2007 was the year that saw Southwest lure business travelers... and Boeing repeatedly assert its 787 would deliver on schedule, before copping to a six-month delay. And speaking of delays -- passengers stranded on airliners across the nation made their voices heard, as the government worked to ease congestion at New York-area airports.

Safety concerns plagued the airline industries of Indonesia and Brazil, and eyebrows raised over a series of unusual landing gear failures involving Q400 turboprops flown by Scandivanian Airlines.

Meanwhile, both Boeing and Airbus tallied record sales numbers. And, of course, there was TSA... which made headlines for a series of blunders on the parts of officials and screeners.

January

An Indonesian Boeing 737-400 goes missing January 1 on a flight from Surabaya to Manado. The difficult search for the missing Adam Air flight is compounded by false reports of discovery of wreckage, and apparent miscommunication at nearly all levels of the Indonesian government. Fragments of the missing airliner are discovered weeks later, but the aircraft remains missing to this day... News circulates regarding the ordeal suffered by passengers onboard American Airlines flight 1348, who were stuck onboard an MD-83 for eight hours on the tarmac December 29, 2006 in Austin, TX, after their flight to Dallas was diverted for weather. One of those passengers is Kate Hanni, who rallied passengers trapped on that plane, and other flights, to organize the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill Of Rights... The Department of Transportation selects United Airlines above three other competitors for a lucrative new route to China... European planemaker Airbus, hamstrung by delays to its A380 superjumbo and A350 XWB airliners, concedes the 2006 sales race to rival Boeing. The American planemaker took in 1,044 orders for the year, compared to Airbus' 824. Airbus still holds onto the "number one manufacturer" title it has held since 2001, though, by delivering 434 jets -- 36 more than Boeing... The National Transportation Safety Board releasesCVR transcripts and audio recordings of the final minutes of Comair 5191, as the plane with 50 onboard lined up on the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, KY in August 2006... In a portent of things to come, a rumor of supplier delays to Boeing's 787 program sends stocks tumbling. Boeing admits some reports are true, but maintains the composite-bodied airliner will deliver on schedule in May 2008... Training provider Alteon kicks off its controversial Multi-Crew Pilot License program, which reduces the amount of actual flight time a commercial pilot cadet must accumulate before he or she is licensed. Most of the reduction in actual flight time is replaced with simulator training... The FAA reverses its position on a proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age for Part 121 pilots to 65, and throws its support behind the measure... Following months of dogged pursuit of a hostile takeover of Delta Air Lines, US Airways CEO Doug Parker concedes defeat, and withdraws the carrier's bid.

February

The NTSB asks for the public's help in locating engine components that fell from a Mesa Air Lines CRJ near Denver, CO. The left engine cowling, fan, and other forward components separated over sparsely populated mountainous terrain near Woodland Park, CO. The Board later issues an Emergency AD on CF34-3B1 turbofans... Acknowledging its 787 Dreamliner sustained a crack in the horizontal tail section during a bird strike test, Boeing spokespeople are quick to rally around the composite-bodied aircraft, contending the episode was a standard event in the development of a new aircraft and was not part of the certification program... The Bush Administration sends its budget request to the Congress and -- as feared by many in the general aviation community -- it includes language requesting a revamp of FAA funding to include user fees. Not surprisingly, the Air Transport Association and other pro-airline groups support the move... In a report with sweeping implications, Chicago TV news station CBS2 uncovers a problem with security badges at the city's O'Hare airport. The station found that persons with a security badge get into the airport through an employee side gate lacking any of the security measures employed by TSA to screen airline passengers... Mother Nature shows no love of JetBlue on Valentine's Day, as a fierce winter storm forces the low-cost carrier to strand 10 planes on the ramp at JFK, and later cancel many of its flights while the airline regroups... Bombardier unveils its latest variant on the CRJ theme, the 100-seat CRJ1000... Beleaguered Indonesian low-cost carrier Adam Air grounds a third of its fleet, following a hard landing that literally cracked the fuselage of one of its Boeing 737s... Faced with maintaining a fleet of aircraft it can't fly, fledgling carrier Virgin America starts leasing some of its 11 Airbus A320s to other carriers in order to generate needed revenue, while the airline awaits DOT approval... The axe falls at Airbus, as details of its Power8 restructuring program are revealed. Parent company EADS calls for the sale of six plants, and elimination of 10,000 jobs, in order to recoup losses due to delays to a number of Airbus development programs.

