Air France's strong presence in Africa is an uncomfortable relic of history but the flag-carrier is working hard to give something back to the continent. Martin Rivers reports. As one of the largest and best-known airlines in the world, it was no surprise that Air France pulled out all the stops when unveiling its cabin upgrades last year. The French flag-carrier introduced its new first,...
CAMCOPTER S-100 unmanned air system (UAS) has completed successful shipboard trials when demonstrating its compatibilities to the South African Navy. The S-100 continued its trials last week, at False Bay, Western Cape, South Africa. The S-100 has the ability to extend the eyes and ears of maritime commander beyond the range of on-board sensors. The unmanned helicopt...
British Airways' first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft made a debut flight to Delhi from London on Monday. For the first time, the airline has introduced a first-class cabin configuration in the aircraft and offers a total 216 seats. The aircraft has eight first class, 39 premium economy, 42 business and 127 economy class seats. "This brand new aircraft is a centrepiece to our EUR5...
Luxair has bought a Boeing 737-800 from airberlin and will decide on a 737-700 replacement next year, with the Embraer E190-E2 or Bombardier CSeries CS100/CS300 in the running. At the start of 2015, Luxair operated a scheduled fleet of seven Bombardier Q400s, six Embraer ERJ-145s, two 737-700s and three 737-800s, although the -800s are primarily operated by the group's holiday arm LuxairTou...
Iran plans to discuss cooperation in the aviation industry and the possibility of jointly producing aircraft with Brazil, Tasnim agency quoted Iran's Industry, Mines and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh as saying Oct. 26. He said Iran is interested in cooperation with Brazil in the aviation industry, exchange of information and training. The minister noted that the two countr...
China Airlines has commenced services to Melbourne and Christchurch from its Taipei hub. Flight CI57, pictured above, touched down at Christchurch Airport just before 1900 local time on Monday evening. The Skyteam member is operating a Taipei-Melbourne-Christchurch routing three times a week with Airbus A330 aircraft. The airline will have local pickup rights on the Melbourne-Christchurch se...
Virgin Australia will move into its new terminal at Perth Airport on November 22, the airport and airline have confirmed. The much-delayed shift to the Terminal 1 domestic pier consolidates Virgin’s operations from three separate terminals currently to the one facility. In addition to having access to more departure gates, Virgin is also unveiling new checkin kiosks and bag-drop s...
AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines AZAL and Vnukovo Airport made first step in cooperation. October 25, 2015. When the airline made its first regular flight on the route Moscow-Baku. To honor the beginning of AZAL flights Vnukovo prepared a special festive program. The opening ceremony was attended by Adviser to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia Vugar Rafig oglu Imamaliev,...
A China-made large passenger aircraft expected to give the Boeing 777 a tough competition is set to take off commercially, a media report said on Monday. The passenger aircraft C919 that made its debut at an exhibition in November 2010 will begin to roll off the production line from November 2, the China Daily reported. Its maiden flight is expected to be in the third quarter of the nex...
Germany's Lufthansa aims to make progress on a joint venture deal with Air China, in the making for more than a year, during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China this week. Karl Ulrich Garnadt, head of the German airline's passenger business, will accompany Merkel on the trip, which will include meetings with Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping, a Lufthansa spokesman sa...
The on-time performance of Chinese passenger airlines averaged 73.87 % in September 2015, up 11.33 percentage points year on year and 16.76 percentage points month on month, according to the data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on October 21. Data shows that 34 passenger airlines operated 285,203 flights in September and delivered 73.87% of their flights on time. F...
A brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft Monday landed smoothly at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN) and joined the fleet of Xiamen Airlines (MF), which is the 18th Boeing aircraft introduced by the airline this year. The 737-800 aircraft, Registration B-6819, is the third of the 44 all-economy 184-seat 737-800s. The arrival of the new aircraft brings the airline's all-Boeing...
AVIC Aircraft Co., Ltd. said Monday it lost 122 million yuan in the first three quarters ended September 30, compared with a net profit of 46.53 million yuan in the same period last year. The company said the net profit loss was mainly contributed to the decreasing delivery of aviation products compared with the same period last year. AVIC Aircraft registered a 20.5 percent increas...
Boeing Co (BA.N) has been awarded a contract worth $898 million to build 15 more EA-18G Growler electronic fighter jets and associated airborne electronic attack kits for the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon announced on Monday. The contract runs through January 2018, the Defense Department said in its daily digest of major contract awards.
Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) has won a contract worth $260 million for the purchase of materials need to build the next batch of 28 C-130J Super Hercules transport planes in fiscal 2016, which began Oct. 1, the Pentagon said on Monday. The contract runs through April 30, 2017. Lockheed reached agreement with the U.S. Air Force on a five-year contract to build up to 83 C-130J planes for the A...
Wal-Mart Stores Inc applied Monday to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories, a sign it plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in using drones to fill and deliver online orders. The world's largest retailer by revenue has for several months been conducting indoor tests of small unmanned aircraft systems -- the t...
The aviation industry is stepping up efforts to enlist coordinated international support in the battle against the threats posed to airlines and passengers by hackers and those seeking to exploit IT systems. The security of commercial airlines and whether the systems crucial to fly planes are vulnerable to cyber attacks hit the headlines in April after a security researcher claimed that he...
GAMA wrapped up its latest board of directors meeting on October 24, naming its next slate of officers and paving the way for further expansion of the association with a new associate member category for electric and hybrid propulsion aircraft. The new 2016 board will be led by Duncan Aviation president and CEO Aaron Hilkemann as chairman. Hilkemann, who has been vice chair,...
A new business jet forecast released today by industry analyst Brian Foley predicts the delivery of 8,594 business jets worth $238 billion over the next decade. While the number of units is increasing, Foley expects the mix to contain less costly light and midsize jets and fewer more expensive large-cabin aircraft, meaning that values could decrease or remain flat at best. “Common se...
Governors in Alabama and West Virginia, and political leaders of 20 cities and counties, are the latest to announce or restate their support for business aviation. In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley declared October 2015 as "General Aviation Appreciation Month, noting, "The general aviation industry in Alabama contributes $800 million in first round impacts to the state’s econo...
Asia-Pacific airlines saw an overall passenger growth of 6% in September year-over-year, but lackluster numbers from the regional cargo sector, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). AAPA associate airlines carried 22 million international passengers in September 2015, an RPM growth of 7.4%. AAPA said the figures reflect “broad support on both short- and long-haul r...
