Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) is gearing up to trim its number of pilots by embarking on a secondment exercise. Aviation International News (AIN) Online, an aviation industry news portal, reported that the airline was planning to offer 100 to 200 Boeing 737-800 pilots from its narrow-body fleet for secondment next year to interested airlines. If that plan fails to materialise, the...
Air France's main pilot union SNPL is ready to resume talks with the carrier's management over a planned restructuring, a union spokesman said on Thursday. The airline's unions are up in arms over plans to cut 2,900 jobs at the struggling airline, a move that triggered a fracas on Monday with executives hounded from a meeting, their shirts torn from their backs. Air France-KLM Ch...
Boeing Co booked 182 commercial aircraft orders in the third quarter and delivered a record 580 planes, putting it on track to easily hit its delivery target for the year and keep its title as the world's biggest plane maker. However, Boeing's order tally, released Thursday, remained far below arch-rival Airbus Group. Boeing has booked 507 orders this year, compared with 875 for Ai...
Air New Zealand and United Airlines have launched a pre-emptive strike against the Qantas and American Airlines trans-Pacific alliance, with United announcing it will begin flying Boeing 787 Dreamliners from Auckland to San Francisco from July. Qantas has been pressuring its Kiwi rival with the launch of Jetstar regional domestic flights in New Zealand, and by announcing this week new...
The Philippine government is considering bringing in investors to modernize Manila's 33-year-old airport as President Benigno Aquino tries to upgrade the country's infrastructure. Companies will be brought in on 15- to 20-year concessions to invest more than 120 billion pesos (US$2.6 billion) to upgrade Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Transportation Secretary Joseph...
Rwanda is on track to build what's being billed as the world's first airport for drones next year. This week, Rwanda's Civil Aviation Authority said it is drafting regulations on unmanned aerial vehicles to be submitted to the government's cabinet. Officials hope regulations will be in place by 2016, when a pilot project for cargo drones is set to break ground. Transpo...
Passengers of a cancelled Malaysia Airlines flight have spent the last day in limbo at Auckland Airport. Flight MH130 from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to depart on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. An Auckland woman, who was booked on the flight, said departure was initially delayed by half an hour. Then it was an hour, then three. Eventually, staff told the waiting passenge...
A Delta Air Lines flight headed from Seattle to Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon has turned back and landed safely after striking a bird, officials with the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said. The airbus A330 struck a bird shortly after takeoff, affecting one of the engines, airport spokesman Kevin Jeffries said. An alert was issued for Flight 281 about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Th...
Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier is confident the European manufacturer will meet a year-end deadline to bring its A320neo into commercial service. The statement followed last week’s “minor damage” to one of the test aircraft’s engines. MSN6101, the first A320neo prototype equipped with Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G, was affected. The A320neo test plane wa...
The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia and Lockheed Martin signed a contract for three TPS-77 Multi-Role Radars (MRR) for use in air surveillance and to complement radar assets already in place. "Purchase of "TPS-77" MRRs will mean a huge investment in the strengthening of defence capabilities of National Armed Forces and gives us the chance to act accor...
JetSmarter, the world's premier mobile app for chartering private jets, today announces the acquisition of 15,000 hours of flight inventory, valued at $50 million over five years, from Europe'sleading private jet company GlobeAir, to boost its footprint in Western Europe. Following the completion of a $20 million series B funding round earlier t...
China Import and Export Bank has signed an initial deal to provide a lending facility of up to CNY50 billion yuan (USD$7.87 billion) to Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). The move has pushed up the Chinese state policy bank's total outstanding loans to Comac to around CNY4.4 billion yuan. Comac makes both the ARJ21 regional jet and the larger C919 which it hopes could even...
Norwegian Air will continue to cut costs as it builds economies of scale in its long-haul operation, chief executive Bjørn Kjos said. "It's on long-haul we could reduce costs further. We only have eight (Boeing 787) Dreamliners today. We'll have a total of 19 at the end of 2018 and we could easily fly up to 40-50," he said. "When we launch (Boeing 737) MA...
Russia’s S7 Airlines will carry passengers with Transaero tickets, it said in a statement. Transaero had to stop ticket sales from Oct. 1 after a deal with Aeroflot failed Russia’s Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov said Aeroflot is coordinating Transaero flight operations. Aeroflot plans to carry Transaero passengers through Dec. 15, 2015, or provide refund. Sokolov a...
With airline pilots reporting close encounters with unmanned drones more than three times a day, it’s just a matter of time before there is a mid-air collision that could carry deadly consequences. That was the virtual consensus on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as lawmakers, pilots, experts and the Federal Aviation Administration gathered to discuss how to keep millions of privately owned dro...
The second terminal of the Imam Khomeini airport will open in Iran, Abbas Akhoundi, the Iranian Road and Urban Development Minister, said. "Iran's aviation industry has been affected most of all as a result of the international sanctions," the minister said in the parliament Oct. 6, Iranian news website khabaronline reported. "There are 67 airports in Iran," the minis...
Emirates makes its point The world had its first look at the new Emirates advert featuring Friends star Jennifer Aniston this week. The majority of feedback we’ve received has been positive, as the Dubai carrier’s ad notched up nearly a million YouTube views in its first day and is now approaching 1.5 million - reaching people being its primary objection. And, as well as inf...
Equiom has appointed Aidan Davin their new Managing Director. Davin has served as Equiom’s Group Client Services Director for the past two years but steps into his new role on 1st October 2015. Davin said: “I am looking forward to taking up the position of Managing Director at Equiom (Isle of Man) Limited. Paul has done a fabulous job and leaves the business in great shape....
Australian carrier Qantas is looking at ways it can expand its partnership with Emirates, such as on new routes into Australia, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday. “We would like to see Emirates flying into more Australian destinations, which they’re keen on,” Alan Joyce said on the sidelines of the Capa World Aviation Summit in Helsinki. “We think it’...
Air Tahiti has mandated UK based lessor Falko Regional Aircraft to remarket six aircraft as part of its fleet renewal program. Each of the aircraft has been operated since new by the airline and will make way for the ATR72-600 aircraft that the airline has on order. The aircraft, with MSNs 719, 731, 751, 806, 829 and 862, will be available from the fourth quarter of 2015. Air Tahiti has already...
Africa-focused airline fastjet (LON:FJET) has signed a sales and distribution contract with global carrier Emirates. Passengers of the Gulf-based group will be able use its sales channels to book tickets for fastjet’s network using a link between the two airlines’ reservations system. Emirates is the world’s largest airline with 140 destinations worldwide and 20 in Africa,...
