Welcome to the new and (hopefully) improved Aviation Update. This issue marks the first change in formatting in a couple of years; I thought it was time for a bit of a refresh. Cover Photo: D-AINI, a Lufthansa Airbus A320-271neo, photographed heading for 09L at London Heathrow on December 1, 2017.

JetBlue (YENA) will begin daily service from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI) on June 14. This route will be

operated by Airbus A320 equipment. 1

Endeavor Air (REXA) will switch the destination of its daily service from Halifax (YHZ) to New York Kennedy (JFK) to New York LaGuardia (LGA)

on May 1. This route is operated daily by Canadair CRJ-900 equipment under the Delta Connection banner. 2

Norwegian (6NRF) will swap airports in Paris for its 6x weekly service to Newark, New Jersey (EWR) set to start on

February 28. This route had been planned to operate from Paris de Gaulle (CDG), but will now operate from Paris Orly (ORY) instead. 3

United Airlines (CALA) has added eight domestic routes for the summer season, all to be flown under the United Express banner

by regional airlines. Click here for the routes.

With legal questions now settled, Volaris Costa Rica will begin several U.S. routes this spring. 2x weekly service from San Jose (SJO)

to Los Angeles (LAX), via San Salvador (SAL) will start on March 15, while 2x weekly service from San Jose to New York Kennedy, also via San

Salvador, will start on April 17. Service on the same route but terminating at Washington Dulles (IAD) will start on May 16. All routes will be operated by Airbus A319 equipment. 4

Kenya Airways will begin daily service from Nairobi (NBO) to New York Kennedy on October 30. This flight will be operated by Boeing

787-8 equipment. 5

Ethiopian Airlines (ETIF) plans to begin 4x weekly Fifth Freedom flights from Abidjan, Ivory Coast (ABJ) to New York Kennedy, Washington Dulles (IAD), and an as yet unnamed third U.S. location from mid-May. Flights will be operated by Boeing 787-8 equipment. 6

What is a Fifth Freedom flight? One of the nine “Freedoms of the Air,” Fifth Freedom flights allow carriers the right to fly between

two foreign countries on a flight that starts or ends in their own country.

Norwegian will end service from Edinburgh (EDI) to Hartford (BDL) on March 24. This route lasted only nine months. 7

Icelandair (ILRF) will operate 3x weekly seasonal service from Reykjavik (KEF) to Kansas City (MCI) from May 25 through

October 1. This route, the first ever trans-Atlantic service from Kansas City, will be operated by Boeing 757-200 equipment. 8

Icelandair will resume seasonal service from Rekjavik to Baltimore (BWI) on March 28. 4x

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weekly flights, operated by Boeing 757-200 equipment, will run through October 15. 9

Finally, Icelandair will return to San Francisco (SFO) with 4x weekly seasonal service running from June 3 through October 13. This route will be operated by Boeing 767-300/ER equipment. 10

TSA discovered 63 firearms in carry-on bags for the week ending December 31. 11 TSA found 3,787 guns in carry-on bags in 2017, a new annual record. Click here to see how many guns have been found at each airport in 2017. TSA found 58 firearms in carry-on bags for the week ending January 7. 12

TSA screened 42,043,588 passengers and 30,611,408 checked bags for the holiday period running from December 15 through January 2. 13

A dead body was found near a runway at Honolulu (HNL) on January 13. The runway is near the ocean and an investigation is underway. 14

Boeing delivered a record 763 commercial aircraft in 2017, including 529 737s, 14 747s, 10 767s, 74 777s, and 136 787s. 15 The manufacturer took 912 net orders in 2017 from 71 customers, and now sees its order book standing at 5,864 aircraft: 4,668 737s, 12 747s, 98 767s, 428 777s, and 658 787s. 16 Boeing, the world’s top airplane manufacturer, has

delivered more commercial aircraft than Airbus for six straight years.

