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

• Sun Country wants to halve salaries of personnel
• Flights have to wait due to sleeping controller
• Runway overrun temporarily closes Dortmund Airport
• AOC of Futura Airways revoked
• Icaro Fokker F-28 fails to take off
• DayJet ceases all operations
• Aeroflot ends codeshare with Aeroflot Nord
• Nationwide declared bankrupt
• Lufthansa plans to take over Brussels Airlines
• Boeing 737 of Aeroflot Nord crashes near Perm
• XL Airways declares bankruptcy
• CIT Aerospace orders ten more A320s
• CRJ1000 NextGen makes maiden flight
• Humanitarian flight missing in DR Congo
• EgyptAir orders two more 777-300ERs
• Pegasus doubles order for 737s
• Remains of crashed 737 found in Ecuador
• Pacific Ocean community loses air link

30/9: Financially troubled US carrier Sun Country has asked its personnel to accept half their salaries for the rest of this year in order to survive the coming winter season. The company says it will pay out the pending salaries by spring 2009. The vast majority of the employees have opposed the plan.

29/9: Two flights were forced to enter a holding pattern over the Greek island of Lesbos because the air traffic controller on duty had overslept. The aircraft eventually landed with a 30-minute delay. The controller stated that his alarm didn't go off.

26/9: An Airbus A321 of Tunisian carrier Nouvelair overran the runway upon landing at Dortmund Airport in Germany, coming to a halt with its nose wheel in the grass at the end of the runway. The airport, which has a single runway, was closed for several hours until the aircraft was towed to the apron. There was no serious damage to the plane.

22/9: The Spanish civil aviation authorities have revoked the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of Futura International Airways following financial trouble at the company. The airline ceased all operations on 7 September and hopes to find a new investor before January 2009, otherwise it may have to declare itself bankrupt. Futura states that its financial probems are mainly caused by the loss of contracts with several major tourism organisations in Europe.

22/9: A Fokker F-28 of Ecuadorian carrier Icaro failed to take off from Quito Airport, ending up in an embankment against a wall of the airport perimeter. Five of the 66 people on board were injured. The airport was closed for an hour after the incident.

19/9: US air taxi company DayJet has ceased virtually all operations following financial trouble. It grounded 27 of its 28 Eclipse EA500 very light jets. The company had alread fired 100 of the 260 employees in May of this year. The company, which offered 'per seat, on demand' services, had ambitious plans to operate a network of so-called DayPorts throughout the USA with up to 1000 aircraft.

16/9: Aeroflot has ended its codesharing agreement with Aeroflot Nord as per immediate effect, following the latter airline's crash on the 14th of this month. It is believed that Aeroflot made the move to minimise any damage to its reputation. Aeroflot Nord will continue operating under its previous name Arkhangelsk Airlines. Despite the decision, Aeroflot retains its 51% share in the regional carrier.

16/9: South African carrier Nationwide Airlines has finally been declared bankrupt. The airline ceased operations at the end of April and was looking for investors to start flying again. The airline was grounded by the civil aviation authorities in the end of 2007 following an incident with one of its Boeing 737-200s at Cape Town and briefly resumed operations just a few weeks before its final grounding.

15/9: German carrier Lufthansa has plans to take over Brussels Airlines. Lufthansa wants to buy a 45% stake in the Belgian carrier and plans to acquire the remaining 55% by 2011, providing that the results of Brussels Airlines remain satisfactory. Brussels Airlines will also join the Star Alliance. The investment still has to be approved by the relevant authorities and the boards of both companies.

14/9: A Boeing 737-500 of Aeroflot Nord, a subsidiary of the Russian flag carrier, crashed while attempting to land at Perm airport. Reportedly the aircraft was trying to execute a missed approach and the pilots did not comply with instructions of air traffic control. All 88 occupants of the plane, including passengers with several nationalities, died in the accident.

12/9: British carrier XL Airways has ceased all operations and declared bankruptcy, citing high fuel prices as the main reason for its demise. The carrier operated mainly charter flights from London Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

03/9: Bombardier's CRJ1000 NextGen has made its maiden flight from Mirabel Airport. The aircraft is the largest version of the Canadair Regional Jet and can seat 100 passengers. First delivery of the CRJ1000 is expected to Air France subsidiary Brit Air in late 2009. Bombardier has received 63 orders, including options, for the aircraft.

02/9: A Beech 1900 operated by US non-profit organisation Air Serv has gone missing in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The aircraft was en-route from Kisangani to Bukavu. It is feared that the aircraft went down during a thunderstorm. It is not known how many people were on board.

UPDATE: The missing Beech 1900 airliner was found by a helicopter patrolling the area. The aircraft crashed against a slope at some 9 miles from its destination. None of the 17 occupants survived the accident. Although the flight was operated in the name of Air Serv, the plane itself belonged to South African company Cem Air.

01/9: EgyptAir has placed an order with Boeing for two 777-300ERs. The Egyptian flag carrier had previously signed an agreement to lease six of these aircraft from GECAS, the first of which is to be delivered in 2010.

01/9: The residents of the island of Kiritimati, which is better known as Christmas Island and forms part of the Kiribati island nation, have lost their only air link with the rest of the world. Fiji carrier Air Pacific operated a flight from Nadi via Kiritimati to Honolulu but has now stopped the services because of large cracks in the airport's single runway. The Air Pacific flight was also the only way to fly between Kiritimati and Kiribati's capital Tarawa, via Nadi. Air Pacific says it will only resume services once the runway has been repaired.

Aviation news from July and August 2008