March

One day after being reportedly caught off guard by the announcement Airbus was suspending development of its A380 Freighter, sole remaining customer UPS responds by scrapping its $2.8 billion order for 10 of the aircraft... More problems for Indonesia's airline industry, after a Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400 overshoots the runway on landing at Yogyakarta airport in central Java. At least 21 persons are confirmed lost...  In something of an about-face to repeated claims the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had adequate numbers of new hires waiting in the wings to replace retiring air traffic controllers, the FAA releases its "updated" plan to hire more controllers over the next 10 years, which includes hiring almost 1,400 controllers in 2006 alone... former Air Traffic Organization head and FAA exec Russell Chew is named Chief Operating Officer of struggling JetBlue... Six Islamic imams who were removed from a US Airways flight late last year for suspicious behavior, and allegedly making anti-American comments, sue the airline for discrimination... All Nippon Airways grounds its 13-plane fleet of Bombardier DHC-8-Q400 turboprop airliners, after the nosegear fails to deploy during a flight from Osaka to Kochi. The Japanese government also ordered immediate inspections of all 36 "Dash-8s" used in Japan... Two Airbus A380s land at New York JFK and Los Angeles International Airport, marking the first US visits by the superjumbo airliner...  Transport ministers in the European Union unanimously approve an Open Skies treaty agreement with the United States, that throws open new competition for lucrative trans-Atlantic airline routes... News surfaces that, in a simulated "Red Team" test in February, TSA screeners at Denver International Airport failed to find simulated weapons and explosive materials carried through by undercover agents roughly nine times out of 10.

April

As domestic airlines enjoy the healthiest passenger loads they've seen in some time, the quality of the air travel experience continues to plummet, according to a report by researchers at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha... Boeing surpasses the 500-order mark for its 787... More fallout from the crash of Comair 5191, as the NTSB issues a series of safety recommendations for air traffic controllers, calling on the FAA and NATCA to monitor and combat on-the-job fatigue... Documents prepared for a shareholders meeting of Airbus parent company EADS detail the benefits former co-CEO Noel Forgeard arranged, ahead of his July 2006 ousting from the beleaguered company amidst evidence of insider trading... Israeli officials confirm fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Continental Airlines flight that failed to identify itself when it entered the country's airspace... Focus groups conducted by the FAA, seeking comments on employees' views of management, yield disturbing -- but not entirely surprising -- results: only 17 percent of respondents said they "trust FAA management"... Opponents to a controversial flight path routing shift, that would send airliners departing from five northeastern airports over homes in several Connecticut communities, accuse the FAA of withholding vital information in gauging the overall impact of that plan... The FAA seeks comments on a proposed rule calling for installation of systems on transport-category aircraft, to alert flight crews to conditions favoring the accumulation of airframe icing, and thus requiring pilots to activate anti-icing systems... Delta Air Lines exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