Airbus delivered 718 aircraft in 2017 and secured 1,109 new orders. Deliveries included 558 A320 family frames, 67 A330s, 78 A350s, and 15 A380s. Airbus’ backlog stands at 7,265 aircraft with a list price of $1.059 trillion. 17 Airbus hopes to deliver 800 aircraft in 2018.

Lufthansa (DLAF) plans to hire more than 8,000 new employees in 2018, with the majority being flight attendants

for subsidiary carriers such as Austrian Airlines (AUXF) and Eurowings. 18

The Lufthansa Group as overtaken Ireland’s Ryanair to regain the title of Europe’s largest airline by passenger count in 2017. The Lufthansa Group, comprising Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa, and Swiss (UCSF), carried 130 million passengers in 2017, while Ryanair carried 129 million. 19

Worldwide, airlines launched over 3,500 new routes in 2017, with an average frequency on those routes of 3.6 flights per week. 20 971 new routes were started from U.S. airports last year.

Following American (AALA) and Southwest (SWAA), JetBlue will also give a $1,000 bonus to 21,000 employees, citing recent changes in tax law as the reason for the bonus. 21 The same $1,000 will be given to employees at Alaska Airlines (ASAA) and Horizon Airlines (QXEA) as well in the near future. 22

Southwest Airlines is building a 240,000 square-foot hangar at Houston Hobby, which will be able to house six Boeing 737

aircraft. Construction should be completed by the end of 2019. 23

Southwest will pay $15 million to settle class-action lawsuits accusing it and other major U.S. carriers of colluding to keep ticket prices high. Southwest admits no wrongdoing but says it is cheaper to

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simply settle the lawsuits than to continue on litigating the claims. 24

Southwest announced on January 2 that it has exercised options for 40 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, worth $4.5 billion at list prices. Southwest is already set to receive another 40 737 MAX 8s in 2019-2020. 25

Hawaiian Airlines (HALA) carried 11,505,324 passengers in 2017, a 4.1% increase over 2016’s totals and the 13th straight year of passenger

volume increases. 26

Turkish Airlines (TQKF) has signed a provisional agreement with Airbus to purchase 25 A350-900 frames. Terms of the final deal are

under negotiation. 27

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a single operating certificate to Alaska Airlines and Virgin

America (VQIA) on January 11. All Virgin America flights will become Alaska flights on April 25, at which point Virgin America will be effectively retired. 28

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) welcomed 5,848,289 passengers in October 29 and 5,426,630 in November. 30 For the first 11 months of 2017, DFW had 61,492,889 passengers, a two percent gain over the same period in 2016.

Delta Air Lines (DALA) earned an operating profit of $6.11 billion in 2017, a 12% decline over 2016’s totals. 31

Silver Airways (29GA) will acquire Seaborne Airlines (S9BA), a Puerto Rican airline that filed for

bankruptcy on January 8. Both carriers operate a fleet of Saab 340Bs. 32

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KRDF) flew 32.7 million passengers in 2017 and hit a system-wide load

factor of 88.4%. Both numbers are records for the airline. 33

JetBlue (YENA) had an 82.7% system-wide load factor in December. 34

A January 5 United Airlines flight from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Hong Kong (HKG) was forced to divert and land in Anchorage (ANC) after a passenger smeared his feces all over the walls of two lavatories. The man, a Vietnamese passport holder who was taken to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, also attempted to stuff his shirt down the lavatory toilet. 35

In 2017, United Airlines boarded 108.017 million passengers on mainline flights, a 6.9% increase over 2016. Another 40.05 million people traveled on United Express flights operated by regional airline partners. 36

Final passenger counts for airports in 2017 are now starting to trickle in. Here’s one interesting factoid as the industry continues to grow - there are now 20 airports worldwide with over 60 million annual passengers, including nine in Asia. 37 Let’s take a look at some passenger counts for various airports last year:

All Nippon (ANPF) was named the Air Transport World 2018 Airline of the Year, the second time in five years the Japanese

carrier has secured the award. 38

Wichita (ICT) will renumber its three runways by 2019 as the shift in the Earth’s magnetic poles has

