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British Airways cabin crew announced plans Friday to strike for seven days this month, potentially disrupting thousands of travelers ahead of the Easter holidays.

The walkouts, scheduled for three days from March 20 and another four days from March 27, are the latest move in a long running and increasingly acrimonious dispute between BA and the union representing its 13,000 cabin crew over a pay freeze and changes to working conditions.

BA CEO Willie Walsh said he would be “available for talks 24 hours a day,” but stressed that he planned to focus on looking after the airline’s customers whose travel plans are again in limbo after a planned Christmas and New Year strike was narrowly averted.

The airline has been training around 1,000 workers who volunteered from other departments at the airline to stand in for cabin crew in the event of a walkout. It said Friday that it was also working to obtain seats on flights operated by rival airlines to pass on to its own customers.

The International Air Transport Association says the airline industry is on the road to recovery. Because of a strong year-end showing, IATA now forecasts smaller losses in 2010 of $2.8 billion, compared to its previous forecast of $5.6 billion.

The Association, which represents 230 airlines around the world, says the industry is beginning to recover from the worst year in modern aviation history. It says passengers are returning and traffic growth is expected to be much stronger in 2010. This will translate into a 5.6 percent rise in air travel volumes and a 12 percent rise in air freight. The report says revenues will rise to $522 billion in 2010. This is $44 billion more than previously forecast. But, it cautions the industry is moving at two different speeds, with some regions doing better than others.

IATA also expects fuel prices to rise to $79 a barrel, accounting for 26 percent of operating costs.

A child apparently directed pilots last month from the air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy Airport, according to audio clips courtesy of LiveATC.net. The child can be heard on the tape making five transmissions to pilots preparing for takeoff. The child appears to be under an adult’s supervision, because a male voice then comes on and says with a laugh, “That’s what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.” The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it was investigating.

YouTube Video Link featuring ATC recording

Republic Airways said it will shut down Lynx Aviation, the regional flying unit it acquired along with Frontier Airlines last year. Lynx has 11 Bombardier Q400 turboprops.

Republic said it will begin phasing them out on April 6, and they’ll all be gone by mid-September. Most flying done by Lynx will be replaced by regional jets operated by Republic crews. However, the company will drop flights to Fargo (FAR) and Tulsa (TUL) on April 5.

Lynx is the regional carrier of Denver-based Frontier Airlines. Republic bought Frontier out of bankruptcy protection last year.

Boeing’s 747-8 freighter should make its first flight Monday after performing well on taxi tests and reaching a top speed of about 103.5 mph, the company said. The company conducted taxi tests on the freighter Saturday at Paine Field in Everett, north of Seattle.

“Based on early indications, the airplane is ready to fly,” said Mo Yahyavi, the 747 program’s vice president and general manager.

At 250 feet long, the plane is the largest Boeing has ever built and about 18 feet longer than the existing 747-400. Boeing also is developing a passenger version of the plane. It lists 76 orders for the freighter and 32 for the 747-8 passenger jet, with the vast majority from international customers.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737-800 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on Monday morning shortly after it took off from Beirut International Airport in stormy weather. News reports said that 83 passengers and 9 crew members were on board.

A woman who answered the phone at the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority said that the plane, which was headed for Addis Ababa, crashed after it took off at about 2:30 a.m. Beirut time. A Lebanese aviation official told The Associated Press that the plane disappeared off the radar 45 minutes after takeoff.

Ethiopian Airlines flight 409 was scheduled to take off at 2:10 a.m., according to the company’s Web site.

Virgin Atlantic (London) confirmed that it will firm up orders for six new A330-300 aircraft with Airbus, and sign a contract to lease four more, but this appears to be at a cost to their carrier’s A340 orders. Initially deferred, it appears that Virgin Atlantic has moved to drop the six A340s entirely. “We don’t have any more A340s on order,” said a spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic. “The A330s are more fuel efficient and are more suitable for us for our route development.” The new A330-300 long-range aircraft from Airbus will be flown by Virgin Atlantic in a three-class configuration.

Struggling Japan Airlines could file for bankruptcy as early as Jan. 19 under a government-backed restructuring plan which includes 13,000 job cuts, reports said Saturday. Saddled with massive losses, Asia’s biggest airline is seeking a state bailout. On Friday, the government approved a court-led bankruptcy option proposed by a state-backed corporate turnaround body, the business newspaper Nikkei said, citing no sources. With government approval, the airline, known as JAL, could file for bankruptcy with the Tokyo District Court as early as Jan. 19, it said.

Mesa Air Group said Tuesday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help eliminate excess aircraft and reach a faster a resolution in its lawsuit against Delta Air Lines. In a release, the Phoenix-based carrier said it faced an “untenable financial situation” due to lease obligations on aircraft in excess to requirements. Mesa is suing Delta for $70 million after the Atlanta carrier canceled a contract. Mesa operates as Delta Connection, US Airways Express and United Express under contractual agreements, and also operates independently as Mesa Airlines and go! Mokulele.

