargo and mail tonnage compared to the same month last year when the impact of the global downturn was being felt. Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,221,694 passengers – up 6% on March 2009. The month’s passenger load factor was 85.7%, an increase of 6.6 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), decreased by 1.6%. For the first three months of 2010 combined, the number of passengers carried was up 6.4% compared to an ASK drop of 1.6%.

China Eastern Airlines is set to join the SkyTeam global airline alliance. SkyTeam includes Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines, as well as China Southern Airlines. China Eastern, the only one of the country's top three carriers without a global affiliation, had said earlier this year it was in talks with SkyTeam, as well as rival groupings oneworld and Star Alliance.

Changi Airport Terminal first and business class passengers can now enjoy a higher level of comfort and luxury during check-in at Singapore. Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) unveiled the new SATS Premier Check-In Lounge at Changi’s Terminal 2 Departure Hall, rolling out the red carpet for premium passengers of airlines served by SATS. The new lounge offers premium passengers of participating airlines a hassle-free and simplified travel experience with the exclusively and convenience of checking in at a private lounge with direct access to the immigration area. This value-added service is complimentary to airlines served by SATS at Terminal 2.

Continental Airlines issued the following statement regarding the successful resolution of the second phase of open skies talks between the U.S. and the E.U.: "Continental congratulates the U.S. Government on concluding phase two open skies negotiations with Europe. Continental supports aviation liberalization, which allows for more competition in the marketplace, gives airlines the opportunity to expand and generate jobs, and gives consumers more travel choices. Continental believes close coordination and cooperation with the European Union on aviation matters is important to the U.S. and international economies."

Changi Airport bags three ‘Best Airport’ awards in first quarter Named World’s Best Airport by Skytrax. Travellers around the world have continued to give Singapore Changi Airport their stamp of approval, with Changi picking up three Best Airport awards in the first quarter of 2010.The awards include Top Worldwide Airport by Wanderlust and Best Airport in Asia Pacific by DestinAsian, which were received earlier. The latest, announced recently in Brussels, Belgium, is the World’s Best Airport award at the 2010 Skytrax World Airport Awards. Changi also picked up the Skytrax award for Best Leisure Amenities. 

Condor, the German leisure carrier, and Jettainer, the Unit Load Device (ULD) specialist, have recently renewed their cooperation contract for another five years until 2015. During the 5 year contract term, the airline’s containers will be exchanged for fuel-saving lightweight units. Under the contract, Jettainer will continue to manage the fleet of aircraft containers and pallets for the airline under a full service contract. The covered network comprises of 31Condor destinations world-wide, which the carrier serves with its long haul fleet of nine Boeing 767 aircraft.

Continental Airlines reported a March consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 83.1 percent, 3.7 points above the March 2009 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 83.6 percent, 3.7 points above the March 2009 mainline load factor. Both March load factors were records for the month.

Colombian airport of Cartagena has engaged ASM, global route development experts, in a campaign of profile raising and market building aimed at capturing the demand for more scheduled flights from the northern city. ASM will work with the airport’s management team to capitalise on this demand as well as a growing interest in the area’s Caribbean coastline. The appointment will see the ASM team utilising their experience of the Americas market to raise the profile of the airport with both the business and tourism markets.

Continental Airlines will shift all of its Detroit flight operations to the North Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport. The move will allow Continental to co-locate with other Star Alliance members United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, US Airways and Air Canada, which have served the North Terminal since it opened in September 2008.

Continental Airlines made a codesharing agreement with All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) on routes between the United States and Japan. It will be the first time that Continental Airlines has implemented codesharing with a Japanese airline. Through the arrangement, customers of Continental Airlines and ANA will be able to more conveniently travel between the United States and Japan.

Cathay Pacific Airways & sister airline Dragonair provided the Indian travel community an opportunity to get their adrenalin pumping and be part of an action packed tournament - The Cathay Pacific & Dragonair Paintball Championships 2010.

Continental Airlines has announced that ,it will offer customers the option of purchasing, at check in, premium seat assignments for unreserved economy-class seats that feature extra legroom.

Continental Airlines will operate daily nonstop service between its Cleveland hub at Hopkins International Airport to Green Bay, Wis., and Norfolk, Va., beginning May 2, 2010.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced the launch of Changi Rewards, a programme to reward shoppers and diners at Changi Airport. Changi Rewards members earn one point for every dollar spent on retail, food and beverage and selected services at Changi Airport1. Points accumulated on the Changi Rewards card can then be exchanged for Changi Airport Dollar vouchers. Furthermore, for every 300 points accumulated2, shoppers will be entitled to one chance to participate in the Grand Draw for a Volvo XC60.

Changi Airport Group (CAG), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Changi Airports International (CAI), has acquired a 5% stake in Gemina S.p.A., the holding company of Aeroporti di Roma (AdR). The S$100 million acquisition makes CAI one of the key shareholders of Gemina S.p.A., which is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

Cathay Pacific Airways, reported its best half-year earnings in two years, beating forecasts and indicating improving market conditions for Asian airlines. Cathay, Asia's No.5 airline by market value, returned to profit in the six months ended December 2009, helped by better air cargo and passenger traffic, oil hedging gains, and the sale of part of its stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering.

Continental Airlines will charge customers for seats with extra legroom on its flights worldwide. The cost of this extra space will vary depending on a number of factors such as the length of a flight and competition from other airlines within a market, said spokeswoman Julie King.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the launch of an ERAU Masters in Business Administration in Aviation (MBAA) programme. This landmark MOU outlines CAAS' collaboration with an internationally established institution, renowned for its knowledge and expertise across a broad range of aviation disciplines, on a post-graduate programme focused on aviation.

Changi Aviation Gallery opens at Changi Airport's Terminal 2 (Level 3), providing aviation enthusiasts and members of the public with interesting insights into Changi's ground operations and the eventful history of aviation in Singapore. Visitors will also have a close-up view of aircraft on the airport tarmac.

Continental Airlines submitted a joint application to the Department of Transportation to provide nonstop service from the carriers' hubs in New York/Newark and Guam to Tokyo's Haneda airport. Continental and Continental Micronesia seek the route awards as part of a historic open skies agreement between the U.S. and Japan, which is anticipated to come into force later this year.

Cathay Pacific Airways has announced enhancements to its services to Seoul and Mumbai, offering more convenience and increased connectivity for passengers travelling through the Hong Kong hub.

Continental Airlines was rated the most admired U.S. airline on FORTUNE magazine's annual airline-industry list of World's Most Admired Companies. This is the ninth consecutive year that Continental has been the highest-ranking U.S. airline on the list.

Continental Airlines announced that it has expanded its mobile boarding pass service to London's Heathrow Airport. They will be the first carrier to offer paperless boarding passes from the United Kingdom to the US.

Continental Airlines announced daily summer seasonal service between Portland, Ore. and Anchorage, Alaska. The nonstop flights will operate from June 10,2010 through Sept. 6,2010.

China Eastern Airlines is the next most expensive item in the region, with Beijing injecting around USD2 billion last year and a further USD1 billion recently through its participation in the airline's reorganisation share issue - a key plank of its merger with cross-town loss-making rival Shanghai Airlines China Eastern announced in Jul-2009 that it would swap 1.3 of its Shanghai-listed A-shares for every Shanghai Airlines share. Shanghai Airlines, which has 1.3 billion outstanding shares, will be delisted from the Shanghai Stock Exchange following the merger. The merger plan has already been approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and is now within its implementation stage.

Copa Panama City-based carrier reported net income of USD$70.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 as cost controls and increased passengers helped the Central American airline beat expectations.The airline said net income rose to USD$70.4 million from USD$25.8 million in the same period a year earlier.Copa Holdings operates Copa Airlines and Colombian subsidiary Aero Republica from its hub airport in Panama City.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) and Jetstar signed an agreement to launch a strategic partnership that will see Jetstar continue to make Singapore Changi Airport its largest air hub in Asia for both short and long haul operations. As part of the agreement, Jetstar will operate its highest number of services and base its largest number of A320-family aircraft in Asia at Changi. It also commits to introduce long haul services using wide body aircraft out of Singapore.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will be joining the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) partnership, by signing the Joint Agreement. The ASPIRE was initiated by the United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Airways New Zealand and Airservices Australia. As a collaborative effort among Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), the ASPIRE aims to accelerate the development of air traffic management procedures, with innovation, technology and harmonisation on key Asia and Pacific routes, that will reduce aviation emissions worldwide.

China Southern Airlines said that it has agreed to buy 20 Airbus A320 aircraft with a list value of USD$1.54 billion. China Southern said in in a statement that each aircraft cost USD$76.9 million, based on the list price. It added that the planes were due to be delivered from 2011 to 2013.

Continental Airlines announced a 2009 full-year net loss of $282 million ($2.18 diluted loss per share). Excluding $145 million of previously announced special charges, and a $158 million non-cash income tax benefit, Continental recorded a net loss of $295 million ($2.28 diluted loss per share) for the year. For the fourth quarter of 2009, Continental reported a fourth quarter net income of $85 million ($0.60 diluted earnings per share).

Copa Airlines, the subsidiary of Copa Holdings, has taken delivery of two new 737-800 aircraft in order to expand its fleet. Copa Airlines placed 15 firm orders for the 737-800 in 2009, as well as options to purchase an additional eight. The airline currently has 26 firm orders for the 737-800, worth a collective $2bn at list prices. These aircraft will be delivered between 2010 and 2015.

Continental Airlines expects to record $77 million of special charges during the fourth quarter of 2009 ($145 million for the full year 2009). Continental also expects to record a non-cash income tax benefit during the fourth quarter of 2009 and for the year ended Dec. 31,2009.

Changi Airport said it "registered a strong rebound" during the 4Q, 2009. During December it recorded 3.83 million passenger movements, up 9.7 per cent compared to December 2008 and up 9.1 per cent from its previous monthly record. Passenger traffic for 2009 was 37.2 million, 1.3 per cent less than the 37.7 million recorded in 2008. The number of flights rose 3.6 per'cent on 2008 to 240,360. Changi processed 149,700 tonnes of cargo in December, up 15.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it will increase the number of flights to Jeddah from four times a week to daily from 28 March in response to market demand. The airline launched its service to Saudi Arabia's second major commercial city last October. With the additional flights it will operate a total of 14 flights a week to the Kingdom, including a daily service to the country's capital, Riyadh.

Continental Airlines will resume its nonstop flights from Hong Kong to Guam beginning on April 2,2010, subject to government approval. The direct flights from Hong Kong to Guam will be operated twice-weekly by Continental Micronesia utilizing its fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Copenhagen Airport's December 2009 figures showed year-on-year growth of 3.9% in passenger numbers. Almost 1.4 million passengers travelled through the airport during the month of Christmas, making it the second consecutive month of growth in passenger numbers. In 2009 as a whole, 19,715,451 passengers travelled through the airport, which was 8.4% fewer than in 2008.

China Airlines will launch scheduled passenger services between Taipei, Taiwan and London, England. The new flights, CI-069 from Taipei to London, and CI-070 from London to Taipei, will operate three times per week, using an advanced Airbus A340-300 aircraft, configured with 30 business-class seats and 246 economy-class seats.

Cimber Sterling Danish airline is the latest European customer to opt for Lufthansa Systems' navigation charts (Lido/RouteManual) and LidoATakeOff for take-off performance analysis. A five-year contract to this effect was signed recently. Both solutions from Lufthansa Systems' Airline Operations portfolio will help Cimber Sterling to lower costs through optimizing the navigation and performance of its flights.

Continental Airlines reported that its new President & CEO, Jeff Smisek, has agreed to forego his annual salary of $730,000 and any annual bonus for any calendar year where the company fails to make a profit.

Continental Airlines has announced that consolidated traffic figures for December show a 3.1 per cent rise in load factors to 83 per cent. Traffic increased six per cent and capacity 2.1 per cent compared to December 2008, both on a consolidated basis: Continental flew 7.5bn revenue passenger miles (RPMs) and 9.1bn available seat miles (ASMs). Continental said it ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with $2.85bn in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced that, it will launch a  scheduled passenger service between Hong Kong and Milan, Italy's principal business and finance centre and a world-renowned capital for design and fashion, on 28 March 2010. The latest addition to the network highlights the airline's commitment to the Italian market and its ongoing work to strengthen Hong Kong's position as one of the world's leading international aviation hubs.

China Eastern Airlines has agreed to invest up to CNY352 million yuan (USD$52 million) into the construction of Hefei airport in China's eastern province of Anhui, the carrier said. China Eastern and the Anhui Airport Authority signed a cooperation agreement in the construction of various sections of the new Hefei international airport, including the air freight area and inflight meals preparation area.

Copa Airlines, has announced an order for two 737-800s worth $152  m at list prices. Copa operates long-haul routes between the United States, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. "With these aircraft we will continue to consolidate and strengthen our leadership position in the Latin American airline industry," said Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines. Copa has 29 737s on order, 15 of which were ordered this year, including 13 that were ordered in July 2009.

Continental Airlines announced that, beginning in the second quarter 2010, it will offer Gogo Inflight Internet service on its fleet of 21 Boeing 757-300 aircraft that primarily serve domestic routes. "We've been closely watching technology developments to offer onboard connectivity for our customers," said Mark Bergsrud, Continental's senior vice president of marketing programs.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) signed a Memorandum  of Understanding (MOU), establishing a collaborative airports arrangement with Chongqing Airport Group. The MOU paves the way for both parties to explore collaborations between the airports through joint projects and staff exchanges, on areas such as terminal management, route development and commercial management.

Continental Airlines begins new nonstop service from Honolulu and its Guam hub to Nadi, Fiji. "Nadi is a popular vacation spot that attracts visitors from around the world and fits well with our portfolio of destinations throughout the Pacific," said Jim Compton, Continental's executive vice president of marketing.

CDB Leasing (CLC) has announced that it has purchased 12 aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) with leases attached. The aircraft include A320s, 737-800s and 777s and are worth about a collective $830m.

Continental Airlines announced new OnePass frequent-flyer benefits designed to recognize and reward its top customers. Beginning January 1, 2010, OnePass Platinum Elite members would be eligible to earn new invitation-only Presidential Platinum Elite status based on their annual spending on  travel on Continental, Continental Micronesia, Continental Express and Continental Connection flights. In addition, Platinum Elite members who earn at least 100,000 Elite qualification miles or 120 Elite qualification points will receive four one-way system-wide upgrade certificates. The certificates may be used to upgrade to domestic first class, international business class or international BusinessFirst in conjunction with any published fare on Continental, Continental Micronesia or Copa Airlines.

Climb Level 4, a joint product and market development initiative between Carnegie Speech, (Pittsburgh, PA) and Mayflower College (Plymouth, UK), announced that Alitalia has selected Climb Level 4 software to prepare its pilots for the new International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) English language proficiency requirements.

Continental Airlines announced the pricing of its public  offering of $200 million in aggregate principal amount of its 4.5% convertible notes due 2015. Continental granted the underwriters of the notes a thirty-day option to purchase up to an additional $30 million aggregate principal amount of the notes solely to cover over-allotments. The net proceeds to Continental from this offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses, will be approximately $194.8 million. Continental expects to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes.

Continental Airlines announced new service between Orange County and Maui to begin March 7, 2010. In addition, the company increased to daily previously announced service between Orange County and Honolulu, also starting March 7, 2010. "We continue to see solid demand for travel to Hawaii," said Jim Compton, Continental's executive vice president of marketing.

Continental Airlines reported a November consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 80.5 percent, 3.2 points above the November 2008 consolidated load factor, and a record mainline load factor of 81.1 percent, 3.3 points above the November 2008 mainline load factor.  The carrier reported a domestic mainline November load factor of 83.3 percent, 2.7 points above the November 2008 domestic mainline load factor, and a record international mainline load factor of 78.8 percent, 3.8 points above November 2008.

Continental Airlines expanded its mobile boarding pass service to Frankfurt Airport, becoming the first U.S. carrier to offer paperless boarding passes outside of the United States. The service allows customers to receive boarding passes electronically on their cell phones or PDAs and eliminate the need for paper boarding passes.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced the launch of the Changi Airport Growth Initiative (CAGi). This is a strategic programme designed to enhance CAG’s partnership with airlines and other airport stakeholders to drive Singapore Changi Airport’s growth.

Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay is the firm’s first completed airport and its largest project in Viñoly’s home country. Rafael Viñoly Architects has designed .The airport became operational in December in 2009. The new terminal at Carrasco International Airport, which serves Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo, was created to expand capacity and spur commercial growth and tourism in the surrounding region.

Continental Airlines has won top honors in two categories in the 2009 OAG Airline Industry Awards. BusinessFirst, Continental's renowned international business-class service, was named "Best Executive/Business Class." The airline previously won this award five years in a row between 2003 and 2007. Continental also won "Best Airline Based in North America" for the sixth consecutive year. The OAG awards are voted for by frequent flyers around the world, based on their personal experiences over the previous 12 months.

Continental Airlines announced that it will launch daily nonstop service between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Munich, effective March 27, 2010.

Continental Airlines outranked its U.S. network competitors to take top honors in Business Travel News' (BTN) Annual Airline Survey for the second consecutive year. Continental ranked highest in half of the 10 survey categories including quality of airline communications, value of relationships with account managers and sales representatives, problem resolution and flexibility in negotiating transient pricing.

Continental Airlines outranked its U.S. network competitors to take top honors in Business Travel News' (BTN) Annual Airline Survey for the second consecutive year. Continental ranked highest in half of the 10 survey categories including quality of airline communications, value of relationships with account managers and sales representatives, problem resolution and flexibility in negotiating transient pricing.

Comlux has ordered a third Airbus’ Corporate Jetliner (ACJ), taking its total orders for Airbus corporate jets to ten aircraft - 4 A318s, 3 Airbus ACJs, 2 A320 Prestiges and one A330-200 Prestige - and making it the largest Airbus ACJ Family customer. Some of the aircraft are managed for private customers and some are used to provide VVIP charters - as will the newly ordered aircraft.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced that it is calling a tender for a third ground handling licence at Singapore Changi Airport. This follows expressions of interest received from several parties and changing industry dynamics in the last three to six months. The tender covers the provision of passenger handling, apron handling and cargo handling services.

Continental Airlines announced a major increase in the effectiveness of its recycling programs after the company put special emphasis on recycling projects in support of its ongoing commitment to the environment. 

Continental Airlines announced that it has entered into an exclusive arrangement with Winstar Interactive Media to sell advertising on continental.com. Marketers will now be able to place their advertising message directly in front of the 10 million unique monthly visitors currently utilizing the resources of continental.com to research and book travel plans to destinations throughout the world.

CAE has signed contracts valued at approximately C$55m ($52m) at list prices to design and manufacture four full-flight simulators (FFS) and related training devices, and to provide simulator updates and relocations. The Montreal, Canada-based, company has sold a 7000 series 737-800 Level D FFS and a Simfinity 737-800 integrated procedures trainer (IPT) to Malaysian Airlines System (MAS).

Continental Airlines joined the Star Alliance, becoming one of the top airlines in the network of 25 global carriers announced the opportunity for its frequent flyers to bid their miles on a premium around-the-world trip to visit eight wonders of the world in an online auction at auction.continental.com.

China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with the operator of the Guangzhou “Airport Express” to install broadcasting equipment and supply entertainment programming along with paid advertising on all of their luxury buses which connect Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport with the city of Guangzhou.

Continental Airlines kicked off November with an astounding three new nonstop routes in three different countries to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Continental passengers at IAH  have now access to Washington D.C., Edmonton in Alberta, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany.

Continental Airlines reported a third quarter 2009 net loss of $18 million ($0.14 diluted loss per share). Excluding $20 million of previously announced special charges, Continental recorded net income of $2 million ($0.02 diluted earnings per share). Third quarter results continued to be adversely affected by significant declines in high yield traffic as business travelers are flying less and purchasing lower yield economy tickets due to the global

Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for September 2009 that show a decrease in passenger numbers and cargo and mail tonnage compared with the same month last year.

China will cut the price of aviation fuels by about 4 percent, reflecting recent falls in international crude oil prices, according to an announcement from the National Development and Reform Commission.

Continental Airlines announced new service from Los Angeles to Maui and from Orange County to Honolulu. Continental is also planning a second daily flight on the Los Angeles-Honolulu route.

Changi Airports International’s (CAI) contract with Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to co-manage the King Fahd International Airport at Dammam, has yielded significant results. The S$65 million contract was inked in November last year and the Airport has since seen a boost in passenger traffic growth, airline networks and airline services.

Continental Airlines reported an August consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 85.8 percent, 1.9 points above the August 2008 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 86.6 percent, 1.7 points above the August 2008 mainline load factor.

China Airlines (CAL) and its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines (MDA) launched new cross-strait flights to four cities in Mainland China, and upgraded other flights from charters to regular scheduled flights, starting with flight CI-511, which departs from Taoyuan to Beijing.

Cathay Pacific will double Auckland, New Zealand-Hong Kong flights to twice a day in November for the southern summer, with one of the services upgrading from the smaller Airbus to a B747-400, adding nearly 100 seats. The carrier says forward bookings on the route are "very positive", with strong demand from China and passengers originating in Japan.

Copa Airlines and ST Aerospace signed a three-year maintenance service agreement. Worth an estimated $18.5 million, the agreement covers the maintenance, repair and overhaul of Copa Airlines’ existing fleet of 28 Boeing 737 next generation and 15 Embraer E-190 aircraft, as well as an additional 11 E-190 aircraft from Copa-owned Aero República.

Continental Airlines announced changes to its OnePass frequent flyer program, adding new benefits for its customers. Continental's OnePass members will enjoy reciprocal mileage earning and redemption opportunities with Star Alliance's 24 member airlines and will be able to connect to more than 950 cities all over the world.

Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August 2009 that show an increase of 3.8% in passenger numbers compared with the same month last year.

Continental Airlines announced that it has earned the top rating of 100 percent in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA). The partnership provides a framework for the two airports to share information and knowledge, and to strengthen their relationship for mutual benefit.

