Odds and Ends: CSeries and London City Airport; new life for BAe-146; SPEEA’s next step

It’s Christmas Eve but there is some news despite this being a slow day.

CSeries and London City Airport: The downtown airport is a highly challenging one. Aircraft have a challenging approach. The runway is short. British Airways operates the Airbus A318 to New York with a refueling stop westbound. Bombardier says its CSeries can do the trip non-stop. This article provides some detail.

New Life for BAe-146: This airplane didn’t have much to recommend it. In its original 3×3 configuration, it was a cramped airplane. It had four engines. The original engines were unreliable. But here’s a new life for them.

SPEEA’s next step: The Boeing engineers’ union takes another step to prepare for a strike, beginning Feb. 1.

Ed Colodny on US Airways mergers: He headed Allegheny Airlines and US Air for years, guiding the carrier through four mergers–including Piedmont Airlines, which critics widely considered that he screwed up, and PSA, which US did screw up. The Street gets his thoughts on the potential American Airlines merger.

GEnx PIPs slip a bit: The Performance Improvement Package program for the GEnx engine that powers the Boeing 787 and 747-8 has slipped a bit, according to this article.