The agreement contains 40 firm orders for 76-seat E175 jets, to be flown for United, and a conditional purchase of 60 more pending operating agreements with other major airlines, SkyWest said today in a statement. The deal includes options for 100 E175s, giving it a value of $8.3 billion at list prices.
United Airlines joined American Airlines and Delta Air Lines in crafting labor terms with pilots in recent months to allow for the placement of larger aircraft with Regional Airline partners.

The firm deliveries will begin in next year’s second quarter and run through mid-2015, SkyWest said. The planes will feature two-class cabins.

United Airlines has also signed a deal that will have SkyWest Airlines fly 40 of the new planes under the United Express brand.

The Embraer 175 is the first regional jet in the United Express fleet. The plane is anticipated to provide more comfort to travelers, with wider seats and aisles and bigger overhead bins.
The 76-seat aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2014 and 2015.
The 40 planes are in addition to the 30 Embraer aircraft that United previously said it was buying that will be run by a United Express carrier.
SkyWest Inc. said that it plans to buy 100 Embraer jets, with the remaining 60 aircraft considered conditional until it enters capacity purchase agreements with major airlines to run the planes.

When my mom was hospitalized in New Castle, Pennyslvania, diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clots in her lungs), I felt helpless. I didn’t know how to get her back to the San Francisco Bay Area without jeopardizing her health. The doctor told me it would be fatal to drive, take a train, or fly commercial. That’s when Michael Flint came to the rescue. Don’t worry about a thing, he said. He would lease a plane and fly my family back home at low altitude.

Michael Flint was Warren Buffett’s pilot, and flew Air Force One and medi vac for the Air Force. He got Mom home alive and well, with only one emergency landing. (I sucked down all of her oxygen as I turned green going over the Rockies.) During our cross-country journey in 2011, Flint and I chatted. “Did you know there’s a landing strip just about every 20 minutes of flight?” he asked. I didn’t until he told me. Most go unused, but Flint said that would soon change. He said we would soon see a significant shift from commercial to private, and that he would be one of the main players.

He’s on his way. This week Michael Flint, along with his team, including Chairman Mark Allen, who is also a CTO of Progress Software, are launching Visionary Airlines, and they’re offering their first flights through an Indiegogo campaign. Visionary Airlines’ first product is Flight Training Adventures, a destination-based flight-training program, which allows clients to earn flight hours towards a pilot’s license while they travel either for business or pleasure. They’re planning to expand to flight tourism as well as broader charter services later this year.

Miss California 2012 got a taste of a Visionary Flight Training Adventure on her most recent trip to Silicon Valley when she met with Ooyala and Vidcaster about streaming this month’s pageant. Miss California Organization CEO Bob Arnym is considering Visionary Airlines as the official charter of his scholarship program. Check out their flight and hear from Flint about why private aviation is taking off now more than ever:

People are fed up with commercial aviation, especially the flight delays, long security lines, and the nickel and diming from baggage to food. The premium cost of private travel isn’t deterring executives throughout Silicon Valley as much as it once did. At least that’s what multiple new charter services that have emerged in the Valley are betting on.

XOJet and Black Jet, the latter touted as the Uber of the sky, are taking off. The most notable, though, is SurfAir, the Netflix of aviation, which has a subscription model to charter. When SurfAir announced its business plan one year ago, more than 1,000 people signed up for 150 slots available for the $1,600 per month all-you-can-travel subscription. SurfAir appears a little more cautious today than it was a year ago, having reduced its beta class from 500 slots, and increasing the monthly subscription from the originally proposed $1,000.

Flint is taking the same cautious approach, testing the market before a full-blown launch. That explains the Indiegogo campaign versus spending thousands on an extensive marketing campaign launching the airline. It’s a good move. He will face marketing challenges as a cross between a charter and a flight school. But he is definitely playing to a large audience in Silicon Valley that loves to be in the driver’s seat.

What’s left to be seen, however, is the scalability of these charter services beyond California. The masses can’t afford it, especially in an economy that’s still struggling to recover from the 2008 recession. If these charter services succeed, it’ll happen in Silicon Valley, which is why all the charters are making it home.

Like any good entrepreneur, Flint has grand visions. He is convinced that within five years small private planes will be the new car. Why take a bus when you can drive? And why take commercial when you can learn to fly and work toward your own pilot’s license?