China Eastern Airlines (CEA) has approved a plan to raise CNY7bn ($1bn) by private placement of additional A shares and H shares. The Shanghai-based carrier will sell up to 1.35 billion A and 490 million H shares. The shares will not be available to the general public.

China Airlines (CAL) and its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines (MDA) launched new cross-strait flights to four cities in Mainland China, and upgraded other flights from charters to regular scheduled flights, starting with flight CI-511, which departs from Taoyuan to Beijing.

Continental Airlines said it expects to join the Star Alliance on October 27, allowing it to cooperate on scheduling and prices with global carriers including United. Continental will leave rival SkyTeam, the second-largest airline alliance, on October 24. The SkyTeam network includes Delta Air Lines, the world's biggest airline after its merger with Northwest Airlines last year.

Changi Airport Singapore is revving up for the Changi GP Festival in September. Airport visitors can look forward to a month of race-related activities starting with the Changi Airport Race – the first-ever jetliner versus car race in Asia.

Cathay Pacific Airways & Dragonair carried a total of 2,080,326 passengers – down 9.9% against the same month in 2008 - while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), fell by 7.5%.

Copa Airlines and Aero Republica, reported a net income of $55.2m for the second quarter this year, a healthy increase from last year's first quarter results of $30.4m. This year's earnings were equivalent to $1.26 in diluted earnings per share (EPS) and compare to $0.70 diluted EPS in the same period of 2008

Cathay Pacific Group (including Dragonair) produced a profit of $104.7 million for the first half of 2009, despite a 27.1 percent drop in turnover to $3.98 billion. This compares to a loss of $98 million for the same period last year.

Continental Airlines announced a summer promotional $59 one-way fare for US Helicopter service between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Manhattan.

Continental Airlines announced new service from its Guam hub and Honolulu to Nadi, Fiji beginning Dec. 18, 2009. The flights will also offer convenient connections from the U.S. mainland, Japan and Continental's Micronesian network to Nadi.

Continental Airlines, Inc. announced the pricing of a public offering of 14.4 million shares of its Class B Common Stock. Continental expects the issuance and delivery of the shares to occur soon.

Canadian government will lend CAD$173 million (USD$160 million) to Scandinavian airline SAS to help it buy up to eight planes from Montreal-based Bombardier, the government said.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it will launch flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second major commercial city, with effect from 25 October. The four-times-weekly service will operate through Dubai on the way to and from Hong Kong.

Continental Airlines launched Virtual Expert technology, a new feature at continental.com, offering customers 24-hour support on the Web for all their travel needs.

Continental Airlines reported a July consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 87.3 percent, 3.1 points above the July 2008 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 87.8 percent, 2.5 points above the July 2008 mainline load factor.

Cathay Pacific Airways’ Delhi Airport Team has been honoured with the Betsy Award for ‘their great compassion and teamwork shown in the case of a pregnant woman who delivered a baby onboard a Cathay Pacific flight.

Changi Airport Group and Indeco Engineers signed a new maintenance contract for the maintenance of mechanical & electrical (M&E) systems and facilities at Changi Airport and Seletar Airport. The $20 million contract is for a three year period from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2012.

Cathay Pacific AirwaysContinental Airlines announced that it has completed installation of DIRECTV(R) on 15 aircraft that operate within the continental United States, giving customers the choice of 77 channels of live television programming -- more channels than any other carrier -- including live sports, news, weather and children's shows.

Continental Airlines flight from Mumbai to New York will have the preparation of their inflight meals personally supervised by a top Indian chef, Shashi Sanamvenkata as the world’s fifth largest airline brings its “Chef on Board” programme to the route for the first time.

Czech Airlines and air transport IT specialist, SITA, announced a $12 million, four-year agreement for the use of SITA's Horizon portfolio of passenger management solutions as the Czech national carrier prepares for privatisation in September.

Continental Airlines reported a June consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 84.8 percent, 1.1 points above the June 2008 consolidated load factor, and a mainline load factor of 85.2 percent, 1.0 point above the June 2008 mainline load factor. The carrier reported an all time record domestic mainline June load factor of 88.1 percent, 2.2 points above the June 2008 domestic mainline load factor, and an international mainline load factor of 82.5 percent, 0.1 points above June 2008.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group celebrated their launch. The two entities, formed from the corporatisation of Changi’s airport operations and restructuring of CAAS, will work together to further develop Singapore as a leading air hub and a global city. Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew graced the launch event at Changi Airport Terminal 3 this and unveiled the new logos of the two entities.

Continental Airlines is extending its business partnership with Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in North America with the awarding on a new contract in Honolulu. The agreement, will see WFS provide the airline with cargo warehousing, customer service, mail handling and ramp handling for 45 passenger flights a week linking Honolulu with Los Angles, Houston, Guam, and Newark.

China Southern Airlines, the newest member of worldwide SkyTeam alliance and the largest airline in The People’s Republic of China inked an all-new sponsorship pact with the 16th Asian Games Organization Committee and become the partner of The 16th Asian Games.

Cathay Pacific Airways and sister airline Dragonair announced the purchase of 20,000 tonnes of carbon emissions reductions from leading offset retailer JP Morgan Climate Care (www.jpmorganclimatecare.com) for the airlines FLY greener offset programme.

Continental Airlines 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.

China Eastern Airlines is putting plans in process to merge with Shanghai Airlines, say reports from a number of global sources including the Chinese state media.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has won the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Eagle Award for the 'Best Air Navigation Service Provider' (ANSP) for 2009.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has hit out at government plans to overhaul the financial regulation of UK airports' operator BAA, saying it would expose airport users to additional risks. BAA (owner of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted) was also skeptical, saying its lenders had criticised the plans to introduce a "special insolvency regime" for large airports to ensure they stay open even if the operator is made insolvent.

China Southern Airlines, is now optimizing its route network and flight schedules with the integrated NetLine/Plan and NetLine/Sched solutions from Lufthansa Systems. This will enable the airline to acquire new passengers and increase the utilization of its aircraft.

Continental Airlines announced that it is taking delivery of another new Boeing 737-900ER, which is painted with a retro livery to commemorate the airline's 75th anniversary .

Continental Airlines will soon make a transition from the global airline alliance, SkyTeam, to Star Alliance. The airline will remain a fully active member of SkyTeam till October 24, 2009. Thereafter, it will join the Star Alliance, which is the world’s largest and the most comprehensive airline alliance.

Cebu Pacific of the Philippines has increased its outstanding A320 orders to 15, with a new firm order for five aircraft. Scheduled for delivery from 2013, the new aircraft will join an existing A319 and A320 fleet flying on the low cost carrier's extensive domestic and regional route network.

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation announced the launch of CAPA Aircraft Advisory, India’s first professional end-to-end aircraft acquisition service.

Chilean airline LAN said its passenger traffic rose 11.4 percent in May compared with a year earlier, but cargo traffic fell by 17.4 percent as global crisis drags on Latin American trade. International passenger traffic rose 4.8 percent during the month, compared with the year-ago month. Domestic passenger traffic in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, went up by 30.2 percent. LAN accounts for more than one half of Chile's international passenger traffic and nearly three quarters of its domestic traffic.

Civil Aviation Authority of United Arab Emirates has signed an Air Services Agreement (ASA) with the Civil Aviation Authority of Colombia to increase flights between the two countries.

Continental Airlines reported a May consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 80.9 percent, 0.3 points below the May 2008 consolidated load factor and a mainline load factor of 81.3 percent, the same as the May 2008 mainline load factor. The carrier reported a record domestic mainline May load factor of 84.7 percent, 0.3 points above the May 2008 domestic mainline load factor and an international mainline load factor of 78.0 percent, 0.3 points below May 2008. During the month, Continental recorded a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on-time arrival rate of 83.5 percent and a mainline segment completion factor of 99.6 percent.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced a two-month extension of its current fuel surcharges as approved by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD). The surcharges of HK$52 (US$6.7) for short-haul services in North and South East Asia and HK$239 (US$30.6) for long-haul services are extended from 1 June to 31 July 2009.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) honoured the top contributors to Singapore Changi Airport's passenger and air freight traffic in 2008 at the fourth annual Changi Airline Awards. The ceremony, held at Changi Airport Terminal 3's Crowne Plaza Hotel, was graced by Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Raymond Lim. Minister Lim said, "The international aviation industry is currently badly affected by the economic downturn and the Influenza A (H1N1-2009) outbreak. Thus, it is crucial that Changi Airport forge even closer partnerships with the airline community, so that we can weather this storm together.”

Cathay Pacific has extended its license agreement with Unisys Australia for the Unisys Passenger Service System (PSS) and Logistics Management System (LMS) solutions through 2012. The PSS suite of applications enables Cathay Pacific to generate flight schedules, display seat availability, manage flight inventory, record passenger bookings, and handle passenger check-in and departures at airports across its network.

CFM International has moved the first LEAP-X engine core to a GE Aviation testbed in Ohio. The company is developing the engine with a view to being selected for the aircraft programmes that will eventually succeed the 737 and A320.

Continental Airlines announced that it will launch daily nonstop flights between its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and through flight service between New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro beginning August 1, 2009.

CAE has signed contracts to design and manufacture two full-flight simulators (FFS) and associated CAE Simfinity training devices for Lufttransport and an undisclosed customer from the MENA region (Middle-East and North Africa region). These contracts are valued at approximately C$25 million at list price and include the first two FFS sales that CAE has announced for fiscal year 2010. ($1 = C$1.17)

Continental Airlines announced that it was voted "Best Domestic Airline" by the readers of TravelAge West, an industry magazine for travel agents. The TravelAge West Reader's Choice WAVE (Western Agent's Voice of Excellence) award was voted on by travel agents in the western United States.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has hit out at government plans to overhaul the financial regulation of UK airports' operator BAA, saying it would expose airport users to additional risks. BAA (owner of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted) was also skeptical, saying its lenders had criticised the plans to introduce a "special insolvency regime" for large airports to ensure they stay open even if the operator

Continental Airlines will launch seasonal daily non-stop service between its Cleveland hub and London's Heathrow Airport. The new route replaces the previous seasonal service between Cleveland and London/Gatwick Airport.

Continental Airlines reported an April consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 82.3 percent, 2.9 points above the April 2008 consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 83.1 percent, 3.5 points above the April 2008 mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline April load factor of 86.4 percent, 2.6 points above the April 2008 domestic mainline load factor. In addition, the airline had an international mainline load factor of 80.1 percent, 4.6 points above April 2008. All except the consolidated load factor were records for April.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced a series of measures that will help it deal with a drop in business resulting from the current economic downturn. In response to deteriorating business conditions, the airline reduced passenger capacity by 8% and overall cargo capacity by 11% from May.

CFM International has launched a CFM56 engine enhancement programme, which is scheduled to enter airline service in mid-2011 to coincide with Boeing's 737 upgrades.

Continental Airlines reported a first quarter 2009 net loss of $136 million ($1.10 diluted loss per share). First quarter results were adversely affected by significant declines in high yield traffic as many business travelers curtailed travel or purchased lower yield economy tickets due to the weakened economy.

Cathay Pacific Airways has been named Airline of the Year in the World Airline Awards run by the London-based Skytrax research organisation – the third time it has taken the honour in the past 10 years. The airline was also named Best Airline Asia in 2009. .

China Eastern Airlines said it would sell two aircraft and lease them back to improve cash flow. China Eastern has signed sales and leasing contracts with Bank of Communications Finance Leasing for two Airbus A340 jets.

Cathay Pacific Airways will not be selling its stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co (Haeco), Christopher Pratt, Cathay chairman confirmed to reporters . Rumours had built that the airline was to divest its 27.5 per cent stake in the aviation engineering company.

Canada and the European Union (EU) signed an "open skies" agreement under which airlines from the two trading partners will be able to fly freely between any airport in the 27-country EU and any in Canada.

Continental Airlines said that companywide traffic fell 9.7 percent in March from a year earlier as the weak economy strained demand for travel. Revenue passenger miles came to 7.48 billion at Continental's main unit and its regional affiliates in the month, down from 8.29 billion a year ago.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is actively recruiting to fill more than 400 new job positions for professionals, managers, executives and technical officers for the upcoming corporatisation of Singapore Changi Airport and the restructuring of the existing CAAS.

Continental Airlines won the US government's nod for its plans to join the Star Alliance, which allows airlines to cooperate in marketing their routes and pricing to the public.The US Department of Transportation (DOT) said it would give Continental antitrust immunity for its participation in the alliance.

China Airlines reported a net loss of NTD32.35 billion, or NTD7.11 per share, for the year 2008. The operating loss was NTD10.21 billion, mainly because fuel costs rose 45% in the first three quarters of the year, compared with the first three quarters of the previous year.

Continental Airlines announced that for the second year in a row it has been named "Best Airline: North America" in the Skytrax 2009 World Airline Awards.

Cathay Pacific Airways welcomes the announcement that it has been named Airline of the Year in the World Airline Awards run by the London-based Skytrax research organisation – the third time it has taken the honour in the past 10 years.

City Airline Swedish carrier will optimize its revenue management with Lufthansa Systems’ ProfitLine/Yield Rembrandt. The IT solution will enable the airline to optimize its saleable capacities and, thus, increase revenues. Both companies recently signed a five-year contract to this effect.

Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 will see the operation of four airlines. The four are Air India (AI/ IC), Air India Express (IX), Asiana Airlines (OZ) and Korean Air (KE). “By operating from Terminal 2, the four airlines will have more capacity for their future growth and expansion. The airlines’ move from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 will also better distribute capacity usage across the three main terminals and optimise the usage of airport facilities,” said CAAS’ Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Lim Kim Choon.

Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for Jan-09 that show an increase in the number of passengers carried compared to the same month in 2008, partly as a result of the Chinese New Year peak period, together with another substantial fall in cargo and mail tonnage.

China Airlines is offering generously discounted mileage redemptions to its frequent flyer members as a reward for their long-lasting support. To celebrate its upcoming 50th Anniversary, upto 30-Sep-09, China Airlines Dynasty Flyer members will be eligible to earn a seat upgrade or a free ticket on long-haul flights with only half the number of accumulated air miles that are normally required.

Continental Airlines announced that, they will become the first US carrier to inaugurate scheduled service between New York and Shanghai, China, with daily nonstop flights from the airline's hub at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), domestic traffic in India will grow at 25-30 per cent over the next two years. The report also predicts that international traffic from India will grow by 15 per cent during the same period, in contrast to the global air traffic, which is growing at five per cent.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced that, its daily flight schedule would be realigned and it would commence daily non-stop flights between Mumbai and Hong Kong in a bid to increase convenience for its passengers.

Comair Limited, the company that operates the local and regional British Airways service has announced its intention to suspend its Wednesday and Sunday flights to the island destination of Mauritius until further review.

China Airlines’ new summer schedule will include increased frequencies to New York and Frankfurt, and new flights to Sydney and non-stop flights to Vienna.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is providing S$200 million in 2009 to help its airline and airport partners during the current economic downturn. It is made up of a S$63 million relief package consisting of rental rebates (S$43 million) and a newly set up 'Promotions Development Fund' (S$20 million) for retail, food & beverage and services concessionaires at Changi Airport, as well as another S$7 million in rental rebates for other airport partners.

CFM International (CFM) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL). Under the terms of this agreement, GHIAL and CFM will work towards the development of a new CFM56 Maintenance Training Center at the Rajiv Gandhi Airport in Hyderabad. The new training center is envisioned to mirror CFM facilities currently operating in France, the United States, and China, and would initially provide advanced courses

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair show a small decrease in the number of passengers carried in December 2008 compared to the same month in 2007. In December, the two airlines carried a total of 2,110,719 passengers, down 0.3 per cent on the same month in 2007 - while the load factor dipped by 1.8 percentage points to 79.0 per cent.

Colgan Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines, has signed a firm order to acquire 15 Q400 NextGen turboprop airliners. The transaction involves the conversion to firm orders of 10 conditional orders and the exercise of five options placed by Pinnacle in 2007.

Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong (HKCAD) awarded a contract for the supply of an AMHS to COMSOFT. The delivery includes two fully redundant AIDA-NG/CADAS systems, which will be installed at the main and at the backup ATC centres.

CPI Aerostructures announced that it has received a $1.2 million purchase order from Vought Aircraft Industries, to supply parts for the C-5A Galaxy aircraft, including metal-bonded wing panels and door assemblies. These orders support Vought's C-5 TOP contract with the U.S. Air Force. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in late 2009.

China Eastern Airlines, one of the country's three biggest carriers, said passenger volume fell 5.4 percent last year, the first drop in at least nine years as the economic slowdown curbed air travel. China Eastern carried 37.05 million passengers last year, halting four years of double-digit growth fueled by a booming economy. Cargo volume fell 5.6 percent to 887,000 tonnes during the period, it said.

Continental Airlines announced that it has contributed $50 million in cash to its defined benefit pension plans, exceeding its minimum funding requirement for the current period.

Cathay Pacific Airways shares were down 6.3 percent at HKD$9.10 shortly after the market opened, hit by the airline's warning of disappointing 2008 earnings due to weak revenue and fuel hedging losses. The stock had been up before the opening session by 3 percent with investors focusing more on the drop in oil prices.

Continental Airlines is demonstrating the use of sustainable biofuel to power a commercial aircraft for the first time ever in North America. The demonstration flight - which is being conducted in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell's UOP - marks the first sustainable biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier using a two-engine aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines.

Continental Airlines announced that an Audio/Video on Demand (AVOD) inflight entertainment system is now available to economy class customers on all its Boeing 757-200 aircraft. All 39 757-200s currently in service have been fitted with the system. The system has been available in the BusinessFirst cabins of these aircraft since early 2007.

China Eastern Airlines said it would receive a capital injection from the government totaling CNY7 billion yuan (USD$1.02 billion), more than double its previous plan. In exchange for the capital, the airline would issue 1.44 billion new Shanghai-listed A shares to its state-owned parent group at 3.87 yuan each, as well as 1.44 billion Hong Kong-listed H shares at 1.00 yuan each.

clickair has become the first Spanish low fares airline to offer travel to unaccompanied minors (UM) between five and thirteen years of age through a dedicated on-line function on its website and through its international telephone reservation number: + 800 254 252 47.

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Delta Air Lines has received permission to build a new terminal facility at New York JFK’s Terminal 4. Under the plan, Delta will move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4, where its international traffic will occupy 16 of an expanded terminal’s 25 gates. Once new gates are built in Terminal 4, Terminal 3 will be demolished to provide 16 additional aircraft parking spaces and help alleviate congestion on airport runways and taxiways.

Delta Air Lines has launched a non-stop service between New York and Reykjavik, Iceland, beginning June 1, 2011. The flight will be operated with a 170-seat 757-200 aircraft with 15 seats in business class and 155 seats in economy. The flight will also operate from Delta's hub in Minneapolis-St. Paul under the same flight number, with a stop at New York-JFK.

Delta Air Lines has submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to expand its service between the United States and Brazil, which would allow increased flights between its Detroit hub and Sao Paulo. If approved, the new flights will allow that service to be operated fivedays per week.

Delta Air Lines begins daily nonstop service from Port Columbus to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by October 31st 2010.

Denver International Airport (DEN) unveiled the conceptual design of the South Terminal Redevelopment Program at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver.  Speakers included Mayor John W. Hickenlooper, Denver Manager of Aviation Kim Day and Architect Santiago Calatrava.  In conjunction with RTD’s FasTracks East Corridor, the South Terminal Redevelopment Program is expected to create more than 6,600 jobs and is scheduled for completion in 2016.   Dubai International notched up a solid first half with Dubai Airports announcing year-to-date (June) passenger traffic of 22,554,445, compared to 19,397,089 in the corresponding period in 2009, an increase of 16.3 per cent. This follows Dubai International’s twelve consecutive months of double-digit growth in passenger traffic from June 2009 to May 2010.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India (DGCA), released passenger data. Domestic passenger traffic recorded a 21.86 per cent growth during the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year. The scheduled domestic airlines in India carried 257.10 lakh passengers this year, compared to 210.99 lakh during January-June last year. During June alone, the passenger carriage registered a growth of 21.43 per cent.

Dubai International notched up a solid first half with Dubai Airports announcing year-to-date (June) passenger traffic of 22,554,445, compared to 19,397,089 in the corresponding period in 2009, an increase of 16.3 per cent. This follows Dubai International’s twelve consecutive months of double-digit growth in passenger traffic from June 2009 to May 2010.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport will now be able to receive regular updates from the South Yorkshire travel hub at any time thanks to the use of Twitter and Facebook. The airport has officially launched the sites as part of a new digital media strategy which aims to capitalise on these new forms of online communication to engage more closely with its customers.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has almost certainly cancelled a large number of Boeing aircraft it had on order.  Boeing has revealed that it received 26 order cancellations, including 10 777 and 15 787 orders. Although it did not name those involved, the manufacturer’s website no longer lists DAE as a customer for the 10 777-300ER and 15 787-8 aircraft it ordered in 2007.  So DAE’s cancellation is obvious, if not official – and it is worth somewhere in the region of $4-4.5bn, looking at list prices and likely discounts.

DFW International Airport announced that Virgin America will begin nonstop service from DFW to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), beginning in December. The new service will launch with two daily flights from Los Angeles to DFW as of December 1, 2010 and two daily flights from San Francisco to DFW as of December 6, 2010. Virgin America will serve DFW utilizing modern Airbus A320 aircraft.

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths called on airlines, airports, retailers and information technology providers to break down the silo walls and collaborate on IT solutions that centre on passenger needs.

DB Schenker, the Transportation and Logistics division of Deutsche Bahn, is to bundle its management functions in Frankfurt am Main. The management teams of the corporate units currently located in Berlin, Mainz and Essen will now be concentrated at the new location. This resolution was passed by the Management Board of DB Mobility Logistics AG in its most recent meeting. Around 330 members of the management staff of the business units of DB Schenker Logistics and DB Schenker Rail and from cross-unit functions from the division are now to be located in Frankfurt am Main.

