Leading aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, reports that its China operation is really on a roll, following impressive growth last year and a strong start to 2016. Managing Director of ACS’s Beijing office, Wanny Wu, comments: “Our 2015 results were really outstanding – we arranged 56% more charters than in 2014. This was led by a significant increase in numbers...
Honeywell has embarked on the second phase of a NASA-funded initiative which could help to remove some of the legislative barriers preventing overland supersonic flight. US Federal Aviation Administration regulations have, since 1973, prohibited supersonic flight over land by civil aircraft to limit the potential nuisance of noise pollution generated by the sonic boom. But NASA has been...
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company announced today that its Prague location officially opened a new paint facility and delivery center –providing full aircraft completion and delivery capabilities to its European customers. “Bell Helicopter’s continued investment in the region reinforces our commitment to our European customers to provide an in-region facility that offers...
Latvian airline airBaltic achieved a net profit of EUR +19.5 million for the full year of 2015, significantly surpassing results a year earlier of EUR +10.7 million and ensuring sustained profitability for the company. Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “airBaltic has been profitable for three consecutive years. This is an excellent foundation to build on, as our Ho...
RUAG Aviation is the first company in Europe to fully repaint a Bombardier Challenger 350 since the aircraft’s launch in 2013. The project, a significant milestone for the company, was completed in record time with maximum transparency, and focused on implementing minute and precise customisations, applying personalised artwork and harmonising finishing effects. The project was ordered by...
Marignane, Airbus Helicopters has been awarded a contract by the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) to retrofit the avionics suite of the 35 EC145 helicopters operated by the Sécurité Civile, an agency of the French Ministry of Interior that performs critical search and rescue and medical evacuation services throughout the French territory. As part of this retrofit, all...
It’s a tale that could be dubbed “From Russia to Love.” Two Boeing Co. 737 jetliners swooped onto a factory airfield near Seattle in March, the last of the models once flown by a collapsed Russian carrier. They were headed for makeovers to erase the Cyrillic logos and any other trace of Transaero Airlines. Next stop: Dallas’s Love Field, where hometown carrier Southwest...
The undisputed superstar of the skies -- the biggest airplane in the world -- is taking flight on a rare delivery mission across three continents. The Ukrainian cargo jet named "Mriya" is one of a kind. There is no other. That's why the gawkers showed up Tuesday in Prague. They watched in awe as this big boy defied gravity before it touched down at Vaclav Havel Airport in the C...
Boeing Co's top executives laid out an ambitious, five-year strategy on Wednesday to increase revenue and profits and secure the company's future for the next 100 years, promising to boost efficiency, return free cash to shareholders and expand the after-market services and parts business. But the executives, speaking to analysts at a conference, faced some skepticism about whether...
Vector Aerospace Corporation, a global independent provider of aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, is delighted to announce the grand opening of a new engine test cell at its Summerside facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada. This new multimillion dollar test cell, which was the result of a financing partnership with provincial and federal governments, is capable of supp...
SevenJet has started a fractional program for Piaggio Avantis at its base in St. Petersburg, Fla., using both former employees and aircraft from bankrupt Avantair. Notably, this marks the return of a fractional program for the Italian twin turboprop since Avantair, which also was based in St. Petersburg, ceased operations in June 2013. “The Avanti is a great aircraft thanks to its je...
You’ve just spent 12 hours in an economy class seat, you missed your connection, you’re facing six hours in the terminal until your onward flight - and all you really want to do is get a few hours’ slumber. You could of course stretch out on a bench in the concourse, perhaps to find your passport and belongings have been “liberated” when you wake up. But ther...
The tail of an Air France Airbus A320 plane was reportedly damaged at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris when it was hit by another aircraft of the same airline, according to images posted on social media. The plane was being taxied to make a flight to Tunis when it was clipped by a Boeing 777-300ER from Dakar, French aviation enthusiast O-D'J'ice reported in a tweet. Air Franc...
Despite reports to the contrary, Bombardier has no immediate interest in developing a larger version of the CSeries family, often called the CS500. “There is no CS500 in sight,” says Colin Bole, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, speaking to Flightglobal in an interview at the Regional Airline Association’s annual convention. In...
Rolls-Royce has despatched the first ‘shipset’ of four engines as part of its largest ever order, for Emirates. The Trent 900 engines left the Rolls-Royce site at Derby, UK, where they were assembled, for Airbus in Toulouse, France, where they will be fitted to an A380 aircraft. Rolls-Royce is providing Trent 900 engines and TotalCare® service for 50 Emirates A380...
The 16th edition of the Airport Show proved to be the most successful by far with exhibitors reporting a record number of potential business deals and more than 7,500 attendees from the aviation industry worldwide. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, chairman of Dubai Airports and chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, said the su...
London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has dropped an objection raised by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to the planned expansion of London City Airport (LCY). The airport is located on a physically constrained site in the capital’s old Docklands district. Its owners have been trying for some time to expand it through a £300 million ($435 million) plan that would enlarge the termina...
Bahrain International Airport sees its future in origin and destination traffic and not along the east and west transcontinental routes that Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi have built their hubs on. Once the region’s main airport, Bahrain has failed to keep up with the rapid growth of its Gulf neighbours, who are home to some of the world’s fastest-growing airlines. In 2015, Bahrain handl...
It is less than a week since CHC filed for bankruptcy protection – so too early to see exactly how the company will look when it (surely) emerges from Chapter 11. But early court filings give some clues. Thedeclaration by Michael Cox, vice chairman of Seabury – CHC’s restructuring advisers – outlines a much smaller helicopter operator. CHC operates more than 230 helicopt...
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announces plans to showcase the versatile capabilities of the Bell 412EPI through a series of customer demonstration flights in Asia Pacific. Bell Helicopter last demonstrated the Bell 412’s capability in 2013 in the region and since then has attracted a number of customers including the Philippine Department of National Defense and the Gover...
Yesterday, the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) unveiled the FBO Status Map — a web-based resource to assist aircraft operators in locating FBOs and ground handlers that are Safety 1st qualified and IS-BAH registered. NATA created the map to supplement the existing processes used by aircraft operators when selecting an FBO. “Safety is a vital consid...