The global aviation industry will need to train and employ almost half a million new pilots over the next 20 years, according to the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

In addition, more than half a million new maintenance staff must be found, the aerospace giant said.

Currently, some 233,000 pilots and 100,000 mechanics and engineers work for airlines worldwide, it said.

About 40% of the extra demand would come from Asia, Boeing said.

Limited training capacity

Some 466,650 newly trained pilots and 596,500 newly trained maintenance staff will be needed between 2010 and 2029, Boeing predicted.

With demand set to rise particularly fast in Asia, especially in China, some 180,600 of the pilots and 220,000 of the mechanics would be needed there. Read more »

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Specialist regional airline Flybe has reported £5.7m ($8.9m) annual profits for the year ending March 2010.

The results mean that the UK firm stayed in profit throughout the recession, having just broken even with £0.1m the previous year.

However, underlying profits – which ignore exceptional gains and losses – fell from £12.8m to £6.8m, despite passenger numbers remaining unchanged.

The privately-owned Exeter-based firm is the UK’s biggest domestic carrier.

Flybe’s chairman, Jim French, claimed that it was “one of only three major European airlines that have reported profits throughout the recession”.

The company specialises in short-hop flights, lasting one hour or less, and using smaller aircraft than its rivals.

Having acquired British Airways’ UK internal flights subsidiary – BA Connect – in 2007, the company is now seeking to roll out its “regional” business model across the rest of Europe.

Flybe has agreed a code-sharing deal with Air France and a regional operations agreement with Olympic Air of Greece.

The company is also in talks with Finnair about regional services in the Nordic region.

Source : BBC News

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A pilot for budget carrier Ryanair came up with a new money-saving idea Tuesday after the firm suggested axing co-pilots on flights — replace the airline’s boss with a flight attendant.

Captain Morgan Fischer, a senior pilot based in Marseilles, southern France, mounted the rare public challenge after the latest cost-cutting proposal from his boss, Michael O’Leary.

The Irish airline’s outspoken chief executive has generated headlines with a string of ideas that have cemented Ryanair’s reputation as the leading no-frills carrier, from “fat taxes” to coin-operated toilets.

But news that he is trying to persuade authorities to let his aircraft fly with just one pilot — claiming that a flight attendant could do the job of a co-pilot if needed — appears to have gone too far for some.

In a letter to the Financial Times newspaper, Fischer said he was aware of the company’s desire to reduce costs “whenever feasible” to keep ticket prices down for the travelling public.

“I would propose that Ryanair replace the chief executive with a probationary cabin crew member currently earning about 13,200 euros (17,000 dollars, 11,000 pounds) net a year,” wrote the 41-year-old.

“Ryanair would benefit by saving millions of euros in salary, benefits and stock options,” he said, adding there would be no need to get approval from regulators for the appointment.

In a typically mischievous response, O’Leary conceded that a flight attendant would be a “far more attractive” chief executive and said the suggestion was being seriously examined.

“Michael thinks that cabin crew would make a far more attractive CEO than him — this obviously isn’t a very high bar — so we are going to seriously look at the suggestion,” Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara was quoted as saying in the FT.

“After all, if we can train cabin crew to land the plane, it should be no problem training them to do Michael’s job as well.”

Source : Yahoo News

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An aircraft interior design company has released the first images of controversial new ’stand-up’ plane seats.

Italian firm Avioninteriors, which is developing the SkyRider seat, claims it will offer both cheaper fare options and more capacity on board, reports Travolution.

The designs were released just months after Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said that he planned to introduce standing room on his flights, with tickets selling for as little as £5 per passenger.

A representative for the company producing the seat said: “The SkyRider is intended as a new basic class. The passenger’s seating position is similar to that of a touring motor-scooter rider.

“This posture permits that the overall longitudinal space occupied by the seat with the seated passenger is far less than that of a conventional, very high density 28-inch economy class seat.”

It also claims that the new 23-inch seats will allow airlines to increase passenger numbers on board.

Air safety regulator the CAA is expected to turn down any proposals to introduce the ’standing seats’ on UK airlines.

Source : Yahoo News

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A Heathrow bound airliner carrying 232 passengers narrowly avoided a mid-air collision just 4,000ft over London as a business jet was forced to take urgent avoiding action, a report by accident investigators revealed today.

The near miss happened when a German-owned Citation 525 business jet passed 100ft to 200ft below the Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 777 passenger plane in the skies over the capital, said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The passenger plane had failed to follow commands from three collision-avoidance warnings which alert pilots in the cockpit automatically to danger when aircraft get too close.

Investigators  said that if the weather had been bad the Citation would not have been able to see the Boeing and would therefore not have been able to take effective avoiding action.

The drama in the skies happened after the business plane was cleared by the air traffic control tower at London City Airport to climb to 3,000ft.

But the crew mistook the instruction and stated that the aircraft would be climbing to 4,000ft – a ‘readback’ error which was not picked up by the London City tower controller.

At the same time, the Heathrow-bound passenger jet had been cleared to descend to 4,000ft. It was at this height that it passed the Citation, which had two crew and one passenger aboard.

The small German-owned plane was just half a mile away from the jet and only 100ft to 200ft below it.

Source : Daily Mail

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 Defence giant BAE Systems is to axe more than 900 jobs from its military divisions.

The 946 jobs will go at Military Air Solutions and Insyte (Integrated System Technologies), the group said.

Union officials are warning that the cuts could be the “tip of the iceberg” for the defence industry.

They expect the forthcoming strategic defence and security review and the cuts being demanded by the Treasury to spell bad news for the sector.

Kevin Taylor, managing director of Military Air Solutions, said job losses were likely in manufacturing, engineering and associated support functions.

“These potential job losses result from the impact of the changes in the defence programme announced in December 2009, together with other workload changes,” he said.

The company said there could be 212 job losses at Brough, in East Yorkshire, 26 at Chadderton, Manchester and 55 within the Harrier team at Farnborough, Hampshire.

A further 149 posts would go at Samlesbury, Lancashire with 298 job losses at Warton, Lancashire.

The remaining 206 jobs will go at Insyte.

Mr Taylor added: “We appreciate this is difficult news and we are committed to working with employees and their representatives to explore ways of mitigating the potential job losses.”

Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union general secretary Hugh Scullion said unions were shocked at the scale of the cuts.

“Talks will begin locally in the first instance to attempt to mitigate the planned losses and if necessary national negotiations will follow.

“The unions will oppose any compulsory redundancies.

“With the forthcoming defence review these cuts may be the tip of the iceberg but knee-jerk reactions from employers could make things even worse.”

View Aviation Job Search latest Military Jobs.

Source : Sky News

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Airline passengers travelling with bmibaby were wrongly forced to pay £60 fines for their hand luggage because the apparatus used to measure the bags was too small, it has been claimed.

Cages used to judge whether cases were small enough to carry on board bmibaby flights were smaller than the acceptable dimensions specified by the airline.

The measuring devices at the departure gate were also reportedly smaller than those at the check-in desk, meaning passengers were led to believe their bags were the correct size before being hit with a fine as they boarded their flight. Read more »

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China is checking the qualifications of all its commercial airline pilots, after it emerged that more than 200 of them lied about their experience.

The revelation follows an investigation last year by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Half the airline pilots worked for the parent company of an airline involved in a recent fatal plane crash.

Shenzhen Airlines is the parent company of Henan Airlines, whose aircraft crashed last month killing 42 people. Read more »

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A pilot with the RANS Air Brigade has saved his own life in miraculous fashion after his plane fell out of the sky during a flying display in Santa Fe, Argentina.

The accident happened at El Trebol aviation club, where Dino Moline was performing aerobatics, when a wing suddenly broke off and the plane plunged towards the ground.

The 3,000 spectators who had been enjoying the show thought that it was part of the display when Moline managed to activate the ballistic parachute system which is fitted to protect the whole aircraft.

The plane fell about 500 metres to the west of the public area and caught fire, three fire crews were on the scene but the pilot got out of the cockpit unaided and unharmed.

The announcer at the “Show Aereo 2010″ reassured the crowd that the pilot was fine. Three of the aircraft had been prepared to display at the event.

On a website, Moline described his shock at the moment the wing fell off like “an explosion”.

“I don’t know what happened to me, I believe that it was metal fatigue and I felt an explosion. I saw a shadow passing to the side of me and it was the wing. So I listened to Cesar (Faristocco) who yelled at me over the radio to deploy the parachute, which I did.

“I didn’t think of anything, I saw fire inside the plane and I despaired a little. My foot got burned but I’m fine,” said Moline on the website.

Source : ITN

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The deal which averted strikes by thousands of Airport workers includes a 2 per cent pay rise and a lump sum of £500, according to the union Unite.

Unite said the offer by BAA was double the original deal proposed by the airport operator, which was rejected last week, raising the threat of travel chaos for hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers.

Firefighters, airport security security staff and other workers at Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports will now be urged to accept the new deal in a ballot over the next three weeks.

Unite said the new offer, tabled by BAA during lengthy talks at the conciliation service Acas on Monday, would now set the standard for pay deals in the aviation industry.

The offer includes a 2 per cent increase on basic pay and allowances from January 2010, arrangements for payment of shift pay during periods of sickness to remain unchanged, and a lump sum of £500, with £200 paid next month and the remainder next March.

Unite said the lump sum could reach £900 if performance targets are met

National officers Brian Boyd and Brendan Gold said: “This offer is double what BAA had originally offered with no strings attached. Plus it comes with a guaranteed lump sum of £500. The negotiations were tough but Unite has delivered a fair offer for BAA staff.

“The game is up for employers in the aviation industry. With the recession receding in the industry, Unite now expects BAA’s pay offer to set the standard.”

Source : ITN

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