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A selection of this month's aviation news, sorted newest articles first.

• WestJet orders 20 737's
• Northwest cancels hundreds of flights due to pilot shortage
• IATA releases air traffic figures
• 13 killed in two Russian crashes
• Boeing delays first flight of 787
• Crashes at two separate US airshows
• Two news helicopters collide over Phoenix
• Ryanair announces 13 new routes
• Jet Airways orders more 777's and ATR's
• Virgin Blue unveils new long-haul subsidiary
• EasyJet announces 11 new routes
• Brazilian president calls for third Sao Paulo airport
• Virgin America set to start flying on 8 August
• TAM A320 crashes in Sao Paulo; all feared dead
• Republic orders another 13 E-175's
• Airbus delivers last A300
• Air China orders 23 A320's
• BMI orders A321's and A330's
• China Southern orders Airbus and Boeing aircraft
• PLUNA orders CRJ900 NextGen
• Boeing unveils first 787 Dreamliner
• Air Berlin orders 25 Dreamliners
• Qantas adds 20 Dreamliners to order
• Plane accident kills nine people in Mexico

31/7: WestJet has placed an order for 20 Boeing 737-700's. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2012 and 2013. The carrier has the option to convert (part of) the order into the larger 737-800 model.

31/7: Northwest Airlines (NWA) has been forced to cancel hundreds of flights due to a shortage of pilots. The carrier cancelled more than 500 flights from Friday to Monday. According to the Air Line Pilots Association, the shortage of pilots at NWA has to do with the high workload at the airline, leading to many pilots taking extended sick leaves.

30/7: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the traffic results for the first half of 2007, showing a 6.3% growth in year-on-year international passenger demand. Freight demand grew with 2.7%. The largest increase in both passenger and freight demand was in the Middle East, with 17.8% and 11.7%, respectively.

The average passenger load factor was a healthy 75.7%, although there are concerns that this number could drop dramatically as 1800 new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered over the next 18 months. Of those, 35% will be delivered to carriers in the Asia-Pacific region, 26% to European carriers and 25% to airlines in North America.

29/7: Eight people were killed when an Antonov An-12 crashed after take-off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport. The cargo flight was destined for Siberia. A few hours before, a helicopter carrying five crashed into a lake after hitting an electricity pole in the Ural region, and sank.

29/7: Boeing has stated that it will delay the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner from the end of August till the end of September, to allow for the last glitches to be solved. The issues involve integration of the software systems with the hardware, some issues with major suppliers and the fact that the plane is slightly heavier than planned, about 2 percent. The manufacturer still expects to be able to deliver the first aircraft to launch sutomer ANA in May 2008.

28/7: A Pitts acrobatic biplane flown by well-known pilot Jim LeRoy crashed into the runway during an airshow in Dayton, Ohio. The pilot died on the way to hospital. The previous day, at the famous Oshkosh AirVenture Show, two P-51 Mustangs collided just before landing, killing the pilot of one of the planes.

27/7: Two news helicopters covering a high-speed police chase collided with each other over a park in Phoenix. All four occupants of both machines were killed. The choppers belonged to the channels KNXV and KTVK.

26/7: Following easyJet's announcement on 25 July about the opening of 11 new routes, its main competitor Ryanair has stated it will start operating on 13 new routes in the coming winter schedule. The Irish budget airline will fly from East Midlands, Glasgow and Liverpool to Belfast City Airport. East Midlands and Liverpool will be linked with Tenerife, and the latter also with Fuerteventura. Grenoble and Salzburg will receive flights from East Midlands, Glasgow and Liverpool as well. Further new routes are: Bristol-Turin, East Midlands-Poznan, Glasgow-Budapest, Glasgow-Kaunas, Liverpool-Budapest, Liverpool-Bydgoszcz and Liverpool-Lodz.

21/7: Brazilian president Lula da Silva has called for a third airport to be built near Sao Paulo, following the crash of a TAM Airbus A320 on the 17th. He said that the city's Congonhas Airport, which handles domestic traffic, is overcrowded and dangerous, being located in the middle of the city and having a relatively short runway. Once the new airport is completed, Congonhas would only be used by scheduled passenger traffic while all general aviaton, charters and cargo flights would have to operate at the new airport. Sao Paulo's second airport, Guarulhos, is used for international traffic.

While the investigation into the TAM accident focuses on the wet runway conditions at Congonhas, TAM has also stated that the aircraft had a defective thrust reverser on one of the engines. Video footage shows that the aircraft was travelling over the runway at a too high speed. The particular aircraft was built in 1988 and operated with TACA and Pacific Airlines before joining TAM early this year.

19/7: Virgin America has announced that it plans to start scheduled flights on 8 August. The start-up carrier will link San Francisco with Los Angeles and New York JFK from that date onwards, operating 5 and 2 flights daily, respectively. From 29 August, it plans to fly between Los Angeles and JFK; from 26 September between San Francisco and Washington Dulles; from 10 October between San Francisco and Las Vegas; and from 24 October between Los Angeles and Washington Dulles.

17/7: An Airbus 320 of Brazilian carrier TAM crashed after skidding off the runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport. The aircraft failed to stop after landing in heavy rain, making its way over a busy highway and hitting a cargo depot, bursting into flames. A nearby petrol station is said to have exploed too. All 176 people on board are feared to be dead, as well as 15 people on the ground. In 1996, TAM suffered a simiar accident when a Fokker 100 skidded off the runway at this airport. This is the worst air disaster in Brazil's history, overshadowing the mid-air collision between a Gol 737 and a Legacy business jet in September 2006 killing 154 people.

13/7: Republic Airlines has added 13 Embraer E-175's to its outstanding order for the Brazilian regional jets. The carrier placed a new order for eight aircraft and converted an option for five. Republic currently operates 76 E-170's and 11 E-175's and is now planning to receive another 32 aircraft.

12/7: Airbus has delivered the last A300 to its client, FedEx. The A300 was Airbus's first aircraft and entered commercial service with Air France in 1974. A total of 821 A300's and its smaller derivative, the A310, have been delivered.

11/7: Air China has placed an order for 23 Airbus A320's. The order forms part of an agreement between Airbus and the Chinese government signed in October 2006 for the sale of 150 aircraft from the A320-family, 109 of which have now been ordered by various Chinese airlines.

10/7: BMI British Midland has ordered five Airbus A321's and five A330's. The British carrier currently operates three of the wide-body twins.

10/7: China Southern Airlines has placed an order for 20 Airbus A320 and 25 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The Boeing will be operated by the airline's subsidiary Xiamen Airlines, while the Airbus narrowbodies will be incorporated into China Southern's fleet.

9/7: PLUNA from Uruguay has ordered seven Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft and taken an option on another eight. The carrier currently operates an all-Boeing fleet of eight aircraft.

8/7: Boeing has rolled out the first 787 Dreamliner during a ceremony at its Everett plant. The 787-8 was presented to a crowd of 15,000 people, and the event was broadcasted live on tv and internet. 47 customers have placed a total of 677 orders for Boeing's newest aircraft.

7/7: Air Berlin has placed an order for 25 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. The German carrier also took an option on another ten of these aircraft.

5/7: A failed take-off of a North American CT-39A Sabreliner has lead to the death of nine people. The aircraft, operated by Jett Paqueteria, failed to take off from Culiacan airport, ran off the runway and hit some vehicles on an adjacent road. Three crew members, four civilians and two soldiers were killed.

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