The lead singer with rock band Iron Maiden – and aviation fanatic – was at the Paris Air Show to unveil expansion plans for an aircraft maintenance business he started last year.

The usual chaos and gridlock, that have become an annoying inevitability of travelling to the show, were compounded by a lightning storm.

Mr Dickinson ended up abandoning his taxi on the motorway and walking a mile in the rain. But it has not dented his enthusiasm.

“It’s great to be here,” he says. “I’ve done Farnborough [the UK air show] but never Paris. It’s all very exciting.”

He left the show a few hours later, heading for Berlin where Iron Maiden’s world tour continues. “But I should be back on Thursday,” he says. Despite his love of all things aviation, Dickinson adds: “I’m here to do business, not watch the displays.”

Last year, he set up Cardiff Aviation, a joint venture with business partner Mario Fulgoni, a pilot and airline executive.

They took over a fully-equipped former RAF maintenance facility at St Athan, just outside Cardiff. The site can park 20 narrow-body airlines, and the hangar is big enough to house a Boeing 767-300, just smaller than a jumbo jet. There is also a 6,000ft runway.

With an initial investment of £5m from a mix of government and private sources announced on Monday, the pair want to make it a centre for repairing and maintaining civil aircraft.

There are also plans to open a pilot training facility, and Dickinson is in advanced talks about setting up an airline leasing-cum-charter operation. It will be what is called an AMCI airline – providing aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance.

He says: “Asia and the Middle East is going to be where the huge growth in aviation will be. But the smart way to start an airline is not to spend huge sums of money up front, but to come to companies like us.

“Our ambition [at Cardiff Aviation] is to create a sort of one-stop shop,” he says. “A lot of maintenance facilities are closing, especially in Europe because of high labour costs and inefficiency. We have not inherited that.”

Dickinson said his business is close to securing a deal to become the sole provider of maintenance to an aircraft leasing company, and he was in Paris to discuss possible contracts with airlines.

He says: “It’s early days, but our business plan is perfectly achievable. We are already in profit and have no big debts. I think that’s pretty good.”

Engineering in his blood

The business employs about 80 people, though clearly if the expansion plans come to fruition that number will rise considerably, probably by many hundreds, he hopes.

There are complex certification procedures to pass, both for the maintenance operation and to start an airline. It will take time, he says, but things are progressing well.

Given the Iron Maiden fame, it’s easy to assume that Dickinson’s role in the venture is to open doors with prospective clients. “It helps,” his business partner Fulgoni admits.

But it is clear that Dickinson loves being both an entrepreneur and involved in building something that could mean investment and jobs. Music, he said, is now a “part-time job” that brings in the money. He didn’t sound like he was joking.

Dickinson went to his first air show aged five, and got his fascination with aircraft from his dad, an engineer, and uncle, who worked for the RAF. “Don’t ask me to put up a shelf, but I love engineering.”

And that was his cue to go off on a passionate five-minute rant about the failings of the educational system, and engineering itself.

“Teachers need to be more inspirational. But it’s also up to engineering to make itself more interesting.

The justices said Monday they will hear an appeal from Air Wisconsin that claims it is shielded under federal law from the defamation claims of veteran pilot William Hoeper.

Hoeper’s job was in jeopardy after he failed for a fourth time to win airline approval to fly a new aircraft and had an angry exchange with another employee at a Virginia training facility.

Later that day, Hoeper was a passenger on a United Airlines flight to Denver that was ordered to return to its gate after Air Wisconsin identified Hoeper as a potential threat to the Transportation Security Administration. He was removed from the plane, searched and questioned, but never charged.

He filed a defamation lawsuit against the airline in Colorado, where he lives. A jury found that statements airline officials made about Hoeper were defamatory.

Air Wisconsin said the lawsuit should have been dismissed because of a broad grant of immunity to airlines that report potential security threats under the Aviation Transportation Security Act, passed after the September 11 attacks.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the airline was not shielded from the lawsuit and upheld the verdict.

The Obama administration joined the airline in calling for Supreme Court review and reversal of the Colorado court decision. The administration said that upholding the verdict against Air Wisconsin would discourage other airlines from reporting potential security threats to TSA.

