LATAM Airlines has unveiled its new corporate livery. The carrier, which resulted from the merger
of LAN Airlines and TAM Airlines, expects to have more than 50 aircraft in the new scheme
before the end of the year and the entire eet rebranded in 2018. The rst ight of a LATAM-
liveried aircraft, a Boeing 767, departed Rio de Janeiro on May 1 on a one-off journey to Geneva,
Switzerland, to collect the Olympic torch ahead of this summer’s games in Brazil. This computer
generated image shows a Boeing 787 wearing the new livery. LATAM AirlinesAlaska and Virgin America to Merge
Seattle-based Alaska Air Group has agreed
to acquire budget carrier Virgin America in a
deal worth a reported $4bn.
Virgin America will be merged into
Alaska Airlines, creating a carrier with a
eet of around 280 aircraft and 1,200 daily
departures. The airline will have hubs
in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Anchorage and Portland.“With an expanded West Coast presence,
a larger customer base, and an enhanced
platform for growth, Alaska Airlines will
be positioned to provide more choices for
customers, increase competition and deliver
attractive returns to investors.” Alaska Air
Group said in a statement.
The new carrier will be based in Seattle,
under the leadership of Alaska Air GroupCEO Brad Tilden and his management team.
The merger, which has been approved
unanimously by the boards of directors of
both companies, is conditioned on receipt
of regulatory clearance, approval by Virgin
America shareholders and satisfaction of other
customary closing conditions. The companies
expect to complete the transaction with
regulatory approval no later than January 1.Flying Colours has completed the rst of eight
Bombardier CRJ200 conversions for Sparkle
Roll Jet (SRJ).
The work was carried out at Flying Colours’
facility at Peterborough, Ontario, and marks
the rst time that a Chinese-registered CRJ
has been recon gured outside of China, and
then returned on the same registry with the
approvals taking place outside of China.
The jet’s interior has been modi ed from a
regional aircraft layout to a 29-seat, multi-class,shuttle con guration. The aft section features
20 economy seats and a toilet, the middle
four business class seats, and the front cabin
features a double club business-class seat with
facing three-seat divan. Flying Colours has also
refurbished and modi ed the aircraft’s galley.
A Sparkle Roll Jet team was on site at
Peterborough throughout the process and
a further three SRJ aircraft are now being
worked on in Ontario. As with the rst jet,
the next two will be recon gured in a multi-class layout. The remaining ve CRJ200s
will be modi ed in a VIP executive format
re ecting the Flying Colours CRJ ExecLiner
layout featuring 15 seats, an advanced in ight
cabin management system via Rockwell
Collins’ Venue entertainment offering, and a
supplemental fuel auxiliary system.
The rst aircraft, B-3011, routed home via
London Luton Airport on April 2. Once back
in China it was expected to join the SRJ AOC
and become available for charter.LATAM Rebrand
CIVIL NEWS
6 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft June 2016First CRJ200 for Sparkle Roll Jet
The rst completed Bombardier CRJ200 for Sparkle Roll Jet outside Flying Colours’ Peterborough, Ontario, facility. Flying ColoursSling 4 in
Florida
South African company The Airplane
Factory displayed the rst customer
completed example of its four-seat all-
metal Sling-4 at SUN ’n FUN at Lakeland,
Florida, between April 5 and 10. A kit
build, like the two-seat Sling-2, which has
been marketed in Europe, prospective
builders can complete their aircraft in two
weeks at the factory of agents Synergy
Air in Eugene, Oregon. The Sling-4,
which is a robust aircraft with xed tricycle
gear, uses a turbocharged Rotax 914UL
engine which gives it a cruising speed of
120kts and an endurance of around nine
hours. Rod Simpson06-09_civil.JR.mfJR.mfDC.indd 6 06/05/2016 12: