American Airlines on Dec. 11 said it will install Gogo Internet on all of its two-class regional jets, but the carrier elected to add a slower onboard system than United Airlines.
LONDON – The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been requested by the European Commission to investigate a series of near midair collisions between passenger jets and Russian military aircraft. The commission raised the alarm after several European Union states reported foreign military aircraft operating near their borders over the sea without transponders activated, nor was it possible, EASA says, to establish radio contact with them.
LONDON—A model helicopter or unmanned air vehicle (UAV) came within 20 ft. of colliding with an Airbus A320 airliner as it made its final approach into London Heathrow airport, investigators have revealed. The U.K. Airprox Board—which examines the causes behind air proximity incidents in British air space—detailed the July 22 incident and said it posed a serious risk of collision.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan—Air Astana will make a decision in 2015 on a new narrowbody order and says it is “definitely” looking at Airbus’s proposed long-range A321neo, which offers a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 97 metric tons and extra fuel tanks.
Air New Zealand plans to launch its first service to South America with a flight to Buenos Aires, coupled with a new codeshare agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas. The three weekly flights begin in December 2015, using a Boeing 777-200ER. The extra 777 capacity will presumably be freed up when Air New Zealand takes more Boeing 787-9 deliveries in the second half of 2015.
The on-time arrival performance for U.S. domestic scheduled flights in October was 80%, declining from September by 1.1 point and from October 2013 by 4.1 points, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The report says 1.1% of scheduled U.S. domestic flights were canceled in October. The month’s cancellations percentage improved slightly from September, but was otherwise 0.5 points higher than in October 2013.
LONDON—Airspace over London has re-opened, after a computer problem at the U.K.’s main air traffic control (ATC) center caused it to close for more than an hour. The glitch at the Swanwick control center—which is operated by U.K.
SAN FRANCISCO—Less than a month after launching service from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways is seeing load factors in the “low 80s [percentage],” primarily driven by traffic between the Bay Area and India, CEO James Hogan said in an interview here.
Southwest Airlines is applying for route authorities to four new cities in Mexico from the new international terminal it is building at Houston’s Hobby Airport (HOU). The carrier also has signaled its intent to fly from HOU to Belize and San Jose, Costa Rica. These route authorities are likely to be granted by the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT). If approved, service on these routes, as well as the Mexico routes, is expected to begin October 2015.
