Good day to you all, from Salwa Garden Village, downtown suburb of Riyadh.

• Remember Russian Bashkirian Airlines plane and a DHL cargo midair collision and the parent who killed the Swiss ATC controller!
• Aircraft orders from the 10th DUBAI Airshow with the Emirates making aviation history
• LAUDA AIR success story
• Always Typhoon news
• Saudi’s buying Russian helo’s! thought they would buy European
• Alenia delivers first C27 J to Bulgaria, always will have a soft spot for them
• A400M delays, no surprise there then

Read all about these articles and more……….in this issue.

PLANE NEWS.com 11/11/2007

Monday
Ryanair Q2 Profit Up 26 Percent
Ryanair on Monday posted a 26 percent rise in second-quarter net profit broadly in line with analysts' expectations and raised full-year guidance as it pointed to brighter prospects for the winter.

Italian Bank Looks At Alitalia Deal
One of Italy's biggest banks, Intesa Sanpaolo, is looking at a plan to combine struggling national airline Alitalia with smaller Air One and take a minority stake.

EADS Counts Cost Of A400M Delay
EADS will take charges of between EUR1.2 billion and EUR1.4 billion euros (USD$1.74 billion - USD$2.02 billion) related to delays that have hit its A400M European military aircraft.

Tuesday
Five US Airways Crew Fall Ill On Flight
Five crew members including two pilots on a US Airways flight from Washington to Boston fell ill on Monday after reporting a smell and were treated by paramedics when they landed, aviation officials said.

US Fare Increase Mostly Sticks
A USD$20 increase in domestic round-trip air fares initiated last week by American Airlines remained largely intact on Monday, according to a fare analyst who said the trend to higher fares may be near an end.

Wednesday
LAN Signs For USD$5 Bln Of Boeing Planes
Chile's LAN Airlines has finalized agreements to take delivery of more than USD$5 billion worth of the planemaker's new wide-body planes.

Rolls-Royce Wins USD$800 Mln ILFC Contract
Rolls-Royce announced an USD$800 million order for engines from International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) on Wednesday to power the newest Airbus plane, the A350 XWB.

Delta To Sign Deal With Engine-Parts Supplier
Delta Air Lines is expected to announce a 10 year USD$1 billion contract with a major supplier of jet-engine parts that will help the airline broaden the types of aircraft engines it can maintain.

Thursday
Cathay To Buy 17 Boeings For USD$5.2 Bln
Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific said on Thursday it would buy 17 Boeing jets for USD$5.2 billion at list prices.

EADS Posts Q3 Loss, Drops Profit Target
EADS on Thursday posted a bigger than expected third-quarter loss, dropped forecasts that it would make a 2007 operating profit and promised to reinforce restructuring plans after problems at planemaker Airbus.

Alitalia Says Consortium 'Incompatible' With Bid
Alitalia said a consortium led by an Italian lawyer had not provided proof that it meets the financial requirements to bid for a stake in the airline, making it "incompatible" with the sale process.

Friday
Boeing On Track For Record Orders
Boeing is on track for its biggest annual plane sales tally this year, beating last year's record and proving that airlines' demand for new aircraft shows little sign of slowing.

AerCap Chief Sees More Boeing 787 Delays
The head of one of the world's biggest plane-leasing companies said on Thursday he expects more delays on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, only a month after the US planemaker put back initial deliveries on its revolutionary aircraft by six months.

Pratt & Whitney Resumes Contract Talks
United Technologies and a union representing about 4,100 workers at its Pratt & Whitney jet engine unit in Connecticut resumed talks on Thursday on a new three year contract.

AVIATION WORLD NEWS
Date: Monday 05 November to Sunday 11 November, 2007

Civil News

At least 8 killed in small plane crash in Brazil
Monday November 5, 2007
 SAO PAULO, Brazil -- An executive jet crashed into a heavily populated neighborhood of Sao Paulo on Sunday, killing at least eight people and leaving a pile of smoky rubble just months after the city suffered the nation's deadliest air disaster. A firefighter walks by the turbine of a small jet that crashed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday.

The plane, a Learjet 35 belonging to a Brazilian air taxi company, slammed into two houses shortly after taking off, said Lucia Ferreira, a spokeswoman for airport authority Infraero. The dead included four men, two women, a child and another person, Sao Paulo's state security department said in a statement.

Authorities did not immediately say how many people were aboard the jet, or how many of the dead were in the plane or on the ground. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the crash. But Ferreira said there were no immediate indications that it was related to the Brazilian air traffic chaos and woes including the July 17 crash of a Tam Linhas Aereas SA jetliner, which slammed into a building in Sao Paulo, killing 199 people.

That crash happened at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, widely criticized for having a short runway that makes landing tricky during rainy conditions.
The jet that crashed Sunday afternoon took off from the Campo de Marte airport, used by executive jets and helicopters.

It was owned by Reali Taxi Aereo and was en route to Rio de Janeiro, Ferreira said. Witnesses told Brazilian media the plane plowed nose first into the blue-collar neighborhood as it apparently tried to return to the airport during cloudy and slightly rainy conditions. One home was destroyed and another was heavily damaged. More than 60 firefighters were still combing through the debris hours later.

Romance of the Skies plane crash haunts pair 50 years later
Monday November 05, 2007
Somewhere below the ocean waves, probably about 2,000 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge and 15,000 feet deep, lies a pile of cold metal that may yield answers to a mystery that has agonized two men for most of their lives.
That pile is the wreckage of the Romance of the Skies, a Pan Am luxury airliner that left San Francisco International Airport 50 years ago this week en route to Hawaii - and vanished.

Investigators eventually found a handful of bodies and a few bits of wreckage floating a hundred miles north of the flight path - but nobody has ever figured out why the plane crashed, exactly where it crashed, or even whether all 44 people who were booked for the flight were actually on board that day.
What the disappearance left behind is a whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie, only real.

It involves two suspected onboard bombers, the possibility that the propeller assembly was so bad it shattered, and a missing flight tape recording - which, if found, could be processed through modern machinery to finally reveal what manner of chaos was going on in those final moments before death.
Did fire bring down the Romance? Mechanical malfunction? Sabotage by bomb or poison gas? All are possibilities. The questions haunt Ken Fortenberry, 56, and Gregg Herken, 60. They are determined to never rest until they get answers. It's personal.

