Safety, Ops & Regulation

A US bankruptcy judge has approved American Airlines’ parent AMR Corp.’s new labor contract with the carrier’s 10,000 flight deck crew.

Spring Airlines is expanding services between China mainland and Hong Kong.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) said it expects to end the year with a revenue of RUB180 billion ($5.8 billion), UAC president Mikhail Pogosyan said.

Jordanian charter operator Petra Airlines will switch to primarily scheduled services and become the Middle East nation’s first low-cost carrier (LCC).

FedEx reported net income of $438 million for its fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30, down 12% from a net profit of $497 million in the prior-year period.

Etihad Airways has acquired 70% of Air Berlin’s topbonus frequent flyer program (FFP) for €200 million ($263.7 million), further strengthening their partnership.

Turkish Airlines has added more destinations to its network from Istanbul Ataturk.

African low-cost start-up Fastjet has signed a provisional deal to acquire South African low-cost carrier 1time for ZAR1 ($0.12).

Boeing and Embraer have jointly unveiled “Runway Situation Awareness Tools,” a collaborative program aimed at reducing runway excursions.

Indonesian authorities have confirmed that human error caused the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) crash in May during a demonstration flight near Jakarta.

Air France is preparing to unveil a voluntary redundancy package, warning it will be “structurally overstaffed” by 500-600 cabin crew by 2014.

United Airlines and Continental pilots have ratified a joint collective bargaining agreement with United Continental Holdings (UCH).

Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab said the alliance model is still working, even though many airlines are strengthening their positions through codesharing and partnerships.

Mxi Technologies announced its Maintenix version 8 is now available commercially. The software offers an HTML5 line maintenance application to synchronize maintenance tasks, MELs and ETOPs requirements; systematically factored planning functions; and an updated interface design.

The ARGUS CHEQ charter evaluation and qualification-rating programme is attracting increasing interest in the region.

IATA has raised its 2013 net profit outlook for the world’s airlines by almost $1 billion based on improved financial performances in the second and third quarters.

The European Parliament has approved new rules on noise abatement and slot allocation at European airports.

Boeing and the BMW Group have agreed to collaborate on joint research on carbon fiber recycling.

Jeppesen has appointed Mark Long as regional director, customer service, Middle East business aviation, and he is at MEBA to introduce himself to customers.

Fargo Jet Center (FJC) is making its Dubai debut at MEBA, co-exhibiting with Avfuel Corporation in the US Pavilion.

This bright spark at stand 546 is promoting some of the world's most exclusive Cuban cigars.

First-time exhibitor Care by Air (stand 530) is hoping to make the most of MEBA's platform to interact with business aviation companies and promote humanitarian efforts.

Jorge Colindres, CEO of San Marino Aircraft Registry (stand 425) and Marco Conti, San Marino civil aviation director, yesterday cut the ribbon to confirm their partnership for the country's new aircraft registry.

ExecuJet Middle East is set to launch operations in Saudi Arabia through its new FBO in Riyadh from the first quarter of 2013.