Aircraft News-Oct. 30, 2014

Belgian regional VLM Airlines, which is in the middle of a management buyout, is to launch the Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100LR in Europe after detailing plans to take up to 14 of the type.

British Airways (BA) has launched a 3X-weekly direct service from London Heathrow to Singapore’s Changi Airport using an Airbus A380.

Virgin Atlantic intends to firm up its four remaining options for Boeing 787-9s, as it brings the first of the fleet into service.

Airberlin plans to eliminate a further 200 jobs of administration and ground personnel staff during 2015, several German media outlets have reported.

American Airlines, which has the most exposure to Venezuela of any US carrier, expects the country’s economic travails to result in a 2%-4% decrease in the carrier’s system-wide fourth-quarter unit revenue.

Alaska Airlines added 8% in capacity year-over-year in the third quarter, but most of the increase was due to replacing smaller aircraft with larger ones and adding seats to existing fleets, the carrier’s executives said in a conference call with analysts this week.

The Airbus A350 XWB and A330 have been approved for common type rating for pilots training to fly the aircraft.