NH Industries (NHI) must continue its effort to rein in the scope of its NH90 helicopter programme “towards a more manageable number of versions” for the rotorcraft to be “truly a success”. That was the blunt message delivered by Rear Adm Terry Dalton, head of helicopters with the Australian Defence Organisation. Although several NH90 customers bear the scars from a p...
AgustaWestland will fly the third prototype of its AW609 tiltrotor late this year as the manufacturer accelerates testing activity ahead of planned certification in 2017. Two flight-test articles dating from the early days of the programme, then a joint development with Bell, have been used for the validation campaign so far and have amassed 1,300h, alongside 300h of ground runs. But with th...
Bell Helicopter has continued its sales push for the developmental 505 Jet Ranger X, displaying a mock-up of the light single-engined rotorcraft at the MSPO defence show held in Kielce, Poland between 1-4 September. Bell says it exhibited the four-seat, civil rotorcraft at a military exhibition "to promote its capabilities as a training platform" for the region's air forces....
Investors were rushing to pick up shares of Bombardier Inc. last week, as rumours swirled about a takeover offer for its transportation division and another report marked steady progress on its CSeries aircraft. Bombardier has now made several announcements regarding its long-range business jet program. Bombardier Business Aircraft has mounted the engines on its first flight test vehicle for th...
Pastor Temitope Joshua, the leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), has joined Nigeria’s big league of miracle and prosperity priests who own private jets, reporters has learned authoritatively. Widely-known as TB Joshua, the church leader took possession of the nearly brand-new Gulfstream G550 aircraft in April 2015, a few months after a building collapse at the premises o...
Clay Lacy Aviation has received FAA STC approval for a FANS-1/A+ solution that enables Bombardier Challenger 601-3A/R owners to meet worldwide mandates for preferential routing in the North Atlantic Track region and other oceanic airspace. FANS-1/A+ improves communication between pilots and air traffic controllers by automatically transmitting position reports in text rather...
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh on Tuesday warned that short-term moves to revise downward the Air Force's planned purchase of 1,763 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters could damage the program and scare off foreign buyers. "Let’s delay this discussion for a little while until we see what happens in the world," Welsh told reporters at the annual Air F...
Airbus Defence and Space today welcomed the decision of the UK Ministry of Defence to declare that the key contractual milestone known as In-Service Delivery (ISD) has been met following the handing-over of its seventh Airbus A400M new-generation airlifter. The transfer of the aircraft, known as Atlas in UK service, means that the Royal Air Force now has four A400Ms in day-to-day...
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the Department of Transportation would provide $5.5 million to help 11 small communities in 11 states develop solutions to improve their local air service needs under the Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP). “Local air service is vital for connecting our smaller communities to the national aviation system...
Boeing Co's first fully equipped KC-46A refueling plane is scheduled to complete its first flight on Sept. 25, the Air Force general in charge of tanker programs said Tuesday. Brigadier General Duke Richardson, executive officer for Air Force tanker programs, said the tanker program was doing well overall, despite earlier schedule delays. "We are definitely struggling with sche...
Trade union members will implement an extensive work stoppage on Friday, 18 September. The strike will also affect flights. Air traffic stoppages on 18 September Cabin crew members of the Finnish Cabin Crew Union have announced that they will be on strike for two hours from 11am to 1pm. This mainly applies to Finnair flights. Air traffic controllers (Finnish Air Traffic Controllers' A...
Juneyao Airlines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the V2500 engine to power its order of 12 Airbus A321ceo aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in November 2015. The deal also includes a 15-year V-ServicesSM Fleet Hour Agreement (FHA). The V2500 engine is offered through International Aero Engines AG, a multinational aero engine consortium whose shareholders comprise P...
Canada's low-fare leader offers non-stop service to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and St. John's along with £10 fares on connecting flights to select cities WestJet, Canada's low-fare leader, today announced new non-stop service from England to six Canadian cities. From spring next year,&nb...
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced industry performance statistics for 2014 showing the growing demand for air transport. Asia Asia-Pacific has clearly established itself as the industry’s largest market. In 2014 that was demonstrated by several measures: International traffic to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region represented 42% of total international r...
China will need 5,522 new commercial aircraft in the next 20 years between 2015 and 2034, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) projected Wednesday at the Aviation Expo China 2015. China's air transport market kept a steady and fast growth in 2014. The turnover rose 11.4 percent year on year to 74.81 billion tonne-kilometers, making China the second largest air travel...
The head of Malaysian airline AirAsia told an aviation congress Tuesday that Japan needs to find a solution for congestion at its airports amid the country's rising number of tourists. AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes stressed the importance of Japan's airport expansion for budget airlines at the Low-Cost Carrier Airport Congress Asia at Bangkok's Shangri-La hote...
The pilot of an Air Canada flight diverted the jetliner in order to save the life of a dog who was held in the plane's cargo area, reported Monday's publication of City News. Simba, a French Bulldog, was on board the flight which had departed from Tel Aviv...bound for Toronto. Thanks to the astute pilot who noticed a problem with the heating system in the plane's cargo hol...
A female passenger has been arrested after allegedly hitting a flight attendant on board a flight in America. The woman was reported to have become disruptive on the American Airlines flight. Jeff Dutton, manager of communications for the Indianapolis Airport Authority said the woman became "unruly" whilst on board. Other passengers reported that the woman started "screamin...
Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), City Airways, and ICBC Financial Leasing Co. Ltd. Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding on the purchase of 10 C919s and 10 ARJ21-700s at the 16th Aviation Expo China held in Beijing. With the announcement of the deal, the Thai low-cost carrier becomes the 21st customer of the C919 and the 20th customer of the ARJ21-700....
European plane maker Airbus has delivered up to 90 new aircraft to China from January to August this year, the company revealed today in the Aviation Expo China 2015 in Beijing. According to the delivery plan, Airbus will deliver over 100 airplanes to China for the six consecutive year in 2015. For the first eight months ending on Aug. 31, Airbus has delivered 90 aircraft...
Russian-Chinese intergovernmental agreement on the project of wide-body long-range aircraft can be signed before the end of this year, the head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yuri Slusar told TASS Wednesday at the China 2015 Aviation Expo exhibition. "We came here to discuss the draft intergovernmental agreement on the long-range aircraft project that we hope to sign be...