Do You Know Which Airlines Are the Biggest?

If your dream is to fly for one of the biggest airlines in the world, you may be interested to know just what airlines carry the largest number of passengers currently and which have the greatest revenue or sales.

The statistics indicate that when it comes to the most passengers, U.S. airlines own the skies. Below is the Top 10 in numbers of passengers flown in 2007: #1 Delta/Northwest flew the most passengers, and American claims #2 with the second highest number of passengers flown. In terms of revenue, however, the list is a little different. Total revenue for each airline is listed (in billions of U.S. dollars) next to each name: Air France-KLM is #1 and Delta/Northwest is #2.  Airlines such as China Southern, blessed by the fast-growing Chinese domestic market, and Europe's low-cost Ryanair are growing rapidly.

1. Delta/Northwest: $31.7

2. American: $22.9

3. Southwest: $9.9

4. Air France-KLM:  $34.4

5. Lufthansa/Swiss: $30.8

6. United: $20.1

7. U.S. Airways: $11.7

8. China Southern: $7.2

9. Continental: $14.2

10. Ryanair: $3.9

Communications in the Air

Clear and precise communication is important when you're flying, because always, safety is foremost. Therefore, when pilots are talking to air traffic controllers, the need for clarity is vital. Also, when you are another aircraft monitoring radio transmissions of pilots flying around you, any message that isn't understood correctly can have critical consequences. Therefore, civilian and military pilots (as well as U.S. ground military forces) rely on the phonetic alphabet to clarify communications and prevent misunderstandings.

If you plan to fly as a pilot, learn the phoenetic alphabet now.  Here it is:

A: Alpha, B: Bravo, C: Charlie, D: Delta, E: Echo, F: Foxtrot, G: Golf, H: Hotel, I: India, J: Juliet, K: Kilo, L: Lima, M: Mike, N: November, O: Oscar, P: Papa, Q: Quebec, R: Romeo, S: Sierra, T: Tango, U: Uniform, V: Victor, W: Whiskey, X: X-Ray, Y: Yankee, Z: Zulu.

U.S. Jet Company to Build Jets in Russia

We live in a global environment, to be sure. Eclipse Aviation, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is beginning to manufacture aircraft in Russia. Eclipse Aviation manufactures small twin-engine jets. The company is expected to received $205 million in financing from the Russian state bank, Vnesheconombank, according to The New York Times.

Eclipse builds a six-seat twin engine jet that costs $2.15 million. With a range of 1,200 to 1,400 miles, Eclipse believes the aircraft is especially suited for Europe. In the "VLJ" class (very light jets), it is expected to be popular with corporations as part of their fleets and also with air taxi services.

College Credit with Pilot Training at Phoenix East Aviation

Phoenix East Aviation is partnering with three U.S. universities so that you can earn college credits for flight training.  Those schools are Utah Valley State College, Mountain State University, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Extended Campus (Orlando).  You can work toward an aviation-related degree. Credit for flight training can be applied for an Associate in Science and/or Bachelors in Science in Aviation.

Talk to a Phoenix East Admissions Officer about how you can do this. Call 1-800-868-4359 (U.S.) or 1-386-258-0703 (Worldwide). 

FAR Part 141 and Part 61 -- What Is the Difference?

Under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, flight training must adhere to the minimum standards specified in the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). These basic requirements provide flight instruction minimums (the skills and procedures that a flight instructor needs to teach every student over the course of his/her training) to achieve the various pilot certificates.

An FAR Part 141 school follows a syllabus and training curriculum, which must be approved by the FAA. The school is subject to FAA inspection and must meet performance levels in order to prepare students for FAA check rides.  Since Part 141 instruction is more structured, a Part 141 school, such as Phoenix East Aviation, may recommend a student for his or her Private Pilot check ride with just 35 hours of instruction. A Part 141 school is also granted a 60 hour reduction from Part 61 commercial pilot requiremnts, plus other important concessions in requirements. This is an excellent benefit for the career student, who is in training full-time. Part 141 schools can be viewed as confirmation of at least a minimum standard of quality and performance.  In the U.S., all foreign students must train under Part 141. 

Phoenix East is also approved for Part 61 training, which is not required to follow the structure of a syllabus, and therefore requires additional flight hours to gain pilot certification. If a U.S. student prefers Part 61 training, Phoenix East offers Private, Instrument, Instrument Completion, Commercial/Instrument, Commercial/Instrument Completion, Multi-Engine, ME MEI or ATP Basic, ME MEI or ATP Completion, CFI, CFII and MEI courses under Part 61. 