Delta Air Lines announced flight schedules for new daily, year-round flights between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Detroit and Los Angeles. The new flights, which begin Jan. 29, 2011, are available for sale to customers having begun, July 17 at delta.com and through other ticketing channels.

Dassault Aviation's business jet unit expects the Greater China region to account for a fifth of its global deliveries in five years, up from 10 percent this year. Dassault Falcon Jet sells around 70 to 80 business jets per year globally, costing USD$30 million to USD$50 million each.

Denver International Airport continued the positive growth trend that DIA has seen since the start of 2010.  As the summer travel season kicked off, the airport saw 4,371,002 passengers traveling through the facility, an increase of 4.3 percent over the same month last year, making May 2010 the second-busiest May on record.  The first five months of growth brought the year-to-date passenger traffic to 20,376,347 - an increase of 747,601 passengers, or 3.8 percent - over the same period in 2009.

Delhi International Airport Ltd’s (DIAL) newest feat, the swanky Terminal 3, was formally inaugurated on July 3 and commercial operations began from July 14, 2010. All international airlines  moved to T-3 on July 14, and domestic full service carriers, including their low cost versions  followed suit on July 30-31, 2010.

Delta Air Lines has sold two of its regional airline subsidiaries, it has announced. The carrier has stripped itself of Mesaba Aviation, which was sold to Pinnacle Airlines for $62m and Compass Airlines, which was sold to Trans States Holdings for $20.5m. Both regional airlines will continue to serve Delta’s customers.

Department of Aviation Security & Infrastructure in the General Civil Aviation Authority awarded upon the recommendation of H. E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA, the Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) the certification to its facilities in Al Bateen Executive Airport to provide civil aviation security courses, in line with the training guidelines legislated by the Civil Aviation Law of the United Arab Emirates.

Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, has obtained a new CIS partner – East Air (Tajikistan). Starting from June 11, 2010 the airline will provide the air service on Boeing 737 from Kulob, the southeast of the country, to Moscow. The flights will be provided on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Descartes Systems Group, a federated global logistics network, acquired privately-held Belgian-based Routing International nv, a leading developer and distributor of optimized route planning solutions. Routing International’s solutions join Descartes’ MRM 2.0 solution suite, which combine optimized real-time planning with wireless mobile technology to manage resources in motion.

Dynamatic Technologies has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Karnataka in India for setting up a state-of-the-art aerospace manufacturing facility at the aerospace park. The aerospace park is scheduled to be set up by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) near the international airport in Bangalore. According to the MoU, Dynamatic will establish the aerospace facility and the Government will endeavour to obtain fast-track clearances and approvals.

Delta Airlines plans to hire 300 additional pilots and bring back some of its disused aircraft that are currently abandoned in the Mojave desert, news reports say. The airline has increased the number of pilots it wishes to employ from the previously announced 240 to 300, so that it can respond to what it hopes will be a quick recovery. It has been alleged that Delta will boost its employment levels later this year and return up to 20 parked aircraft next year. However the airline’s total fleet will decline due to the retirement of older aircraft.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Delta AirElite, are introducing a service to allow customers to book scheduled commercial flights and on-demand private jet service in a single transaction using a pre-paid Air Elite account. Through Delta AirElite, Delta is the only U.S. airline offering customers combined access to commercial and private jet service. "Today's airline customer wants more travel flexibility, extensive reach and competitive pricing all from a single source," said Jim Segrave, President - Delta AirElite. "Only the Air Elite Card gives customers the unique ability to book travel between destinations using a combination of commercial and on-demand business jet service. With a single phone call, customers can personalize their travel needs connecting them to points across the country and around the world."

Denver International Airport Passenger traffic for March continued the positive growth that started at the beginning of 2010 with the busiest January in the airport’s history. In March, 4,449,987 passengers traveled through the airport, an increase of 3.4 percent over the same month last year.  The first three months of strong growth brought the year-to-date passenger traffic to 11,927,365, an increase of 432,332 passengers, or 3.8 percent, over the same 90-day period in 2009.

Delta Air Lines’ maintenance division, Delta TechOps, announced that the company has signed a three-year contract with China Eastern Airlines (CEA) to provide maintenance and repair services to various aircraft engine types. The contract, which includes an option for extension at the end of three years, will immediately apply to three CFM56-7 series engines utilized by the airline.

Delta Air Lines announced it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate twice-weekly service between its Detroit Metropolitan Airport hub and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

DFW International Airport announced that it has increased its ranking to No. 9 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's) Top 20 Local Government list of the largest green power purchasers. This increased purchase further demonstrates DFW’s commitment to protecting the environment and builds upon its existing partnership with EPA's Green Power Partnership.

Denver International Airport increased  in February, passenger traffic at 5.1 percent over February 2009, with 3,700,975 passengers traveling through during the second month of the year.  Following January’s record passenger traffic, which was the largest monthly passenger increase at DIA since December 2008, the bump in February brought this year’s total to 7,477,378 passengers, which is an increase of 286,081 passengers, or 4 percent over the first two months of 2009.

Domodedovo International Airport has announced about its new partner – Eurocypria Airlines (Cyprus), which has launched the air service from Moscow to Paphos. The flights will be provided twice a week on Boeings 737-800. Eurocypria Airlines was founded in 1992 as a subsidiary of Cyprus Airways.

Delta and US Airways have confirmed that they will not accept the US slot-swop transaction under the Federal Aviation Association's (FAA) proposed conditions, but Delta has instead offered a new solution involving six airlines. AirTran Airways, Spirit Airlines and WestJet, each deemed as new entrant airlines by the FAA, have agreed with Delta to transfer up to five pairs each of takeoff and landing slots at LaGuardia airport. Under the new agreement, at La Guardia Delta would operate an additional 110 slot pairs, while AirTran, Spirit and WestJet would fly an additional five slot pairs each/. At Reagan National, additionally, US Airways would acquire 37 slot pairs ,while JetBlue, also deemed a new entrant, would gain five slot pairs from US Airways. US Airways would also gain access to Sao Paulo and Tokyo.

Domodedovo International Airport started using a unique technology in Russia and the CIS, which ensures operational voice communication of the towing service at the apron and air crews. The equipment, which was supplied by Ramp Handling Solutions (Great Britain), is based on the DECT technology, which can be used without dedicated radio frequencies enabling the towing crews, tractor drivers and air crews to have voice communication.

Domodedovo International Airport passenger traffic totaled 1 287 484 people in February 2010, which is 36.6% as much as in the same period of 2009. In February 2010, the airport handled 12 283 flights, which is 19.9% as much as in February 2009.

Denver International Airport, DIA is now teaming up with Denver-based A-1 Organics to start a new composting program at the airport.A-1 Organics will be providing around 20 “totes,” or composting containers that hold up to 65 gallons of waste each for the project.  The organic waste will be gathered in select employee break rooms at the airport and also at all of the restaurants in Jeppesen Terminal.

Dubai International is headed for strong growth in the first quarter with Dubai Airports announcing double-digit growth in both passenger and cargo traffic in February.Passenger traffic rose 22.6 per cent in February, with the airport handling a total of 3,640,323 passengers compared to 2,969,569 passengers during the same month in 2009. The strong growth in February follows record monthly passenger traffic of over 3.8 million in January, bringing the year-to-date passenger throughput to 7,501,848 – up 19.7 per cent over the corresponding period in 2009.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) will be carrying out extensive rehabilitation works at Indira Gandhi International Airport’s (IGIA) runway 10/28. These works would result in an upgrade of the runway surface quality as well as support systems such as the runway lighting equipment. This would ensure improved reliability and availability of the runway for operations. Each runway has a service life which depends on its design and construction material.

Domodedovo Airport and bmi British Midland International are glad to announce new services available for their passengers. Now passengers of bmi departing from Domodedovo may benefit from the airline’s new services. bmi is offering on-line check-in procedure with an option to print a boarding pass at home or at work. A passenger may now go through self check-in procedure at the airport

Delta Air Lines will invest $1 billion, or about $300 million per year, through mid-2013 to improve the customer experience in the air and on the ground. The capital investment will improve the consistency and level of service provided to Delta's BusinessElite, First Class and elite-level flyers, as well as increasing the efficiency of the airline's fleet.

Denver International Airport recorded its busiest January ever with 3,776,403 travelers passing through the facility in the first month of this year. The monthly total was 2.9 percent higher than the 3,669,679 passengers who used DIA during January 2009.  It was the largest monthly passenger increase at DIA since December 2008, when year-over-year traffic rose 4.8 percent.

Denver International Airport recorded its second-busiest year ever in 2009, despite a predicted 2 percent decline resulting from the sagging  economy and  capacity  reductions  by the airlines. December passenger traffic at DIA totaled 4,003,422, a 1.7 percent drop from the 4,073,246 travelers recorded in the same month of 2008.

Delta Air Lines has said it will invest $1 bn in modernising its fleet through to mid 2013, instead of purchasing new aircraft. Among its improvements, Delta plans to bring the 269 aircraft it inherited from Northwest into line with Delta's interiors including new upholstery and lighting. It will
also add new audio and video systems to its economy seats onboard 747-400s and 767-300ERs; flat-beds on it trans-ocean business seats and first class cabins to 66 Delta Connection CRJ-700 regional jets.

DFW Foreign Trade Zone is one of the nation's first foreign trade zones authorized by the U.S. Department of Commerce to operate under new and streamlined procedures designed to make domestic business more competitive internationally. Under the approval, the six-county DFW area (Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Grayson and Rockwall counties) has been pre-approved by the federal government as eligible foreign trade zone property.

Dusseldorf International Airport saw an early turn around in number of passenger traffic during the second half of 2009 with 5 months of the highest passenger number in the airport's history: July: +2%, August: +0.5%, October: +4%, November: +3.8%, December: +2,4%, including the highest number of passengers ever recorded in one day: 73,000 on October 9. This translates into a total of 17.8 million passengers for 2009, only slightly less than in 2008 (-2 % in passengers and -6.3% in aircraft movements).

Dallas-Fort Worth International will receive $2.3 million  from FAA for runway rehabilitation, money that the agency said was the last of the funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. FAA said it anticipated funding 300 projects with ARRA money but will be able to pay for 360 "because of lower-than-anticipated bids." It has given $1.1 billion in grants to US airports.

Delta Air Lines and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group  implemented their first codeshare flights in January 2010. The flights mark the beginning of a previously announced marketing alliance between Delta and Virgin Blue's longhaul airline - V Australia - to offer customers access to more destinations across the Pacific as well as reciprocal airport lounge and frequent flier benefits.

Domodedovo Airport announces a new flight of Saratov Airlines to Nalchik (Republic of Cabardino-Balkaria). Saratov Airlines has become the second Russian carrier operating to Nalchik: from October 2009 this route is operated by Air Volga as well.

Detroit Metro Airport, 2010 is shaping up to be a green year. Michigan's busiest airport and Delta Air Lines' second-largest hub will be embarking on a number of initiatives designed to reduce its energy use and help the environment. If everything pans out, the airport could wind up slicing $900,000 a year from its operations, savings that could result in lower costs for airlines that operate at Metro.

DFW International Airport congratulated the U.S. Government for its work in reaching a new “ Open Skies” agreement with Japan. The Open Skies agreement would remove some of the restrictions on air travel between the two countries, making it easier for U.S. carriers to actively compete in the lucrative Asian and transpacific market.

Delta Air Lines forecast a USD$1.1 billion net loss for 2009 due to losses in its fuel hedges but said revenue trends in the fourth quarter suggested a better 2010.

Domodedovo Airport Moscow now has achieved new development milestones: the airport operates simultaneous parallel departures from two independent runways. The procedure is in accordance to ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). The newly reconstructed Runway 1 and a high-technology infrastructure of Domodedovo aerodrome made it possible.

DFW International Airport hosted more than 3,300 students at its sixth annual Aviation & Transportation Career Expo – one of the largest educational events of the year in North Texas. The Expo gives students from Dallas, Fort Worth and the neighboring communities an opportunity to learn about careers in a variety of aviation and transportation fields – from piloting a plane to managing a rail line and responding to emergencies.

Dragonair announced an average salary increase of 1.8 per cent for 2010 for the majority of eligible Hong Kong-based ground staff in recognition of the team's hard work and commitment during a very difficult year. Crew members will also receive a salary adjustment in accordance with their incremental salary scales. Given the impact of the economic downturn on the airline's business.

Denver International Airport recorded 4,101,004 passengers in October, a 1.3 percent decline from the 4,154,517 travelers who passed through the facility in the same month in 2008.  Despite the small monthly drop, it was the third-busiest October ever at the Denver airport.

Domodedovo is one of the best three airports of the Eastern Europe in 2009. The winners of the World Airport Awards 2009 had been announced naming the best airports of the world. The survey was conducted by an independent survey organization Skytrax Research.

Dragonair is to offer its passengers the option to secure seats with extra legroom in its Economy Class cabins by paying an additional charge. These seats were previously only open for reservation by Marco Polo Club members of a certain level and those passengers in the highest booking classes, but soon they will be open for booking in advance by all passengers who meet specific safety requirements.

Doha International Airport (NDIA) will open by 2011, Abdul Aziz al-Noaimi, chairman of Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, has announced. Speaking at the Doha Aviation Summit, al-Noaimi said the airport will be able to facilitate 24 million passengers each year and will cover 22km2 - two-thirds the size of Doha city.

Düsseldorf International’s winter flight plan is commencing soon, again passengers will have the chance to choose from a large range of destinations for business trips or to go on vacation: Over 50 airlines bring passengers to about 130 destinations worldwide.

Delta Air Lines reported a third-quarter loss, citing special charges and weak passenger revenue, and said it remained cautious about the US economy, sending its shares down nearly 5 percent. The company, which posted a surprise profit before items, saw encouraging revenue and booking trends in the fourth quarter, chief executive Richard Anderson said.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) and IT major Wipro, announced a 10 year total outsourcing agreement to provide world class IT Infrastructure and Services for Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi. This partnership assumes significance as IGI airport’s new integrated terminal (T3) will be the gateway for the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in New Delhi.

 

Delta Air Lines has reached a definitive agreement with US Airways to exchange certain flying rights and airport facilities at New York’s LaGuardia and Washington’s Reagan National airports, allowing Delta to expand its New York customer service and convenience by creating a domestic hub at LaGuardia Airport.

Denver International Airport sees busiest August in Airport history. A total of 4,877,212 passengers traveled through Denver International Airport in August, an increase of 2.3 percent over the 4,768,799 travelers who used the airport during the same month last year. It was DIA’s busiest August on record, marking two straight months of growth after a downward trend that started in December 2008.

Delta Air Lines said that it reached an agreement to extend its lease at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport until 2017.The lease was set to expire in September 2010. Atlanta is currently Delta's largest hub.

Delta Air Lines has closed $2.1 billion of financing transactions, marking a significant step toward addressing the company's 2010 debt maturities and further strengthening its liquidity position. The $2.1 billion transaction will generate $600 million in incremental liquidity after refinancing $1.5 billion from Northwest's bank credit and revolving credit facilities. Delta now expects its unrestricted liquidity at Sept. 30, 2009 to be $5.6 billion. The total transaction has an effective yield of 9.2%. The new financing transactions are secured by liens against Delta's Pacific franchise, which includes route authorities, slots and gate leaseholds.

Delta Air Lines reported traffic results for August 2009. System traffic in August 2009, including both Delta and Northwest operations, decreased 2.2% compared to August 2008 on a 3.2% decrease in capacity, and load factor increased 0.9 points to 86.6%.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) has signed concession agreement with East India Hotels limited (EIH Ltd.) for a term of 25 yrs. to finance, design, develop, construct, operate, manage, maintain for provision of in-flight catering facilities and services at Indira Gandhi International Airport(IGI Airport), New Delhi.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) awarded a contract to provide access control for the upcoming Terminal 3 to CEM Systems Access Control Technologies, a Tyco International company.  The contract was awarded by ADT Security, India who will supply a fully integrated access control and IP video solution. T3 would be among the largest passenger terminals in the world covering more than 5 million sq feet. T3 is part of Phase 1 of IGI Airport’s Master Plan development having a total project outlay of exceeding USD 2 billion and would increase the airport’s capacity to handle more than 60 million passengers a year.

Denver International Airport recorded a total of 5,109,342 passengers were in July, a 2.2 percent increase from the 5,000,505 travelers who used the airport during the same month last year.

Delta Air Lines boosted its operating margin forecast for the third quarter, citing lower fuel costs, and said other financial measures were trending in line with or better than year-earlier and second-quarter levels.

Dubai Airports started off the second half of 2009 on a positive note, with Dubai International registering a 12.6 per cent increase in passenger traffic in July.

Denver International Airport will ask the Denver City Council to approve construction of a photovoltaic solar electricity-generating system that will power the airport’s fuel-storage and distribution facility. DIA has filed the ordinances necessary to obtain council approval to enter into an agreement with MP2 Capital and Oak Leaf Energy Partners to develop the $7 million, 1.6-megawatt solar project on approximately nine acres north of the airport’s airfield.

Delta Air Lines has reached a definitive agreement with US Airways to exchange certain flying rights and airport facilities at New York's LaGuardia and Washington's Reagan National airports, allowing Delta to expand its New York customer service by creating a domestic hub at LaGuardia Airport.

Delta Air Lines reported traffic results for July 2009. System traffic in July 2009, including both Delta and Northwest operations, decreased 2.5% compared to July 2008 on a 3.6% decrease in capacity, and load factor increased 1.0 point to 87.7%.

Denver International Airport recorded a total of 4,708,808 passengers in June at a 2.5 percent decline from the 4,829,829 travelers who used the airport during the same month last year.

Dragonair has announced new arrangement for its services to Dhaka and Kathmandu starting from October 1 which will offer passengers travelling to and from Nepal a greater number of flights per week to choose from.

Denver International Airport has selected Parsons Transportation Group to serve as program manager for the airport’s South Terminal Redevelopment Program. DIA’s plans to develop the area directly south of Jeppesen Terminal include a new Westin Hotel, the DIA FasTracks station, an open-air plaza above the station, and expansion of levels 5 and 6 of the terminal.

Denver International Airport says operating revenues increased 2.0 percent in 2008, thanks largely to a 2.8 percent increase in passenger traffic. The airport’s 2008 audited financial statements showed operating revenues rose $10.6 million to $540.8 million last year. Operating expenses exclusive of depreciation increased 28.6 percent, or $83 million, to $373.8 million.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) awarded the passenger IT project of upcoming Terminal 3 to ARINC Incorporated. ARINC, the world leader in transportation and systems engineering will install the passenger and baggage technology at IGI Airport’s upcoming Terminal 3 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) has issued the Letters of Intent to Award 4 packages to set up Food and Beverage outlets in the upcoming Terminal 3 (T3) at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

Delta Airlines has launched a direct flight between Nigeria's capital city of Abuja and New York in the US.

DFW International Airport launched its new mobile web site allowing web surfers the ability to view the site quickly and easily from their mobile devices. The new site will feature “Flight Tracker” and “Within 5 Minutes of My Gate,” which allows passengers to find their gate and surrounding amenities in as little as two clicks. “Passengers travel with mobile devices more now than anyone could have predicted even a few years ago,” said Joe Lopano, executive vice president of Marketing and Terminal Management. “To meet the needs of our customers and increase their access to our web site, DFW has developed its mobile web site to be more accessible for everyone.”

DIAL awards the contract to ADT Security Services for providing the access control and video surveillance security systems to the upcoming Terminal 3 in Indira Gandhi International Airport. Terminal 3 will be ready to open before the Commonwealth Games 2010. ADT Security will install a CEM AC2000 Airport Edition system specifically developed for airports and an IP Video system with analytics to help secure the new terminal. The integrated security system will provide surveillance to the multi-level and surface car park and the metro. ADT Security will deliver the systems by end of 2009.

Delta Air Lines said it will charge international passengers USD$50 to check a second bag only on its US-European routes, citing a "competitive decision" for scaling back its plans for the fee.In April, Delta said it would charge the fees on all international flights in a bid to raise USD$100 million annually.

Delta Air Lines has installed Wi-Fi on nearly half of its domestic mainline fleet, making the airline the world’s leading provider of in-flight connectivity. Of the more than 300 aircraft Delta operates on U.S. routes, 139 are equipped with Gogo® Inflight Internet, including the entire MD-88 fleet. In addition, the MD-90 fleet was complete by the end of May 2009 with the remainder of the domestic fleet scheduled for completion by September.

Dragonair passengers can now enjoy greater convenience by checking in at the Shenzhen Kingkey Banner Center, before taking cross-boundary land transportation to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Upon arrival at the airport in Hong Kong, passengers with baggage can go straight to the Dragonair Self Check-in Bag Drop counter. Those without check-in baggage can proceed straight through to Immigration, speeding up the process of getting to their flight. Passengers departing from Shenzhen will need to arrive at the downtown check-in counter at least 150 minutes before the scheduled departure time of their flight.

Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd. (DAMEPL) has placed orders with Siemens Mobility calling for the equipment of the Airport Metro Express Line in New Delhi. Under the terms of these orders, Siemens is to supply the signaling and interlocking technology, electrify the 23-kilometer line and install a baggage handling system. The entire package is worth a total of around EUR 34 million. The work on these individual systems is due to be completed by July 2010.

Dragonair first and Business classes' passengers from Hong Kong to Beijing or Shanghai routes, will be able to select from a menu featuring creations from Zeffirino Ristorante to enjoy some of the best food served by one of Hong Kong's top restaurants during their trip.

Denver International Airport Passenger traffic continued to decline in April, although at a smaller rate than in the previous two months. And for the first quarter of 2009, DIA had the smallest percentage drop in passengers of any of the top 10 U.S. airports. DIA’s passenger total for April was 3,941,539, a decline of 3.3 percent from the 4,078,112 travelers recorded during the same month last year.

Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) has issued Letter of Award to the Consortium comprising Aer Rianta International (ARI) of Ireland and Indian Duty Free Services (IDFS) to participate with DIAL in a Joint Venture Company for License to Develop, Operate, Maintain and Manage Duty-free outlets at Indira Gandhi International Airport’s upcoming Terminal 3.