May

Fulfilling agreements made earlier in the year between the United States and the European Union, the two sides sign a landmark "open skies" agreement significantly easing restrictions on transatlantic flights... The Senate unveils its version of the FAA Reauthorization Bill, calling for the phasing out of a 4.3 cent per gallon tax airlines pay for fuel, and offsetting those losses with a new $25 per-trip fee for piston and turbine general aviation pilots who fly under IFR flight plans... In response to the September 2006 midair collision over Brazil involving a private Embraer Legacy 600 business jet, and a Gol Airlines 737, the NTSB issues three safety recommendations geared at solving what the Board calls a "critical safety issue," when traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS) fail, without the flight crew's knowledge... Hampered by an inability to operate its fleet of Cirrus SR22s and Diamond DA-42 Twin Stars in known icing conditions, North Dakota-based Point2Point Airways suspends operations indefinitely... A TSA laptop containing personal information for 100,000 agency employees, airport screeners and federal air marshals goes missing... JetBlue founder David Neeleman is jet-booted from his role as CEO of the low-cost airline, less than three months after a series of weather-related operations snafus shut down the carrier for days. He stays on as Chairman... Around 400 pilots, mechanics, and flight attendants for United Airlines picket outside the first shareholders meeting for the carrier in five years, protesting the lucrative bonuses and other perks United CEO Glenn Tilton and others took after the airline emerged from Chapter 11 in 2006... Officials investigate a near-collision on a runway at LAX, involving a SkyWest turboprop and a Virgin Atlantic A340. It's the latest in a series of similar incidents so far for the year, and it won't be the last... "America's Ryanair," Skybus Airlines, begins operations... General aviation advocates decry an Air Transport Association advertisement, featuring animated airliners complaining about business jets... One month later, Northwest Airlines follows its Chapter 11 compatriot, Delta, in exiting bankruptcy.

June

31-year-old attorney Andrew Speaker is identified as the passenger who boarded seven airline flights in the US and Europe in May, despite being told by doctors he carried a particularly nasty, extremely drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. In an ironic twist, Speaker's father-in-law is a microbiologist at the Center for Disease Control, and well-versed on TB. Doctors later change Speaker's diagnosis to a far less dangerous form of the disease... Though it had little real chance of success, the discovery of a plot to blow up New York's JFK International Airport leads to renewed concerns about airport security... A computer glitch delays travel for thousands of airline passengers along the East Coast... Following months of hedging, Russia's Aeroflot signs on the dotted line for 22 Boeing 787s. The carrier orders a like number of Airbus A350 XWBs, as well... In a candid interview on a CBS morning show, aviation analyst Michael Boyd slams the FAA, and the current state of air traffic control... Less than one month before the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner is scheduled to be rolled out, the planemaker admits it has run into some snags as it builds the first-ever composite-bodied commercial airliner -- but maintains the plane will deliver as scheduled... The TSA, apparently a bit singed from constant accusations of duplicity and incompetence, takes the unusual step of answering media outcry regarding an incident at Reagan National Airport by posting security video of the "sippy-cup" incident... The 2007 Paris Air Show proves highly lucrative for Airbus, which collects 728 orders and commitments at the biennial event... The combination of dicey weather conditions and labor strife lead Northwest Airlines, fresh out of bankruptcy, to cancel upwards of 10 percent of its flights. The airline's scheduling woes will continue through July.. The mayor of Eagan, MN sends an angry letter to the Minnesota Airports Commission and the FAA, complaining the new runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport is being used more extensively than originally promised... H.R. 2881, the House version of the FAA Reauthorization bill, comes out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee... Two are arrested after a burning sport-utility vehicle crashes at full speed into the terminal building at Glasgow airport in Scotland.

July

The FAA categorizes a May 26 near-collision on a runway at SFO as the most serious of incursions, and the most serious incident of its kind in at least a decade... General aviation "letter groups" rail against airlines -- including, but not limited to, Continental, American, US Airways, Northwest, and United -- over anti-GA, pro-user fee editorials appearing in several of their in-flight magazines... Boeing unveils the plane it believes will revolutionize the industry, the carbon-fiber composite-bodied 787. Despite appearances, the plane is little-more than a hastily-cobbled-together shell at this point, and months away from flying... A federal investigator accuses the FAA of not only hiding air traffic controller mistakes at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, but also for sometimes blaming pilots for those mistakes... A TAM Airlines A320 careens off a wet runway upon landing at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing 199 people, including 12 on the ground... A New Zealand company whose beginnings lie in treating excess algae on sewage ponds develops a technology to harvest that algae, and extracts the fatty lipids that can be used for jet fuel... Law enforcement officials nationwide are advised by the TSA to watch out for what has been termed "dry runs" for a terrorist attack, in apparent response to a number of suspicious incidents at several US airports... The NTSB announces its findings on the 11-month investigation into what led Comair Flight 5191 to depart the wrong runway in Lexington, KY in August 2006... Bidders reportedly visit a number of Airbus plants throughout Europe, that have been put up for sale under the Power8 restructuring agreement...