The case is Air Wisconsin v. Hoeper, 12-315.

U.S. airlines are facing what threatens to be their most serious pilot shortage since the 1960s, with higher experience requirements for new hires about to take hold just as the industry braces for a wave of retirements. Jack Nicas has details on Lunch Break. Photo: AP.

Federal mandates taking effect next summer will require all newly hired pilots to have at least 1,500 hours of prior flight experience—six times the current minimum—raising the cost and time to train new fliers in an era when pay cuts and more-demanding schedules already have made the profession less attractive. Meanwhile, thousands of senior pilots at major airlines soon will start hitting the mandatory retirement age of 65.

Another federal safety rule, to take effect in early 2014, also will squeeze the supply, by giving pilots more daily rest time. This change is expected to force passenger airlines to increase their pilot ranks by at least 5%. Adding to the problem is a small but steady stream of U.S. pilots moving to overseas carriers, many of which already face an acute shortage of aviators and pay handsomely to land well-trained U.S. captains.

“This is going to come to a crisis,” said Bob Reding, recently retired executive vice president of operations at AMR Corp.’s AAMRQ -1.91% American Airlines and now a consultant to FlightSafety International Inc., an aviation training provider.

Added Kit Darby, a consultant on pilot-hiring trends: “We are about four years from a solution, but we are only about six months away from a problem.”

Estimates differ on the problem’s magnitude. Airlines for America, a trade group of the largest carriers that collectively employ 50,800 pilots now, cites a study by the University of North Dakota’s aviation department that indicates major airlines will need to hire 60,000 pilots by 2025 to replace departures and cover expansion.

Mr. Darby’s firm calculates that all U.S. airlines, including cargo, charter and regional carriers, together employ nearly 96,000 pilots, and will need to find more than 65,000 over the next eight years.

In the past eight years, not quite 36,000 pilots have passed the Federal Aviation Administration’s highest test, the Air Transport Pilot exam, which all pilots would have to pass under the congressionally imposed rules.

For passengers, the biggest impact is expected to be at smaller, regional carriers. They have traditionally been a training ground feeding pilots to the bigger airlines, which are expected to step up their poaching.

“Absent a game-changing shift in the supply of” pilots, small to midsize communities “are in jeopardy of losing some, if not all, their scheduled flights,” Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, said in a July speech.

More than half of U.S. airline pilots are over 50, said Mr. Darby, the consultant, reflecting a bulge in new hires in the 1980s and scant hiring over the past decade.

In 2007, to bring the U.S. into alignment with some other countries, regulators extended the mandatory retirement age to 65 from 60. By some estimates, 80% of 60-year-old U.S. pilots now are staying on longer. But in December, the first of those who extended their careers will start turning 65.

Capt. John Silverman, a 64-year-old US Airways Group Inc. LCC -0.24% pilot, stuck around when the law changed but must retire in April. “I’m extremely healthy,” he said. “I could do more time. But 65 is plenty.”

The FAA’s head of flight standards, John Allen, said at an industry conference this summer that the projected retirement numbers are “astounding and dramatic” and “we don’t have a system to address this issue.” A spokeswoman for the FAA said its official position is “to obtain data to determine long-term pilot staffing needs and solutions.”

After a decade of consolidation and restructuring, some large carriers are planning to start hiring again. Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL -2.43% estimates it will need 3,500 new pilots over the next decade to maintain its ranks at 12,000, not including any growth. American Airlines recently said it plans to add 2,500 pilots over the next five years.United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL -1.26% has begun taking applications for a few positions in its Continental subsidiary.

Dave Barger, chief executive of JetBlue Airways Corp., JBLU +0.47% said in an October speech that the industry is “facing an exodus of talent in the next few years” and could “wake up one day and find we have no one to operate or maintain those planes.”

There are limits to the ability of airlines, especially the regional carriers, to attract more pilots by raising wages. While the industry’s health has improved in recent years, many carriers still operate on thin profit margins, with the airlines sandwiched between rising costs for fuel and unsteady demand from price-sensitive consumers.

Dan Garton, chief executive of AMR’s regional American Eagle unit, said the issue “is going to become much more visible when regionals have to decrease their flying” for lack of pilots, and some smaller cities lose air service.