Dragonair announced a series of measures in response to the difficult business environment created by the current economic downturn. In an effort to contain costs and preserve cash, the airline has been reducing its passenger capacity by 13% from May.

Delta Air Lines said it still expected a profit for the year despite reporting a first-quarter net loss of USD$794 million, helping to push up its shares by 12.5 percent in early trading.

Denver International Airport Passenger traffic at declined in March, due to continuing economic problems and the threat of severe weather that caused airlines to cancel a large number of flights, airport officials said. DIA reported 4,303,736 passengers in March, a drop of 6.4 percent from the 4,597,347 travelers who used the airport last year.

Delta Air Lines is expanding its global network to offer customers nonstop flights to Dallas’Love Field Airport. Effective July 6, 2009, Delta will offer three new daily round-trip flights between its Memphis, Tenn. hub and Dallas’ downtown airport, connecting in-town Dallas customers to the world’s largest airline network.

Delta Air Lines has installed Wi-Fi on nearly half of its domestic mainline fleet, making the airline the world’s leading provider of in-flight connectivity. Of the more than 300 airplanes Delta operates on U.S. routes, 139 are equipped with Gogo® Inflight Internet, including the entire MD-88 fleet.

Denver International Airport has developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) to reinforce environmental programs. The EMS outlines a series of guidelines, policies, procedures and processes that address environmental impacts in day-to-day business activities.

DFW International Airport learned it has received a second grant from the recently passed federal stimulus bill, known officially as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The stimulus funds, which will be distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), total $8.8 million and will be used for the renovation of Runway 13L/31R, including lighting and surface repairs.U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Delta Air Lines is offering SkyMiles and Northwest WorldPerks members up to triple flown miles toward elite status on select fares purchased for travel through June 15, 2009.

Delhi International Airport Private Limited, (DIAL), which is operating, managing and developing the Indira Gandhi International airport at Delhi, has crossed yet another important milestone by awarding development rights of six (6) Asset Areas in the Hospitality District, Indira Gandhi International Airport.

DLF Indian Premier League announced that Kingfisher Airlines, the country’s only 5 Star Airline would be the Official Airline and Travel Partner for the league in Season 2009.

Delta Air Lines is expanding in-flight wireless Internet access and looking to bring more benefits to frequent flyers as it completes the integration of Northwest Airlines.

Delta TechOps - has inked an exclusive eight-year power-by-the-hour (PBH) contract extension with Copenhagen-based Star Air. The contract calls for Delta TechOps to provide engine overhaul and repair services for the 22 CF6-80A2/C2 engines that power Star Air's fleet of 11 Boeing 767-200SF cargo aircraft.

Dragon Aviation Leasing Company Limited took delivery of its first directly purchased Airbus aircraft at a delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France. The aircraft, the first of 13 A320s that the company has ordered, is leased to Air France.

Dragonair will offer two new amenity kits on long-haul flights for its Business Class passengers. This is the first time Dragonair is providing amenity kits in Business Class, and they will be offered on the Bengaluru, Dhaka and Kathmandu services.

Domodedovo International Airport opened a new exclusive business lounge of Austrian Airlines. The lounge has an area of 470 sq m and is located on the second floor of the international passenger terminal with the seating capacity of 74 people.

Dragonair announced the launch of a new mobile service that offers passengers mobility by connecting them to travel information through their mobile devices. Users can now visit m.dragonair.com with their web-enabled mobile device and get travel information in either English or Chinese.

Delta Air Lines was the only US carrier to fly to six continents when it commenced flights from Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia. It also will add three-times weekly service between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil beginning May 21.

Dragonair celebrated the launch of its new scheduled service to Manila with a ceremony held in the city. This is the ninth new destination launched by Dragonair in the last two years.

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Etihad Airways' Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, anticipated the return of business travel over the coming year, in a CEO Exchange at the 2010 NBTA Conference and Exposition. "The signs of recovery are there, with most of our markets - particularly Asia and the Middle East - showing clear signs of improvement across all cabins," Mr Hogan said.

EgyptAir Maintenance and Engineering (M&E) has opened its new engine overhaul complex. The workshop, which was inaugurated by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, can accommodate up to 12 engines at a time and has an annual overhaul capacity of 75 powerplants. The company services CFM56-3 and -5C, V2500, PW440, and Trent 700 engines. It has invested EGP500m ($88m) into the facility, which will employ approximately 170 employees, including 50 engineers and 75 technicians. The complex has been equipped with a wastewater treatment system for environmental reasons.

Ethiopian Airlines has ordered 10 DA40NG single-engine aircraft and one D-SIM-40 simulator for its aviation academy from Austria-based Diamond Aircraft Industries. The trainers will be equipped with the Austro Engine AE300 diesel piston engine and are scheduled for delivery from November 2010. The total cost of the aircraft and simulator are valued at €3.7m ($4.9m) at list prices.

Ethiopian Airlines and the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) of the United States have signed an agreement worth over $1.6 billion to support the financing of five B777-200LR and ten B787-8 aircraft and General Electric spare engines. At a ceremony held at the 9th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington DC on August 02, 2010, the financing documents were signed by Ethiopian Airlines CEO Girma Wake and Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. The magnitude of the transaction represents the first of its kind for the support of the African aviation industry.

Etihad Airways, will introduce its first ‘all economy’ class aircraft into its fleet in October 2010. The two Airbus A320s will be configured to carry 162 economy class passengers, an increase of 42 from the current economy capacity.  all economy cabin aircraft will operate to short haul Etihad destinations, which have high demand for economy traffic and low demand for premium traffic. Initially these will be Alexandria, Calicut, Colombo, Damascus, Doha and Thiruvananthapuram. Plans are in place to expand the all economy fleet to 10 A320 aircraft which will enable the airline to launch new short haul destinations which have low demand for premium travel and also to existing Etihad destinations.

Etihad Airways will commence operations to the South Korean capital, Seoul, on December 12, Seoul will become the 65th destination on Etihad’s network. Etihad will operate a daily return service to Seoul’s Incheon Airport from its home base in Abu Dhabi, operating Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route. The Etihad aircraft will be configured with three cabins, offering 2,800 seats each week to and from Seoul.

Emirates has rounded off a series of European route launches by starting flights to Madrid. EK 141 took off for the airline's 104th destination, creating the only non-stop, scheduled passenger link between Dubai and Spain, home of the FIFA World Cup winners.

Emirates’ new route to Dakar has unveiled a raft of economic benefits that the service will bring to the Middle East, West Africa and markets throughout the airline’s international network. As the only scheduled passenger service between the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, Emirates’ new route will cut current journey times to Dakar by around the equivalent of an eight hour working

Emirates, he Dubai-based international airline placed an order with Boeing for an additional 30 777-300ER aircraft, worth approximately US$9.1 billion (AED 33.4 billion) in list prices. The new order adds to the fleet of 71 777-300ERs previously ordered, of which 53 aircraft are currently in service.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has finalised the purchase of 78 GEnx-1B engines to power its 35 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft order announced during the Paris Airshow in 2009. The total value of the engine order is worth $1.8 billion (USD) list price and the aircraft delivery is scheduled to begin in 2015.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced it will commence operations to the South Korean capital, Seoul, on December 12; Seoul will become the 65th destination on Etihad’s network.

Etihad Airways reported its strongest first half performance, with large increases in both passenger and cargo traffic. The airline experienced double digit growth in the first half of 2010, with passenger numbers up 11 per cent and revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) up 22.6 per cent over the same period last year.

EL AL Israel Airlines, Israel’s flag carrier, has announced that it will increase the flights frequency on Mumbai- Tel Aviv route to four flights per week from the present three during the winter schedule this year. Presently, EL AL operates three flights on this route on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, departing at the same time from Mumbai.

Emirates has commissioned a special commercial service of the 517-seat A380 offering passengers flying from Delhi to Dubai a one-off opportunity to experience the aircraft’s grandeur, not to mention its luxurious onboard amenities. Emirates will be the first international carrier in Indian Civil Aviation history to bring the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 at the newly opened terminal at the IGI Airport in New Delhi.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has started a four flights-a-week service to Alexandria in Egypt.The new service will offer air travellers convenient onward connections via Abu Dhabi to a number of key destinations across the airline’s global network, including the GCC, Australia, China, Japan and the Indian Sub Continent.

EasyJet, the UK’s largest airline has  announced a further new route from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA), with flights to Lyon in France due to commence later this year in December 2010.
Eastern Airways has  unveiled an aircraft named after legendary Liverpool comedian, Ken Dodd at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Emirates airline is providing the only daily, non-stop passenger service to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic and site of the famous Charles Bridge, straddling the Vltava River.

Etihad Airways continues to expand its customer ground services with the launch of dedicated self service check-in kiosks at Abu Dhabi airport’s Terminal 3. Etihad customers can now also use the kiosks at Terminal 1. Customers of the UAE’s national airline have access to eight kiosks in the economy check-in area of Terminal 3, and there are two kiosks in the T3 premium check-in area.

Eurowings has contracted Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey (LTAA) to provide repair and overhaul services on “at least” 30 CF34-8C engines over the next eight years.

Etihad Airways was awarded the Airbus Top Operational Excellence Award for its fleet of A340-500/600 aircraft at the Airbus Technical Symposium in Berlin recently. Etihad’s A340 fleet was awarded after the airline was found to outperform other airline fleets based on a number of criteria for operational excellence over a two-year period.

Etihad Airways has announced that the ‘Etihad Runway with LABELS’ gala evening and fashion show held in Pakistan recently has to date raised over US$50,000 for the charity organisation Developments in Literacy (DIL), in support of educating disadvantaged children across Pakistan.

Eurocopter’s multi-role EC645 military helicopter  makes its debut at the 2010 Eurosatory exhibition  The newest member of Eurocopter’s military helicopter family was shown for the first time at Eurosatory defense exhibition with the EC645’s unveiling as a highly capable, medium-sized multirole platform for armed reconnaissance, fire support, observation, airlift missions and search & rescue.

Etihad Airways has been ranked among the best three airlines in the world by leading Swiss business publication, BILANZ. The ranking comes following a survey of frequent flyers in Switzerland and after comparisons of different airlines undertaken by BILANZ journalists themselves. BILANZ also used recent international surveys such as the Skytrax ratings - in which Etihad was awarded World’s Best First Class by almost 18 million air travellers worldwide - to confirm the airline’s overall ranking.

Emirates Airline is on track to reap more than US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in profits this year and has hinted strongly it will announce a multibillion-dollar order for more Airbus A380 superjumbos. Emirates is already by far the world’s largest customer for the world’s biggest passenger aeroplane, with 58 on order. The planes cost more than $300 million each at list prices, although Emirates is thought to have received significant discounts with its bulk orders.

Etihad Airways announced  the signing of the internationally acclaimed pop-rock band from Pakistan, Strings, as the airline’s new brand ambassador. Having won numerous national and international awards, Strings have spent over two decades promoting their music in Pakistan and across the world, acquiring a huge fan following.

Etihad Airways customers around the world will soon be able to fly to Budapest following the signing of a new codeshare agreement with Hungarian carrier, Malev Airlines. The new deal, which comes into effect in September 2010, will also give air travellers in Hungary greater and easier access to the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s network of 61 destinations.

Emirates is to launch services to Baghdad from July 1 this year. Iraq will be the airline's 103rd international destination, as well as one of six new destinations the carrier adds this year.

Etihad Airways has signed a codeshare agreement with Olympic Air which will allow customers to fly from to two of Greece’s leading holiday destinations, as well as Romania and Bulgaria, for the first time. Olympic Air travelers will be able to gain easier access to Etihad’s network of 61 destinations.

Emirates Group has posted a record profit increase of 248 percent, an outstanding result in a year fraught with worldwide market instability and economic uncertainty. Group revenue remained stable at AED 45.4 billion (US$ 12.4 billion) reflecting lower passenger and cargo yields offset by increased traffic. The Group profit margin improved to 9.1 percent from 2.6 percent a year earlier.

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it has entered into an agreement with InterGlobe Technologies (IGT) – to establish a call center that will provide Ethiopian customers access to its services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.   The initial phase of the call center service is planned to go live as of June, 2010 covering North America, Europe and Asia. 

Etihad Airways will step up its efforts to recruit skilled, experienced UAE nationals for senior roles in the company throughout 2010, building on the considerable progress of its Emiratisation program over the past three years.

Etihad Airways’ destination management company, has launched its 2010 Formula 1™ brochure at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), featuring exclusive packages for the 2010 Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which takes place between November 12 and 14. The new Hala Abu Dhabi brochure incorporates special Formula 1™ packages at six world-class hotels in Abu Dhabi. The packages offer a full range of services including: airport meet and assist; return airport transfers; three nights’ accommodation in selected hotels; daily breakfast; and three-day reserved seat grandstand tickets.

Embraer has recorded a net sales figure of $990m during the 1Q 2010. Gross margins improved by 3.5 per cent, rising to 21.7 per cent, the manufacturer said. EBIT was 5.8 per cent for the quarter. Net income for the 1Q 2010 were $35.3m; this compares to a deficit of $23.4m in the 1Q 2009 and a $146.4m profit in the 4Q 2009. The company delivered 41 aircraft during the period, including 21 commercial jets, 19 executive jets; the remaining aircraft was for defence.

Etihad Airways,  has been awarded an International Air Services contract by the Australian Federal Government following the conclusion of the “Whole of Australian Government Travel Service” tender. The decision means that Etihad will be eligible to carry Australian Federal Government officials when they travel overseas on official government business.

EVA and Bangkok Airways are starting a new code-share agreement that makes it easier and more convenient for passengers to travel beyond Bangkok to Chiang Mai (CNX), Koh Samui (USM) and Phuket (HKT).

Emirates airline and Travelport have signed a major global content agreement that will provide all Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan-connected travel agents with access to the airline’s full inventory of flights and fares. The five-year deal ensures rate parity for Travelport’s extensive worldwide network of travel agency users, providing them with access to the most up-to-date routes and fares from Emirates, including the airline’s web fares.

Embraer expects gross margins to face "headwinds" this year due to a stronger Brazilian currency that could boost some production costs. The real's 22 percent gain versus the dollar in the first quarter compared with the year-earlier period could limit cost savings and crimp revenue.

Etihad Holidays, a division of Etihad Airways, has launched its ‘Kids Fly for Free’ promotion which offers free holiday packages for children, including flights, accommodation and meals, to 10 Etihad Holiday destinations across the globe. The special promotion is offered as a part of Etihad Holiday packages to Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Munich, Muscat, Larnaca, Istanbul, Athens, Amman, Beirut and Tokyo. When two adults book a holiday package with Etihad Holidays to these destinations, a child under the age of 12 will receive a free airline ticket, free accommodation and free meals for the duration of their trip.

Etihad Airways has announced that its new Coral Economy cabin’s ‘Inspired Service’ has now been rolled out in over 40 of the airline’s 62 global routes, with the full roll-out due to be completed soon. The implementation of Etihad’s Coral Economy ‘Inspired Service’ follows the successful roll-out of the innovative service concept in the airline’s premium cabins and as a ground service concept at its Abu Dhabi hub and in key airports across the airline’s global destination network.

Etihad Airways has won six titles; the Middle East's Leading Airline First Class award, Middle East's Leading Airline Economy Class award, Middle East’s Leading Cabin Staff award, Middle East's Leading International Marketing Campaign award, and Middle East's Leading Airline In-flight Entertainment award.at the annual World Travel Awards ceremony for the Middle East.

Etihad Airways, featured Hala Abu Dhabi, the airline’s new destination management company, for the first time at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), which took place between May 4 and 7 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

EADS chief executive Louis Gallois has given up an annual bonus of more than EUR€1 million euros (USD$1.3 million) for a second year running, the Airbus parent said.The Frenchman is paid a fixed salary of EUR€900,000 for running the world's second largest aerospace company after Boeing and was due to receive an additional variable pay award of EUR€1.14 million for 2009.

European Union will end current restrictions on liquids in passengers' hand luggage by April 2013 in an overhaul of aviation security, the EU's executive said. European airports will have to install new technology capable of detecting liquid explosives as a result of the move.

Embraer said first-quarter profit jumped 15 percent after management efforts to trim costs and expenses helped counter a slump in revenue. Embraer had net income of BRR44.1 million reais (USD$25.5 million), up from BRR38.3 million in the year-ago quarter. However, profit tumbled 74 percent from BRR167.5 million in the 2009 fourth quarter, according to a securities filing.

Etihad Airways, has announced it will open a premium lounge in Manchester, the third Etihad lounge to open outside of the airline’s home base in Abu Dhabi. The new lounge, which will open later this year in Manchester Airport’s Terminal 1, is part of a gradual roll out of lounges across the airline’s network, and will reflect Etihad’s award-winning style, service concept and high quality look and feel already seen in its lounges in Abu Dhabi, London and Frankfurt.

Eurocopter has decided to accelerate its SHAPE improvement program. The company intends to invest between 2010 and 2014 more than 1.3 Billion € in self-funded Research & Development, after having doubled its annual self-funded research and development budget between 2007 and 2010.

Etihad Airways, has commenced non-stop flights from its home base in Abu Dhabi to Baghdad, becoming the first airline in the UAE to operate to the Iraqi capital.

Emirates plans to expand its fleet and may announce more aircraft orders later this year, its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said. He also said the carrier was ready to launch an initial public offering whenever the Dubai government gave it the green light.

EasyJet cut its expectations for full-year profit due to the recent travel disruption caused by volcanic ash, though it posted a smaller-than-expected first-loss as fuel prices fell.

Etihad Airways’ first Emirati trainees from the Vocational Education Development Centre (VEDC) have successfully graduated from their work placement program at Etihad’s airport office in Abu Dhabi.

Emirates counts cost of ongoing flight disruption. The ongoing volcanic ash disruption has already cost Emirates $50 million, the airline has confirmed. Emirates is losing revenue from 18,000 passengers a day as airspace across the UK and much of Europe remains closed. Around 30 Emirates aircraft are grounded – equivalent to one fifth of the fleet. To date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption.

Etihad Airways, has announced it will commence flights from Abu Dhabi to Baghdad. subject to government and regulatory approvals becoming the first airline in the UAE to fly to Iraq. Etihad will operate five return services per week to Baghdad, operated by two-class Airbus A320 aircraft, and will expand its operation with two additional A320 return services to a second Iraq destination – Erbil – from June 1, subject to government and regulatory approvals.

Etihad Airways, was awarded one of the Global Trade Review’s ‘2009 Deals of the Year’, in a ceremony in London recently. The airline received the award for its first European Export Credit Agency (ECA) term loan facility, worth USD $123m in support of aircraft acquisitions. The transaction, signed in August last year, was arranged, facilitated and financed by HSBC and is to be used to part finance an Airbus A340-600 aircraft. It was the first of four European ECA transactions signed by Etihad in the past year.

Embraer, said it sold 41 of its jets in the first quarter of 2010, one more than in the same period a year ago.Embraer said in a statement that its order book as of March 31 totalled USD$16 billion, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier.The company also said it had finalised a previously announced agreement to sell 20 of its 190 model passenger jets to Argentinian airline Austral.

Embraer reported net profit of US$248.5m on US$5.47b revenues in 2009 vs $388.7m on $6.34b in 2008, and says it expects to deliver 227 jets (90 commercial/137 executive) in 2010 vs 244 (125 commercial/119 executive) in 2009.

Etihad Airways, has announced its first codeshare operation out of Pakistan with American Airlines, providing air travellers in Pakistan with greater access to the US market. The new codeshare agreement will offer customers in Pakistan easy and convenient connections between Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore and key destinations in the US, including Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami  and Houston.

Etihad Airways and Travelport, have signed a five-year full content agreement to provide travel agents connected to Galileo and Worldspan worldwide with access to all of the airline’s published inventory of flights and fares.

Ethiopian Airlines, has entered into a code share agreement with Scandinavian Airlines, one of the founding members of Star Alliance, providing travelers with better connectivity and a broad range of services between Europe and Africa. The new code share agreement, shall further strengthen Ethiopian’s flight network between Addis Ababa and Scandinavian countries.

Emirates, arrived in Tokyo with its inaugural non-stop flight, following a day of celebrating all things Japan in Dubai. Japan was Emirates’ theme in its hospitality suites at this year’s Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest day of horse racing, which took place at Meydan Racecourse. Emirates, the Title Sponsor of the US$10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race, hosted its guests in suites specially decorated to celebrate the airline’s newest destination on its ever expanding network.

Etihad Airways, (UAE), has commenced non-stop flights from its home base in Abu Dhabi to Tokyo, becoming the first Middle Eastern airline to operate to the Japanese capital. The flights will be operated by three-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft and will feature in-flight services dedicated to the Japanese market, including a tailored menu, local in-flight entertainment content and cabin crew consisting of a number of Japanese speakers and nationals.

EAD is seeking three more months to prepare a bid to build a multi-billion dollar US aerial-refuelling fleet in the latest twist in a nearly decade-long saga.

Etihad Airways' focus on the Japanese market continues, as a codeshare with ANA comes into service. The Etihad Airways and ANA codeshare offers customers from all over the world the opportunity to fly to five major Japanese destinations, Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka. The new deal will also give air travellers in Japan greater and easier access to the Abu Dhabi-based airline's network of 60 destinations.

Emirates Lounge in Mumbai is the first to be opened by an international carrier in India. Passengers from Mumbai can now enjoy Emirates' trademark service on the ground, as well as in the air, following the airline's inauguration of its first dedicated passenger lounge on the Indian Subcontinent at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. 

Emirates flights into Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary would bring $480 million of economic benefits and over 2,800 jobs to Canada, new research shows. The study by independent transportation and tourism experts InterVISTAS Consulting, was revealed by Emirates Airline and British Columbia Transportation Minister Shirley Bond, on behalf of Premier Gordon Campbell, in Vancouver.