August

Following months of dogged pursuit by rival AirTran, Midwest Airlines says it will consider the Atlanta-based carrier's latest offer for a merger of the two carriers. It will prove a red herring, as you'll soon see... A proposed airline passenger bill of rights runs into trouble in the House, as a key provision -- the right for trapped passengers to deplane an airliner trapped over three hours -- is shot down... Screeners in Lima, Peru have some explaining to do, after a man smuggles a tiny monkey onto a Spirit Airlines flight bound for the US... Citing unnamed sources, a Seattle newspaper reports the first flight of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has slipped to sometime in October. That, alas, will prove optimistic... Psych! Nine months after AirTran first voiced its intent to take over Midwest Airlines, the Board of Directors of Midwest Air Group unanimously votes to pursue a buyout offer -- from TPG Capital, a holding group in which Northwest Airlines is a passive partner... A study by The Wall Street Journal finds over half of the 41 jets trying to land at New York La Guardia during a busy rush hour are regional aircraft. AOPA picks this ball up and runs with it, slamming airlines for, essentially, creating their own problems while blaming GA planes... A China Airlines 737-800 carrying 157 passengers and eight crew catches fire after landing at Naha airport in Okinawa, Japan. An investigation soon reveals the likely cause, a loose wing-slat that punctured a fuel tank. The discovery prompts aviation authorities worldwide to order carriers to inspect their planes for similar problems... Britain's largest airline and South Korea's national carrier each receive fines of $300 million, after admitting they conspired to fix pricing on international flights... The FAA names ITT Corporation as the prime contractor for a vital part of its proposed Next Generation Air Transportation System -- Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). A leading US defense contractor, ITT is known to many as the world's largest supplier of equipment to move and treat water and wastewater.

September

JetBlue Airways splits from the Air Transport Association over the trade group's stance on financing the Federal Aviation Administration... Boeing once again pushes off the expected first flight of its 787, now to November at the earliest. Still optimistic... A Brazilian judge denies a request from Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino -- the two American pilots involved in a mid-air collision with a Gol Airlines 737 over Brazil in September 2006 that claimed the lives of 154 people -- to testify in their case in that country from US soil, citing an international legal treaty... The FAA issues a final decision for redesigning the New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia metropolitan area airspace -- a move the agency asserts will reduce delays, fuel consumption, aircraft emissions and noise. Residents living under the new airspace respond with a flurry of lawsuits... Following a tortuous June and July, several US airlines report record passenger loads for August... In the wake of a second landing gear-related incident in three days involving a Bombardier Q400 operated by Scandinavian Airlines, the Canadian planemaker recommends the grounding of approximately 60 planes until safety inspections are carried out... In what may be construed as a delayed capitulation to the inevitable, European planemaker Airbus -- which once accused Boeing of pushing technology too far with its composite-fuselage 787 Dreamliner -- decides to follow suit, and construct the fuselage of its own A350 XWB from similar carbon-fiber sections... An engineer, fired from Boeing over reported personnel issues, slams the planemaker for purported safety issues with the 787... The US House of Representatives passes the "FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007," sending the bill to the Senate -- where it's still stuck... A problem traced to a faulty phone line results in significant air travel delays across the southeastern US, as all airline traffic within 250 miles of Memphis, TN is grounded for hours.