Fortenberry's father, navigator Bill Fortenberry, was on the flight, and his body has never been found. Fortenberry was 6 and living in Santa Clara when the Romance disappeared, and for the next seven years he was convinced his father was stranded on a desert island and would one day come striding through the front door with a smile. His hunt for the truth drove him to become a news reporter and editor - and to file hundreds of requests for records with the federal government over the past four decades.

Herken's connection is less direct, but nonetheless intimate. His favourite elementary school teacher in San Mateo, stewardess Marie McGrath, was also on the flight and never found, and the shock of this news to his 10-year-old heart never left him. The airliner mystery is partly what pushed him to become a historian, and years later when he was hired as a director at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, the first thing he did was dig for clues to the Romance crash - to no avail.

Today, Herken is a history professor at UC Merced and lives in Santa Cruz.
Not a day goes by that he doesn't think about the crash, he said.
Fortenberry says the same thing. The urgency in his voice sounds as if his father mounted the airliner's staircase just yesterday.

"I owe it to my dad, and I tell you this: I am not giving up," Fortenberry said by phone from his home in Denver, N.C., where he publishes the News@Norman newspaper. "If I leave this world without an answer, I'm sure
I'll get it on the other side. "But I want the answers now." The flight on Nov. 8, 1957, was supposed to be a routine run for the four-engine Stratocruiser, then the biggest and most posh airliner in the world.

Booked for the trip were six crew members and 38 passengers, including honeymooning couples, the vice president of Renault Auto and the general manager of Dow Chemical - the kind of people who could afford the then-whopping one-way ticket price of $300. They lifted off at 11:51 a.m.
As far as anybody knows, the trouble began around 5 p.m., right after the crew radioed its last all-is-well message to a Coast Guard cutter. It was just as the passengers were settling in for the caviar and Champagne that would start their seven-course gourmet dinners, catered by Maxim's of Paris. They would have been leaning back in seats so spacious you could stretch out full-length, or perhaps sharing drinks on the cushy couches in the cocktail lounge located in the belly of the plane.

The only way investigators know the trouble began around then is because the wristwatches still attached to a few of the 19 corpses pulled from the ocean a week later were all stopped at the same time: 5:25 p.m.
Among the bodies, and the 72 tiny bits of debris floating with them, was a sprinkling of tantalizing clues. Some metal had burn marks. Several people, including a stewardess still strapped to her seat, wore life vests, indicating that the plane was heading down in distress but not spinning out of control. Some bodies contained abnormal amounts of carbon monoxide, meaning the cabin may have been contaminated.

"These things were interesting, but in the end they didn't solve a thing,"
Herken said in an interview at his home while he pored over the 3-foot-high stack of records he has accumulated. "What we really need is the wreckage itself. We can guess what area of the ocean it's in, but nobody knows exactly where the pieces are." The most promising leads emerged months later. That's when investigators, rummaging through the histories of those on the airliner, came across that old standby of flight disaster movies: potential madmen who changed insurance policies or wills just before boarding the plane.

The strongest suspect was 46-year-old purser Eugene Crosthwaite.
He had a suicidal persecution complex and bickered bitterly with his bosses. Police in his hometown of Felton (Santa Cruz County) were so concerned about his treatment of his stepdaughter that they called him "psycho." And, most telling of all, he showed a relative some blasting powder a few days before the flight - and changed his will to cut his stepdaughter out of direct benefit just one hour before the plane's takeoff.

"The purser angle never made the light of day anywhere in the papers," said Fortenberry. "We only found out about it when we searched through the Pan Am investigation records, but he had everything - motive, opportunity, materials. He was the perfect suspect." Except, that is, for the ex-Navy frogman passenger who was an expert in demolition, desperate to pay off a debt, and who bought two gigantic insurance policies on himself three days before the flight. William Payne, of the tiny town of Scotts Bar (Siskiyou County), was 41, and his last-minute insurance buys paid $125,000 to his wife, Harriet – in addition to a $10,000 double indemnity policy he signed two weeks prior to the flight. The debt Payne owed was $10,000, on a hunting lodge.

Russell Stiles, an investigator for Western Life Insurance of Montana, became so convinced that Payne was never on the flight and blew up the plane with a delayed timer that he urged his company not to pay on the double indemnity policy. He was overruled, but continued to pursue the
case on his own - and then became frightened. "I first talked to Stiles about this in 1976, and we continued to correspond until he died," said Fortenberry. "He went to his grave in 1999 convinced that Payne was still around and would do harm to him and his family if he went public."

Stiles' family refuses now to talk to Fortenberry. Efforts by The Chronicle to reach them, as well as any relatives of Crosthwaite or Payne, were unsuccessful. And finally, there is one more suspect in the case: the propeller.
The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was driven by four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 B6 engines, the biggest airplane piston engines ever produced, and at top speed it went an impressive 350 mph. However, the engines were so powerful they had a nasty habit of shattering the propellers in flight.

In the months before the Romance disappeared, Pan Am ordered that a key oil tube to the prop housings on all its Stratocruisers be more firmly attached to stabilize the propellers. But no records show that had been done on the ill-fated airliner."Even after those fixes, they still had problems," Herken said, shaking a sheaf of aviation records on Pan Am's fleet. "That engine was just too big and too powerful."

In the end, after all the clues were combed, the Civil Aeronautics Board (the now-defunct predecessor to the National Transportation Safety Board), the FBI and Pan Am all decided there wasn't enough solid evidence to fix blame on anyone. The inquiry records got shelved. As for the debris - nobody knows where it is. Not the University of Miami, which got all of Pan Am's records after the Florida company went belly up in 1991. Not the Historical Museum of South Florida, which got all of Pan Am's artifacts, and not the NTSB.

What Fortenberry and Harken want to get their hands on most is the tape of radio transmissions from the Romance that the Civil Aeronautics Board pored over 50 years ago. Pan Am pilots who heard it thought they detected a "mayday" and a reference to a "missing arm," but nothing was intelligible. Today's digital technology could probably clarify the sound.