Emirates passengers can look forward to a warm welcome on and off the aircraft after the airline unveiled plans to launch direct services to Senegal .Starting 1st September 2010, Emirates will fly non-stop to Dakar five times a week on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The service will be operated by an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, offering a three-class configuration of 12 First Class, 42 Business and 213 Economy Class seats.

Eurocontrol and IATA are combining forces in the field of ATM Safety and Navigation. Close partnership between stakeholders is essential in these two areas and will contribute to reaching Single European Sky objectives of safety, flight efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. In the field of safety, the partnership will concentrate on Voluntary ATM Incident Reporting. The core part of the work will relate to data collection, analysis and identification of main concerns and experts will ensure follow up with the proper solutions.

Etihad Airways has increased the destinations available for passengers travelling to Australia by expanding its codeshare agreement with Qantas. As part of the agreement, the Etihad two-letter 'EY' code is now placed on flights from Sydney to Ayers Rock (Uluru), Alice Springs, Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne and flights from Brisbane to Cairns.

Emirates is to add another A380 to its London Heathrow route from 1st July this year, making the popular superjumbo experience more widely available to passengers.

Etihad Airways  has announced the opening of an Abela supermarket at Etihad Plaza, its staff housing and facilities complex located opposite the airline's Head Office in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi.  The Abela supermarket will offer an extensive range of fresh foods and grocery products, sourced locally and from overseas, to Etihad staff and residents of Khalifa City and surrounding districts.

Etihad Airways, is expanding the range of services it offers business and leisure travellers with the launch of its new destination management company  Hala Abu Dhabi. Hala Abu Dhabi will be based in the nation's capital but offer travel products, services and activities throughout all seven Emirates of the UAE.

Eurocopter Southeast Asia (ESEA), subsidiary of the world's leading helicopter manufacturer, announced its first sales contract with Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MNRE) for one EC135 aircraft. The sale follows the establishment of Eurocopter's first branch office in Thailand in December last year.

Etihad Holidays, a division of Etihad Airways, has announced a new cooperative agreement with Tourism Thailand to promote holiday packages to Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui. Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer of Etihad, said that as part of a special promotion running throughout February and March 2010, Etihad Airways would offer travellers the best value-for-money holiday packages to Thailand  known as the country of smiles.

Etihad Airways has welcomed the first group of UAE national employees to its English and work-place training programme, a course designed to develop the participation and careers of Emiratis at Etihad. The group of 28 UAE nationals, from various departments at Etihad, will be involved in the 10-month English training course conducted by the British Council and held in Etihad's dedicated training centre, The Etihad Academy.

Etihad Airways announced it would increase capacity by close to 60 per cent on its Manchester services from June, upgrading its current two-class A330-200 aircraft to a two-class B777-300.

 
Etihad Airways, has secured seven additional weekly flight frequencies from its Abu Dhabi home-base to Australia. The additional flights were awarded following bilateral negotiations between the UAE and Australian Government in Canberra. The seven flights can be operated to any gateway in Australia which includes Etihad's current destinations of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

EADS has joined forces with A*STAR's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) to investigate the conversion of algae oil to kerosene for jet fuel. The Airbus parent company says the objective of this 12 month collaboration is to assess the potential for microalgae to be a renewable source of fuel for aircraft.

Emirates airline has welcomed the first customers to its expanded and newly refurbished Um Al Quwain office. Conveniently located in the city's commercial district on King Faisal Road, Emirates' new-look, ultra-spacious premises in Um Al Quwain has been designed to provide its customers with the world-class service that the airline is renowned for, from the moment they plan and book their travel.

Etihad Airways, has been voted Best Long-Haul Airline at this year's Business Travel Awards. The award recognises the growth of the airline during the past 12 months, as well as its continued investment in world-class products and excellence in customer service standards.

Ethiopian's long awaited visionary goal to create a West African hub has come to reality with the birth of ASKY, a newly-formed community airline based in Lome, Togo. Its maiden flight from Lome to Abidjan and Banjul on January 15, 2010 heralds the opening of a new hub in West Africa for both ET and ASKY.

Embraer has exceeded its forecasted deliveries this year by two units having handed over 244 aircraft. During the 4Q Embraer delivered 23 E-Jets and three ERJ 145s to the airline market as well as six Legacy 600 super midsize jets, 52 Phenom 100 entry level jets, two Lineage 1000 ultralarge jets, and the first Phenom 300 light jet to the executive jet market. The company's firm order backlog totaled $16.6bn at the close of 2009.

Etihad Airways, has secured seven additional weekly flight frequencies from its Abu Dhabi home-base to Australia. The additional flights were awarded following bilateral negotiations between the UAE and Australian Government in Canberra.

Emirates' flights to Rome went double daily. As of today, the airline's 12 times a week service to the Italian capital becomes twice a day and supplements double daily flights to Milan and a daily flight into Venice. Passengers travelling between Dubai and Rome will now have the choice of a morning and afternoon flight seven days a week, bringing greater flexibility and convenience.

Embraer and Gulf Air signed a preliminary agreement, during the Bahrain International Airshow, by which two EMBRAER 170 jets would be operated by the airline through an operating lease.

Emirates has launched the new Premium Arrivals service at Emirates Terminal 3 at Dubai International airport, the first of its kind offered by a commercial airline. The Premium Arrivals service will offer First and Business class  passengers,  as well as Skywards Gold members, a more seamless arrival by collecting their luggage from the exclusive Premium Arrivals area. Premium customers flying to Dubai from the carrier's four U.S. gateways - New York, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco - will have a designated arrival area at Carousel 10 located in the Arrivals Hall. The Premium Arrivals service also extends to priority passengers with upgrade capabilities.

EADS revenue fell almost 4 percent to around EUR41.7 billion euros (USD$60.6 billion) in 2009, the European aerospace group said. EADS had forecast "roughly stable" revenue compared with the previous year's record EUR43.27 billion, based on a euro worth USD$1.39.

Etihad Airways launched a new Apple iPhone application for members of its award-winning loyalty programme, Etihad Guest. It is the first application of its kind to offer real-time loyalty points redemption for its users.The application, available free to download and use from the Apple iPhone store, will provide Etihad Guest members with an innovative and user-friendly tool designed to assist them manage their accounts and stay informed about the latest Etihad Guest promotions.

Emirates Airline will advance its existing operation to Jakarta with the introduction of a double-daily service, effective 1st March 2010. Presently, Emirates operates 11 flights a week to the Indonesian capital city.

Emirates, is to start flights to Madrid, providing the only scheduled passenger service between Dubai and Spain. The daily, non-stop service begins from 1st August, making the Spanish capital the carrier's 25th destination in Europe.

easyJet has announced that it will provide 21 new routes during 2010, bringing its total route network to over 500. Some of the new routes include flights between Stansted and Bodrum; Dalaman in Turkey; Dubrovnik and Split, both in Croatia.

Embraer and Germany’s Aircraft  Asset Management AAM GmbH & Co. KG have signed a firm order for two EMBRAER 190 jets. The deal is valued at US$ 79 million, at list price, and is already included in Embraer’s firm order backlog for the third quarter of 2009 as “undisclosed”.

Emirates is to launch flights to Amsterdam from 1st May 2010. The international airline of the UAE is also promising further new route announcements in the coming months, supported by continuing aircraft deliveries. The blossoming of the airline's 23rd route into Europe will bring much awaited news in the Netherlands. The daily, non-stop service from Dubai will be operated with a combination of 777-200LR and 777-300ER aircraft, boasting a three-class configuration and the newest version of ice, the passenger revered in-flight entertainment system. Emirates, with its exquisite Private Suites, will be the only airline offering First Class accommodation on the route.

Emirates Airlines, will launch direct daily flight service to Prague, the Czech Republic's capital city, from July 1, 2010. The flight will be operated by a 278-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering 27 seats in Business Class and 251 in Economy Class.

Etihad Airways and Alitalia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to operate a codeshare agreement which will enable Etihad passengers around the world to fly to two new Italian destinations, Rome and Naples, while Alitalia customers will be able to fly directly from Italy to Abu Dhabi and have greater and easier access to the airline’s expanding global network of more than 55 destinations.

Emirates Airlines’ inflight catering has, for the second consecutive year, bagged the coveted 'Outstanding Food Service by a Middle East Carrier 2009' award, for its uncompromising commitment to quality, establishing the airline's position as a global leader in inflight catering. Honoured at the PAX International Readership Awards, Emirates’ achievement this year closely follows the recent Caterer Middle East Awards 2009 where the Emirates inflight catering team received the 'Kitchen Team of the Year' award, recognising excellent teamwork in a kitchen workforce.

Etihad Airways, will increase its Abu Dhabi-Beirut services from double daily to 18 flights per week from 1 January, 2010. Etihad’s services to Beirut, which were launched in November 2003, have proved extremely popular with travellers, providing high volumes of traffic into Abu Dhabi as well as transit traffic to many Asian destinations. The additional four flights per week will offer passengers increased connections to some of Etihad’s key destinations, including Etihad’s newest destination, Colombo, four times per week.

EVA Air will start direct passenger flights between Taipei,  Taiwan and Toronto, Canada on Monday, March 29, 2010. For countless residents of Toronto and Eastern Canada who fly back and forth to Asia for family, business and leisure, the new service will shave hours off of travel time and make trip planning significantly more convenient. EVA is introducing the service with three flights a week.

Etihad Airways, will increase its Abu Dhabi-Beirut services from double daily to 18 flights per week. Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Baumgartner, has been voted ‘Sales and Marketing Manager of the Year’ at the 2009 Aviation Business Awards, an annual awards program which celebrates and pays tribute to the people and organisations who have established the GCC as an industry leader on the global stage.

Etihad Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A330-300, configured with the airline’s new first, business and economy cabin product. The aircraft is the first of five new A330-300s the Abu Dhabi-based airline will take delivery of during the next two years and will shortly be deployed between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow.

Emirates will serve Jeddah four times weekly with the super-jumbo from February 1st, 2010. Jeddah will be the eighth destination to be added to the growing list of gateways served by the A380 which include; Sydney, Auckland, Heathrow, Bangkok, Toronto, Seoul and from 29th December, Paris.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Ato Girma Wake, promptly sent a congratulatory message to the Boeing Company in Seattle in which he expressed his warm sentiment of joy and optimism on the successful launch of the Dreamliner.

Egyptair and Brussels Airlines will be sharing codes on international and domestic flights after Brussels Airlines' recent inauguration into Star Allaince.  Brussels Airlines will put its code to Egyptair flights linking Brussels with Cairo and Luxor.

Emirates Airlines, the international airline of the UAE, has taken delivery of its sixth Airbus A380 super jumbo jet aircraft, which landed in Dubai late last night after travelling from the Jürgen Thomas Delivery Centre in Hamburg, Germany.

Etihad Airways, is to increase its flying programme to Dublin following the success of its services to Ireland's capital city, moving from its current daily service to 10 flights per week from March 28, 2010. Etihad Airways, has been awarded EASA Part 145 certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), following a comprehensive audit by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA). The certification, in effect, means that Etihad Airways' Technical division is now fully accredited to provide line maintenance services on Airbus A319, A320, A330, A340 and Boeing B777 aircraft types for all European carriers, according to the carrier’s executive vice president Technical, Werner Rothenbaecher:

European Union and the West African Economic and Monetary Union 1 (WAEMU) signed of 17 December in Brussels an aviation agreement which will provide legal certainty to bilateral air services agreements between the Member States of both the EU and WAEMU.

Etihad Airways, has picked up top honours at the Arabian Sponsorship Awards for its support of the inaugural Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Abu Dhabi-based airline picked up the award in the ‘International Sponsorship’ category at a gala ceremony which took place on 14 December at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. Emirates shines bright in 'the land of the rising sun' Seven years since launching operations to Osaka, Emirates has unveiled plans to launch direct services to Tokyo - Japan's capital city and one of the world's foremost economic centres.

Embraer jumped by more than 10 percent after the company signed a USD$2.2 billion deal with China's CDB Leasing to fund the sale of regional jets in Asia. CDB Leasing, a unit of state-owned China Development Bank (CDB), will provide funding to airlines in China and Asia and may also buy jets directly from Embraer, the Brazilian company said.

Etihad Airways has joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), an airline-led industry working group established in 2008 to accelerate the commercialisation and availability of sustainable biofuels. James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: “Etihad recognises the need for step-changes in aviation to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and meet our industry’s carbon reduction goal. We also recognise that any fuel alternatives must be morally, socially and environmentally acceptable, while not compromising the future sustainability of the aviation industry.

Emirates Airlines has officially opened a luxury lounge in Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport. This is Emirates' first exclusive lounge in Africa and the sixth opened this year on its expanding route network.

Etihad Airways has joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), an airline-led industry working group established in 2008 to accelerate the commercialisation and availability of sustainable biofuels. "Etihad also recognises that any fuel alternatives must be morally, socially and environmentally acceptable, while not compromising the future sustainability of the aviation industry," according to James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive.

Emirates announced it had raised $1.13bn for the delivery of A380 aircraft from Airbus and reassured the public that it was in a secure financial position. "Emirates remains in a secure financial position despite the global financial crisis.

Embraer will likely sell a record USD$500 million worth  of planes in Brazil this year, helping offset a drop in global demand amid the worst civil aviation market in years, its chief executive said. Overseas demand for commercial and executive jets will remain weak during 2010.

Emirates, one of Dubai's prize assets, said it had raised USD$1.13 billion for the delivery of A380 aircraft from Airbus and was in a secure financial position.The aircraft will form part of the 53 Airbus A380s that Emirates has on order, the company said.

Eurocopter delivered the first two EC155 B1 Dauphin helicopters to Citic Offshore Helicopter Co. Ltd. (COHC) in Shenzhen, China. The delivery is part of a contract signed on October 2008 for a total of ten helicopters of this type. The handover ceremony was held in the presence of Mr. TANG Wanyuan, General Manager of COHC.

Etihad Airways will increase its Abu Dhabi-Kathmandu services from four to seven flights per week from January 2010.

Emirates Airlines is confident that its profits will cross US$1 billion in 2009, despite the global economic downturn and the current situation following Dubai World's debt restructuring. According to Emirates Group Vice-Chairman Maurice Flanagan, the airline’s just announced first-half results are very good and the second-half results will even be better, and the profits will cross US$1 billion in 2009-10.

Emirates Airlines announced that it will be operating flights to and from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol from Dubai effective 1 May 2010. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is delighted to welcome Emirates Airlines,, which the airport says is an excellent complement to the existing airlines operating flight services to and from Schiphol.

Ethiopian has earned another industry honor, “Airline of the Year Award” at the 41st Annual General Assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) held in Maputo, Mozambique. According to AFRAA, the award was presented to Ethiopian Airlines “In recognition of its outstanding, efficient and exemplary provision of Airline services to the African airline industry.” Mr. Paulo Zucula, Transport Minister of Mozambique handed out the award to Ato Girma Wake, CEO of Ethiopian.

Ethiopian Airlines selected the Trent XWB, the fastest selling Trent engine ever, in an order worth $480 million that also marked the airline’s first Trent purchase. The engines will power 12 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.

Etihad Airways has signed a deal which could be worth up to US $200m with International Aero Engines (IAE) to provide a comprehensive engine overhaul and repair service for 14 Airbus aircraft in its narrow-body fleet.

Etihad Airways has launched flights to Hyderabad, which becomes its latest destination in India. The airline which initially operates four flights a week plans to start additional daily services from the start of 2010.

Emirates has unveiled plans to launch direct services to Tokyo – Japan’s capital city and one of the world’s foremost economic centres. Tokyo will be Emirates’ 102nd international destination, and closely follows the recent launch of operations to Durban and Luanda.

Etihad fleet has proven to have significant environmental benefits from Permagard, an initiative originally designed to ensure a clean look .The trials of “Permagard”, a polymer coating applied to the exterior of Etihad’s aircraft has demonstrated significant savings in washing water and cleaning fluids, as well as a potential improvement in fuel efficiency from reduced drag on the aircraft.

Emirates Group and Senegal announced a joint agreement paving the way for Emirates to support Senegal Airlines.  The Government of Senegal announced it has launched a new carrier - Senegal Airlines - scheduled to begin operations in 2010. The Senegalese private sector has a majority equity participation in the new airline. Following a high-level meeting between His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group and His Excellency Karim Wade, Senior Minister, Ministry of International Cooperation, National Planning, Air Transport and Infrastructure, Senegal, it was agreed the Emirates Group will assist the Senegalese carrier in the start-up and post launch phases. The agreement will cover commercial support, technical expertise, training and aviation-related goods and services.

Etihad Airways has announced an agreement with  aviation IT specialist Lufthansa Systems which will see the airline use the industry-leading flight planning solution Lido/Flight. The contract with Lufthansa Systems, which also includes a number o fLido/Flight add-ons and benefits, will see the Abu Dhabi-based airline optimise its operations by significantly reducing its fuel costs and emissions, whilst also benefiting from more efficient flight planning processes.

Etihad Airways, has announced an agreement with aviation IT specialist Lufthansa Systems which will see the airline use the industry-leading flight planning solution Lido/Flight. The contract with Lufthansa Systems, which also includes a number of Lido/Flight add-ons and benefits, will see the Abu Dhabi-based airline optimise its operations by significantly reducing its fuel costs and emissions, whilst also benefiting from more efficient flight planning processes.

Etihad Airways, has signed a deal which could be worth up to US $200m with International Aero Engines (IAE) to provide a comprehensive engine overhaul and repair service for 14 Airbus aircraft in its narrow-body fleet.

easyJet reported a 64.5 percent fall in full-year profit, hit by rising fuel costs and lower interest income, but said it expected profit to be substantially higher in 2010. The carrier posted an underlying pretax profit of GBP43.7 million pounds (USD$73.6 million) on revenue up 12.9 percent at GBP2.66 billion for the year end-September.

Etihad Airways has unveiled details at the Dubai Air Show of a major investment programme to upgrade its expanding fleet, including a contract to install its luxurious new first class suites on board its wide-body aircraft. The Abu Dhabi-based airline has awarded Lufthansa Technik the contract to replace the airline’s existing first class seat with its new BE Aerospace first class suite in nine Airbus A340 aircraft currently in service by the end of 2010.

Etihad Airways has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) at the Dubai Air Show which aims to provide students with opportunities to build successful future careers with the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. The MOU covers a range of elements, including the development of training schemes, on-the-job training, joint marketing initiatives and the development of academic curriculums.

EADS unveiled a 77-percent drop in third-quarter core profit, hurt by the downturn in civil aviation, the weak dollar and delays to its A400M airlifter. Core earnings of EUR201 million euros (USD$301 million) beat forecasts but Europe's largest aerospace group passed on full-year guidance, citing uncertainty over the impact of delays to the A400M and A380 programmes on the fourth quarter.

Emirates airline is in talks with Boeing and Airbus to buy "tens of planes", possibly 777s and A330s, as the airline prepares for the global recovery, its chairman said .The Arab world's largest airline, which has USD$55 billion of orders with the two manufacturers, said it might take over orders its rivals are looking to delay or cancel.

Etihad Airways customers around the world will soon be able to fly to a host of new regional airports within the UK, following the signing of a new codeshare agreement with Flybe, the biggest regional airline in Europe. The new deal will also give air travellers in the UK greater and easier access to the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s rapidly expanding network of more than 55 destinations.

Ethiopian Airlines has ordered 12 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, bringing total orders for the A350 XWB family to 505, not even three years after launch of the programme. In selecting the A350-900 to operate from their hub in Addis Ababa on routes to Europe, the US and Asia, Ethiopian Airlines becomes a new member in Airbus’ family of over 300 customers.

Ethiopian Airlines has ordered 12 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, bringing total orders for the A350 XWB family to 505, not even three years after launch of the programme. I

Ethiopian Airlines and SAP have signed a contract for the acquisition and implementation of corporate-wide back office Information System and Master Systems Integration (MSI) services on October 09, 2009 at Ethiopian head quarters. The project, valued at $8.5 million, is part of the Ethiopian business transformation program designed to enhance customer satisfaction and increase employee productivity through end-to-end IT enablement and best practice business process adoption. Mr. Girma Wake, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, and Mr. Pfungwa Serima, Managing Director of SAP Africa, signed the contract at Ethiopian headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Emirates Airline, airline, and Virgin Blue Group’s new international airline, V Australia, have entered into a code share partnership on the trans-Tasman route.

Etihad Airways, , has moved into a new home at London Heathrow – switching its three daily flight departures to Abu Dhabi from Terminal Three to Terminal Four.

Etihad Airways, has signed the first Export Credit Guaranteed transactions in a billion dollar aircraft financing programme for 2009 and 2010.

El Al signed a five year extension agreement for a Pratt & Whitney Fleet Management Program for service on PW4060 engines powering its Boeing 767s and 747-400s. The estimated value of the deal is about $70 million..

Egyptair has launched its mobile portal in cooperation with Star Alliance. The Egyptian carrier, South African Airways and TAP Portugal are the first member carriers of the airline alliance to launch their individual mobile portals under the common IT mobile platform initiative.

European Airlines suffered a roughly 3 percent decline in passenger traffic during September, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) said. "August produced another negative figure in the relentless series of traffic decreases which stretches back to November 2008," AEA said.

Emirates has issued a USD$413.7 million bond to finance three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at a fixed rate of 3.465 percent, the company said .The note issued by Emirates, which matures in 2021, was guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Emirates has a USD$55 billion order book for planes from Airbus and Boeing, and expects to receive about 10 planes a year.

Etihad Airways’ chief executive James Hogan said that the United States of America remains a largely untapped market for Etihad Airways and spoke of how the airline’s new Chicago service is set to become an important driver to the airline’s future growth.

easyJet carried 5.3 percent more passengers in September year-on-year, boosting hopes that demand for budget air travel was recovering from the slump caused by the global recession. The airline carried 4.42 million passengers, up from the 4.19 million it flew in the same month a year earlier, while its load factor rose 1.2 percentage points to 88.1 percent.

