Bell Helicopter arrived at Heli-Expo in 1966 with the prototype 206 JetRanger and a business formula that would launch an entire industry: the packaging of a single turbine engine into a light airframe with a price point accessible to an individual entrepreneur. Fifty years later, Bell returns to Heli-Expo with another prototype of a short light single (SLS) helicopter – the 505 JetRanger...
This year’s Singapore Airshow proved a major success for MTU Aero Engines: Germany’s leading engine manufacturer secured orders worth over 500 million euros (some 570 million U.S. dollars), scoring high especially with PurePower® PW1000G-family geared turbofan (GTF) engines. “In the commercial engine business, the GTF programs for single-aisle aircraft are...
The legal action between American and its domestic inflight connectivity provider Gogo, pending in Texas for the past 10 days, has been withdrawn by the airline. American filed a Declaratory Judgment Action on February 12, 2016 as a means to force Gogo to acknowledge the carrier’s right to invoke provisions in the parties’ agreement to serve notice that a rival connectivity provider...
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has delivered a bumper 2015/16 first half profit, with the Flying Kangaroo’s international operations “going gangbusters” as the lower currency fuels demand for travel into Australia and alliance partners funnel passengers onto a domestic network that is also reporting strong profit growth. The airline group reported statutory net profit after...
Shares of Boeing have slumped more than 20% since late December. The primary culprits have been investor concerns around aircraft demand and -- more recently -- reports of a possible SEC investigation into Boeing's accounting for the 747 and 787 widebody jet programs. At an investor conference last week, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg offered a spirited defense of the company's profit and...
Kensington Palace has blamed European red tape for preventing the Duke of Cambridge carrying out more royal duties. The Duke has faced accusations in some quarters that he is “lazy” because he has only carried out two royal engagements this year, in addition to his part-time job as an air ambulance pilot. Palace sources claimed that Civil Aviation Authority rules on rest periods,...
Boeing Co has won an order for 25 current-generation Boeing 737 aircraft from United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N), beating rivals including Canada's Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) for the second time in a month, two industry sources said on Monday. The deal, which is said to involve the 126-seat 737-700 model, would be worth just over $2 billion at list prices. Boeing and United both...
Aerospace component suppliers HoneywelInternational and United Technologies have held talks about a merger, CNBC reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the situation. A deal would create a company with combined sales of more than $90 billion, combining a maker of jet engines with a supplier of airplane cockpits. United Tech’s shares, part of the Dow Jones industrial...
Messier-Bugatti-Dowty (Safran) signed a contract with Singapore Airlines during the Singapore Airshow to support the landing gear systems on its upcoming fleet of Airbus A350-900 jetliners. The airline’s first A350-900 will start revenue service soon. Since 2008, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty has also provided support services for Singapore Airlines’ A380 super-jumbo jets. This contract giv...
The Boeing board of directors has elected Dennis A. Muilenburg as its next chairman, effective March 1. He succeeds W. James (Jim) McNerney, Jr., who is stepping down from the board, while Boeing independent Lead Director Kenneth M. Duberstein continues in that role. Muilenburg, 52, succeeded McNerney as Boeing’s 10th chief executive and joined the board last July. At that time, McNerney,...
Private air travel is getting the Uber treatment with some of the industry’s biggest customers -- members of the Saudi Royal family -- investing $26.1 million in a company that lets users book private jets from a smartphone. Most private aircraft aren’t used that much, JetSmarter founder Sergey Petrossov, a Russian-born Florida resident, said in an interview. They either stand idled...
For the first time, the Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo will be held in Louisville, Ky., a new city for the world’s largest rotorcraft show. The main exhibition days for this year’s Heli-Expo are March 1-3, but the show begins with HAI Professional Education Courses at the Kentucky International Convention Center on February 26. Arrivals of helicopters...
Flightworx Aviation are ensuring private owners and operators are ready for August 25, 2016, the date in which the EASA Part NCC ruling takes effect. They are offering free workshops between now and the August deadline to everyone within the industry who requires assistance. Today’s session and all subsequent workshops are being conducted by Flightworx Aviation’s Quality Coordinator...
Helicopter charter and sales business Castle Air has found that cloud-based software from Total AOC is making it easy to audit and manage the business in multiple locations. Castle Air uses Centrik to handle its documents, safety management, risk management, training and administration tasks, with its web-based interface ensuring all processes are robustly documented in a transparent manner....
XTI Aircraft Company (XTI) today announced that it will establish an over-the-counter secondary market so current and future shareholders will have the ability to buy and sell XTI shares on a public market. After garnering $20.6 million in non-binding expressions of interest, the excitement around the TriFan 600 and interest by investors in the company's equity crowdfunding...
Volumes at Marseille Provence Airport remained the same in 2015 but cargo manager, Jean-Marc Boutigny is expecting strong growth for 2016, helped by increased services to North Africa. Boutigny tells Air Cargo Week that in 2015, airfreight fell two per cent to 52,000 tonnes, mail remained the same at 3,900 tonnes and road feeder service increased by four per cent to 20,000 tonnes. For 2016,...
Drones could become useful for surveillance and remote monitoring in many industries, and perhaps one day will even ferry the latest Amazon order to your front door. But there’s one big limiting factor: drones can stay in the air for only so long on a charge. The Parc drone developed by CyPhy Works. Not the latest model developed by the Boston-based drone maker CyPhy Works, though. Cal...
How can airlines flying on the same route with the same type of aircraft have varying flight durations? The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has called a meeting of domestic airlines to standardise the block hours — the actual flying time on important routes. “How can an airline have a inflated block time of two hours twenty minutes on a sector when another airline ha...
The airline has often stated that they’d love to be able to offer more transatlantic fifth freedom flights, though those flights have met a lot of opposition from the governments in both the US and EU. This is the source of the big “Open Skies” battle going on at the moment. Furthermore, Emirates has long stated that they really want to start flying to Mexico City. In a Bloomb...
The old guard of traditional transport and manufacturing brands are at the top of the Superbrand 2016 survey, seeing off competition from younger and “sexier” technology companies. British Airways outperformed 1,600 rivals to take the top spot for the third year in a row while watchmaker Rolex holds second place ahead of Lego and electronic goods specialist Dyson. Apple is in sev...
The Royal Navy's most decorated pilot, Capt Eric "Winkle" Brown, has died at the age of 97. Capt Brown also held the world record for flying the greatest number of different types of aircraft - 487. During World War Two, Capt Brown, who was born in Leith in 1919, flew fighter aircraft and witnessed the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp. The pilot, who had been a...