But nobody knows where the tape went. It may be in the University of Miami archives, but the 1,500 boxes of Pan Am records there have yet to be fully organized, and a preliminary look there by a librarian at The Chronicle's request revealed no tape. "I have a feeling that tape and the debris are in some warehouse in San Francisco that has no key," Fortenberry said. "I have this image of it being like that last scene in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' - rows and rows of boxes, with no way to find anything in them."

Without the tape, the best hope of solving anything is to launch an expedition to find the Romance's wreckage on the ocean floor. Fortenberry asked Robert Ballard, who located the wrecks of the Titanic and the German warship Bismarck, if he could help - and was told it would  cost at least $10,000 a day.

"We obviously don't have that kind of money," Harken said. "But I know if we could just see that wreck, we could see if the problem was the propeller or a bomb. We would have our answers." In the meantime, Fortenberry and Harken are about the only people left who care about the mystery. "The sister of a Navy fellow on the flight (Cmdr. Joseph Jones) still calls me now and then, wanting to know if I have any answers," said Fortenberry. "But most everyone else is either dead or we can't find them."

Another of the few others wanting answers is Bob Nelson Jr. of Sedona, Ariz., who missed dying on the flight by chance. He had his foot on the staircase leading up to the Romance's door that day, ready to board with his sister, Sandy, when a married couple came running onto the tarmac.
"We were booked on standby because this couple didn't think they'd make it to the flight, but then they caught a fast taxi and were able to bump us back off," Nelson, 62, said in a telephone interview. "I was kind of bummed out, because I was 12 and I was going to get to visit the captain in the cockpit.
"Then the next morning, we all read the news. Awful stuff. And you know, many years later I got bumped off a flight again, and people around me were pissed - but not me. I just said, 'Hey, I could tell you a story.'

"It was pure luck of the draw, and I've been curious to know what really happened on that flight ever since." NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said that if anybody produces solid evidence of a crime amounting to murder in the case of the Romance, the agency would reactivate the case and refer it to the FBI for investigation. "You have to remember, though, that a lot of these never get solved," he said. Between 1962, when NTSB began keeping track, and 2006 there were 363 instances of vanished airplanes like the Romance - plus the one flown this autumn in Nevada by adventurer Steve Fossett - "and usually they go down over the water," Knudson said.

For Fortenberry, not knowing what truly happened to his father leaves a part of him that little boy back in 1957, waiting for Daddy to come home.
He'll return Thursday to San Francisco International Airport with his two brothers to mark the 50-year anniversary by standing near the runway where their father last took off - but he's expecting it at best to be "bittersweet."
"I can still remember, clearly, being 6 years old and at the memorial service," Fortenberry said. "I remember wondering why we were doing this - thinking, 'There's no body here. Here we were saying goodbye, and there's nobody to say goodbye to.' " He sighed. "There's still nobody to say goodbye to."

Airbus, Boeing Vie for Air Arabia Order Up to $4 bln
Monday November 5, 2007
DUBAI - Boeing Co or Airbus may win an order this month worth as much as $3.95 billion from United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia, which said on Sunday it plans to buy as many as 50 planes.
The Middle East's largest low-cost carrier had previously said it was looking to purchase 34 either Boeing 737 aircraft or A320s from Airbus, a unit of EADS.
A Boeing 737-800 costs as much as $79 million at list prices, valuing a 50-plane order at $3.95 billion. An order for 50 A320s would be worth about $3.25 billion.

"We are planning to purchase between 34 and 50 aircraft directly from airplane makers...in November," Air Arabia Chief Executive Officer Adel Ali told Reuters by telephone from Kuwait. He did not say why he might order more aircraft than previously stated.

The three-year old carrier, set up by Sharjah, the UAE's third-largest emirate, operates a fleet of nine leased Airbus A320s. Regional airlines, such as Dubai-based Emirates and Qatar Airways, have in the past announced billion dollar plane orders at the Dubai Airshow, which starts on November 11
Air Arabia sold a 55 percent stake in the Middle East's first airline IPO in April. The $700 million it raised in the share sale will go towards helping paying for the aircraft, Air Arabia spokesman Housam Raydan said in June.
The carrier plans to expand its fleet to 52 by 2016, Raydan said.

Pakistan's PIA Cancels Flights As Engineers Stop Work
Monday November 5, 2007
KARACHI - Most of state-run Pakistan International Airlines's fleet was grounded and dozens of flights cancelled on Friday as ground engineers took medical leave en masse to press for higher salaries, airline officials told Reuters.

The work stoppage by PIA engineers, who certify the air worthiness of aircraft after every flight, came just two days after the in-the-red national carrier announced accumulated losses of about $584 million during the first nine months of the year. According to Karachi airport officials, around 45 of PIA'S domestic flights and five international flights scheduled for Friday had been cancelled by 3 p.m (1000 GMT).

Nineteen of 42 aircraft were on the ground at airports in Pakistan, while the balance were abroad or in the air. "Almost all (the) fleet is now on the ground," a PIA official told Reuters. Passengers told Reuters that they had no news of the flight cancellations until they reached the airport.

Witnessess saw angry passengers shouting at PIA staff at the airport, demanding refunds or information about revised flight schedules.
"I've been waiting here, standing since 8 a.m., and they've been telling me nothing except that the flight has been delayed," said Ahsen Saleem, who was supposed to reach Lahore from Karachi by midday Friday.

The protesting engineers said unless PIA management starts salary negotiations, they will not return to work. "This is an issue (that has lasted) over 18 years now and we just cannot work under such conditions," said Syed Mashkoor Hasan, General Secretary of Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan. "PIA is constantly using delay tactics by telling us they have no money," he said.

Finmeccanica's AgustaWestland Wins 140 mln usd Helicopter Order
Tuesday November 06, 2007
MILAN - Finmeccanica SpA said its unit AgustaWestland has signed a contract to supply 13 of its AW139 helicopters to CHC Helicopter Corporation for 140 mln usd. This latest order adds to a previous contract for 20 examples of the same helicopter model, which CHC uses for offshore and rescue transport, it said.

Ryanair Slams easyJet’s GDS Distribution Deal
Wednesday November 7, 2007
Travel agents have been branded the "costliest parasites" in the travel industry by Ryanair in reaction to rival easyJet signing distribution deals with Amadeus and Galileo. The Irish no-frills carrier claimed the deal with the two GDS's, enabling easyJet to attract business travel bookings through agents, ensured that its competitor was a "high fares airline".