EADS and Eurocopter signed a cooperation agreement with the sovereign wealth fund SAMRUK-KAZYNA to create a public-private joint venture in Kazakhstan in order to develop helicopter activities. The project, which includes both European and Kazakh partners, was launched as part of the strategic partnership agreement signed between France and Kazakhstan.

Etihad Airways, launched flights to Cape Town, South Africa’s second most populous city and the country’s leading tourist destination, from its Abu Dhabi home-base. The new flights operate via the airline’s current daily Airbus A330 service to South Africa’s commercial capital Johannesburg. Cape Town is Etihad’s second destination in South Africa and its fifth on the African continent, joining Khartoum, Cairo and Casablanca.

Etihad Airways and American Airlines the new codeshare agreement comes into effect and coincides with the launch by Etihad Airways of flights to Chicago. The codeshare agreement extends further the two airlines’ global networks by providing easy access between Abu Dhabi and key cities in the United States including Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston.

El Al, which is facing increased competition from foreign airlines, recorded a quarterly net loss of USD$19.7 million, from a net loss of USD$12.8 million a year earlier. Revenues for the quarter fell 28 percent to USD$399.4 million, hurt by a 3.5 percent decrease in its international passenger movements and a 26 percent drop in cargo activity at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, which drove down cargo prices significantly.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, is to boost its Indian flying programme with the addition of Hyderabad to its expanding global network.

Etihad Airways has become the first airline in the Middle East to join the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Working Group Committee for Security. The Abu Dhabi-based airline will be represented on the committee by Mohamed Abubaker Al Farea.

Ethiopian Airlines generated ETB12.2bn in operating revenue during the fiscal year 2008/2009, a 32.8 per cent increase over the previous year.

EgyptAir announced that the airline has converted a previous order for two 777s into an order for an additional eight Next-Generation 737-800s. The airline currently has seven 737-800s in operation and it is taking delivery of an additional five 737-800s this year.

Etihad Airways will begin services from its Abu Dhabi home-base to the South African city of Cape Town on 30 September 2009. The new Cape Town flights will operate via Etihad’s current daily, Airbus A330, service to South Africa’s commercial capital Johannesburg.

Etihad Airways has enjoyed its busiest month ever with more than 616,000 passengers flying onboard the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s flights during July, a nine per cent increase on passenger numbers for July 2008. The highlight of the month was 31 July when a record 21,640 passengers, with a load factor of 90.3 per cent, flew with Etihad making it the airline’s busiest day in its five year history.

Etihad Airways has opened its new premium lounge in Frankfurt, Germany, its first one outside the UAE. Conveniently located opposite the gates most commonly used by Etihad for the departure of its flights, the 275 square metre lounge can cater for up to 50 premium passengers in a world-class setting.

El Al is now offering a limited low-cost service aboard its usual flights. The privately owned airline is turning four of its rear rows on its twice daily two-class 737 Rome - Tel Aviv service, into budget-price seats.

Embraer's net revenues for the first quarter of this year dropped 10.9 per cent to $1,456.6m from $1,635m during 2Q 2008.

EADS announced that Airbus' consolidated revenues amounted to €13.951b in 1H09 vs €14.14b in 1H08), supported by higher volumes with 254 commercial aircraft deliveries compared to 245 in the same period of the previous year.

EasyJet forecast a full-year pretax profit of GBP25 million - GBP50 million pounds despite the severe industry downturn, while maintaining its fleet growth plans to 2011.

EADS took a 23 per cent fall in its first half operating profits despite cost saving measures. Group operating profit fell to EUR888m and net profits dropped six per cent to EUR378m.

Etihad Airways has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the UAE to provide its students with opportunities to develop skills for future careers in aviation.

Emirates has launched its first airport lounge in Africa at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, bringing the total number of lounges the airline has established across its network, for the exclusive use of its customers, to 23.

Etihad Airways, and American Airlines have announced details of a proposed new codeshare agreement which, if it receives regulatory approval from the US government, will pave the way for closer commercial cooperation between the two airlines.

Emirates Airlines is going the extra mile to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the economic challenges currently gripping businesses across the globe. To celebrate a successful first year for Business Rewards - the Dubai-based international carrier’s innovative loyalty programme tailor-made for SMEs - 5000 bonus Miles are being offered when each new account is activated.

Embraer has announced that it has delivered 56 aircraft during the second quarter of 2009. Of these deliveries, 35 were for the commercial segment while 19 aircraft were delivered for the executive market.

Etihad Airways continues to build upon its commitment to the Cypriot market following the signing of an M.O.U. (memorandum of understanding) agreement with Cyprus Airways which will pave the way for a codeshare between the two airlines.Under the initial codeshare deal, which is expected to come into effect in September 2009.

Emirates Airlines has implemented GlobalCollect’s online payment processing service for the airline’s website. Starting in 37 countries across the world, customers can choose from a wide range of alternative payment methods hosted by GlobalCollect, including local credit and debit cards, local real-time bank transfers, cash via Western Union Quick Pay, direct debits, and eWallets (PayPal). Future plans include adding further countries and payment products.

Etihad Airways, has launched an advanced new online ‘micro-site’ which showcases its award-winning in-flight and ground experience. “Experience Etihad”, a fully interactive 3-D tour available at etihadairways.com, offers visitors to the site a unique insight into the airline’s services across all three aircraft cabins, as well as the luxurious airport lounges and limo and coach services.

Embraer has awarded California-based Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) a contract for the manufacture of the tailcone and fuselage doors on Legacy 450 and Legacy 500 executive aircraft. The deal is valued in excess of $100m at "currently anticipated build rates."

Emirates' A380 super-jumbo is to serve Paris from February 1st, 2010. The French capital is the latest destination to be added to the growing list of gateways served by Emirates' popular double-decker..

Emirates has signed a MoU with Honeywell to purchase its "SmartLanding" system to alert flight crew of runway incursions. The system is a software upgrade to the avionic manufacturer's enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).

Emirates Airlines has started two new Airbus A380 scheduled passenger services from Dubai. The airline has begun a daily Dubai to Bangkok and a three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Dubai to Toronto using the large A380 airliner.

Ethiopian Airlines will take all 10 of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners it has ordered, its chief executive said and may buy more planes as it sees medium-term growth of 20 percent in revenues and passengers. The airline ordered 10 787s which are due for delivery between July 2010 and 2013, and it is considering buying more from 2014 onwards.

Eurocopter delivery of the first EC155 B1 to Northern Service Flight Company (NSFC) based in Hanoi (Vietnam). Founded in 1989, NSFC belongs to the Service Flight Corporation (SFC), a long-standing partner of Eurocopter.

Etihad Airways has chosen GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, Engine Alliance* and International Aero Engines (IAE) to power the new Airbus and Boeing aircraft that it ordered at last year’s Farnborough International Airshow. The Farnborough deal included 100 firm orders and options and purchase rights for a further 105 aircraft, which will be delivered between 2011 and 2020.

Emirates has signed a Fleet Management agreement with the Engine Alliance for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the Emirates GP7200 engines that power its A380 fleet. The Fleet Management agreement is valued at more than US$3 billion over the life of the contract and formalizes the letter of agreement that was first announced in November 2007 at the Dubai Air Show.

Etihad Airways, has announced special deals to six cities across South Africa, offering a multitude of holiday options to customers. For those customers looking to soak up the full South African experience, a 'golden triangle' deal is on offer.

Embraer reinforced its partnership with Falcon Aviation Services (FAS), of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, by signing an agreement to extend its maintenance capabilities to the ultra-large Lineage 1000 executive jet.

Etihad Airways and SR Technics have signed their first technical training agreement. The contract covers over 1,000 instructor days of theoretical and practical training on A320, A330 and A340 aircraft on-site in Abu Dhabi, as well as difference training, run-up in simulators, health and safety, and aviation/technical English. The contract will run until February 2010.

Emirates posted a 72 percent year-on-year fall in net profit, hit by a slump in demand during the global downturn, which it said has yet to improve. However, Emirates said it would continue with a planned expansion of its fleet, having secured funding commitments for over half the aircraft due to be delivered in 2009."No one could have predicted the scale of the worldwide recession which is now impacting every country on earth," said Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum in a statement.

Etihad Airways,has launched flights to Istanbul, the commercial capital of Turkey. Not only will the route provide a boost to tourism in the UAE and Turkey, but it will also support the growing commercial ties between the two countries. Peter Baumgartner said: “ we are delighted to launch flights from Abu Dhabi to Istanbul, where we have received such a warm welcome. Turke is one of the UAE’s largest trade partners, with USD 9 billion in annual bilateral trade volume generating strong economic relations and sound business opportunities for both couontries.

Emirates Airlines announces a further expansion of its India operation as India propels itself to become one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation industries encouraged by a liberalization of its skies. The Dubai-based airline will add 22 weekly flights as a support for the Indian government’s ambitious growth plan to attract 100 million travellers in 2010.

Embraer closed a deal for the sale of 20 jets to Argentina's Austral Linea Aereas, the company said, even as the aviation industry struggles amid the global financial crisis. The beginning of the delivery of the Embraer 190 jets is expected in the first half of 2010, the company said."We hope to establish a long-term relationship with this important airline," Mauro Kern, executive vice president of airline market at Embraer, said.

Etihad Airways has chosen GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, Engine Alliance* and International Aero Engines (IAE) to power the new Airbus and Boeing aircraft that it ordered at last year’s Farnborough International Airshow.

Europe Aviation and Fujairah International Airport, Department of Civil Aviation, announced the signing of agreement for the setting up of an Aircraft Maintenance Facility in Fujairah International Airport.

EADS, the parent of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, reported first quarter net income of $232 million (€170 million), a 40 percent decline from €285 million for the same period last year. EADS said revenue for the first quarter slipped to €8.5 billion from €9.9 billion for the same period last year, blaming mostly “under-proportional Airbus deliveries.” Airbus delivered 116 aircraft in the first three months of 2009 compared to 123 one year ago, the company said.

EADS and MAS Aerospace Engineering (MAE), the maintenance arm of Malaysia Airlines, announced plans to set up a new MRO facility in Kuala Lumpur. Aside from airframe and component support, the facility is to specialise in PW100 engine MRO services. The two companies are set to begin operations in 2010.

Emirates Airlines have announced their decision to increase flights between the Maldivian Capital Male and Colombo with effect from July 1st. It was also stated that three additional flights a week between Dubai and Colombo are scheduled. The new Dubai- Male-Colombo – Dubai services will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the number of services between Colombo and Dubai will increase to 18 a week.

Etihad Airways, has launched its inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to the Greek capital, Athens. A high level delegation attended the launch which included the Greek Ambassador to the UAE, His Excellency Dionyssios Zois; the UAE Ambassador to Greece, His Excellency, Abdelhadi Alkajah; Mr. Yiannis Paraschis, chief executive of Athens Airport Authority; Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jabber, CEO of Masdar as well as representatives from Etihad Airways’ senior management team.

Emirates slammed "ludicrous" Canadian restrictions that limit the largest Arab carrier to just three weekly flights to the entire country. Transport Canada says that if the airline were allowed any more flights, it would hurt national carrier Air Canada and its international partners. Emirates currently flies only to Toronto. "The notion that a few extra flights a week to a destination that the national carrier doesn't even choose to serve will have any type of impact on their bottom line is clearly ludicrous," said Emirates President Tim Clark, calling the limits "protectionism of the worst kind".Clark told the Economic Club of Canada that boosting Emirates flights would increase tourism and trade at a time of economic crisis.

Emirates Airline is bridging the Middle East and Far East – two regions that continue to record healthy growth rates – with its announcement of double-daily services from Dubai to KL and introduction of three additional weekly flights from Dubai to Jakarta. The announcement closely follows the release of World Bank forecasts that point to 5.3% rise in the gross domestic product of the Far East region this year.

Etihad Airways plans to launch its own destination management company (DMC). The new DMC aims to provide a diverse range of leisure and business activities for visitors to Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Etihad is currently in discussion with local tourism partners, with the new DMC set to support the development and enhancement of the capital’s tourism infrastructure. The new DMC will also work closely with Etihad Holidays.

Embraer said is first-quarter profit sank 75 percent because of a surge in tax expenses and the cost to fire part of its workforce. Net income dropped to BRR38.25 million reais (USD$17.6 million) in the quarter from BRR152.05 million in the year-earlier period, Embraer said.

Etihad Airways, has launched its maiden flight to Astana in Kazakhstan from its Abu Dhabi home base. Astana is the second destination in Kazakhstan to be served by Etihad and the airline’s 52nd across its expanding global flight network. The start of the new service follows the launch by Etihad in December 2008 of flights to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city.

 

Etihad Airways as part of Abu Dhabi’s ongoing effort to implement innovative environmental sustainability solutions. Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted future energy initiative, have signed an agreement to cooperate across a range of environmental initiatives which will promote sustainability and maximise energy efficiency.

Etihad Airways, is offering customers in the UAE discounted fares in business class, as part of a new sales promotion to highlight the airline’s award-winning premium services on the ground and in the sky. The offer is available to customers who book business class seats on selected routes. All outbound travel must be completed by 25 June, 2009 and journeys completed by 30 June, 2009.

Etihad Airways, has redefined luxury air travel even further following the unveiling of its new first class cabin suite at this year’s just held Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai. The new first class cabin contains 12 individual suites, which have been designed to provide first class customers with more privacy, greater comfort and increased storage.

Etihad's innovative approach to a recent aircraft financing deal has been recognised within the financial community, the second consecutive year the airline’s finance team has won such an accolade. The financing transactions for two Airbus A340-600 aircraft which were delivered in October and December 2008, have earned the Abu Dhabi-based airline the Airfinance Journal’s ‘Middle East Deal of the Year’ award.

Etihad’s support of the inaugural Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has shifted into a higher gear with the addition of a special F1™ logo on its aircraft. The airline has started to place the artwork near the tail of its fleet of more than 40 aircraft, which will travel the world and is expected to have a significant impact to the global promotion of the UAE’s showpiece sporting event taking place in Abu Dhabi in November.

Etihad Airwayslaunch its own destination management company (DMC). The new DMC aims to provide a diverse range of leisure and business activities for visitors to Abu Dhabi and the UAE .

Emirates Airline has stepped up its presence in Australia with the introduction of a second daily service to Brisbane, and a third daily service to Melbourne. The additional services represent yet another initiative in the Emirates-Australia partnership.

Embraer is beginning its activities focusing on the Company's 40-year history, A commemorative logo mark was launched, symbolizing four decades of Embraer's global presence, and is being used in Company publicity, worldwide.

Embraer completed seven days of operational trials for its latest regional jet, the EMBRAER 190, branded 'Empress of London City' at the city centre's premier business airport, London City Airport.
Etihad Airways, will launch non-stop flights to Astana in Kazakhstan from its Abu Dhabi home base. The Kazakhstan capital will be served, once a week from Abu Dhabi with the airline, using an Airbus A319 aircraft.

Eurocopter, the world’s leading helicopter manufacturer announced the acquisition of 80% of Euroheli’s Corporation’s shares from ITOCHU Corporation.As a result, Eurocopter’s share of the business will increase from 10 % to a high of 90%.

Etihad Airways, will offer members of its award-winning Etihad Guest programme the chance to fly in its premium cabins for half the regular miles in May. The special promotion gives Etihad Guest members 50 per cent off the normal mileage value when they spend their miles for seats in business and first class cabins.

Etihad Airways, has played its part in the UAE national football team’s bid to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa by carrying the team and officials to its matches in North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

European Union is set to sign an 'open skies' agreement with Canada, under which Canadian and European Union airlines would be able to fly freely between any EU airport and any Canadian airport.
Etihad to launch expanded summer schedule this summer, with a new 20 per cent larger seasonal flying programme. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier will operate a total of 900 weekly flights this summer compared to 750 in the same season last year, with the launch of services to five new international destinations, starting with Melbourne.

EL AL, continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to its “2010 Plan,” by providing an uncompromised level of service to benefit customers, implementing more sophisticated information systems, adding new routes, upgrading the in-flight product in existing aircraft and by expanding its fleet.

El Al Airlines signed a one-year agreement for Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners' EcoPower engine wash service on its fleet of engines powering its Boeing 747s and 777s with an option to extend the agreement in one-year increments for up to three additional years.

Embraer said its fourth-quarter profit fell 44 percent because of large derivatives losses and slowing sales.Net income under US generally accepted accounting principles dropped to USD$111.7 million for the quarter from USD$200.9 million in the year-earlier period, Embraer said.

Etihad Airways will host its innovative “Abu Dhabi Day” in London to coincide with the final home games of the 2008 / 2009 season at Chelsea Football Club and Harlequins Rugby Football Club.

Etihad Airways is to extend further its expanding global network by providing its customers with access for the first time to destinations in Spain, following the expansion of its existing codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines of Belgium. Under the deal, the Abu Dhabi-based airline will place its two-letter ‘EY’ code on Brussels Airlines’ flights from the Belgian capital to the Spanish capital city of Madrid as well as the Catalan city of Barcelona.

Etihad Airways, aims to increase its passenger numbers in 2009 by 15 per cent to a total of seven million.The airline will expand its global flight network to 55 destinations during the year as well as grow its fleet to more than 50 aircraft.

Etihad Airways is set to enhance its schedule within India to provide increased long haul connectivity and better frequency, including a change in flight schedules. Etihad is also streamlining its services to key destinations in response to changing demands.

Eurail Group G.I.E. has reported a modest drop in Eurail Pass passengers triggered by the global economic downturn, but expects a full recovery in the coming years.

Eurocopter is opening a second centre in Hong Kong (CSC Asia-Pacific) to better serve customers in the Asia Pacific region. Eurocopter’s Asia-Pacific customers today operate 1264 Eurocopter helicopters in service.

Etihad's fifth year of operations, saw passenger numbers total 6,021,931 and the average seat factor rise from 68% to 75%.The airline has also taken delivery of nine new aircraft boosting its fleet to a total of 42. Etihad launched six new routes in 2008 - Beijing, Minsk, Almaty, Kozhikode, Chennai and Moscow - as well as signing a record order of $43bn at the Farnborough International Airshow for up to 205 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

Embraer announced that, for a second consecutive year, it set a new company record with the delivery of 204 jets in 2008, delivering 20% more aircraft than in 2007 (169 jets). The last quarter of 2008 was also marked by the delivery of the first two Phenom 100 executive jets.

EADS announced that its newly established independent subsidiaries, Premium AEROTEC and Aerolia, commenced full operations at the former Airbus/EADS aerostructure facilities in Germany (Nordenham/Varel/Augsburg) and France (Meaulte/St. Nazaire Ville) respectively.Aerolia has 2,200 employees, and works on the design and manufacture of 4m detail parts and 500 work packages of the Airbus nose fuselage.

Etihad Airways’ Abu Dhabi Grand Prix taking place later this year on 1 November. Etihad has accelerated towards the starting grid by painting one of its wide-body Airbus aircraft with an iconic special F1 livery. The A340-600 aircraft has a 'dynamic' design with white at the nose leading to red at the end of the plane. The official F1 logo is featured on the engines and motor racing's famous 'chequered' flag is on the tail fin.

Emirates Airline has saved almost 10 million litres of jet fuel and 772 hours of flight time in the five years since working with AirServices Australia (ASA) to pioneer an innovative flight route planning and airspace management programme called Flex Tracks. The Flex Tracks programme, which involves the use of sophisticated ground and cockpit technology to track live weather to chase tailwinds and favourable conditions, was developed by ASA and Emirates in December 2003.

Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-based national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has chosen the Trent 700EP engines from Rolls-Royce to power a further eight Airbus A330 aircraft.

Emirates' success has taken on a new meaning after the airline introduced daily flights to Cote D'Ivoire, a leading producer of cocoa and a key ingredient behind one of the world's favourite treats, chocolate.

EADS North America delivered the 50th UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter to the U.S. Army. This delivery marked another on-time milestone in the acquisition and fielding of the UH-72A to satisfy the Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program.

EVA Air initiated daily charter service to Mainland China and added Hangzhou and Shenzen to an existing network that includes Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has been awarded rights to start a five-flights-a-week service from its Abu Dhabi home base to the Japanese capital Tokyo, from March 2010.The decision follows bilateral talks which took place in Tokyo between UAE and Japanese government and aviation officials, as well as Etihad Airways representatives.

Eurocopter UK announce the first UK order for a wind farm maintenance helicopter in the UK. Bond Air Services has ordered an EC135 for maintenance work at the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm starting end of 2009. The EC135 will be used for maintenance operations, including delivery of personnel and complex equipment by winch at the Greater Gabbard wind farm located approx 20 miles of the East Anglia Coast from end of 2009 onwards.

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Finnair launched flights from Helsinki to Stockholm’s secondary airport, Bromma, and to Stuttgart, Germany. In addition to those flights, a new co-operation agreement was launched with daily flights operated by Danish partner airline Sun-Air.

Finnair would have returned to profitability in the second quarter but for the effects of the volcanic ash cloud. Including losses of €30m ($39.5m) related to the Icelandic eruption, the airline posted an operating loss of €14m, 60 per cent less than that recorded a year ago. "Strengthening demand, recovering load factors and clearly improved unit revenues have restored profitability to a positive course," said Finnair's CEO Mika Vehviläinen. ($1=€0.76).

Fraport AG looks back on an eventful first half 2010 at its Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base. FRA's traffic development was slowed by several winter storms, strikes, as well as the ash cloud from Iceland at the beginning of the second quarter. However, Frankfurt Airport still recorded a 1.4 percent rise in passenger figures year-on-year – welcoming about 24.5 million passengers in the first six months of 2010.

Flybe and Air France, have announced plans to implement this autumn, an extensive commercial relationship in a move that will benefit the interests of their customers and the communities they serve.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing to assess civil penalties ranging from $50,000 to $70,000 against five companies for alleged violation of the Federal Aviation Regulations or Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations. Frontier Airlines is to remove four 120-seat A318s and one 76-seat E170 from its scheduled service in September this year.

F2i, Italian infrastructure fund, is in talks to buy the Naples airport operator which Spain's Ferrovial is looking to sell to help cut a massive debt pile. Ferrovial is examining various offers from parties.