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altered the compass headings of the runways by six degrees since the airport opened 64 years ago. 39

A Pegasus Airlines (Turkey) Boeing 737-82R (TC-CPF) suffered a runway excursion upon landing on January 13 at

Trabzon (TZX). The aircraft slid off a slope, with the aircraft gear getting stuck in the mud, saving the plane from plunging into the sea. 162 passengers and six crewmembers were on board. 40

U.S. airlines enjoyed their best on-time arrival percentages in eight years in November. 88.3% of flights arrived on time in November, and just .3% of all scheduled flights were canceled. 41

Turkish Airlines ordered three further Boeing 777 Freighters late last month, shortly after receiving the first two frames of the type for their cargo operation. 42

FedEx (FDEA) has opened a 1.4 million square-foot cargo hub at Shanghai Pudong (PVG), tripling their presence at the world’s

third largest cargo airport by volume. FedEx operates 66 flights a week at Shanghai and this new facility can sort up to 36,000 packages per hour. 43

1.7 million metric tons of cargo flew through London Heathrow in 2017. 44

A Sunwing Airlines (U6WF) Boeing 737 being towed out for departure struck a WestJet (WJ0F) 737 that was waiting to taxi into a gate on

Friday, January 5 at Toronto Pearson (YYZ). A small fire resulted and passengers on both aircraft were safely evacuated. 45

The right wingtip of a China Southern Airlines (C4XF) Boeing 777-31B/ER (B-7185) struck a Kuwait Airways 777-300/ER while

being towed at New York Kennedy on Saturday, January 6. The China Southern aircraft suffered damage to a four-meter section of its right wing, while the Kuwait frame took damage to its vertical stabilizer and had its upcoming flight canceled. 46

A January 7 water main break flooded a baggage claim area at New York Kennedy, leaving passenger luggage soaked and causing flight cancellations and delays. 47

The previous issue of the Aviation Update included a quiz about a waffle maker – what was wrong with it? Dozens of people responded with the correct answer – the waffle maker had indentations to make 16 holes in the waffle, while the waffles pictured had 20 holes.

N803FD, an Airbus A310-324/F with Federal Express, was withdrawn from use (wfu) and ferried on January 3 to Victorville, California (VCV) for storage.

N388AA, a Boeing 767-323/ER with American Airlines, was wfu and ferried on December 30 to Miami (MIA) for temporary storage. This frame had 92,707 hours and 14,893 cycles as of December 12.

N929DL, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 with Delta Air Lines, was wfu and ferried on January 5 to Blytheville, Arkansas (BYH) for part-out and scrap.

N929DL at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), December 2008.

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N959DL, a McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 with Delta, was wfu and ferried on January 18 to Blytheville for part-out and scrap.

B-5155, a Boeing 737-8K5 with China Southern, was wfu and ferried on January 18 to San Bernardino, California (SBD) for part-out and scrap.

The Aviation Update is compiled by Greg Gayden from open source material gathered across the internet. The Aviation Update features news regarding international

operations to/from the United States and the commercial aviation industry in general. To subscribe, simply send a request. The Update is published multiple times each month as news warrants. Unless otherwise noted, IATA codes used for airports & FAA designator codes for airlines.

The Third Edition of Commercial Aviation 101, a 245 page book which explores current security programs and the basics of the aviation industry, is now available on Apple iBooks, Amazon and available in PDF format. Paperback copies can be ordered here.

