Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA) president Marc De Stoop has presented the federal government with a nine-point plan to support and revitalise the nation’s general aviation (GA) sector, including proposed changes to the nation’s aviation safety regulator and the privatisation of Airservices. The reforms are outlined in brief to government called Project Eur...
On Monday, Seattle-based airline Alaska Air announced that it will buy rival Virgin America for $2.6 billion. This was a somewhat surprising turn of events, particularly because Alaska Air operates a single fleet type of Boeing 737s for its mainline flights, whereas Virgin America uses the competing Airbus A320 family. Virgin America currently operates an all-Airbus fleet. For the next...
Many have protested the airline's request that they don headscarves when flying to the Muslim country. Air France will let female crew members opt out of flights to Tehran, after staff and unions challenged the airline’s request that female crew wear headscarves upon arrival in Iran. “If, for personal reasons, they don’t want to wear the headscarf when they leave the pl...
Public charter operator JetSuiteX wants to deliver a private jet–style experience for the cost of a commercial flight. Affordable private jet travel? It's the way of the future, if California-based JetSuite has anything to say about it. The private jet company has carved out a niche as a “value” operator, and today takes its business plan one step further by launching an u...
Have you ever wondered from your window seat at 35,000 feet exactly which town or city, lake or river, hill or mountain, you are gazing at down below? Of course you have. Well, now there’s an app that will help air passengers identify and explore the distinguishing features on the ground as they fly to their destination. Flyover Country, which is available to buy in the app store ...
Rockwell Collins’ PAVES™ Passenger Service System (PSS) has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for Airbus A330 aircraft. The company teamed with Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) to design, install and achieve the supplemental type certificate (STC) as part of a cabin upgrade for A330 from AERCAP...
Excited passengers this morning welcomed the first aircraft displaying the new Cathay Dragon livery as it took flight from Hong Kong to Beijing. Earlier this year, the Cathay Pacific Group announced that Dragonair will be rebranded as Cathay Dragon, bringing the two airline brands – Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon – closer together and offering passengers a more seamless travel exp...
The Kuwait Ministry of Defence and Finmeccanica, which leads commercial activities in Kuwait on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, today signed a contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, to be produced in Italy. The contract, part of an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries, was signed in the presence of the Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti and her Kuw...
Scheme Designers and ONE Aviation have entered into an agreement to provide concierge-level design consultation for each customer buying a new Eclipse 550 aircraft. Alan Klapmeier, chief executive of ONE Aviation, said: “Scheme Designers has earned a reputation for being able to bring a customer’s vision and personality to life in their aircraft livery, making them an exc...
Bell Helicopter has been put on contract to build nine more AH-1Z Viper gunship helicopters for Pakistan, as part of a larger foreign military sales package for up to 15 helicopters and 1,000 Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire-series missiles that was approved last April. Islamabad ordered its first batch of armed, twin-engine “Zulu Cobras” under that deal in August, as part of a larg...
Hartzell Engine Technologies (HET), a Tailwind Technologies Company, took advantage of the first-day excitement at Sun ’n’ Fun 2016 to announce that it has purchased the Sky-Tec brand of high-performance aircraft starters and solenoids. Based in Montgomery, Ala., HET is an OEM supplier of aircraft cabin heating solutions and engine accessories, including turboc...
The sales staff at Vero Beach, Fla.-based Piper Aircraft are celebrating at this year’s Sun ’n' Fun airshow in Lakeland, Fla. Today they announced the sale of 112 training aircraft to the UND Aerospace Foundation, which provides aircraft and training services to the University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. Deliveries of single-engi...
Dallas-based Protective Packaging Corp (PPC) has preserved a Sikorsky S-92 for Bristow Helicopters that became surplus to requirements due to the oil price downturn. The company needed to protect the aircraft from corrosion, and other environmental factors until the market conditions improve. A requirement from the operator also included the need to rotate the blades periodically du...
JetSuite has added the Embraer 135LR jet to its existing fleet of Phenom 100s and CJ3s. The company has agreed to purchase 10 EMB-135 aircraft from the manufacturer. The first has already been delivered and the tenth will be delivered by mid-2017. The new, larger 30-seat aircraft will be available for bookings from 4 April with charter flights beginning this month. The economics of...
Two planes collided at an airport in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, resulting in a wing bursting into flames. A Batik Air passenger plane was taking off when its wing clipped the tail of a TransNusa aircraft being towed across the runway. Authorities said there were no injuries in the Monday night incident, and all passengers were evacuated safely. Indonesia has had a dismal air safety...
Saudi Arabia has banned Iran’s Mahan Air from flying through its air space or land at its airports due to violations of safety rules, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said on Monday. Aviation sources said in January that around 150 direct flights between Iran and Saudi Arabia that carry thousands of pilgrims every month had been halted after Riyadh severed diplomatic relatio...
CloudStore by Arconics, the next generation, feature-rich, scalable and cost effective Wireless In-Flight Entertainment (W-IFE) platform, entered revenue service with Tigerair Australia on 23rd March 2015, less than 12 weeks after the contract was executed between Tigerair Australia and Dublin-based Arconics. Arconics customised, certified and deployed CloudStore W-IFE in time for Tigerair&rsqu...
There's going to be a little less competition among airlines following a big takeover announced Monday. Alaska Air Group has agreed to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion, the airlines said. Alaska Air(ALK) said it will pay $57 per share, sending Virgin America (VA) stock soaring 40%. Including debt and aircraft leases, the transaction is worth about $4 billion. The combined airline will...
A United Airlines flight attendant pulled the emergency slide and exited a parked plane at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Monday morning. After the Boeing 737 made a complete stop at the gate, the flight attendant opened the plane's front door, deployed the emergency slide, slid out and welked away. "When we landed ... we were told to stay in our...
A Chinese proverb reads thus: All things are difficult before they are easy. This aptly sums up conditions for private jet makers in the previously booming China market. Prior to the last instalment of the Asian Business Aviation Conference (ABACE) show in Shanghai in April 2015, manufacturers commented on a sharply slowing market for private aircraft, mainly owing to a crackdown on corruptio...
Chef Yves Camdeborde is taking over as signature chef for Air France’s Business class menu on board its long-haul flights on departure from Paris and to a number of destinations on its medium-haul network*. This exceptional partnership forms part of the move upmarket of Air France’s products and services. Yves Camdeborde’s cuisine focuses on simplicity and well-balanced flavo...
