Veteran Formula 1 driver and aviation pioneer Niki Lauda is set to return to the airline industry following his acquisition of Amira Air (Vienna) late last year. Lauda told Die Presse newspaper that he had acquired the Austrian VIP/business charter operator from former owner Ronny Pecik but did not disclose either the terms or the value of the deal. Founded in 2004, Amira Air currently opera...
Responding to public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low cost airlines. Unlike a number of low cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have excellent safety records. They are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus Flybe HK Express Jetblue Jets...
Ryanair has become the first scheduled airline in the world to carry more than 100m international passengers in a single year, after reporting that 101.4m chose the airline to travel in 2015. This follows the official release of the carrier’s December 2015 passenger numbers, showing that traffic grew by 25% to 7.5m customers, representing a 12-month rolling annual traffic result of 101.4m...
Aviation expert Samudra Sukardi said that he agrees with the ratings given by AirlineRatings.com that named eight of the country’s airlines as the least safe in the world. "It’s true. The fact is, we have accidents and others,” Samudra to Tempo on Saturday (9/1). Samudra considered that the low rating could not be separated from the government’s role, w...
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai asked Viet Nam's aviation industry to create breakthroughs in building and upgrading airports in a bid to elevate it to a position among ASEAN's top four. Speaking at a ceremony in Ha Noi yesterday to evaluate the sector's development over the last 60 years, the Deputy PM said the industry made crucial contributions to national construction and...
WestJet celebrates the airline’s first flight from Alberta to Hawaii on its own Boeing 767-300 extended-range aircraft. To this point, flights to the Hawaiian Islands had been taking place on leased aircraft. “As we enter our 20th anniversary year, non-stop service from Alberta to Hawaii onboard our own wide-body aircraft is an exciting new chapter in the WestJet success story,&rdqu...
A British Airways flight to London City Airport from Ibiza was evacuated after a female passenger was discovered with a 'fake passport'. Police were called onto the plane at Eivissa airport after crew became suspicious of very nervous-looking woman, reports Periodico de Ibiza. Gabriel Gimenez, who was travelling on the flight to Dublin via London, said the crew removed...
The U.S. government is fining United Continental Holdings Inc. $2.75 million for mistreating passengers with disabilities and for six instances of stranding aircraft on the tarmac. The Department of Transportation began receiving a “significant increase in the number of disability-related complaints” about how United treated customers in wheelchairs or who needed additional assistan...
Ben Baldanza resigned his position as Spirit Airlines CEO and also his board position on January 4. His separation agreement with the airline was revealed Friday evening in an SEC filing by the company. Baldanza will receive $1 million divided into monthly payments over the next two years and he will consult for the airline for one year. His annual salary at Spirit had been $500,000 as...
Gulfstream Aerospace has promoted Nicolas Robinson to the position of regional vice president of new aircraft Sales for Africa. Robinson, previously the company’s director of Product Support Sales for Asia Pacific, reports to Trevor Esling, Gulfstream regional senior vice president, International Sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Robinson is based at the Gulfstream sales and d...
Report by Kaleyesus Bekele, Addis Ababa: The US Air force has shut down its drone base in southern part of Ethiopia, Arbaminch town that it has been using to fight the islamist militant group in Somalia, Al Shabab, for the past four years. In 2009-2010 the US Air Force invested millions of dollars to upgraded the Arbaminch Airport runway and built a small annex to house a fleet of drones call...
The overall air transport surplus parts market, currently estimated at between US $3 billion –US $4 billion a year, is set for annual average growth of around 5%-6%, according to Honeywell Aerospace Trading (HAT). In a White Paper just released, HAT predicts the highest growth will come from the Asia Pacific region, which is starting from a smaller volume base than the more mature North A...