1https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276609/jetblue-adds-fort-lauderdale-santiago-dr-service-from-june-2018/ 2https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276587/delta-adjusts-new-york-halifax-flights-from-may-2018/ 3https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276557/norwegian-paris-newark-service-changes-from-late-feb-2018/ 4https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276514/volaris-costa-rica-plans-us-launch-in-1h18/ 5https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276620/kenya-airways-plans-new-york-launch-in-late-oct-2018/ 6 https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/63288-ethiopian-airlines-to-start-ivory-coast-longhaul-ops-in-2q18 7 http://www.courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-br-norwegian-air-bradley-20180115-story.html 8https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276599/icelandair-plans-kansas-city-launch-in-may-2018/

9https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276627/icelandair-resumes-baltimore-service-from-may-2018/ 10https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/276657/icelandair-resumes-san-francisco-service-in-s18/ 11 https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2018/01/06/tsa-week-review-december-25th-31st 12 https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2018/01/10/tsa-week-review-january-1st-7th 13https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/01/05/tsa-rings-new-year-screening-record-42-million-travelers-holidays/1008991001/ 14 http://khon2.com/2018/01/13/body-found-on-honolulu-airports-reef-runway/ 15http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=130106 16http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=130107 17 http://atwonline.com/manufacturers/airbus-deliveries-4-challenging-2017 18 http://atwonline.com/labor/lufthansa-group-hire-more-8000-staff-2018 19 https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-lufthansa-traffic/lufthansa-usurps-ryanair-to-regain-place-as-europes-biggest-airline-idUKKBN1EZ271 20 http://www.anna.aero/2018/01/10/airlines-launched-3500-routes-in-2017-ryanair-remains-number-one-for-new-services-as-lccs-continue-to-dominate/?utm_source=anna.aero+newsletter&utm_campaign=e8c8f5be67-anna_nl_100118&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ecdbf41674-e8c8f5be67-86904373 21 https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/jetblue-to-give-crew-members-1000-bonuses-after-tax-bill.html 22 https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/alaska-air-employees-will-get-1000-bonus-due-to-tax-overhaul/ 23http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/bizfeed/article/Southwest-moves-forward-with-new-maintenance-12476069.php 24 https://www.seattletimes.com/business/southwest-agrees-to-pay-15-million-over-collusion-claims/ 25 https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/southwest-airlines-wants-larger-boeing-737-max-8s-soon.html 26 https://www.eturbonews.com/174739/hawaiian-airlines-exceeds-passenger-record-2017 27 https://airlinegeeks.com/2018/01/07/turkish-airlines-signs-agreement-for-25-airbus-a350-900-aircraft/ 28 https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/faa-grants-single-aoc-to-alaska-and-virgin-america-444830/ 29 http://dfwtower.com/loads/DFW/DFW102017.pdf 30 http://dfwtower.com/loads/DFW/DFW112017.pdf 31 https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/delta-operating-profit-declines-12-to-611bn-in-20-444817/ 32 https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/silver-airways-to-acquire-seaborne-airlines-444783/ 33 https://centreforaviation.com/news/record-passenger-numbers-for-klm-in-2017-755390 34http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2018/01/jetblue-reports-drop-in-load-factor-for-december/ 35 https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/united-airlines-flight-chicago-diverted-feces-468139873.html

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36 http://newsroom.united.com/2018-01-09-United-Reports-December-2017-Operational-Performance 37 https://centreforaviation.com/insights/analysis/asia-on-the-ascent-another-five-asian-airports-reach-60-million-annual-passengers-in-2017-391601 38 http://atwonline.com/airlines/ana-named-atw-2018-airline-year 39https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/01/15/earths-magnetic-shift-cost-wichita-airport/1033428001/ 40 http://avherald.com/h?article=4b39bd2e&opt=0 41 https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/airline-time-performance-cancellations-equal-lowest-rate-ever 42http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=130105 43http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/money/industries/logistics/2018/01/08/fedex-express-shanghai-china-hub-asia-linkage/1013705001/ 44http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/heathrow-airport-passenger-numbers-2017-record-bigger-planes-a330-full-flights-a8153131.html 45 http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/06/us/toronto-planes-collide/index.html 46 https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/china-southern-777-wing-clips-kuwait-777-444670/ 47 http://fox61.com/2018/01/07/water-leak-floods-jfk-airport-baggage-claim-forces-evacuation/