Describing agents as "the greatest deadwood (and cost) of the travel industry," Ryanair communications head Peter Sharrard said: "Easyjet has always been a closet high fares airline and we are delighted to see that they are coming out. At least today, Easyjet is a high fares airline and proud.
"Easyjet's costs were already nearly 60% higher than Ryanair's. Then they bought the high fare GB Airways which has an average seat cost of €132 and today they have signed a deal with travel agents, the costliest parasites in the travel industry, both of which will increase the already large gap between Easyjet's high fares and Ryanair's low fares.

"All Easyjet have left is to start levying fuel surcharges and move to Heathrow." Ryanair offers "millions of seats for a tiny fraction of Easyjet's high fares, with no rip-off middlemen guaranteed" via its website, Sharrard added. 

Nationwide Airliner Loses Engine On Takeoff
Wednesday November 07, 2007
A Nationwide airlines Boeing 737-200 has just lost an engine on departure at Capetown international airport. Nationwide Flight BE 723 from Capetown to Johannesburg has just lost an engine on take-off, and has since landed safely. The aircraft's engine literally exploded off the wing and sent debris scattering all over Capetown's runway.
Aircraft Registration : ZS-OMG
Pilot in Command : John Colsheel
Co-pilot : Paul Oosthuizen
Further details are not known at this stage.

BAE Systems To See Quadrupling of BAe 146/Avro RJ Fleet in Gulf
Thursday November 8, 2007
BAE Systems is predicting a fourfold increase in the number of BAe 146/Avro RJs operating in the Gulf region within the next six months.
Andy Whelan, sales executive for BAE Systems Regional Aircraft, says: "Until recently, there were four BAe 146/Avro RJs operating in the region - two RJ85s with the Bahrain defence force, a VIP-configured RJ85 and RJ70 with luxury charter operator Royal Jet and the Amiri Royal Flight of Abu Dhabi, respectively - but new business won by BAE Systems together with other transactions by third parties means that up to 15 aircraft will be operational by [the middle of] next year."

New owners include Palm Aviation of Abu Dhabi, which has acquired the seven BAe 146-300s previously operated by China Northwest Airlines. Delivery of the first aircraft, which is understood to be VIP configured, is earmarked for delivery at the end of next year. BAE has also sold a VVIP Avro RJ100 to an undisclosed customer for delivery in January 2008, while the Dubai Air Wing has acquired three RJ85s, previously operated by Mesaba Airlines in the USA. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of next year and will deployed in a variety of roles including VVIP transport, says Whelan.

Swiss Court Orders Release in Killing
Thursday November 8, 2007
LAUSANNE, Switzerland - Switzerland's highest court on Thursday ordered the release of a Russian imprisoned since 2004 for killing an air traffic controller he blamed for the death of his family in a plane crash.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal rejected an appeal by Zurich prosecutors against the reduction of Vitaly Kaloyev's sentence. The sentence had been reduced to 5 1/4 years from eight years. Kaloyev was ordered released because he has served more than two-thirds of his sentence with good behaviour.
Two of the court's five judges dissented from the majority, saying the change reduced the sentence too much.

Kaloyev was convicted in October 2005 of premeditated homicide in the killing of Danish-born Peter Nielsen, an air traffic controller with Swiss company Skyguide. Nielsen was the only person on duty when a Bashkirian Airlines plane and a DHL cargo jet collided on July 1, 2002, in airspace he was responsible for over southern Germany, killing 71 people, mostly schoolchildren on a holiday trip to Spain.

The sentence against Kaloyev, whose ordeal brought him widespread sympathy in his native Russia, was reduced by a regional court in July. The court agreed that he acted with diminished responsibility because of the deaths of his wife and two children. Zurich prosecutors appealed the decision, but their defeat Thursday means there are no more legal obstacles to Kaloyev's release, which had been scheduled to take place on Aug. 24.

Kaloyev has acknowledged that he must have killed Nielsen in February 2004, but said he could not remember the slaying. Kaloyev will be released in the coming days, prison officials said. It was not immediately possible to reach Nielsen's family in Denmark for its reaction to the court ruling. The family has kept a low profile since the killing.

In September, four Skyguide employees were found guilty of negligent homicide in a separate proceeding examining the events that led to the crash. Three midlevel managers were given one-year suspended prison sentences, while another employee - a project manager - received a suspended fine of $11,200.

SINGLE CHARTER BUSINESS – A LAUDA AIR SUCCESS STORY
Friday November 09, 2007
Single charter business brings in c. EUR 20 million of annual revenue
Lauda Air is highly successful in the single charter business segment: in the current financial year, the company’s single charter business will generate revenue of around EUR 20 million. This extremely pleasing result accounts for some 10 percent of total charter revenue and makes a hugely positive contribution to the overall Group result for the 2007 financial year. Stronger market orientation, which has enabled Lauda Air to meet concrete customer demand quickly and flexibly by employing specially bundled packages, has been an essential part of this rewarding trend. Lauda Air is the Austrian Airlines Group subsidiary with responsibility for the charter flights segment. The entire aircraft capacity of the Group is available to the company to serve the segment as required. Lauda Air plans and realises some 200 single charter projects per annum.

 Thomas Suritsch, Managing Director of Lauda Air, said the following about the success in this business segment: “In single charter business, when aircraft with the required crew are leased exclusively to one client for individual routes or round-trips, the product can be configured to precisely meet the client’s wishes. These needs range from preferred flight times through to special catering. An overall package which includes a great deal more than just routing, overflight rights and the need for harmonised flight times is absolutely decisive to ensure commercial success. This is why I am so pleased to learn that our customers feel we are looking after them so well – not merely upon their arrival on the aircraft but from the moment a booking request is made – and that they are happy to use our services repeatedly as a direct result. The services we provide are particularly prized by football clubs and car manufacturers – we generate around 75% of our single charter revenue in these segments.”

