An American Airlines Dreamliner that was damaged by a hail storm July 27th in China will be placed back in service in the next week or so, according to the airline. The most visible damage was to the radome of the airplane, which was replaced with a temporary radome American flew to Beijing. But there was also some slight damage to the underside of one of the airplane's wings, which was repaired with speed tape for a ferry flight to Tokyo, according to the Dallas Morning News' aviation blog. There, side windshields that had been damaged were repaired. Kevin Mosblech...Read More 

Norwegian has signed an agreement to acquire an additional two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, enabling the company to launch even more long-haul routes. Both aircraft are scheduled to enter service in summer 2017. The 787-9 is larger than the eight 787-8s that Norwegian currently operates on its long-haul routes. With this new agreement, the long-haul fleet will consist of 19 Dreamliners by 2018. Norwegian continues to expand its international operations by signing an agreement to lease two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Both aircraft are scheduled to enter...Read More

Boeing and Korean Air on Tuesday marked the delivery of the airline's first 747-8 Intercontinental. The new jet is the first of 10 747-8 passenger airplanes the carrier has on order."This new aircraft delivers better fuel economy," said Walter Cho, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Korean Air. "That is important to a global airline such as ours. And it supports our goal to build and operate a first-class fleet of world-class aircraft."With this delivery, Korean Air becomes the first airline in the world to operate both the passenger and freighter versions of...Read More

Raytheon To Provide Training Services To The U.S. Air Force

Cessna Aircraft started deliveries of the Citation Latitude this week, meeting the company's goal-announced after the new twinjet received FAA certification on June 5-for initial shipments to begin in the third quarter. In addition, Cessna is launching a U.S. demo tour of the Latitude to show off its "stand-up, flat-floor" cabin. Pittsburgh, Pa.-based aircraft charter and management firm Aircraft Management Group (AMG) was among the first operators to take delivery of the Latitude. "What's appealing is that [the Latitude has] the amenities of...Read More

The mothers of the three American citizens who, along with one British citizen thwarted a terrorist attack on a train from Brussels to Paris last week had been invited to attend a ceremony honoring their sons in Paris ... but they had no way to get there. The Oregonian reports that Doug Perrill, the pilot for Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, got wind of the plight of the three moms. He contacted Boyle at 9 o'clock Saturday night to ask if he could fly the trio in the company's corporate jet to Paris. "Would we be willing to fly them in our plane to Paris?" he reportedly asked. "Yeah, we'd be happy to do that," Boyle told his pilot. Perrill took...Read More

An investigation is underway in an incident in which the nose of an Allegiant Airlines MD-83 lifted off the runway prior to reaching rotation speed, according to an incident report filed by the airline. Bloomberg Business reports that the incident occurred last week. Flight 463 was departing Las Vegas for Peoria, IL with 164 passengers and crew on board. According to the incident report filed with the FAA, the nose of the airplane lifted off the runway before rotation speed was reached, and stayed off the ground when the pilots took corrective action. The pilots aborted the takeoff, according to the report....Read More

Boeing announced today the completion of the firm configuration milestone for the 777-9, the first member of the 777X family to be developed. The Boeing 777X team reached this significant design milestone after working closely with airline customers and key suppliers to optimize the configuration of the new airplane. The 777X family includes the 777-8 and the 777-9 - both designed to respond to market needs and customer preferences. The 777-8 and the 777-9 provide significant range, payload and fuel burn advantages compared to the A350. "It's great to see the...Read More

NASA's remotely piloted Global Hawk aircraft will begin flights this week in support of a NOAA-led mission to improve hurricane track and intensity forecasts. Operating from the aircraft ground control station located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, NOAA will work with NASA scientists on the mission called Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology, or SHOUT. The mission builds on earlier collaborative storm research led by NASA and will move the Global Hawk closer to being put into operational use as a weather forecast observations tool."We're flying the Global Hawk above hurricanes and other severe storms...Read More

American Airlines has hired Ron DeFeo as vice president of global communications. DeFeo has worked in communications for Darden Restaurants and Home Depot, among other organizations. "Ron will lead a team of energetic and talented communication professionals whose mission is to facilitate a culture of collaboration and sharing of knowledge," said Elise Eberwein, executive vice president of people and communications for American...Read More

The E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System would surely make any short list of the most valuable military aircraft of all time. When it entered service in 1977, AWACS instantly changed the whole regime of air combat. The pulse Doppler radar in its rotating dome could reach out for hundreds of miles in all directions to find and track every airplane moving within the airspace. AWACS could direct the battle so adeptly that it multiplied the effectiveness of the forces it controlled. The commander of Tactical Air Command pronounced it "the most significant...Read More

FedEx pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA), have reached a tentative agreement (TA) with FedEx management on an amended collective bargaining agreement. The parties have been actively negotiating since 2011. Discussions started in 2011 under a special interim discussions agreement that had originally been made by both parties to assist in narrowing the field of open items in order to conclude formal bargaining in a timely manner. Formal bargaining began in January 2013 when Section 6 openers were exchanged with management...Read More

United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), have filed for federal mediation under the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board in order to bring three years of negotiations to a close and allow United to complete its merger with Continental/Continental Micronesia."A clear dispute exists and it is time for federal mediation. We are calling on management to negotiate a fair contract within the reality of record profits. Three years after the talks for a joint contract began, management doesn't...Read More