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April 16, 2009

Sun Country Posts Record First Quarter Profit Of $8.1 Million

Company To Complete Deferred Wage Repayment... Including Interest

Maybe they should call it "Lazarus" Airlines... though, admittedly, the marketing angle would likely be problematic. All-but-written off for dead less than a year ago, Sun Country Airlines announced Thursday a record first quarter net income of $8.1 million. This compares to a net loss of $8.3 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Would New Service Impact Airline Traffic?

This next item isn't an aviation story, per se... but it could pose significant ramifications for the nation's airline industry, and even to a much lesser-extent general aviation.

Drop In Revenue Miles Outpaced Capacity Cuts Slightly

US airlines carried 51.5 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in January 2009, 10.9 percent less than they did in January 2008, the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Thursday. Based on to preliminary data, BTS reported the decline was the 11th consecutive monthly decrease in system passengers from the same month of the previous year.

Streak Of Profitable Quarters Ends At 71; Workforce Reductions Coming

As if we all needed another sign how awful the economy has been of late. On Thursday, Southwest Airlines reported a first quarter 2009 net loss of $91 million... its third straight quarterly loss, and the first time in nearly 18 years the carrier wasn't able to juggle the numbers to show at least a small profit.

Synthetic Vision Standard On Three-Screen System

Garmin has just notified ANN that Piper Aircraft, Inc. has certified the G1000 avionics suite for the PA-46-500TP Meridian six-seat single-engine turboprop aircraft. Initial deliveries of Meridians equipped with the G1000 are expected to begin immediately.

Lower Sales, Higher Losses... But Net Income Rises On Repurchased Debt Securities

And the hits just keep on coming. Hawker Beechcraft reported Thursday lower net sales and an increased operating loss for the three months ending March 29, 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, as a result of fewer commercial aircraft deliveries and charges associated with work force reductions and used aircraft valuations.

Aero-News Featured Aero-Casts For Thursday 04.16.09

Some Air Taxi Optimism, With ATXA President Joe Leader

ANN Daily Touch N Go: 04.16.09 (ANN's Short-Form Daily News Program) ANN Daily Aero-Briefing: 04.16.09 (ANN's Long-Form Daily News Program) ANN Special Feature -- Some Air Taxi Optimism: 04.16.09 (ANN Special Report, with Air Taxi Association President Joe Leader.)

ANN Daily Aero-Briefing: 04.16.09

Oshkosh will host an A380.
Avidyne introduces its new autopilot for Cirrus aircraft.
And Hawker Beechcraft confirms more layoffs are coming.

ANN Daily Touch-And-Go: 04.16.09

Oshkosh will host an A380.
Avidyne introduces its new autopilot for Cirrus aircraft.
And Hawker Beechcraft confirms more layoffs are coming.

More AERO-Casts

ANN Special Feature: Joe Leader, Air Taxi Association - 04.16.09

With all the bad economic news the past few months, and Wednesday's IRS tax payment deadline in the US just past, it seemed like a good time to listen to some optimisim about 2009 from Air Taxi Ass

More AERO-Casts

Avidyne To Provide Release 9 For Entegra-Equipped PA-46s

High-Resolution Displays, FMS Included In Upgrade

Avionics manufacturer Avidyne continues the expansion of its product line, with the announcement its new Entegra Release 9 Integrated Flight Deck (IFD) system will be available as a retrofit upgrade for existing Entegra-equipped Piper PA-46 Meridian, Mirage, and Matrix aircraft.

Notes Special Procedures To Recover From Tail-Plane Stalls

Usually, flying an airplane is a pretty straightforward operation... but King Schools notes flying in icing conditions seems to hold surprising pitfalls for pilots.

Mars Spacecraft Teams On Alert For Dust-Storm Season

But Weather Forecasts Give Scientists A Needed Heads-Up

Heading into a period of the Martian year prone to major dust storms, the team operating NASA's twin Mars rovers is taking advantage of eye-in-the-sky weather reports.

Long-Range Surveillance Systems Help Improve ATC Coverage

Lockheed Martin has received a $1.6 million contract from the Brazilian Air Force to support six of its TPS-77 -- known in Brazil as the TPS-B34 -- long range air surveillance radars currently monitoring airspace in the Amazon region.

Being A Woman In Aviation Proves That The Sky Is NO Limit!

I'll admit that this is a feature story that I've been looking forward to... years ago, I was privileged to give Amy Laboda her first assignments as an aviation writer and have been pleased to see what she has made of the opportunities.

More Videos

Aero-TV: Having It All -- WAI's Amy Laboda (Part 2)

Being A Woman In Aviation Proves That The Sky Is NO Limit!

Kari Sorensen Provided Vital Aircraft Information

The Connecticut flight instructor who helped controllers in Florida successfully talk down an inexperienced single-engine-rated pilot in a Beech King Air 200 on Sunday was downsized out of his last job as a corporate pilot.

Describes Efforts As "Heroic"

US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood praised the actions of air traffic controllers at Southwest Florida International Airport in Ft. Myers and Miami Center who helped a distressed passenger safely land a twin-engine plane after the pilot died at the controls shortly after takeoff.

Gone West: 'The Blue Max' Author Jack D. Hunter

Published Last Novel In October

ANN has learned that author Jack D. Hunter has passed away at age 87.

Base Price: Less Than $84K!

Kitfox Aircraft LLC provided ANN with a first glimpse of its new Kitfox Super Sport S-LSA, which will be formally unveiled at the Lakeland 2009 Fly-In next week.

Joins Southwest In 'Pay For Two Seats' Policy

If you're among the heavier-set members of the world population, you may soon have to shell out additional cabbage to fly onboard a United Airlines plane.

Will Serve As 'Lifeboat' If Needed On Hubble Mission

NASA is preparing to move space shuttle Endeavour from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B.

First In Industry To Receive Type II Letter Of Acceptance

Jeppesen is the first company in the industry to have been awarded a Type II Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the FAA for its Airport Moving Map data.

STEREO Probes Continue To Dazzle

Twin NASA spacecraft have provided scientists with their first view of the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of powerful explosions from the sun known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. This new capability will dramatically enhance scientists' ability to predict if and how these solar tsunamis could affect Earth.

First Aviation Services Welcomes Air Routing Card Customers

Teterboro-Based FBO Offers Strategic Location For Domestic, International Clientele

First Aviation Services (FAS), located at Teterboro Airport (TEB), tells ANN it has recently been added to the roster of FBOs providing aviation services, via the Air Routing Card to Air Routing International's (ARI) domestic and international customers.

Aero-Linx!

Boarding Area was developed by the same people who founded some of the most popular business travel and frequent flyer Web sites on the Internet, including FlyerTalk, WebFlyer, FlyerGuide, MileageManager and InsideFlyer.

Aero-Terms!

A component of aerodynamic drag caused by a partial vacuum in the rocket's tail area. The vacuum is the hole created by the rocket's passage through the air.

"I have an emergency, and I need you."

Source: Ft. Myers, FL TRACON controller Dan Favio, to his friend -- and former corporate pilot -- Kari Sorensen. Favio called Sorensen, an experienced Beech King Air 200 pilot, when a passenger onboard a B200 needed assistance Sunday to land the aircraft, after the plane's pilot died of a heart attack inflight.