 The portfolio: world tours, New Year’s Eve flights, corporate charters and football clubs Major car manufacturers from Germany, France and Spain regularly use single charter products of Lauda Air for their dealer conferences or car presentations. The single flight customers of Lauda Air also include a number of renowned Austrian banks. Lauda Air’s clientele also consists of several prominent football clubs: As in 2006 to Mexico, the world-famous club FC Barcelona worked together with the competent sales team at Lauda Air on the organisation of its Asian promotional tour which took place in the summer of 2007. Flight operations, organisation of the catering and travel accompaniment during the club’s round-trip to Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong have been placed in the ever-reliable hands of Lauda Air this year. All the needs of the dazzling array of international stars that make up the Barcelona squad, including Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, Italian world champion Gianluca Zambrotta, Xavi, Deco, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry, were attended to on board the aircraft.

German Bundesliga team SV Werder Bremen, where Austrian national team player Martin Harnik also plays, assigned Lauda Air to organise its journeys across Europe during the 2007/2008 Champions League season.
The New Year’s Eve round-trip offered by Lauda Air to usher in the New Year, which has already become something of a tradition in its own right, is another highly attractive product. This year, passengers will once again have the opportunity to see in the New Year at altitude on board two Lauda Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

 Lauda Air also organises fantastic world tours. Most recently, on 2 November 2007, a Boeing B767 with 150 guests on board took off on an exclusive 25-day world tour of the most beautiful beaches and cities in the southern hemisphere. The next take-off will take place on 16 February 2008, meanwhile, marking the beginning of a 15-day tour offering insights into the nature, history and culture of south-east Asia and the Arab Emirates.

United Asks Boeing, Airbus for New Narrow-Body Jet
Friday November 09, 2007
UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the world's second-largest carrier, said it's asking Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS to develop a new narrow-body jet for its domestic fleet. United wants ``the narrow-body equivalent'' of a Boeing 787 or an Airbus A350, so it's speaking with the planemakers about starting such a program, Chief Financial Officer Jake Brace said today at a Goldman, Sachs & Co. conference in New York.

The Chicago-based airline would use the new planes as replacement aircraft, Brace said. Even if such a jet were built, it wouldn't be ready until 2015, he added. The wide-body 787 Dreamliner and A350 will be more than 50 percent built of composites, cutting their weight to help airlines save fuel.
``We've got the fleet we have, and we'll have it for several years to come,'' Brace said. United's oldest aircraft are 18-year-old 737s.

Airbus and Boeing have said they won't come out with a replacement before 2012 or 2013 at the earliest. Airbus's A320 and Boeing's 737 are the most widely sold models in commercial aviation. Airbus has delivered more than 3,000 and Boeing more than 5,500.
The time line for Boeing to replace its best-selling plane with a new version depends on engine development and customers' expectations for productivity improvements over current narrow- body planes, Chief Executive Officer James McNerney said on Sept. 11 at a Morgan Stanley conference in New York. `Still a Study' ``We are talking to our customers on a one-on-one basis to get insights on what the requirements would be, but there are no plans to replace 737 at this point,'' Boeing spokeswoman Sandra Angers said. ``This is still very much a study.''

Boeing's next version of the 737 will borrow engine, carbon fiber-composite fuselage and production technology from the Dreamliner, which is set for first delivery in 2008. Airbus's first A350 will be delivered in 2013. It takes about $1 billion to develop a brand new engine. Engine makers are already developing technology to power the replacements. CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA of France, said last year they are in discussion with each planemaker. CFM sold about 16,400 engines last year to the narrow-body market and is the only provider of engines for the 737.

Rolls-Royce Group Plc and Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., also are studying possible engines for new narrow-body airliners through their International Aero Engines joint venture. IAE had about 600 engine orders last year for the A320 family and competes with CFM for the line of aircraft.

Iberia A.340 Overruns the Runway
Saturday November 10, 2007
Currently, Quito is NOTAM'd closed through at least 0300z due to an airplane incident involving IB6463 UIO-GYE, which apparently aborted a takeoff and overran the runway, taking out the ILS and damaging the airplane. One engine apparently resting on the ground and some cracks seen near the wing (per an eyewitness). Reg. quoted as EC-JOH per ACARS, seen on another site.

There was photo’s on a web site but the site is down due to an overload of people trying to access it. Before the site went down, it's interesting to see that the military and the photographers were on site before the passengers were all off. Also some of the passengers were still evacuating in the dark, even thought the incident seemed to be in daylight!

Emirates makes aviation history
Sunday November 11, 2007 06:05 PM - Dubai Time
Emirates Airline today announced another historic civil aviation aircraft order, when it signed contracts for a 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s, and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs, worth an estimated US$34.9 billion in list prices.
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and Chief Executive, announced the massive order at the 10th Dubai Airshow; and signed the contracts with Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO, and Lee Monson, Vice President Middle East and Africa Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

The agreement with Airbus comprises firm orders for 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s, plus 50 options for the A350-900s. The first A350 will be delivered to Emirates in 2014.
Emirates also firmed up orders on the eight A380s for which it had signed letters of intent earlier this year, and placed firm orders for an additional three of the double-decker aircraft, bringing its total firm order for the A380s to 58.

The contract with Boeing is for 12 firm orders of the 777-300ERs, valued at US$3.2 billion. With this new order, Emirates now has 57 Boeing 777s pending delivery and is set to become the world’s largest 777 operator in the next few years. Sheikh Ahmed also inked agreements today with Sir John Rose, Chief Executive of Rolls Royce for the Trent XWB engines to power Emirates’ new A350s; with Bruce Hughes, President of the Engine Alliance for the GP7200 to power its additional A380s; and with Scott Donnelly, President and CEO of GE Aviation for GE90 engines to power Emirates’ 777-300ERs.
In total, Emirates’ firm aircraft and engine orders announced today are worth US$23.4 billion – a value that increases to US$34.9 billion if the 50 options are included. This is the largest-ever aircraft commitment in civil aviation made by any airline in a single order.

Military News

Latest information just off the news alerts

Italian Air Force F-16A Crash
Monday November 5, 2007
ADF MM????
10°Gruppo [??]
37° Stormo
Trapani-Birgi Air Base Bird strike on landing approach to Trapani-Birgi Air
Base. Crashed within the airfield boundaries. Pilot ejected safely using ACES
II ejection seat Captain Moris Ghiadoni
ejected ACES II

Typhoon Deal Brings Boost For Saudi firms
Monday November 5, 2007
Saudi Arabian companies will have a strong presence at this year’s Dubai air show, reflecting the nation’s high spending power among the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, and its multi-billion dollar air force procurement and modernisation efforts. Supported by Western aerospace manufacturers including BAE Systems, Boeing, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, Riyadh’s fledgling defence industry has over the past two decades developed to a point where it will soon advance from providing maintenance and support services on multiple aircraft types to performing final assembly work on 48 of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s future 72 Eurofighter Typhoons.