Mr. Garton said he has beaten the drum about the problem on Capitol Hill and at the FAA without success. The FAA said it has been encouraging discussions among industry officials to come up with solutions.

Some regulators and industry experts worry about the safety implications of having a smaller pool of applicants at a time when demand for pilots is rising. They fret that some smaller airlines could be forced to lower internal criteria and hire applicants with questionable skills or spotty training records.

“It certainly will result in challenges to maintain quality,” said John Marshall, an independent aviation-safety consultant who spent 26 years in the Air Force before overseeing Delta’s safety. “Regional carriers will be creative and have to take shortcuts” to fill their cockpits, he said.

Ahead of the new 1,500-hour rule, the Regional Airline Association has been testing its first officers regularly in preparation for meeting the standards, said Scott Foose, the trade group’s vice president of operations and safety. “Working collaboratively with the FAA, hundreds of first officers have already received their new certificates and the rest are on track to obtain theirs,” Mr. Foose said.

The military hasn’t been a major source of commercial pilots for years, and the supply of new pilots has been dwindling. Among the reasons is that would-be fliers face expensive training with no guarantee of being hired by an airline once they complete it.

Third Coast Aviation, a flight school in Kalamazoo, Mich., said business is down 30% to 40% over the past five years. At California Flight Academy in El Cajon, Calif., the rolls are full, but almost entirely with foreign students who will soon return to their home countries. “We don’t have locals learning to fly anymore,” said Ash Dakwar, the academy’s operations chief.

While no one tracks overall attendance at the nation’s 3,400 flight schools, FAA data show annual private and commercial pilot certificates—both required to become an airline pilot—are down 41% and 30%, respectively, in the past decade. The National Association of Flight Instructors, in a research paper published this year, said that “there is no feasible way…to continuously supply qualified pilots for the demand of air carriers.”

Congress’s 2010 vote to require 1,500 hours of experience in August 2013 came in the wake of several regional-airline accidents, although none had been due to pilots having fewer than 1,500 hours.

Regional carriers now are racing to make sure their pilots have 1,500 hours by next summer, while also trying to bolster their ranks. But prospects with close to the required number of hours aren’t numerous. “These people just don’t exist,” said Mr. Garton of American Eagle.

The FAA is trying to soften the blow. It has proposed a rule that would lower the requirement to 750 hours for military aviators and 1,000 hours for graduates of four-year aviation universities. But the exemption, if it goes through, may come too late, and it isn’t expected to help most aviators in training anyway, because they come from other types of flight schools.

For them, the challenge of meeting the new requirements is uncharted and costly. “I’m stuck being a flight instructor for another year,” said John Adkins, a 27-year-old pilot at California Flight Academy. He achieved the current minimum for being a co-pilot, but the new rule has delayed his dream to join an airline. “You don’t make a lot of money as an instructor,” he said.

The 1,500-hour mandate “has only discouraged a future generation of prospective pilots to pursue this career,” said Mr. Cohen, from the regional airline group. Those who persevere “will try to get the 1,500 hours the fastest and cheapest way possible,” he said. “Flying around in empty airspace or towing banners doesn’t give you the training you need to fly a complex airplane.”

The mandate applies to regularly scheduled passenger and cargo airlines flying jets and larger turboprops. Cargo airlines could also end up struggling to recruit sufficient pilots. Smaller planes, on-demand charters and business jets aren’t covered by the new requirements.

The last big pilot shortage, in the 1960s, occurred because “everybody who was of a trainable age was in Vietnam,” said Randy Babbitt, a former FAA administrator who was hired as a pilot in that era. Meanwhile, airlines were expanding as jets shortened trips and boosted traffic. Once the military pilots finished their tours, many joined airlines and the shortage problem receded.

LA-to-Texas flight diverted after bomb threat

Southwest rolled out a fare sale this morning (June 11) in which the price of its flights are based on distance.

Bargain hunters can snag round-trip fares as low as $98 on short routes, with longer flights costing incrementally more. Regardless of the length of the flight, however, deal-seekers will have to act fast to lock in those prices. Southwest’s sale runs only through the end of the day Thursday (June 13).

