*The FAA and JETBLUE have signed a NextGen agreement that will allow the airline to fly more precise, satellite-based flights from Boston and New York to Florida and the Caribbean beginning in 2012. NextGen is the transformation of the US national airspace system from a ground-based system of air traffic control to one based on satellites, which will enhance safety and reduce aviation congestion. Under the agreement, as many as 35 of JetBlue’s A320 aircraft will be equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) avionics over the next 2 years, enabling them to fly in 2 major routes off the East Coast even if traditional radar coverage is not available. The improved accuracy, integrity and reliability of aircraft surveillance under ADS-B will allow JetBlue to take advantage of these routes at all times since the satellite-based system tracks the precise position of aircraft. The agreement will also allow JetBlue to fly a new route to the Caribbean, and could lead to the development of 2 new, shorter ADS-B-only routes to the Caribbean from Boston, New York and Washington.
*A GAO Report that was released late last week that suggested US lawmakers add a tax to Airline fees is going nowhere fast. The Report said that taxation of optional Airline service fees, such as baggage fees, would help offset the multi-billion dollar shortfall in FAA funding. However, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, said he would not propose a new tax on Airline fees. The bill to reauthorize the FAA and its funding is being debated in the Senate this week.
*Government officials in Hungary said over the weekend that there are now 3 parties showing interest in taking over MALEV HUNGARIAN, the national carrier. The troubled carrier is reportedly in talks with unidentified carriers from Turkey, Russia and China.
*Media reports from Poland today say that 2 journalists working on a report into the crash of the POLISH AIR FORCE Presidential Tupolev in Smolensk, Russia, were detained by Russian security officials over the weekend. The reporters were researching the story at the Sieviernyi district near Moscow, the location of the headquarters of the Air Defence Troop “Logika”, with which the air controllers in Smolensk had been in touch on April 10, the day of the crash. The pair were scheduled to have an interview with a Russian General who is an expert in forensics. The men said they did not see any signs warning against entering the site but were approached by 2 men, a general and a military prosecutor. The journalists were detained by the Federal Security Services, which arrived on the order of the general, and the journalists’ equipment was confiscated. One of the journalists said that they were interrogated. They were released after 5 hours but their material was confiscated and destroyed by the Federal Security Services.
*New Zealand's charter Airline, AIR NATIONAL, is unlikely to fight a Court of Appeal decision upholding an ''enormously damaging'' suspension of its operations over safety concerns. Late last month the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended Air National's operator certificate for 10 working days after a routine audit found evidence of alleged falsification of training records. The suspension will be reviewed this Friday. Air National denied training records were falsified. Pilots had been training on a simulator in the US, but a problem with the computer program when Southern Hemisphere coordinates were entered meant the wrong details ended up on 1 piece of paper in the training documents, an spokeswoman for the carrier said. The CAA was then alerted as soon as they returned to New Zealand. The carrier said the suspension was unreasonable and the damage the episode was doing to Air National was ''just enormous''. The carrier had appealed the CAA's suspension in the High Court, which ruled it should be lifted. The CAA then appealed the High Court ruling in the Court of Appeal, which today quashed the lower court decision. A CAA spokesman aid the authority was now conducting a full investigation of Air National. Air National was founded in 1989 and provides daily return services between Christchurch and Oamaru, and Christchurch and Hokitika for AIR NEW ZEALAND LINK.
*IBERIA Flight 6832 was delayed in departing for Madrid, Spain, yesterday, February 6, due to a bomb threat. According to media reports, as the aircraft was preparing for departure, a telephone bomb threat was received. All passengers were then deplaned and a search of them, and the cargo/luggage onboard, failed to find any trace of explosives. Police later traced the call to a woman whose boyfriend was a passenger onboard. She reportedly wanted to stop his trip. The flight was postponed until today.
*SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Flight 1256, a Boeing 737, had to make an emergency return to Tampa, Florida, on Saturday, February 5, after the cockpit windshield cracked.
*GULF AIR Flight 281, an A330, had to make an emergency diversion to Muscat, Oman, on Saturday, February 5, after the Captain fell ill. According to the carrier, the Captain suffered a mild heart attack and was hospitalized in Muscat in stable condition.
*AIR MACAU Flight 1, an A321, had to reject takeoff from Beijing, China, on Friday, February 4, when a large fluid spill from the right hand wing became visible. According to media reports, both passengers and eyewitnesses said that a massive amount of fluid was coming from the right hand wing as the A321 accelerated down the runway. The crew stopped the aircraft on the runway and ordered an immediate evacuation. The incident was later described by the carrier as an oil leak through a seal. The A321 was repaired and released for the flight to Macau about 8 hours later.
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