Signed with the UK government in late September, Saudi Arabia’s initially
£4.4 billion ($9 billion) deal will start with the delivery of 24 Eurofighters already on order for the Royal Air Force under the programme’s Tranche 2 production deal with Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The aircraft will replace 24 Panavia Tornado air defence fighters, and some Northrop F-5s.
Final details of the government-to-government deal – such as where the Saudi-completed aircraft will be produced – have yet to be confirmed, although progress was expected during the state visit to the UK of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud from 30 October until 1 November. But with the massive deal secured, the four-nation Eurofighter consortium has opted against having a formal presence at the Dubai show, with BAE to instead promote the Typhoon using a full-scale model.

Local Typhoon completions will further extend a process referred to by BAE as “Saudi-isation”. This has already seen the nation’s industry – including Dubai exhibitors Advanced Electronics and Alsalam Aircraft – gain experience in performing the first phase of a wide-ranging Capability Sustainment Programme upgrade to the RSAF’s Tornado interdictor strike aircraft.
Eight of the modified aircraft, which will eventually feature improved cockpit avionics, navigation systems, targeting equipment and new precision-guided weapons, visited the UK from August for exercise “Saudi Green Flag” alongside the RAF’s Tornado GR4-equipped 617 Sqn.

The introduction of similar skills across Saudi industry has also come through Boeing’s 50% holding in Alsalam, which has led to the company securing major contracts to provide technical support and depot maintenance work on the air force’s Tornados, Boeing F-15 fighters and KE-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. The company also holds contracts on the RSAF’s Lockheed Martin C-130 transports, Gulfstream and Bombardier Learjet-series business jets and helicopters including the Agusta-Bell 212/412, Boeing AH-64A Apache and Sikorsky UH-60.

Another major Saudi modernisation effort under way will see its air force’s 70 F-15S fighters undergo a propulsion system upgrade, with their P&W
F100-229 engines – the source of a long-term “sustainment problem” – to be replaced by GE F110-129Cs. GE has a contract worth more than $300 million to produce the first 65 of an expected 155 engines for the F-15S fleet.
Other Saudi exhibitors will include the national and regional arms of UK defence contractor BAE Systems, business aviation company Jet Aviation, fractional operator NetJets, and VIP air transport provider National Air Services.

Many German Military Planes `Unfit For Long Flights'
Monday November 5, 2007
BERLIN--More than half of Germany's Transall military transport planes are unfit for long flights, leaving a shrinking fleet to fly soldiers to Afghanistan, the Handelsblatt daily reports in its Tuesday edition. The Handelsblatt cited aviation industry sources as saying it was becoming increasingly hard to find spare parts for the planes, some of which are more than 40 years old.
It said a number of planes have been grounded and are beyond repair, often because of severe rust problems.

The defence ministry disputed the report, saying 70% of the planes were operational, as required by NATO. It added that "an unknown" number were undergoing repairs. Germany planned to have replaced the last of the Transall planes with Airbus' new A400M model by 2014. That may have to be revised however as the delivery of the first planes, which had been set for 2010, was last month reported to be delayed by up to two years because of technical problems.

Germany has ordered 60 of the aircraft at a cost of EUR8.6 billion ($12.4 billion). Handelsblatt said in the meanwhile, the German army is finding it increasingly difficult to rely on its ageing Transall aircraft to fly soldiers to Afghanistan, where Germany has 3,000 soldiers serving in the NATO-led international force.

Embraer Signs Contracts with the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Navy Thai Customers
Monday November 5, 2007
They will Operate Two ERJ 135 Jets SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil -- Embraer signed contracts with the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Navy for the sale of two ERJ 135 LR (Long-Range) jets. Both agreements include a substantial logistics package, reflecting Embraer's Defence and Government business expansion in the Asia Pacific region.

The new ERJ 135 jets will be used for government transportation by the Royal Thai Army and by the Royal Thai Navy, as well as for Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) missions by the Royal Thai Navy.
"The ERJ 135 aircraft has proven its exceptional quality and performance," stated Luiz Carlos Aguiar, Embraer's Executive Vice President, Defence and Government Market. "The choice made by the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Navy confirms, once again, that this product offers military customers the desired combination of efficiency and low operating costs."

The ERJ 135 is a member of the successful ERJ 145 family, which has accumulated over 1,000 units delivered and 12 million flight hours. In the Defence and Government Market, this platform has efficiently performed government transportation and medical evacuation missions for Brazil and such nations as Belgium, Greece, India, and Nigeria. Due to its high level of commonality with the ERJ 145 jets, the ERJ 135 version makes it possible for a single air unit to handle a broad variety of missions.

Due to its origin and successful history as a commercial airplane, the ERJ
135 jet offers military customers a combination of modern equipment, advanced systems redundancy, and low maintenance cost, as well as a high level of readiness. The success of the ERJ 145 family jets in the regional commercial aviation market is marked by constantly increasing efficiency and reducing costs, which are achieved by less frequent inspections and shorter turn around time. These characteristics make it possible for Embraer's military aircraft, based on the ERJ 145 platform, to fly over 3,000 hours per year.

Saudi Arabia to purchase several Russian helicopters
Tuesday November 07, 2007
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - A deal worth USD 2.2 billion
(WAPA) - Saudi Arabia plans to acquire a bulk consignment of Russian helicopters. On the whole the Armed Forces of the country will be supplied with 150 aircraft including Mil Mi-35M Hind and multi-role Mi-17 Hip-H. The total cost of the deal will approximately amount to USD 2.2 billion.