Australia's Qantas Airways just became the third airline in the world to add an Airbus A380 to its fleet. This amazing super-jumbo jet was flown from France, where it was built, to Sydney just recently. It will begin service next week between Australia and Los Angles.

What's an A-380, and why is it a big deal? If you want to someday fly jets, you'll find this very interesting. The A-380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet. It is the largest passenger airplane in the world, carrying 525 people in standard coach, business and first-class configuration -- and up to 853 people in an all-economy class version. It has nearly 50% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400. The A380-800F, which is the cargo model, is one of the largest freight aircraft with a listed payload second only to the Russian Antonov An-225. The A380-800 has a range of 8,200nmi (15,200 kilometres), which means it can fly from Boston on the East Coast of the U.S. all the way Hong Kong without refueling. It will cruise at a speed of Mach .85, which is 900km/hour or 560mph. 

It has indeed earned his nickname, the Superjumbo. Want to fly it someday? Call Phoenix East Aviation now and learn how you can train to be ready to do just that. Call 1-386-258-0703 worldwide or check www.pea.com.

Have You Heard about the Airbus A380 Jumbo Jet?

Australia's Qantas Airways just became the third airline in the world to add an Airbus A380 to its fleet. This amazing super-jumbo jet was flown from France, where it was built, to Sydney just recently. It will begin service next week between Australia and Los Angles.

What's an A-380, and why is it a big deal? If you want to someday fly jets, you'll find this very interesting. The A-380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet. It is the largest passenger airplane in the world, carrying 525 people in standard coach, business and first-class configuration -- and up to 853 people in an all-economy class version. It has nearly 50% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400. The A380-800F, which is the cargo model, is one of the largest freight aircraft with a listed payload second only to the Russian Antonov An-225. The A380-800 has a range of 8,200nmi (15,200 kilometres), which means it can fly from Boston on the East Coast of the U.S. all the way Hong Kong without refueling. It will cruise at a speed of Mach .85, which is 900km/hour or 560mph. 

It has indeed earned his nickname, the Superjumbo. Want to fly it someday? Call Phoenix East Aviation now and learn how you can train to be ready to do just that. Call 1-386-258-0703 worldwide or check www.pea.com.

Maybe the World's Biggest Airline?

Last month Lufthansa bought a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines, planning to take full control in 2011. It is also one of the three bidders for a 43% stake in Austrian Airlines. In addition, Lufthansa and SAS Group could be close to completing negotiations that would see SAS become part of the Lufthansa group of airlines. in 2009, 30% affilate BMI will be majority-owned by Lufthansa. And if that is not aggressive enough, Lufthansa is seen as one of the possible buyers of Alitalia Airlines.

If this all occurs, the Lufthansa group would be by far the world's largest airline. The huge group would then operate about 1,100 aircraft with 41 billion Euros ($58 billion) in annual revenues. Even without Alitalia, the group would have nearly 1,000 aircraft in its fleet.

Lufthansa is certainly making an effort to acquire European airlines and reshape not only the airline's future, but restructure the entire European airline industry as well.

Watch and see. If you want to be a career pilot, learn more about the industry from Phoenix East Aviation and Phoenix East Aviation's blog.  Check out "What's New" on www.pea.com.

Forecast for Business Jets

National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is a big deal in aviation in the U.S. It's a large exposition with a huge crowd, many convention displays and many new corporate jets lined up at the airport. NBAA  just took place last week in Orlando, Florida, and more than 27,000 people from the business aviation industry attended.

In 2008, for the fifth year in a row, new business jet deliveries are expected to set another record with about 1,200 new aircraft delivered. This is an increase of approximately 15% from 2007, according to Honeywell Aerospace.

Honeywell also expects 2009 and 2010 to be strong as well, agreeing with Forecast International, another industry analyst, who predicts another good year in 2009.

Why should you care about this? If you want to start training to be a career pilot, this information should assure you that there will be a good job market when you finish your training. Business jets are mostly used by charter companies and corporate fleets.  If you'd like more information on becoming a professional pilot, check out www.pea.com or talk to an Admissions Officer at Phoenix East Aviation. CAll 1-800-858-4359 from the U.S. or 1-386-258-0703 from anywhere in the world.