A Delhi-bound SpiceJet Airlines flight that took off from Mumbai on Saturday morning was forced to turn back after the pilots detected a snag mid-air. While the airline said that the crew handled the mid-air emergency according to procedures, some passengers alleged that poor handling led to panic and chaos on board. According to passengers a scary sound resonated inside the flight soon afte...
Roger Agnelli, the Brazilian banker who turned Vale SA VALE5.SA into the world's No. 1 iron ore producer, died on Saturday in a plane crash, a source close to aviation authorities told Reuters. He was 56. Agnelli, his wife and two children were among seven killed when his Comp Air 9 turboprop monoplane slammed into two homes around 3:20 p.m. local time (1820 GMT), minutes after taking off f...
Winds were gusting before dawn Saturday over the airport in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don when a plane carrying 62 people from a favorite Russian holiday destination decided to abort its landing. The timing was tricky. Two planes had landed just a few minutes before the FlyDubai plane aimed to touch down. On the other hand, a Russian Aeroflot plane scheduled to land around the s...
Piper Aircraft announced today that the FAA has issued type inspection authorization (TIA) for the Piper M600. The issuance of TIA marks a significant milestone for the aircraft certification program. TIA initiates the formal FAA flight evaluation of the M600 type design, airworthiness, performance, and handling characteristics. The TIA authorization was granted following the conclusion of a ri...
Bell Helicopter has manufactured and delivered 15 Bell 429s to the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) following the awarding of a contract in May 2014. The final delivery was marked by an acceptance ceremony attended by The Honourable Hunter Tootoo, minister of fisheries, oceans and the CCG, the Honourable Judy M. Foote, minister of public services and procurement, and Jody Thomas, Commissioner of...
With the 2020 FAA and EASA mandates for ADS-B out equipage rapidly approaching, aircraft manufacturers are busy developing service bulletin and supplemental type certificate (STC) upgrades to help customers meet the deadline. For Gulfstream Aerospace, most of its models now have a factory-provided upgrade path, except for the GIIs and GIIIs, according to Jeff Gay...
India’s Tata Group badly needs to find a new cash machine. The aviation-to-autos and salt-to-steel conglomerate’s existing ATM is Tata Consultancy Services, the nation’s largest software exporter. The code-writing company rakes in more than 180 billion rupees (Dh9.83bn) of annual free cash flow, which more than compensates for the 80bn rupees of cash drain from the group&rsq...
The passenger jet was close to landing when a drone flew 200ft overhead, fuelling concerns about the safety of the craft. The pilot of a Lufthansa passenger jumbo jet has reported that a drone aircraft nearly collided with his airliner on its landing approach to Los Angeles, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The close encounter between the wide-body, four-engine Airbus A380 a...
A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to southern Russia has crashed, killing all 62 people on-board, Igor Oder, head of the Emergencies Ministry’s southern regional operations, said. FlyDubai said preliminary numbers indicate 55 passengers including 33 women, 18 men and 4 children and 7 crew on board, revising the number on board from 61 to 62. The Boeing 738 was trying to land in Rostov-on-Do...
David Stuckenberg has flown thousands of hours as an Air Force pilot and a passenger on commercial airliners. He said a flight on Allegiant Air last month was his worst flying experience ever. The takeoff from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport aborted at high speed, announced by a loud boom from a failing engine. It took more than three hours for Allegiant to find a replacement plane. A...
Lufthansa Airlines has announced that it is not ready to put more of AIRBUS GROUP's A320neo aircraft into its commercial service as there are still issues with the aircraft’s engines. Lufthansa CEO, Carsten Spohr said at its annual report: “The engine issues are slowly improving, we're not there yet, that's why we have not agreed to take the second aircraft into the f...
A passenger plane has crashed in southern Russia, killing all 62 people on board. Russia’s emergencies ministry says the disaster happened at 3.50 local time on Saturday morning at the airport in Rostov on Don at the end of a flight from Dubai. The Boeing 737-800, operated by Emirates-based budget airline Flydubai, is said to have crashed on its second attempt...
Officials with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), Palexpo SA and Geneva International Airport today welcomed a new agreement, signed by all four parties, to continue to hold the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) at the Palexpo convention center, and on Geneva Airport in Geneva, Switzerland, for another...
Billionaire investor Stelios Haji-Ioannou made an extraordinary list of demands from Fastjet amid fears the Africa-focused airline could be about to go bust, writes Rupert Steiner. The entrepreneur, who owns a 12 per cent stake in the airline, demanded it publish immediately passenger numbers after he claimed planes were only 10 per cent full. He also wants ‘detailed month by month cas...
Air New Zealand has opened the doors to a new premium lounge at Brisbane Airport, the latest example of the airline’s investment in the Australian market as it seeks to attract more travellers from this side of the Tasman onto its long-haul services. The facility, which was built in a brand new space at the southern end of the Brisbane international terminal, welcomed its first guests on...
As passengers sat patiently waiting to depart for Rome, suddenly the Dreamliner slammed onto the tarmac as the nose gear gave way. How did it happen? An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-800 scheduled to fly from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Rome, had just completed boarding and was about to depart when the nose gear collapsed at the gate. Passengers were shaken in the incident, and one flight attenda...
Boeing has chosen Britain as home for its new European headquarters in a major boost to campaigners in favour of the UK leaving the EU. The world’s largest aircraft maker shrugged off Brexit concerns to select London as the base for its entire European operation. The Britain Stronger In Europe campaign has claimed that a vote to leave the EU would spark an exodus of firms. But Boeing s...
On Tuesday, 8 March 2016, the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar (BHHH) at Biggin Hill Airport, Kent, officially opened its impressive new hangar facility. Elliott Marsh writes. BHHH’s long-awaited move into Biggin Hill Airport’s Hangar No. 204 concluded in Winter 2016 with the whole fleet relocated “across the way” to a larger facility on the Western fring...
Buried on page 87 of the Air France-KLM year-end financial statements was this note regarding the substitution of two on order A380s for three A350-900s: Air France previously deferred these in 2013, pushing delivery back to 2017. As per Aviation Daily, A380s no longer fit with the “future strategy and vision” of Air France. The airline has long struggled with properly u...
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) achieved an operating profit (adjusted EBIT) of CHF 453 million for 2015, a 34% improvement on the previous year (2014: CHF 337 million) and the third-best operating result in the company’s history. With market conditions still challenging and fares continuing to fall, total annual income from operating activities suffered a 3.5%...
Yesterday afternoon, Qatar Airways commenced daily, non-stop service between Logan International Airport in Boston and Hamad International Airport in Doha. The historic first Airbus A350 arrival touched down at Logan this afternoon, marking the beginning of a much-anticipated partnership between the city of Boston and the ‘2015 Airline of the Year’ by Skytrax. Qatar Airways Group Ch...