Besides, Saudi Arabia is going to purchase spare parts and weapons as well as to sign an education services agreement implying staff training.
Currently the Army Air Corps of the Kingdom numbers 67 helicopters, 12 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The Mil Mi-35M combat helicopter, also known as "The flying tank" due to the heavy armour, is the export version of the Mil Mi-24; while the Mi-17 Hip-H is the up-to-date and strengthened version of Mi-8

Israel and Japan join US in grounding F-15s
Israel and Japan have followed the US Air Force in suspending flights of their Boeing F-15 Eagles after the 2 November crash in Missouri caused by suspected structural failure. USAF accident investigators arrived at the crash site on 5 November. The Missouri Air National Guard F-15C crashed while engaged in air combat training with three other Eagles. The pilot ejected safely.

A video report by local television station KY3 shows the crash site.
Wreckage of the aircraft from mid-fuselage aft is visible, including the wing. The forward fuselage is not discernable. The aircraft also appears to be missing its left vertical stabiliser, although it may have detached in the crash. The right vertical stabiliser is still attached, as are the horizontal stabilisers.
A USAF F-15 crashed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2002 when it broke up after the leading edge of its left vertical stabiliser detached in a high-speed dive to Mach 1.97. The pilot was killed.

The USAF has suspended non-combat flights by its F-15s based around the world, and says it informed other Eagle operators of the suspected structural failure. Israel has confirmed to Flight that it has grounded its 70 aircraft, a mix of F-15A/B/C/Ds and F-15Is. Japan has also suspended flights of its 200 F-15J/DJs. F-15s are also operated by Saudi Arabia and South Korea, and Singapore has aircraft on order.

EADS Warns It Will Take a Hit From Delayed Military Plane
Tuesday November 6, 2007
PARIS — The parent of Airbus, European Aeronautic Defence and Space, warned Monday that delays of up to a year for its latest multibillion-dollar military transport aircraft program would reduce third-quarter earnings by as much as $2 billion.

The announcement — the first formal estimate of the financial effect of delays in the A400M program — proved to be a fresh blow to investor confidence in the company, which is still struggling to emerge from the upheaval wrought by last year’s A380 crisis. The stock slid nearly 4 percent in Paris trading, closing at 22.01 euros, down 0.8 euro.

EADS said it expected to record additional expenses related to the delay of its four-engine A400M turboprop craft of 1.2 billion to 1.4 billion euros for the three months that ended Sept. 30. More than 1 billion euros of those cost overruns would be charged to the Airbus division, the company said.
EADS has acknowledged since July that deliveries of the plane are at least six months behind schedule. Yet few analysts had expected the added costs to exceed 1 billion euros.

“Historically, cost overruns always seem to be bigger than you think,” said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace analyst at Evolution Securities in London. “This is a surprise on the downside, but in reality nobody really knew what those costs would be.”

EADS admitted last month that slow progress in developing the A400M’s engines had forced Airbus to postpone deliveries of the plane to European governments by at least six months, “with a risk of a further slippage of up to a half year.” That means that the plane’s first customer, the French military, is unlikely to receive its first A400M before early 2010.

EADS said its pretax profit forecast for 2007 of about 400 million euros would also have to be revised. The company said it would provide a revised estimate on Thursday, when it announces third-quarter results. An EADS spokesman declined to comment on whether the charges for the A400M would push the company into a full-year loss.

Analysts said the news served as yet another reminder to investors that the process of developing new aircraft is often fraught with delays.
The A380 superjumbo entered commercial service last month, two years behind schedule because of problems with the design and installation of electrical cabin wiring. Airbus’s chief rival, Boeing, was recently forced to push back deliveries of its hot-selling 787 Dreamliner by six months because of snags in the assembly process.

The A400M is a four-engine turboprop plane designed to replace the aging C-130 Hercules, made by Lockheed Martin, and the French-German C-160 Transall, which make up the bulk of European military transport aircraft.
Airbus received its first order for the plane in 2003: a huge joint purchase of 180 planes from Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg. The contract was structured so that the seven governments would pay a lump sum of 18 billion euros, meant to cover both the development and the production costs of the planes. The arrangement means that any cost overruns linked to the development of the plane will either have to be offset by more efficient production methods or come out of Airbus profit.

Bulgaria to Receive First C-27J
Thursday November 6, 2007
The Bulgarian air force is poised to take delivery of its first of five Alenia Aeronautica C-27J tactical transports at Sofia international airport's military area, with the aircraft having arrived in the country on 5 November.
Formally accepted in Italy on 12 October, the aircraft has been in use at the manufacturer's Turin-Caselle training centre during the instruction of aircrews and technicians.

Bulgaria will receive one aircraft every year until mid-2011 under its February 2006 order, with the type to replace its Antonov An-26s. Its first aircraft will enter service next February after the completion of training activities, with a second to follow in July. The Bulgarian aircraft will use the same defensive aids suite as the Italian air force's C-27Js. They have ballistic protection, an enhanced navigation, communication and identification suite and equipment to support medical evacuations.

Harlech Beach Gives Up Secrets Of American Plane
Wednesday November 7, 2007
The wartime plane found on a North Wales beach was last night described as one of the most significant recent archeological discoveries. The Lockheed P-38F Lightning surfaced after being covered by sand near Llanbedr for more than 65 years.

But in the last few weeks high tides have washed away layers of sand to reveal its wings. Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar) said the find was one of the most significant WWII–related archaeological discoveries in recent history.
He told the Daily Post Tighar experts carried out an archaeological survey of the P-38 last month assisted by representatives from the Imperial War Museum and archeologists from the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and Gwynedd Council and Snowdonia National Park officers.

He said: “The aircraft is believed to be P-38F USAAF serial number 41-7677, assigned to the 49th Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force.
“On September 27, 1942, fuel exhaustion during a training mission forced 2nd Lt Robert Fred Elliot to land the large twin-engine fighter in shallow water on the beach.“Following the accident, 8th Air Force authorities disarmed, but did not salvage, the aircraft which was soon covered by the shifting sand beneath the surf.”

The 24-year-old from North Carolina was unhurt in the incident which happened while his unit were at Llanbedr undergoing a week’s gunnery practice. After leaving North Wales he headed to Tunisia and just weeks later was reported missing in action. Mr Gillespie added: “At the time of Lt Elliot’s mishap, few civilians in the local area were aware of the accident because the beaches in the United Kingdom were closed to the public during World War II and the press was not allowed to print stories about Allied wrecks. After the war, recreational use of the beaches resumed but the Lightning remained hidden only to re-emerge briefly 65 years later.

