(Friday) Aviation News.

At the moment, I'm considering changing the name to weekend aviation news. Sorry haha.

• United Airlines #1 ontime legacy airline in the United States in 2009. They had an 81% ontime arrival percentage. Not bad. 
• Dead body found at NRT (Tokyo) in belly of DL 59 (JFK-NRT). 
• Hawaiian best on time in US (alltogether, not just among legacy carriers like you know who) for 6th straight year! 92.1% of flights were on time, and the least amount of flights were canceled. However, this could be seen as an unfair contest, as Hawaiian doesn't fly to delay prone Mid-West, or East Coast cities. 
• OpenSkies, the airline a subsidiary airline of BA (British Airways), announced a new route. ORY-IAD (Paris Orly to Washington Dulles). OpenSkies also flies 17 flights a week from ORY-EWR (Paris Orly to Newark International). 
• AS (Alaska Airlines) states that as of June 6th, LAX-CUN and LGB-PDX (Los Angeles to Cancun and Long Beach to Portland) will be terminated. Both CUN and LGB sustain service to SEA (Seattle). 
• Icelandair chooses between A320s and B737s. Classic B vs A warfare. (Boeing vs Airbus)
• CX (Cathay Pacific Airlines) plans HGK-DME (Hong Kong to Moscow Domedodovo) launch at 3 times a week. They already added MXP (Milan) so perhaps a US destination next? The HGK-DME route lies on the new reciprocal visa waiver agreement between Hong Kong and Russia. 
• AC (Air Canada) sues for access to YTZ (Toronto City Airport). Toronto also has YYZ (Toronto International), a hub for AC. PD (Porter Airlines) wants to remain exclusive at YTZ. 

'Graceful Giant' Flies

The Boeing 747-8 flew on February 8, 2010, within 2 months of the 787-8 first test flight. The plane flew at a lower speed around 230 knots and a lower altitude with a max of 17000. Mark Feuerstein, chief pilot on the 747 stressed that the plane handled like a regular 747. Afterall, the 747-8 is just slightly bigger than smaller 747 variants.

The 747-8 comes in two versions. The freighter and the intercontinental (passenger). The freighter costs around 300 million, while the passenger costs a minimum of around 290 million.