Flydubai, Dubai’s low cost carrier, has announced the launch of its maiden flight to India. Beginning June 2, the airline will connect Dubai to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. It would operate thrice a week with one-way fare (including all taxes and one piece of hand luggage) for travel between Lucknow and Dubai being Rs 6,300.

Finnish posted a deeper-than-expected first-quarter loss, dented by weaker ticket prices, and said further losses were expected, due to the recent volcanic ash cloud. Finnair said it expected the April-June quarter to be worse than the first quarter because of direct revenue losses, extra costs and a temporary fall in its passenger load factor caused by flight cancellations due to the Icelandic volcano eruption in April.

Frankfurt Airport (FRA), owned and managed by Fraport AG, closed the first quarter of 2010 with a 3.9 percent increase in passenger figures. From January through March 2010, the FRA intercontinental air transportation hub served well over 11.3 million passengers.

Fokker Services’ remarketing Support Center has been awarded an exclusive contract to remarket two Fokker 70 aircraft, which have been operated as corporate shuttle aircraft. Both aircraft are configured with 48 business class seats and have a range of over 2,150 nm (4,000 km).

Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O'Rourke have officially signed a deal with BAA to build its new Terminal 2 at London's Heathrow Airport. The new building will replace the current Terminal 2 and the Queens Building, which date from the 1950s, and it is expected to be inaugurated in the first half of 2014.

Ferrovial, Spanish infrastructure company and owner of British airports operator BAA, posted a flat 2009 core profit as a late-year rebound in road and airport traffic abroad helped offset a tough first half in the downturn.

FlyLAL plans to operate new non-scheduled charter flights in Italy; it is expected that the company will be registered this Spring and will acquire its air operator's certificate (AOC) enabling it to take its maiden flight during the 2010-2011 winter season. Aeroservizi will be the company's exclusive sales agent.

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has banned debt-ridden airlines from flying into its airports. FAAN, which is struggling to meet airport maintenance costs as a result of late or non-payment from airlines, said it must take quick measures.

Fokker Services signed a FLYFokker Take Care agreement with Austrian Airlines. The agreement, with an estimated value of 130 Million Euro, is valid up to year 2020 and applicable for a fleet of nine Fokker 70 and fifteen Fokker 100 aircraft. It marks the introduction of the Take Care solution for mature operators as part of the complete FLYFokker program.

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) traffic figures continued the pattern of recovery seen in previous months. Meanwhile, nearly all traffic categories are registering growth again. Well over 3.8 million passengers recorded at FFiA, represent a 2.3 percent rise on December 2008.

FAA has awarded Tetra Tech a two-year navigation technical assistance contract (NAVTAC) with five one -year option periods. The company based in Pasadena, California is to provide engineering and technical support services for the planning, research, development, implementation, sustainment and decommissioning of the FAA's navigation, landing, and lighting systems.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced it will provide over $90 million toward the cost of replacing the south runway at Port Columbus International Airport. The new runway will enable greater airport capacity by allowing for an increased number of aircraft operations and creating space for a future second terminal.

Finnair received its fifth Airbus A330 aircraft. The newcomer’s business class has a new type of full-flat seat, which reclines to fully horizontal, as well as a new lay-out with more seats, offering more privacy than before. The Airbus A330 aircraft are part of Finnair’s long-haul traffic fleet modernisation, which will reduce emissions significantly. This year the company has taken delivery of five new Airbus A330s.

FlairJet, the UK's newest business aviation operator, has been issued with its Air Operator's Certificate from the UK Civil Aviation Authority.  It can now commence public flights with its two newly delivered Embraer Phenom 100 aircraft.

Flydubai, has launched twice-daily services to Bahrain, its tenth route, in just over six months of its operation. The launch of the flight to Bahrain, Flydubai's second GCC destination, comes within less than a week since the LCCi took delivery of its sixth aircraft and less than a month after the Dubai Airshow, where it signed financing, logistics and maintenance deals worth nearly US$200 million.

Fokker Services B.V. has signed a Manufacturing License Agreement with Goodrich Corporation’s Landing Gear business for the future manufacturing and supply of Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 main landing gear spare parts. Under the terms of this agreement Fokker Services B.V. has the exclusive rights to manufacture all the main landing gear parts for these out-of-production aircraft models.

Flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, has announced two aircraft financing deals worth US$160m on the second day of the 2009 Dubai Airshow. The financing covers the first two aircraft that flydubai received in May of 2009 and also all six aircraft the budget carried acquired later will have by the end of this year are permanently financed. The first deal is with Macquarie AirFinance, part of specialist funds and investment management company Macquarie Group, which is listed on the Australian stock exchange. Worth US$80m, at list prices, this is a five year sale and leaseback agreement similar to the deal flydubai signed earlier in 2009 with GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services). The other deal is with Dubai Islamic Bank and marks flydubai’s first financing from within the UAE. Again a five year deal worth US$80m, at list prices, this Ijara agreement is the first Islamic financing for flydubai.

Fokker Services introduces its new innovative life cycle support program for the Fokker fleet. The program, called FLYFokker, consists of cost-effective aircraft and service solutions for start up, mature and phase-out operators.

Fokker Elmo, a Stork Aerospace company has signed a contract with Rolls-Royce, the global power systems business. The contract is to provide design support and manufacture for the electrical wiring for the Trent XWB engine which will power the Airbus A350 family of aircraft.

Finnair has become the first airline in Europe to enable members of its frequent flyer programme to buy redemption tickets on any of its schedule flights using a combination of mileage awards and cash.   They can specify for themselves the proportion of money and points they want to use towards their Any Seat ticket.

FAA has approved Naverus, a Seattle-headquartered provider of performance-based navigation (PBN) solutions, to design and validate required navigation performance (RNP) flight paths for public use in the US.

Frontier Airlines announced that Republic Airways Holdings, which was the sponsor of Frontier’s plan of reorganization, acquired 100% of the equity in the reorganized company for $108.75 million via an auction process in Frontier’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

Fraport IC Ictas Antalya Airport Terminal Investment and Management Inc., a 51 percent-owned subsidiary of Fraport AG and IC Holding of Turkey, took over operations of the second international passenger terminal at Antalya Airport (AYT) from Celebi.

Fraport wants more low cost airlines to use the airport after its new runway is opened in 2011, Fraport's chief executive told. Stefan Schulte said Fraport has already held initial discussions with some of these airlines, citing easyJet as one of them.

First Air, based in Canada, has signed a component services contract with Delta TechOps. The three-year agreement, worth more than $1.3m, covers support of the airline's newly acquired 767-200SF as well as access to the MRO company's component inventory. First Air's fleet of aircraft ranging from 767, 737, 727, HS748, ATR42 and Hercules are available for charter.

Frankfurt Airport has received final approval from the Hesse Adminstrative High Court, although it cast doubt on the possibility of night flights continuing there after the expansion.  The court rejected attempts to block the building of a fourth runway at Europe’s biggest air cargo hub, but said a ruling in 2007 by the state of Hesse to allow 17 night flights to continue after the new runway opened in 2011 would have to be re-examined.

Finnair is restarting its Mumbai-Helsinki operations Finnair will be plying an Airbus 330, thrice a week to Helsinki from Mumbai. The airline had started operations from Mumbai in June 2007, with flights five times a week to Helsinki. However, in March 2009, the airline had discontinued with the service due to operational losses.

Finnair said its passenger volumes dropped 10.2 percent in August, and it would cut more capacity due to falling demand and prices.

Fraport wants more low cost airlines to use the airport after its new runway is opened in 2011, Fraport's chief executive told. Stefan Schulte said Fraport has already held initial discussions with some of these airlines, citing easy Jet as one of them.

Flughafen Wien, Vienna airport operator said second quarter net profit dropped 44 percent, missing market expectations as revenue declined by more than expected. Net profit fell to EUR16.6 million euros (USD$23.4 million) in the quarter to June as a decline in passenger traffic led to a 14 percent drop in second quarter revenue.

Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. announced that Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) has been declared the winning bidder in the auction to acquire Frontier.

FFP members will enjoy the facility of redeeming mileage points for upgrade to Executive Class on IC designated domestic flights from the six metro airports effective August 1.

France has confirmed that it would be the partner country for the 2nd international exhibition and conference on civil aviation called ‘India Aviation 2010’, which will be held in Hyderabad from March 3 to 7.

Flightstar Aircraft Services (Flightstar), a leading provider of heavy aircraft maintenance and modifications, reported that it has received an award from Precision Conversions to convert a B757-200 from passenger to freighter configuration for a Chinese carrier.

Frontier Airlines is using SaaS collaborative work management software from Seattle-based Daptiv Inc. to prioritize and track initiatives that help it manage through the difficult times. The application enables better collaboration across departments, so Frontier can oversee essential projects at a time when its workforce is smaller because of layoffs.

Flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, has chosen three cities in three different regions of India to form the next part of the airline’s rapid expansion. flydubai will begin its Indian operations with flights to the north eastern city of Lucknow. This will be closely followed by Coimbatore in the south . The trio of destinations will be completed when flights to the north western city of Chandigarh begin.

Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, has signed an agreement with Jeppesen to provide charts and "Airside Services", a product from the Boeing subsidiary designed to help airlines' transition from paper to electronic systems, by reducing paper dependency.

Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc announced its wholly owned subsidiary Frontier Airlines, Inc., has reached a codeshare agreement with Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines. The agreement will allow customers of both airlines to travel to more destinations while enjoying a seamless ticketing and customer service experience.

Finnair will offer a faster connection at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to passengers coming from Asia and continuing to European destinations.

Finnair has introduced the new-generation Altéa Departure Control System developed by Amadeus. The system will be used in all processes connected with passenger check-in, aircraft load planning control and gate service. Finnair is the first airline in the world to utilise this new, improved customer service technology.

Finnair's third Airbus A330 aircraft had made its first commercial flight to Delhi after which it started regular scheduled flights on New York and Delhi routes. The arrival of the new A330 planes is a part of the extensive long haul fleetrenewal. During the current year, Finnair will receive a total of five new Airbus A330 aircraft. The next A330s will arrive in June and November.

Freebird Airlines Turkish carrier will use the electronic route charts Lido eRouteManual from Lufthansa Systems in the future. Freebird has also opted for the Lido FMS data from Lufthansa Systems' aeronautical database. Both companies recently signed a seven-year contract to this effect.The readability and user-friendliness of Lido eRouteManual makes it easier for pilots to make the transition from paper-based charts. Pilots can specify the degree of detail on the charts, which take into account the latest country- and airport-specific regulations and data.

Finnair has reported significant cuts to its capacity after recording a continued fall in demand during May. Capacity on domestic flights has been cut by more than a quarter, leisure capacity by one fifth and capacity on Asian routes 17 per cent. The airline's traffic for May fell 11 per cent compared to the same month last year, scheduled traffic for the month was 9.8 per cent less than in 2008.

First Air has chosen Sabre Airline Solutions to help the airline grow revenues and optimize customers’ experience through the SabreSonic Customer Sales and Service (CSS) solution. SabreSonic CSS offers airlines the ability to create individualized customer experiences and create new revenue in every distribution channel. “We chose to renew with Sabre for another five years to extend our nearly 10-year relationship,” said Chris Ferris, Vice President, Marketing & Sales of First Air.

Finnair reported a deeper-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it would post a full-year loss due to weak demand and low ticket prices. Losses before interest and tax, excluding non-recurring items, came to EUR47.5 million euros (USD$61.8 million) in January-March, against a profit of EUR12 million a year ago.

Fraport expects 2009 operating profit to fall by 15 percent from a year earlier, the company said after reporting first-quarter results that were in line with expectations. Full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would slump to between EUR500 million euros (USD$680 million) and EUR530 million this year as demand for air travel dropped amid the global economic crisis.

Finnair has joined the Aviation Global Deal (AGD) Group, which proposes a global emissions trading deal. The goal of the AGD Group is to reduce emissions in aviation. The basic mechanism proposed by the AGD Group is a global sectoral agreement covering carbon dioxide emissions from all international air transport providers.

Frankfurt will become the hub for Air India’s West-bound flights. Passengers who wish to travel from Delhi to Newark will be transferred to the Mumbai-Newark flight at Frankfurt. Likewise, passengers from Mumbai who wish to proceed to Chicago will be transferred to the Delhi – Chicago flight at Frankfurt. Besides, the hub and spoke operations from / to Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad will offer direct and seamless connectivity to Frankfurt – Newark / Chicago flights.

FAA annual aviation forecast released predicts a return to growth for air travel in the long term, underscoring the need for vital aviation infrastructure and environmental improvements contained in the FAA’s comprehensive Next Generation Air Transportation System plan.

Finnair has taken delivery of its first A330-300. The new aircraft is the first of eight A330-300s ordered by Finnair for the development of its medium and long haul operation.

Fly Dubai a low-cost airline is being launched by the Dubai Government and is likely to begin operations in June 2009. operating Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

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GMR Airports has made plans to raise about Rs 465 crore to buy the holdings of GMR Infrastructure, so as to increase its holding in the airport business. The company had earlier entered into an agreement with Macquarie SBI Investment to raise about Rs 930 crore via compulsorily convertible preference shares. GMR's airport portfolio includes the Delhi and the Hyderabad airports, apart from two airports abroad, one in Istanbul and the other in Turkey. Besides, GMR had recently won the contract for Male International Airport at Maldives. Male Airport project worth Rs 1,860 crore will have a debt to equity ratio of 75:25 and is expected to achieve financial closure by September.

Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies receives certification from General Civil Aviation Authority .Upon the recommendation of H. E. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA, the Department of Aviation Security & Infrastructure in the General Civil Aviation Authority awarded the Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) the certification to its facilities in Al Bateen Executive Airport to provide civil aviation security courses, in line with the training guidelines legislated by the Civil Aviation Law of the United Arab Emirates. By attaining this certification, GCAS – a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Airports Company – will be delivering specialized training programs in the field of civil aviation security through a qualified centre as per GCAA’s legislations. As such, GCAS will provide new opportunities to develop local manpower to serve the continuous need for development that is in parallel with the foreseen growth of the aviation industry.

GKN has won contracts to make components for Rolls-Royce and General Electric aircraft engines and parts for Airbus's new A350 XWB plane. Under a deal worth USD$300 million to GKN, the company will make tail bearings for Rolls' Trent 700 and 1000 model engines at its El Cajon facility in California until 2020. GKN also said it had signed a five-year deal worth USD$300 million with GE Aviation to supply aluminium and titanium components for a range of commercial and military aircraft engines. The company added that it won two contracts to make composite parts for the landing flaps of the wings for Airbus's new wide-body A350 XWB plane.

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, has placed a firm order with Airbus for six long range A330-200 aircraft. Scheduled for delivery from the fourth quarter of 2012, the newly ordered aircraft will join a fleet of four recently delivered leased A330-200s and six owned A330-300s already in service at the airline.

GoAir India’s smartest airline,  announced that it has registered an 84 per cent load factor for the month of June 2010. During the last quarter (April 2010 – June 2010), GoAir has consistently registered average passenger loads in excess of 83 per cent.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes’ subsidiary GOL Finance is offering senior notes due in 2020 in an offering exempt from registration under the United States Securities Act of 1933. GOL and its subsidiary, VRG Linhas Aereas, will guarantee the notes. The notes will be senior unsecured debt obligations of GOL and are subject to optional redemption. GOL intends to use the proceeds of the offering primarily to repay existing debt maturing in the next three years.

Gatwick Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners has awarded a contract to NATS Services to install and operate its Airport Collaborative Decision-Making (A-CDM) service. A-CDM pulls together onto one screen or hand-held device all the different streams of information about aircraft, including their current position, accurate forecasts of arrival times and optimum departure sequences. It can also provide a live radar picture of the airport.

Garuda, the Indonesian flag carrier, is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for USD$1.5 billion of financing for planned purchases of Boeing aircraft. Garuda already had a contract with Boeing worth at least USD$1.5 billion to USD$2 billion to purchase 10 777-300ERs and 10 737-800s.

GMR Infrastructure Limited (GIL) announced that it had won the bid to build, operate, modernize and expand the MALE International Airport (MIA).   MIA is the gateway to the idyllic and enchanting Maldives and is one of the fastest growing airports in the region.

Garuda, the Indonesian flag carrier, is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for USD$1.5 billion of financing for planned purchases of Boeing aircraft. Satar said Garuda already had a contract with Boeing worth at least USD$1.5 billion to USD$2 billion to purchase 10 777-300ERs and 10 737-800s.

Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Company (GAMECO) plans to build a second hangar at its facility at Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, southeast China. The company has signed a design contract with China Aviation Planning and Construction Development. The hangar will occupy over 60,000m2 (646,000ft2) and accommodate up to eight narrowbody aircraft.

General Electric (GE) has renamed its Czech operation GE Aviation's Business & General Aviation Turboprops. The facility is currently testing the H80 engine, which will produce up to 800 shaft horsepower (shp) for business and general aviation, utility and agriculture turboprop aircraft.

GMR Aviation Academy in collaboration with Jeppesen Aviation Training Services, a subsidiary of Boeing, announces Flight Operations Management training courses at its training academy at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad. Under the Flight Operations Management Training, Jeppesen will offer training for Flight Operations Officer / Flight Dispatcher courses slated for June, 2010.

GMR Hyderabad International airport has bagged the Routes Airport Marketing Award in the Indian Sub-Continent category. It may be noted that the Hyderabad Airport has bagged the same award in 2009 also, during the event conducted in Hyderabad. 

Gulf Air’s popular Frequent Flyer Programme has added one more benefit to its FFP members. The airline has joined hands in a new agreement with Harbour3Sixty to offer its FFP members another opportunity to earn more miles when they rent office space at H3sixty - the contemporary boutique business centre in the heart of Bahrain’s business district, the Bahrain Financial Harbour.

GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A, the largest low-cost and low-fare airline in Latin America, announced its results for the first quarter of 2010 (1Q10). GOL’s operating income (EBIT) jumped by 82.1% year-over-year, to R$191.4mm, accompanied by a margin of 11.1%, 4.1 p.p. wider than in 1Q09 (6.9%) and 3.7 p.p. up on 4Q09 (7.4%).

Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) and Kuwait Airways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a signing ceremony held at the Airport Show in Dubai. The MoU outlines a number of opportunities for cooperation and development of human capital through the facilities and courses offered by GCAS at its Head Office at Al Bateen Executive Airport.

Goodrich reported first quarter 2010 net income of $111m on sales of $1,695m. In the first quarter 2009, the company reported net income of $170m on sales of $1,696m. The company's full year 2010 sales expectation of approximately $7.1bn is unchanged from its prior outlook, and represents growth of about six per cent compared to 2009. The outlook for 2010 net income per diluted share remains in a range of $4.15 - $4.40.

GMR Group, one of the world’s leading infrastructure developers, and the Schulich School of Business of York University in Toronto, Canada, announced that they have entered into an understanding to develop a Schulich campus in Hyderabad, India.

Gulf Air has rolled out another new service – a dedicated B2B (Business to Business) internet booking tool - for its corporate customers and travel agents as part of the airline’s growing number of solutions offered to its corporate and trade partners.

GE Aviation announced that it will create an “Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research & Development Center” (EPISCENTER) near Dayton, Ohio. The centre will be directed at several markets including on- and off-highway hybrid and electric vehicles, more electric aircraft and marine applications

GKN Aerospace has been selected by BAE SYSTEMS as a Strategic Supplier for the manufacture of an extensive range of composite and metallic structures for the F-35 Lightning II in agreements with a potential value in excess of USD200m. The agreements extend GKN Aerospace's existing involvement on the F-35, which currently includes the supply of a number of complex titanium structures for the airframe and engine; providing the advanced all-composite engine front fan case and embedded electro-thermal ice protection system for the F135 engine; and designing and supplying the aircraft's sophisticated canopy transparency.

GE Aviation and Air India have signed a GE Branded Services Agreement (GBSA) under which GE Aviation will provide technical support as Air India offers maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the GEnx-1B engine and further advances its plans to become a global MRO service provider. Under the GBSA, Air India will be licensed to perform maintenance and overhaul work on the GEnx-1B engine.

GKN Aerospace state of the art facility will be at the heart of the next developments in the Environmental Lightweight Fan (ELF) research programme which aims to prove advanced, high-rate production processes for a new all-composite engine fan blade that will improve aircraft engine performance and reduce emissions. The ELF programme is being undertaken by GKN Aerospace and Rolls-Royce and is aimed at bringing new engine fan blade technologies to market readiness to meet approaching opportunities in the global aerospace sector.  

GKN Aerospace gains USD100m contract for Bombardier CSeries aircraft winglet. In a contract which could be worth more than USD100m, GKN Aerospace has been selected by Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast to design and manufacture the winglet for the new Bombardier CSeries aircraft, aimed at the 100 to 149 seat market.  This contract covers the period to 2025 with first winglet deliveries taking place in early 2011 to support aircraft entry into service in 2013.

GMR Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has been adjudged as the best airport among the 5 to 15 million passenger capacity airports in the world. Airports Council International (ACI), the definitive authority of the world's airports, announced the top performing airports in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey.

Gulf Air has launched its new premium cabin seats at business class fares .The airline is to merge its first and business classes; the catering and amenities previously offered to first class passengers will be used for the singular premium class.

Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) signed an agreement with the Joint Aviation Authorities Training Organisation (JAA TO) in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, marking the future co-operation between the organisations which would see training to European aviation standards, offered to GCAS students. The Joint Aviation Authorities Training Organisation (JAA TO) is a global non-profit organisation offering top-level training courses in multiple fields of aviation safety to help improve aviation safety worldwide and promote the understanding of existing and new aviation regulations to both government and industry personnel.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes has developed an aircraft maintenance waste management programme at its operational bases. Eight bases are now using the liquid effluent and solid waste treatment programme to treat and dispose of 100 per cent of their waste, and another 18 are in the advanced implementation phase.