An American Airlines 737-800 (N977AN, msn 29550) crashed and broke into several pieces during landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica shortly after 10:00 pm Tuesday. All passengers and crew were off the plane, a spokesman said.

Flight 331 took off from Miami International Airport Tuesday at 8:52 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Norman Manley International Airport at 10:27 p.m. The airplane overran the 8,900ft runway 12, crossed a highway, and came to rest on a rocky beach. 91 occupants were taken to hospital with injuries.

The airport was experiencing heavy rain at the time of the accident.

British Airways has won an emergency court injunction to stop a 12-day strike by its cabin crew, bringing relief to around one million travelers whose Christmas holiday plans were threatened by the planned walkout. The High Court backed BA’s claim that the ballot of around 13,000 workers by the Unite labor union was illegal because it included members no longer employed by the airline.

At 10:27am Pacific Time this morning, the long-awaited Boeing 787 took flight. With thousands on hand, the aircraft flawlessly departed runway 34L at Boeing’s Paine Field Airport for a 5 hour 34 minute test flight.

Photo: Boeing’s much anticipated 787 Dreamliner takes flight from runway 34L at Paine Field

British Airways passengers face the prospect of holiday season chaos after cabin crew voted to strike for almost two weeks over Christmas and New Year in protest over cost-cutting measures introduced by the airline. More than 12,500 BA employees, balloted by trade union Unite in November, voted by a 92.5 percent majority to walk out from December 22 for 12 days, Unite Deputy General Secretary Len McCluskey announced Monday.

n a statement on its Web site, BA said it was reworking its flight schedules for the strike period and would announce them as quickly as possible. It said it would inform affected customers by e-mail or text message.

United Airlines will take delivery of 50 wide-body jets between 2016 and 2019, increasing fleet efficiency while decreasing overall seat capacity. The airline plans to replace aging Boeing 747 and 767 models with the latest Boeing 787-8s and Airbus A350-900s. The new planes are so much more efficient, said United Airlines CFO Kathryn Mikells in a call with analysts, that the company would save $400 million in fuel costs if they could all be put into service in 2010.

Three people died and four were injured after a cargo plane crashed at Shanghai Pudong airport this morning, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The MD-11F, registered N408SH (msn 48408), crashed at 8:12am local time when it veered off the runway before taking off. The flight was headed to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Photo: MD-11 frame 48408 is pictured just after being acquired by Avient Aviation on October 28, 2009 (Photo Copyright Roberto Collazo)

The first Air France A380 took off from Paris on Friday, bound for New York with 380 passengers who had bid a total $450,000 in a charity auction organized by the airline. Air France is the first European owner of Airbus’s biggest plane, which it will fly with 538 seats and is already flown by Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Australia’s Qantas. Air France will start full service with the plane on Nov. 23, with daily flights between Paris and New York.

Photo: Air France’s first A380 superjumbo is seen during flight testing at Chateauroux, France on November 9. (Photo Copyright Phil Noret)

Six of the eight scheduled airlines in India have posted cumulative losses of Rs. 2,025 crore with Kingfisher Airlines accounting for Rs. 1,602 crore, parliament was told Thursday. Only two — IndiGo and Paramount Airlines — both low-cost carriers, reported profits last fiscal, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the lower house of parliament.

A passenger plane overshot the runway Thursday, landing in hardened lava surrounding an airport in eastern Congo and injuring 20 people, a U.N. radio station reported. The MD-82 (registration 9Q-CAB, msn 49702), operated by CAA (Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation), was flying from Kinshasa to Goma. An official from the U.N. mission in Congo, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he does not have permission to speak with media, said there were 117 passengers aboard. They included the governor of North Kivu province, who was not hurt.

A 2002 volcanic eruption sent lava oozing onto Goma’s runway, truncating it from more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) to less than a mile (1.5 kilometers). Authorities have not removed all of the lava rock.

A computer problem Thursday morning at the Atlanta airport, the busiest in the nation, is causing the cancellation of most departing flights, leading to cascading delays at airports around the Southeast and elsewhere in the country, authorities said. “We are having a problem processing flight plan information,” Kathleen Bergen, an Atlanta-based spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said in a statement. “We are processing flight plans manually, and expect some delays.”

Boeing will open a second assembly line for its long-delayed 787 jetliner in South Carolina, expanding beyond its longtime manufacturing base in Washington state to take advantage of economic incentives and a nonunion work force. The Chicago-based airplane maker said Wednesday it chose the site in North Charleston over Everett, Wash., because it best suited plans to boost production of the highly anticipated jet, designed to carry up to 250 passengers.

South Carolina offered Boeing $170 million in incentives and relief from sales taxes on things like fuel used in test flights.

Boeing also has long complained about the business climate in Washington and frequent strikes by production workers. At Boeing’s plant in North Charleston, workers last month voted against continued representation by the International Association of Machinists.

55 airlines have ordered 840 of the planes since the program was launched in 2003 — far more than any other Boeing plane at the same stage of development.