Softness in the energy sector is not dampening passenger growth at Houston Intercontinental Airport as the facility during 2015 is adding a mix of new services to Central America, Asia and Australia. Houston Intercontinental has enjoyed solid expansion into Asia during the last couple of years, which has helped to bolster its international passenger numbers while domestic passenger growth...
Boeing's first fully equipped KC-46A aerial tanker completed a four-hour inaugural flight on Friday, a milestone for the USD$49 billion aircraft that has run into cost and scheduling issues in recent years. The company tweeted pictures of the tanker as it took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. Boeing test pilots performed operational checks on engines, flight controls and envi...
Brazilian Airline TAM of the LATAM Airlines Group has continued to expand internationally during 2015 even as it has revised its domestic capacity forecast from flat to a reduction of up to 4% for the year amid a continuing weakening economy in Brazil. Some of the international build up is occurring from Brasilia, where TAM has also made a regional domestic push in 20...
Iran has signed contracts worth US$21 billion (13 billion pounds) to buy satellite equipment and aircraft from Russia, Manouchehr Manteghi, the managing director of Iran Aviation Industries Organization, said in an interview with Russian agency Sputnik on Saturday. Manteghi said the contracts had been signed at the MAKS-2015 air show in Russia last month. The contracts involved satellite-rel...
Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) said it is expected to serve 1.76 million people during the upcoming week-long National Day Holiday, or "Golden Week", from Oct. 1-7. The airport projects that it will handle on average 251,000 people per day during the week-long holiday. During the "Golden Week", PEK is expected to serve up to 11,400 takeoffs and land...
Flexjet, the biggest challenger to Warren Buffett’s NetJets luxury aviation unit, plans to expand to Europe next year, possibly through an acquisition. After increasing overseas flights by adding longer-range planes such as the Gulfstream G450, the Richardson, Texas-based company now seeks a European base to provide more global service, Chief Executive Officer Michael...
London City Airport, offered for sale by its U.S. owner, has seen its growth plans fall victim to a political spat over the expansion of the U.K. capital’s Heathrow hub, Chief Executive Officer Declan Collier said. Mayor Boris Johnson’s decision to veto a 250 million-pound ($380 million) proposal for aircraft stands, a taxiway and arrivals terminal, seven years after...
JPMorgan Chase & Co reaped a $150 million dividend from its metals storage business Henry Bath & Son before selling its physical commodities business last October, as the firm reported its first loss in over a decade, a filing on Thursday showed. A review of filings to the UK business registry revealed the payout to the Wall Street bank and the loss were the first since 2002 when Henry...
Harbingers of the demise of embedded seatback inflight entertainment have been prophesying its death for years, but two recent decisions by Lufthansa — for its own fleet and for its new Eurowings subsidiary — have swung the needle firmly back towards “embedded”. For a start, Lufthansa is continuing to install Zodiac’s RAVE seat-centric IFE produ...
Classic air-to-ground (ATG)-supported connectivity is not enough, at least not in the current implementation. That seems to be the conclusion that airlines, passengers (and even Gogo) are drawing these days in the United States. Virgin America is obviously the most recent carrier to indicate as much, both through its signing for 10 planes with Ka-band and hybrid Ka/Ku s...
The European Helicopter Association (EHA) will stage its authoritative Rotorcraft Seminars during Helitech International, which takes place at ExCeL London from 6 - 8 October 2015. The comprehensive programme, which will be staged on 7 October, features a keynote address from Luc Tytgat, Director Strategy & Safety Management, European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This will be followed by a s...
Spirit AeroSystems is preparing for higher production rates on the Boeing 787 by expanding the building where it produces the airplane's forward fuselage. Construction is underway on Spirit's Composite Fuselage Facility to add 100,000 square feet. The building, visible from K-15 and 47th Street South, is where Spirit manufactures the composite forward fuselage section of the 787 twin-ai...
About 2,000 Rockwell Collins employees will be eligible for a voluntary retirement program intended to reduce the company's payroll by about 500 people. The Cedar Rapids company has a global workforce of roughly 20,000. Last week, it announced plans to trim 500 positions through a program that offers incentives for employees to retire. To take advantage of the program, employees must be...
Lawmakers in Chinese capital Beijing approved Friday government plan to issue additional bonds worth 6.7 billion yuan (US$1 billion) to finance the building of the new airport. Around 4 billion yuan of the bonds will be used to support land expropriation and housing demolition in the project, Li Yingjin, head of the municipal finance bureau, said in a report to the municipal people's c...
It seems that not a week goes by without an airline revealing newly refurbished interiors on some subfleet. But while aircraft modifications continue apace, requirements for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities over the near term are actually plateauing or declining. This is largely due to lower demand as the result of a new generation of more reliable aircraft coming on...
Because not every airline can fly everywhere, and not every city can attract a major airline, there remains a gap in commercial airline service. One Part 135 operator, Boutique Air, is gearing up to further expand its eight-passenger Pilatus PC-12 operations under the FAA’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The airline was founded in 2007 by CEO Shawn Simpson, who had come from Google...
Earlier this year, we put the question of “why” to Panasonic Avionics VP Global Communications Services David Bruner, and asked him to forecast what the future holds for IFC data packages and pricing models. Our full interview is below. Note it was originally published to RGN Premium in January so all equipage and airline contract figures have moved to the right (Panasonic an...
Wearables are the big buzz in the aviation industry right now, whether it’s for passengers or for crew. Yet most of the analysis on the way they affect the passenger experience so far has been from tech media, and has tended to lack an understanding of how and why airlines make the decisions they make. So with a new Apple Watch on-wrist, RGN decided to give its implementation of Passbook...
Russia will take tit-for-tat measures if Ukraine bans flights across its territory for Russian airlines, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Friday. "We learned from media today that the government of Arseny Yatsenyuk plans to ban flights of the Aeroflot and Transaero airlines on Ukrainian territory. If the intentions are implemented into real documents of Ukraine’s air aut...
Russian president’s press secretary said he doubted if Ukraine’s prime minister had the authority to halt air service with Russia. Kiev’s decision to stop air service with Russia, if it is really taken, will be another act of utter lunacy, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. "I don’t know whether Russia’s aviation authori...
It was earlier reported that Kiev has banned Russian air carriers Aeroflot and Transaero from flying to Ukraine with the ban taking effect on October 25 Ukrainian sanctions will force Russian air companies to suspend flights to Moldova, President of the Association of Aircraft Operators Vladimir Tasun told TASS on Friday. "When Ukraine imposes sanctions on Russia air carriers,...