GKN  Aerospace  technology  which   provides  improved   pilot protection in the event of bird strike and offers a 5% weight reduction. GKN Aerospace will supply all 5 SDD (System Design and Development) windshield ship sets by October 2010.

Goodrich Power Systems, a division of one of the world's leading aircraft electronics systems providers - Goodrich Corporation - has renewed and extended its contract with Schenker Limited in the UK.

GAC Jordan has launched a specialist service in partnership with BabyCord Jordan to package umbilical cord blood for delivery and storage to medical institutions and hospitals in Europe, the USA and Canada. BabyCord Jordan aims to protect the health of new born babies and their families by storing umbilical cord stem cells for possible future use to combat disease or to treat medical conditions through its Cord Blood Banking Services.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) signed three Memoranda of Understanding. One with Jet Airways for heavy maintenance services of their entire fleet of over 100 aircraft for a period of ten years; another one with Malaysia Airports Consultancy Services ("MACS") for Commercial development of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, and the third one with Asia Pacific Flight Training Sdn. Bhd to set up an ab-initio flight training. These MoUs were signed in the presence of the Hon.Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. , the largest low-cost and low-fare airline in Latin America, began selling tickets for a new destination in its domestic route network - the city of Bauru, in the west of Sao Paulo state. There will be five flights per week from Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo city.

General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia has awarded CAE Flightscape a contract to deliver a comprehensive flight recorder playback and analysis laboratory. The laboratory will incorporate CAE Flightscape's "Insight" software suite, which is used by air safety investigators at aircraft manufacturers and investigation authorities around the world.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), has won the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation's (CAPA) newly instituted award in the category, "Best Airport Environmental Performance of the Year. The award was received by Mr. G. Radhakrishna Babu, Chief Financial Officer, GHIAL in Beijing, China, at a ceremony that was held as part of the sixth annual Asia Aviation Outlook summit, showcasing airline and airport CEOs from around the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) has signed an agreement with the world's leading aircraft engine manufacturer, CFM International (CFM), to establish a new CFM56 maintenance training center to support its customers in the South Asian region. CFM International is a 50/50 joint venture between Snecma (Safran Group) of France and General Electric Company (GE) of the United States.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A, completes nine years of regular commercial aviation operations . During this period, the company increased its fleet from six to 109 operational aircraft and continued to popularize Brazilian air travel, revolutionizing the market by introducing fares capable of competing with the bus companies, attracting more first-time passengers and members of Brazil's new middle-class.

GE Aviation has completed the acquisition of BMB Fuel Consulting Services (BMB Fuel), a privately owned, Ottawa-based supplier of fuel consulting services. The company has developed a fuel decision support solution and service that helps airlines, civil aviation authorities, military organisations and other large consumers of fuel to manage fuel supply, conservation and handling.

GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A., the largest low-cost and low-fare airline in Latin America, has secured a US$150 million credit line, to finance aircraft acquisition prepayments (PDP Facility). This concludes the financing of such payments until the end of 2010, in accordance with the Company's plan to renew its fleet, which will consist exclusively of Boeing 737-800s and Next Generation 737-700s.

Gulf Air, has introduced a series of environment-friendly measures that will result in reduction of around 33,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its aircraft annually.

Government of India has approved the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) proposed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) for those general employees, upto the level of DGM, who were working at IGI Airport, Delhi and CSI Airport, Mumbai. Ex-gratia - 60 days salary for each completed year of service rendered or salary for the number of months service left, whichever is less.

GVK Power has bought 17 per cent of Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), boosting its share of the company to 29 per cent. Larsen & Toubro, the former owner of the shares, sold them for INR686 crore at a per-share price of INR105. GVK, which also has a stake in Mumbai International Airport, is now the second largest share owner of BIAL with Siemens, holding 40 per cent. ($1 = INR69).

GOL recorded year-on-year demand growth of 41.1% in 2009, due to a unique positioning in South America, based on one of the most comprehensive route network and a high flight frequency between Brazil’s main airports. These factors were streghened by consistent levels of regularity and punctuality.

GE Aviation has recognized Kenya Airways for achieving the highest time on wing for a CF6-80C2 engine in Africa. The Kenya Airways' CF6-80C2 engine was installed on a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft in 2001 and has accumulated more than 35,000 flight hours and more than 6,400 cycles without a removal.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) and Airports Council International, (ACI World) Geneva, have signed an agreement for the appointment of the GMR Aviation Academy as a Global Training Hub for the Asia Pacific region. The agreement was signed in Hyderabad, by Mr. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Business Chairman, Airports, GMR Group and Ms. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World.

GKN Aerospace joined tier one industry partners Vestas, Airbus and Rolls Royce in celebrating the Government's announcement of a new National Composites Centre (NCC) to be based in the south west of England.

Goodrich Corporation's Aircraft Wheels & Brakes business has been selected by flydubai to supply wheels and carbon brakes for their 54 Boeing Next-Generation 737-800 aircraft.  The selection is expected to generate up to $22 million in revenue over the life of the contract, including aftermarket support.  Aircraft deliveries with the Goodrich wheel and brake equipment are expected to begin in March 2010 and continue through 2013.

Gulf Air plans to shift its order book from wide-body to narrow-body planes and regional jets as it realigns its network to focus on shorter routes, its chief executive said. Gulf Air has up to 20 Boeing 787s on order, as well as 15 Airbus A320s and 20 A330s, a wide-body aircraft.

GE and AVIC agreed to form China-based joint venture by mid-2010 to develop/market integrated avionics systems for commercial aircraft; its immediate focus is to bid for COMAC C919 narrowbody with open architecture Integrated Modular Avionics platform.

Global airline capacity for November 2009 shows positive growth compared to November 2008, reports OAG, (www.oagaviation.com). The world’s airlines had 285.4 million seats available in November, a rise of 3% over November 2008 levels. Global frequencies are up 1% compared to November 2008, with a total of 2.3 million flights for November 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of 2%.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has signed an agreement with the world’s leading aircraft engine manufacturer, CFM International, to establish a new CFM56 maintenance training centre.

Germanwings will continue to use Lido/RouteManual from Lufthansa Systems. Both partners renewed their contract for another five years. In addition to the paper version of the navigation charts, Germanwings also decided to use the electronic version of the navigation charts Lido/eRouteManual as a Class 1 solution as of November 2009.

Gulf Air expects to post a loss of BHD189 million Bahraini dinars (USD$501 million) this year, a member of Bahrain's parliament said in remarks published. The company has been in a restructuring with lay-offs and closures of routes since 2002. Khalil was cited by the newspaper as saying the company has presented a three-year rescue plan to parliament which includes more job cuts.

Guggenheim Aviation has taken delivery of its first Boeing aircraft, a 777-300ER, which will be leased to Korean Air. Guggenheim has a further five 777s on order with Boeing. The delivery marks the first leasing deal between the carrier and lessor. The aircraft will bring Korean's 777 fleet to 25. Korean has just announced a 3Q profit of $229m.

GMR Infrastructure Limited announced that the work on Sabiha Gokcen International Airport at Istanbul, Turkey was completed in a record time of 18 months, 12 months ahead of schedule, again demonstrating their execution capabilities.

Goodrich has reported a third quarter 2009 net income of $145m on sales of $1,648m. In the third quarter 2008, the company reported net income of $168m on sales of $1,772m. The company expects full year 2009 sales to be about $6.7bn, compared with the prior outlook of $6.9bn, representing a sales decrease of about five per cent compared to 2008.

Global airline capacity for October 2009 is showing positive growth of 1.04% compared to October 2008, down slightly from September’s growth of 1.4%, reports OAG,, the world’s leading aviation data business. The world’s airlines have 299.9 million seats available in October, a rise of 1.04% (3,091,580 more seats) over October 2008 levels.

Gulfstream Aerospace recently marked the entry-into-service of its 500th revolutionary Gulfstream Enhanced Vision System (EVS). The milestone comes eight years after the company began offering the industry-leading flight deck technology to operators of large-cabin Gulfstream aircraft.

GOL has said it recorded a 6.9 per cent year-on-year increase in air traffic demand during August. The carrier said the increase was due to increased supply and improved distribution of seats due to the merger of GOL and VRG's operations in 4Q 2008; the increase of 737s in its fleet; and the recovery of yields and renewed predominance of business trips in August following the end of the July holiday season. Domestic market demand rose 29 per cent compared to August 2008, but fell by 19.3 compared to July 2009 due to seasonality. Seating capacity for August on a per kilometre flown (ASK) basis rose 4.2 per cent compared to August 2008.

Garuda Indonesia, has confirmed that it intends to raise up to $400m from an initial public offering (IPO), which is scheduled to take place during the first half of 2010.

Gulf Air's website gulfair.com has become a super hit with average web sales for the period January to July 2009 broke records, registering160 per cent increase over the sales in the same period last year.

Goodrich and Xi’an Aircraft International Corporation have signed agreements to form two joint venture companies to support landing gear and engine nacelle components manufacturing focused on the fast growing Chinese aerospace market.

GMR Group was awarded by the President of India - Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, for its outstanding efforts in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. In a glittering ceremony, she handed over the TERI 2009 CSR trophy to Shri GM Rao, Group Chairman - GMR Group.

Greater Toronto Airports Authority (the GTAA) reported its financial and operating results for the 6-month period ending June 30, 2009. A total of 14.8 million passengers were processed at Toronto Pearson International Airport in the first half of 2009, an 8.1 per cent decrease compared to the same 2008 period.

Gulf Air's recently announced service to Iraq has achieved record breaking first week sales. Tickets went on sale on 6 August for Gulf Air's new five times weekly service to the capital of Iraq Baghdad, and ticket sales have smashed previous first week sales figures of a newly launched Gulf Air destination.

Goodrich and Xi'an Aircraft International Corporation (XAIC) have signed agreements to form two 50:50 JV companies to support landing gear and engine nacelle components manufacturing, which will focus on the Chinese aerospace market. Gol Brazilian airline posted its second straight profit in seven quarters. Net income at the Sao Paulo-based company was BRR353.7 million reais (USD$192 million) in the second quarter, compared with a loss of BRR166.5 million in the year-ago period,

General Electric (GE) and the FAA have signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRDA) to provide operational and technical assessments for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace systems (NAS). This includes the assessment of next-generation (NextGen) trajectory-based operations (TBO).

Goodrich Corporation has signed a logistics service agreement with Cosco Logistics. Under the terms of the agreement, Cosco Logistics will provide integrated logistics services to Goodrich Aerostructures including China inland and international transportation, bonded logistics park warehousing, consolidation services and customs assistance.

Gulf Air has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a government department in order to work towards protecting the island's environment and natural resources. The move is part of the airline's corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Garuda Indonesia, has unveiled a new aircraft fleet, new in-flight product and a fresh corporate identity to mark the start of the next phase of its transformation into one of Asia’s most successful and profitable airlines.

GAP Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, said it earned MXP148 million pesos (USD$11 million) between April and June, less than half of what it earned in the same period of 2008. Quarterly revenue fell 15 percent to MXP750 million.

Goodrich Corporation signed a long-term agreement with Turkey's Alp Aviation for F-35 Lightning II landing gear components and assemblies. The agreement covers deliveries through December 31, 2015.

Germanwings recently signed a five-year agreement with Lufthansa Systems for the use of the Lido Operations Centre (Lido OC) flight planning solution.

GMR Group receives the TERI Corporate Award 2009 for its CSR initiatives. The President of India - Ms. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, awarded the GMR Group for its outstanding efforts in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. In a glittering ceremony, she handed over the TERI 2009 CSR trophy to Mr. GM Rao, Group Chairman - GMR Group and his wife Ms. Varalakshmi.

GoAir, announced the commercial operation of its 8th brand new A320, the addition of two new connections from BLR to DEL and return and BLR- BOM and return, taking the total number of weekly flights serviced by GoAir to 377 .

Goodrich has been selected by Bombardier to provide its "SmartProbe" air data system for the Learjet 85 midsize business jet. The system provides all critical air data parameters - including stall protection - to the aircraft's flight control, pilot display and other systems.

Groupe Aeroplan, which operates Air Canada's frequent flyer programme, has agreed to lend the cash-strapped airline up to CAD$100 million (USD$86 million), both parties said. Air Canada, the country's biggest airline, has already drawn down CAD$79 million of the loan.

Garuda Indonesia reported a US$32.6 million profit in the first reporting period of the year, an increase of 515% over the same period in 2008 with the airline’s president, Emirsyah Satar, adding the carrier had reduced operating costs by 10% to May this year.

General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has initialed an “open” Air Services Agreement (ASA) and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turkmenistan in Dubai. The two delegations agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services..

Gulf Air will keep taking delivery of planes it has ordered from Airbus on schedule, its chief executive said. Bjorn Naf said in an interview on the sidelines of the IATA aviation conference in Kuala Lumpur that he saw no signs yet of a recovery in the airline industry but he hoped for one by the second half of 2010.

GoAir announced operations to two new major destinations, Guwahati and Bagdogra starting May 21. GoAir also announced the induction of one brand new A320 aircraft, taking the total number of aircraft in its fleet to seven. With the addition of Guwahati and Bagdogra routes, GoAir has now expanded its services to the East of India after establishing a good presence in the north, west and southern regions of the country. The addition of the two new routes takes the total number of destinations serviced by GoAir to 13 and total number of weekly flights provided by the airline to 335.

Germanwings has opted for the Lufthansa Systems IT solutions EFOM (Electronic Flight Operations Manuals) and DocSurf. These solutions enable Germanwings to access current electronic operations documentation at any time. They also improve the quality of this documentation and save airlines time and money. EFOM is the optimal solution for creating, managing and publishing operations manuals.

Glasgow Prestwick handled 160,419 passengers in April down 19% on April 2008 following on from the January-March quarter which was 12% down on the same period in 2008. On a rolling twelve months basis Glasgow Prestwick hosted 2,274,442 passengers down 6% on the previous 12 month total. Glasgow Prestwick handled 1,216 tonnes of freight during April, 58% below April 2008. Kent International Airport freight volumes in April were 2,006 tonnes, 34% less than a prior year. Lübeck Airport had an excellent start to the financial year with passengers 55% up on April 2008 due mainly to a new daily Palma service which has drawn travellers from the main Hamburg core catchment. Loads on other routes were also up on the prior year perhaps suggesting a regional trend towards low cost services.

GMR Group received the TERI corporate award 2009 for its outstanding effort in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives.

General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of Saudi Arabia has selected Sensis Corporation for deployment of Advanced - Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) and Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) systems for King Abdulaziz International Airport (Jeddah) and King Fahad International Airport (Dammam). The multilateration subsystem of the A-SMGCS systems will be expanded to provide the airports with WAM for safe and efficient separation of aircraft in the terminal approach coverage area. Additionally, the airports will use Sensis VeeLo NextGen™ vehicle locator units for tracking and identification of vehicles on the airport surface.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Latin America's largest low-cost airline, took a first quarter net income of $61.4m Brazilian Reais (BRL) ($29.44m) versus net losses of BRL20.5m in the same period last year. GOL said its takings were due to "strategic positioning", "focusing operations on the domestic market and South America", and benefits from its consolidation with Varig. Operating costs and expenses totaled BRL1,411.9m, 9.2 per cent less than during the first quarter of 2008. GOL restructured its fleet plan rescheduling delivery of 20 Boeing aircraft from 2011 and 2012 to between 2011 and 2014. ($1 = BRL2.09)

Glasgow Prestwick handled a total of 149,994 passengers in March. This is an improvement on February's performance but down 22% on March 2008. During the year to 31 March the airport hosted 2,312,515 passengers, down 5% on the previous 12 months. The sharp drop in March was due to previously announced airline capacity cuts responding to the European-wide decline in air travel.

Gulf Air has signed a 10-year OnPoint solution agreement with GE Aviation for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of its new CFM56-5B engines that power 15 Airbus A320 aircraft. The contract is valued at more than $100m over the life of the agreement.

GE Commercial Aviation Services announced the delivery of a new Boeing 737-800 to Xiamen Airlines to help the carrier’s fleet expansion. GE Commercial Aviation Services . The aircraft comes from GECAS’ existing order book with Boeing and is one of 13 aircraft.

GMR-Hyderabad International Airport in India expects the increase of non-aeronautical revenues to reach 70% of their total revenues. Within the next 3 to 5 years, Hyderabad International Airport plans to increase non-aeronautical revenues from current 30% to 50% by attracting new airlines, opening new duty free outlets in arrival terminals, increasing duty free spend per head from USD 4 to USD 6-7 , etc.

GKN Aerospace commences work on the creation of a new state of the art manufacturing facility at Bristol in the UK. This facility will form a key part of GKN Aerospace-Filton as it becomes a global centre of excellence in composite aircraft wing structures.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's Aviation business introduced the first aluminum core bead for use in aviation tires. The patented light weight alloy bead core using aluminum is a revolution in weight savings.

GEnx-2B jet engine for Boeing's new 747-8 aircraft has begun flight-testing on GE Aviation's 747 flying test-bed. During the five-hour first flight, a single GEnx-2B engine demonstrated aircraft systems and instrumentation functionality, climbing close to 40,000 feet and establishing engine performance baseline.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), and MAS Aerospace Engineering (MAE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines sealed an agreement to set up a 50:50 joint venture Airframe Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) company in Hyderabad. The JV company, known as MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering Company Ltd., will be built on the eastern side of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad.

GKN Aerospace engineers in Germany and the UK have successfully reached the next stage in the development of the A350 XWB 's advanced composite rear wing spar - with the production, on schedule, of high quality prototype composite spars for Airbus' A350 XWB wing box demonstrator.

Garuda Indonesia and China Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covering code share agreements, cargo co-operations, and promotional activities to enhance traffic between the two countries, network expansion and other forms of co-operations.

Geneva Airport, bucking a global industry downturn, said 11.5 million passengers passed through the hub in 2008, an increase of 5.7 percent over 2007 and the highest number in its history.

GKN Aerospace's recent acquisition of the Airbus wing component and assemblies manufacturing unit at Filton, UK, EADS/Airbus has accomplished its aerostructures reorganisation strategy. This initiative combines the divestment of non-core activities and sites in order to establish a network of strong suppliers, allowing Airbus to concentrate on its core business as being an aircraft architect and integrator.

GMG Airlines, the largest private-sector airline based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, will soon resume flights on several international routes: Bangkok, Delhi and Singapore.

General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) have joined forces to establish the Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) in Abu Dhabi.

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Hong Kong Aviation Capital reported the lease of three new Airbus 320 aircraft to IndiGo Airlines of India. The leases will start on delivery of the aircraft from Airbus to IndiGo in 2011.

Hong Kong Airlines celebrated becoming a new Airbus operator with a ceremony in Hong Kong to mark the delivery of its first A330-200. Featuring the carrier's new two class long haul cabin product, the aircraft will be used to launch services to Europe initially flying non-stop to Moscow.

Hawaiian Airlines has received the first two of up to 27 new long-range A330 and A350 aircraft, which will be included into its fleet under its expansions plans. Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's president and CEO, said the airline is taking “bold new steps” to develop Hawaii’s air transport service. The airline’s first new delivery arrived in Honolulu on May 3 and has been undergoing preparations for its introduction into service. Its second A330 arrived on May 29. Hawaiian said it is initially leasing three A330s, a third of which will join the fleet in November of this year. The company has a purchase agreement with Airbus to acquire seven more new A330s starting in 2011, and six new A350XWB-800 aircraft starting in 2017, along with purchase rights for an additional five A330s and six A350s.

Hamburg Airport’s Aviation Marketing team is amongst the winners of this year’s Routes Marketing Award. Dr Jörgen Kearsley and his team were double winners.

Hala Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways’ destination management company, has launched its 2010 Formula 1™ brochure at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM), featuring exclusive packages for the 2010 Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which takes place between November 12 and 14.  The new Hala Abu Dhabi brochure incorporates special Formula 1™ packages at six world-class hotels in Abu Dhabi.

Honeywell announced first quarter 2010 sales were up three per cent to $7.8bn versus $7.6bn in 2009. Excluding non-cash pension expense, earnings were up 21 per cent. Cash flow from operations was $743m versus $341m in the first quarter of 2009 and free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) was up 190 per cent to $673m compared to $232m last year.

Heathrow airport saw 5.2 million passengers travel through in March, an increase of 0.4% compared to March 2009. BAA's UK airports as a whole handled a total of 8.2 million passengers in March, a decrease of 1.5% on the same month last year.The two periods of industrial action affecting British Airways services caused an estimated net loss of 200,000 passengers across the UK airports, of which 180,000 were at Heathrow.

Hamburg Airport stays on course - Profit achieved despite difficult economic environment. Hamburg Airport closed the financial year 2009 with a profit of 35.0 million euros; the previous year’s result was 39 million euros. 12.23 million passengers used Hamburg Airport in 2009, in comparison to 12.84 million passengers in 2008. Turnover for the year was 224.1 million euros (2008: 230.7 million euros).

Hong Kong Airlines will launch a scheduled passenger service between Hong Kong and Moscow, the capital and the most flourishing city of Russia, in June this year. The inauguration of this new long-haul route is a major milestone of the airline's aggressive expansion plan.

Heritage Aviation will unveil its new, 79,000-square-foot, eco-friendly fixed base operation (FBO) at Burlington International Airport at a ceremony on May 20. The company will offer a full-service facility with 24/7 service.

Hungary will almost fully renationalise air carrier Malev under a deal signed by the government and Malev's Hungarian and Russian shareholders in a bid to save the airline, the government said. Under the agreement, reached after lengthy negotiations, the Hungarian government will raise Malev's capital by HUF25.2 billion Hungarian forints (USD$127.8 million) by injecting cash into the company and converting its debts into equity.

Hong Kong Airlines has selected Pratt & Whitney's PW4170 Advantage70™ engine to power six new Airbus A330 aircraft. The memorandum of understanding, valued at approximately $470 million at list prices, includes two spare engines and a fleet management program.

Hainan Airlines will start operating direct flights between Brussels Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport. These direct flights will be operated three times weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These flights complement the existing four weekly flights to Beijing operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, hence offering a daily flight from Belgiu