“The sands have once again shifted and the fighter has vanished – this time to await its recovery in the spring.” First delivered to the US Army Air Corps in June 1941 the P-38F was the first model to see combat but no original example of the mark survives in any collection.

Gwynedd Council’s maritime department is now planning to protect the site while its restoration is arranged. Council maritime officer Barry Davies said the plane was found by a member of the public out walking on the beach.
Neither Gwynedd council nor Tighar are revealing the precise location in the interest of public safety and to protect the aircraft.

Lockheed Martin Gets Pact Worth $304 Million For 4 Airlifters
Wednesday November 07, 2007
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) received a $304 million undefinitized contract action from the United States government for the purchase of four C-130J Super Hercules airlifters, plus initial spares and training, for Norway, through the foreign military sales program. The UCA initially funds 50% of the program and will allow Lockheed Martin to begin long-lead acquisition of production materials.

The Bethesda, Md., defense and aerospace company expects to sign a fully definitized contract for the Norwegian aircraft early next year.
Lockheed Martin shares rose $2.77, or 2.6%, to $110.85 in after-hours trading.

At Least 2 Reported Dead in U.S. Military Helicopter Crash
Thursday November 08, 2007
A U.S. military helicopter crashed in northern Italy Thursday, and at least two people are dead, the ANSA news agency and Reuters reported.
The Blackhawk chopper had as many as 10 people on board when it crashed in Treviso, along the bank of the Piave river. At least two were killed, police told Reuters. ANSA reported that as many as five were dead.
A spokesman at the U.S. Air Force base in Aviano, near Venice, said the base was looking into the report, but had no confirmation.

Debris causes $1M in damage to Raptor engine
Tuesday November 6, 2007
For the second time in just over two years, an F-22A Raptor suffered extensive engine damage after the jet power plant sucked in debris.
On Nov. 1, maintainers at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., discovered damage to the jet’s F119 engine during a post-flight inspection. Officials concluded the right-side engine had sucked in a foreign object. There was no indication what the object was, or when the engine sucked it in.

The Raptor is assigned to Air Combat Command’s 53rd Wing.
Preliminary estimates of repair costs put the bill at $1 million or more and the mishap continues to be investigated. In October 2005, an F-22A deployed to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va., suffered $6.8 million in damage to an engine after sucking in a 5-inch-long landing gear pin while the jet was on the ground with its two engines running.

A crew chief was holding the pin and its attached fabric streamer when he lost grip of the pin and the flow of air drew the pin into the engine, an investigation concluded. Because there were no technical orders telling airmen how to remove the pin while the F-22A’s engines are running, the inquiry didn’t fault the crew chief.

Turkish military jet crashes; 1 pilot killed, 1 injured
Thursday November 8, 2007
NOTE location - Izmir
An air force jet crashed at an air base in western Turkey during training Thursday, killing one pilot and wounding another, private NTV television reported.

The T-38 A jet crashed within perimeters of an air base in the Aegean city of Izmir, private Dogan news agency reported. It was not clear if the accident happened during take off or landing.
One pilot survived the accident, according to NTV television.

Britain Suspends Mid-air Refuelling of Nimrod Planes
Friday November 9, 2007
LONDON — Britain's defence ministry has suspended all air-to-air refuelling of its Nimrod spy planes after a fuel leak over Afghanistan forced an emergency landing, it said Friday. The crew's log, obtained by the BBC and confirmed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), states: "The bomb bay heating mixing chamber cladding was soaked with fuel.

"Fuel was also observed on the pipework on the roof of the bomb bay area."
An MoD spokeswoman said the aircraft managed to land safely after the incident on Monday and an investigation had been launched.
"The Nimrod fleet has not been grounded," she added.
"As a precautionary measure, air-to-air refuelling has been suspended for all Nimrod aircraft, until the results of a full investigation have been considered."
Concerns have previously been raised about the British Royal Air Force's Nimrod fleet, which first entered service more than 30 years ago.

The entire fleet of reconnaissance aircraft, with its distinctive "double bubble" fuselage and protruding nosecone, was grounded earlier this year after a dent was found in a fuel pipe. One Nimrod crashed in Afghanistan on September 2, 2006, killing all 14 armed service personnel onboard -- the British military's single biggest loss of life in one incident since the Falklands War in 1982.
It exploded shortly after refuelling. A technical fault has been blamed but a military board of inquiry has yet to report.

The father of one of the victims said on October 2 this year that the RAF was warned about the fire risks on Nimrods two years before the crash in Kandahar province. The RAF operates 16 Nimrod MR2 aircraft out of RAF base Kinloss in north-east Scotland.

US offering Croatia free F-16 fighter jets
Saturday November 10, 2007
According to the Croatian newspaper "Nacional", the USA is ready to offer Croatia used F-16s for free. This was the outcome of a recent meeting between the head of the Croatian Air Force and US military officials in the Pentagon. USAF F-16A, covered with spraylat, preserved at Davis-Monthan AB.A Croatian military delegation visited the United States between 10 to 19 September.

Top US military officials seemed to be exceedingly satisfied with all joint Croatian-American military operations in Afghanistan.
Also, Croatia has demonstrated consistency in its relations with the USA over the past two years. It has fulfilled its promises and this bolstered its credibility with American foreign policy officials.

The donation of F-16s to Croatia would have wide-reaching security significance as it would help Croatia to safeguard the stability in the Balkan region from an American stand point. Besides a political interest for the donation, there is also an economical one. Should Croatia decide to purchase new fighter aircraft, Sweden's Gripen looks like a more affordable solution both in terms of base price and longer term offset programs, which the Americans for sure would like to avoid.

The F-16s the US might be offering will be older, but nonetheless excellent aircraft, which are currently in storage and not serving their purpose anyways. Besides investing in a new infrastructure Croatia also have to pay the US for pilot training, spare parts and their likely modernisation.

Then once the F-16 becomes obsolete and Croatia has made a considerable investment in the Lockheed Martin jets, it will make it much more likely for them to consider the F-35 as a follow-on purchase.
Croatia currently has a dozen ageing, Soviet-era MiG-21s bought in the mid 1990s. It is believed only three or four are now airworthy.

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