Southwest’s distance-based sale prices — which also are offered on subsidiary AirTran — break down as follows:

• $49 each way (500 miles or less)
• $99 each way (501 to 1,250 miles)
• $129 each way (1,251 to 1,750 miles)
• $149 each way (More than 1,750 miles)

That pricing puts round-trip fares at less than $100 on dozens of Southwest and AirTran city pairs. Among the sub-$100 options: are Akron-Chicago; Atlanta-Orlando; Austin-New Orleans; Baltimore-Boston; Charlotte-Orlando; Chicago-Minneapolis; Denver-Salt Lake City; Houston-Dallas; Las Vegas-San Diego; Los Angeles-San Francisco; St. Louis-Atlanta and Wichita-Dallas.

As for the fine print, the sale covers nonstop flights from Aug. 26 through Dec. 18. The cheapest sale fares will disappear from flights as they begin to sell out. All Friday and Sunday flights are excluded. Systemwide blackout dates are Sept. 2 and Nov. 26-Dec. 3.

Tickets must be purchased Thursday by 11:59 p.m. in the time zone of the originating city.

United Airlines has re-launched international service on the 787 Dreamliner with the inaugural flight from the airline’s hub in Denver to Tokyo-Narita International Airport.

The daily flight marks the Mile High City’s first non-stop connection to Asia, a highly anticipated milestone in Denver’s history.

“We share the excitement with the Denver community and want to recognise the efforts of city and state leaders who worked with us to make service to Asia from Denver a reality,” said Jim Compton, United vice chairman and chief revenue officer.

“The 787 is a revolutionary aircraft, and our customers are going to love the travel experience it provides.”

Together with its joint venture partner ANA, United will offer seamless connections at Narita to or from more than 18 destinations in Asia, including important business and trade destinations like Seoul, South Korea, Bangkok and Singapore.

“This new nonstop flight will be a gateway into Colorado for Japan and other Asian countries,” said Colorado governor John Hickenlooper.

“Already, Colorado is a top-five dream destination for people in the United States and we’d like to make it a top-five dream destination for Japan and throughout Asia.

“Japan is Colorado’s fourth-largest source of foreign investment, and we want to help companies expand by taking advantage of Colorado’s competitive business environment and highly educated workforce.”

Configured with 36 seats in United BusinessFirst, 70 seats in United Economy Plus and 113 seats in United Economy, the Dreamliner is revolutionising the flying experience for United customers and crews while delivering unprecedented operating efficiency, comfort and lower emissions.

Customers will experience greater comfort with improved lighting, bigger windows, larger overhead bins, lower cabin altitude and enhanced ventilation systems, among other passenger-friendly features.

United is the 787 North American launch customer and now has six Dreamliners in its fleet.

The airline has 55 Dreamliners on order and expects to take delivery of two more from Boeing in the second half of 2013.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has projected a demand for more than 35,000 new airplanes over the next 20 years, valued at $4.8 trillion.

The company released its annual Current Market Outlook today in Paris, forecasting the world fleet to double over the next two decades.

Both passenger traffic and cargo traffic are expected to grow five per cent annually.

“This forecast gives us confidence as we increase our production rates and invest in new products like the 777X and 787-10X,” said Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

“Airlines are demanding more efficiency and that is exactly what we’ll be giving them.”

The single-aisle market, served by Boeing’s Next-Generation 737 and the future 737 MAX, is the main driver of the forecast and continues to show strength. 24,670 new airplanes will be needed in this segment due to the growth of low-cost carriers and airlines from emerging markets.

Widebodies, such as Boeing’s 747-8, 777 and 787 Dreamliner, also make up a large part of the forecast. 8,590 new airplanes will be needed in this segment, fuelled in part by airlines replacing their older fleet with new, more fuel-efficient airplanes.

The market for new airplanes will continue to become more geographically balanced over the next two decades. Asia-Pacific, including China, will lead the way in total airplane deliveries.

After facing high and volatile fuel prices and a highly competitive environment, airlines have been forced to change the way they manage their business.

“Our customers are focused on growing their networks, managing their capacity and investing in new fleets,” said Tinseth.

“These trends will shape market demand for airplanes that have highly efficiency, low operating costs, environmentally progressive technologies and a great passenger experience.

“We believe Boeing’s current and future products are perfectly aligned to meet those needs.”

Cavity Search: Barely Air #3