October

In what analysts see as a tremendous blow to aerospace giant EADS, the French government says investigators determined "massive insider trading" was conducted by 21 top managers in both 2005 and 2006... A federal investigator looks into whether or not security screeners at six airports cheated by receiving information prior to covert tests run by undercover agents trying to sneak weapons through checkpoints... Two days after reasserting its 787 would deliver ontime despite recent production-related snags, Boeing admits the program will be delayed six months... Allied Pilots Association president Lloyd Hill rips into American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey in a blistering missive, obtained by the Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram... US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters calls for a meeting with airlines to discuss flight schedules into and out of New York’s JFK airport... European planemaker Airbus formally delivers the first A380 superjumbo to Singapore Airlines... When it comes to the Sisyphean task of testing the effectiveness of current screening methods at airports, the TSA's special operations division continues to come up with new and creative ways to foil screeners' efforts to find hidden explosives and security threats -- which is why, the TSA maintains, screeners continue to fail to detect such threats at astonishing levels... The Associated Press reports on NASA's apparent quelling of the results of a safety survey, which asked airline and GA pilots about issues facing them. After much hemming and hawing, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announces the agency will release the results of the safety study, after all (although it hasn't happened yet)... Following a third incident involving the landing gear on one of its Bombardier Q400s, SAS dumps its entire fleet of the regional turboprops... Beleaguered air freight and ground cargo operation Kitty Hawk Inc. announces it has shut down most of its operations, and will eliminate 500 jobs.

November

The need for a cigarette and a lost boarding pass lead to a shutdown at JFK International, after a passenger is able to bypass security and make it onto a flight to Albany... Immigration agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport have some explaining to do, after they allegedly harassed three Finnish musicians who arrived at MSP in September for a tour in Minnesota... News surfaces that two commercial pilots allegedly fell asleep on a March 2004 flight between Baltimore and Denver, with one pilot waking up to "frantic" calls from air traffic controllers warning them they were approaching the airport at twice the speed allowed, according to statements filed under NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System... Southwest Airlines unveils new plans to lure business travelers to its flights -- at the apparent expense to its diehard, bread-and-butter budget fliers... Runway mishaps, and pilot and controller fatigue, top the NTSB's latest list of the 'Most Wanted' safety fixes... The Airbus juggernaut continues in Dubai, as the planemaker reports 163 firm orders and 132 commitments... The Bush Administration releases a series of proposed steps to combat flight delays... Executives at Delta and United downplay reports of a looming merger between the two airlines. The rumor is later written off as a "trial balloon" of sorts by Pardus Capital Management LP, a hedge fund with stakes in both carriers... In a move met with strong approval on Wall Street, AMR Corp. -- parent of American Airlines -- announces plans to sell off regional carrier American Eagle.

December

An Atlasjet MD83 goes down on landing just outside the city of Isparta, with the loss of all 56 persons onboard... In an effort to cut their costs, several European airlines are opting for longer routes over the Atlantic to cut down on air traffic control fees... A GAO review of FAA data on runway incursions finds for the fiscal year that ended September 30, the number of runway incursions rose 12 percent over previous years -- a sign efforts by the FAA to improve runway safety aren't keeping pace... Forecast International projects 3,800 regional aircraft will be produced from 2007 through 2016, including 2,539 regional jets and 1,261 regional turboprops. The new study estimates the overall value of this production at $99.7 billion, as measured in constant 2007 US dollars... Legislation raising the mandatory retirement age for Part 121 commercial airline pilots to 65, from 60, passes House and Senate muster, and is signed into law by President Bush... The DOT announces a number of measures to curb delays at New York-area airports, including an agreement to cap hourly operations at JFK, plans for hourly limits at Newark and capacity improvements for the region. Missing from the deal is so-called "congestion pricing" -- as the notion of charging airlines for slots during peak times met with considerable resistance from carriers... China rolls out its first 'homegrown' regional airliner, the DC-9-inspired ARJ-21... After two years in operation, business airline MAXJet folds its wings... Though it is widely believed Airbus will take the 2007 sales crown, Boeing makes a game of it by surpassing the 1,200 order mark itself -- handily establishing 2007 as a record year for both planemakers... The year 2007 ends much as it began, with cancelled flights aplenty at airports including Denver and O'Hare, due to winter storms.

FMI: www.aero-news.net