The latest addition to the Royal Australian Air Force fleet prefers life in the slow lane. And instead of having radar-avoiding stealth qualities, this aircraft has been designed to turn heads. The RAAF on Friday unveiled a new helmet-shaped hot air balloon, complete with Air Force fighter pilot helmet, visor, oxygen mask and oxygen hose. It replaces the previous Air Force hot air...
Berlin's perennial airport headache may continue even longer. It emerged this week that the 2017 opening date for the city's new Berlin Brandenburg Airport - the fifth set since 2010 - may be in trouble. The local "Tagesspiegel" newspaper reported Thursday that the city's construction authority has demanded additional changes to an ongoing planning permit process for the s...
Oman Air is considering buying Airbus Group SE (AIR.FR) A350 long-range planes amid a turnaround effort aimed at ending years of government handouts. The airline may take around 13 A350s from 2020, Chief Executive Paul Gregorowitsch said in an interview Wednesday, with the long-range jets replacing Airbus A330 widebodies currently used by Oman Air on some long-haul routes. The deal would have a...
Finmeccanica has announced during the World ATM Congress in Madrid the award of contracts totalling around €120 million. The Finmeccanica Security and Information Systems Division will now provide Air Traffic Management/Air Traffic Control (ATM/ATC) systems for Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Malaysia. These three customers will join the list of more than 150 countries already using Finmeccanic...
Bell Helicopter announced that, Petroleum Air Services has been appointed as the first Bell Helicopter Authorized Customer Service Facility in North Africa. “Since 1982, we have been providing both fixed wing and helicopter transportation to the oil and gas and travel industries in Egypt,” said General Yehia Hussein, Chairman and Managing Director Petroleum Air Servi...
Last year's sluggish sales of Falcon business jets was largely due to the slowing economies in emerging countries, Dassault CEO Eric Trappier said yesterday during a press briefing in Paris. There were gross orders for 45 Falcons received last year, and NetJets canceled an order for 20, bringing the net total to 25. The order intake represented €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion...
A Royal Jet BBJ, registered as A6-DRF, on display at Abu Dhabi Air Expo 2016 suffered what appears to be only superficial damage on Wednesday when two light aircraft were blown under it during a severe morning storm that brought the show to a halt for a second day. “Two light carbon-fiber craft were blown [by high winds] under the BBJ. I think they have been destroyed,...
Boeing unveiled Thursday its latest submarine, a crew-less undersea vehicle capable of operating all on its own for months at a time. The 51-foot Echo Voyager uses a hybrid rechargeable system to run for months autonomously, and can also be launched and recovered without the kind of support ships usually necessary for unmanned, undersea vehicles, or UUVs, Boeing said in a news release. "...
Key business jet industry metrics are pointing to a further weakening of the market globally and suggest business conditions continue to head toward new post-recession lows, according to the latest UBS Business Jet Market Index, released today. UBS created the market index to track changes in market conditions based on surveys measuring customer interest, pricing, 12-month outl...
In 2011, Airbus and Qatar Airways announced to great fanfare a 50-plane order for the new A320neo airliner. Five years later, that deal could be jeopardy. The Pratt & Whitney 1100G geared turbofans engines Qatar selected to power the planes are not up to Qatar's exacting standards, Bloomberg's Andrea Rothman reported. According to Bloomberg, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Bak...
In the spirit of Charles Lindbergh, a French research company hopes to complete the first carbon-free trans-Atlantic flight later this year. The Eraole, an electric biofuel plane developed by Laboratoire Océan Vital, will take flight from New York to Paris in June: The company says the plane will produce zero carbon emissions. If successful, the plane could have lasting impacts in the fi...
As the launch customer of the A320neo, IndiGo has been waiting eagerly to take delivery of the planes that will help it cut fuel costs by 10-15% InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs the IndiGo low-fare airline, said on Twitter that it will take delivery of Asia’s first A320neo aircraft on Thursday from European plane maker Airbus SAS. “IndiGo took delivery of the new A320neo aircr...
In the 1940s, most planes had straight wings. Even the Bell X-1 that broke the sound barrier for the first time had straight wings. But a straight-winged aircraft can run into major stability issues when it gets flying at transonic speeds. In 1941, a Lockheed test pilot named Ralph Virden lost control of his P-38 Lightning in a dive and died in a crash. This prompted an engineer named John Stac...
A passenger delayed a flight by an hour by opening an emergency exit of a Boeing 737 just before take-off. He was on a domestic flight with China Southern Airlines when the incident occurred, the People's Daily Online reports. The plane had to stay at Chengdu Shuangliu airport while the issue was resolved. The flight, bound for Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in north-west Ch...
Longreach Airport says the installation of solar panels will supply almost enough energy to cover its daytime power requirements and help cut greenhouse gas emissions. Taking advantage of the abundance of Central West Queensland sunlight and 30-plus degree temperatures, the airport says the 396 solar panels would lower its power bill between $30,000-$40,000 and “more than satisfies the cu...
Air New Zealand and United plan to expand their partnership to include revenue sharing on New Zealand-US routes. The move to deepen cooperation comes as United counts down to its return to NZ for the first time since 2003, with nonstop San Francisco-Auckland flights with Boeing 787s due to begin in July. United vice chairman and chief revenue officer Jim Compton said: “This joint ventu...
The contract for the sale of 36 Rafale fighters to India has not yet been signed, manufacturer Dassault Aviation said March 10. Four weeks was thought to be enough time to conclude the transaction when the heads of state of France and India reached agreement on the sale in late January. “We are getting closer; we are trying to finalize the price,” CEO Eric Trappier said during Dassa...
Dubai-based flydubai announced receiving its membership certificate from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), becoming the latest airline to join from the Middle East and North Africa. flydubai successfully completed its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) last year. The audit, which is a pre-requisite for an IATA membership, examined all the operational depa...
Lufthansa Technik AG has further extended its market presence in Taiwan by entering into a new long-term agreement with Taiwan-based low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan. According to the new contract, the Hamburg-based maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider is now responsible for providing maintenance services including LRU (line-replaceable unit) services for t...
The PACAVI Group is moving forward with the supplemental type certificate (STC) development for their first-to-market Airbus A320/A321 passenger-to-freighter conversion. PACAVI Group CEO Dr. Stephan Hollmann commented on the program’s status: “Our STC program, started in January 2015, is progressing on schedule, as well as the conversion of our pro...
Abu Dhabi Air Expo, being held at Al Bateen Executive Airport, reopened today at 10am after being forced to suspend activities on Wednesday because of extreme weather conditions in the city. Today is the final day of the air expo. The event was closed at around 11.25am on Wednesday when a thunderstorm hit, with strong winds blowing through the chalets, chairs, tables, and banners placed arou...
