Duluth, Minn.-based Cirrus Aircraft hoped to have FAA approval for SF50 Vision single-engine personal jet in hand late last year, but now it looks like it will gain certification this spring, the company told AIN late last week. This delay is partially due to testing of its emergency recovery parachute during the fourth quarter, a process that took longer than ex...
Global offshore helicopter association HeliOffshore has commissioned industry expert Jarvis Bagshaw Ltd. to conduct a research study in Aberdeen that uses eye-tracking technology to understand how pilots monitor flight instruments. Twenty-six pilots participated in the first phase of observational study, which seeks to improve pilot performance in the cockpit. Optimizing the training and t...
Swissport is to create 100 new jobs at Belfast International Airport in a number of areas including cargo handling. The Northern Irish airport is in the process of a major recruitment drive to increase its workforce to about 350 employees. The expansion should be worth about £1.6 million ($2.3 million) in annual wages to Northern Ireland’s economy. Belfast International Airport o...
IAG Cargo is to start Madrid – Shanghai in late 2016 and Madrid – Tokyo services from 18 October. The flights will be operated by Iberia, and will be served by Airbus A330-200s with 13 tonnes of cargo capacity. The Tokyo flights will leave Madrid on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays while the Shanghai services are subject to granting slots and permits. The Iberia routes follows t...
A YouGov poll has found air quality is London’s top environmental concern, in the first survey since the UK government delayed a decision on airport expansion in the South East. The poll found air quality at 30 per cent and the related issue of road congestion at 29 per cent are the environmental challenges that matter most to Londoners. YouGov also found Gatwick is the ...
The first Australian pilots to undertake conversion training on the Pilatus PC-21 pilot training aircraft recently arrived in Switzerland, the RAAF has announced. These pilots will form the transition team responsible for the development of the new training curriculum and simulators that are being acquired under the AIR 5428 Pilot Training System project, the contract for which has been awarded...
Gold Coast Airport has received the green light to install an Instrument Landing System (ILS) as part of efforts to reduce the number of missed approaches, diversions and delays due to weather. The ILS, which assists pilots on equipped aircraft with a precise radio navigation aid, will be installed for flights landing from the north on Runway 14, which the airport has said previously is the dir...
Soaring global demand for air ambulance services in 2015 helped German business aircraft services provider FAI rent-a-jet to record profitability. The Nuremberg-based company – one of Europe’s largest business aircraft operators – saw revenues climb nearly 9% to €80 million ($87 million) last year. Air ambulance services accounted for €41.7 million – up fro...
Last week, two major events in Dublin brought the biggest guns from the aviation finance community together to swap notes, debate the major issues and assess the outlook for 2016. Flightglobal – as ever – was close to the action, and these are four key themes we believe will set the agenda for the industry for the year ahead. 1. This is (still) as good as it gets At last year...
The once-isolated country plans to purchase hundreds of aircraft from Airbus and Boeing following the lifting of sanctions Iran, which has airlines including Aseman and Iran Air, plans to buy hundreds of new aircraft as Western sanctions are lifted
Airport security can be a tense place. Moving through busy, often crowded queues, unpacking then repacking your bags – even sometimes having to take off your shoes. But sometimes, aside from the ultra-professional manner of the security team, strange things can happen when you’re travelling through airport security. In a thread on question-and-answer site Quora,&...
Boeing Co and air crews from the U.S. Air Force completed the first refueling flight of the KC-46A Pegasus aerial tanker on Sunday, transferring 1,600 pounds (725.75 kg) of fuel to an F-16 fighter jet flying at 20,000 feet (6096 m), Boeing said. The flight over Washington state lasted nearly six hours and marks a key step forward for the $49 billion program, which has seen cost increases and sc...
Wednesday is Boeing BA -0.35%’s earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year of 2015. There continue to be three of four prime issues that overhang each earnings call, and nothing has changed this week. The production rate for the 777 Classic and the bridge to the production of the 777X. Boeing has long asserted it can maintain a production rate similar to the c...
Welcome to my first new trip report of 2016, as my goal for this year is to sample as many new first & business class products as possible. And I’m sure you guys will agree this is a good start. The way this trip came to be is sort of funny. In mid-December I wrote about how Finnair was flying the A350 to the US for a limited time in January. They just recently to...
Seven people were taken to a hospital after an American Airlines plane from Miami to Milan made an emergency landing in Newfoundland after the jet briefly encountered severe turbulence. The aircraft landed safely in the East Coast Canadian province late Sunday, where it was met by paramedics. American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said three flight attendants and four passenger...
The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) has developed a computer-controlled drone that can land automatically, even on a moving target. In a video posted by the DLR on YouTube, an unmanned aerial vehicle tracks a specially-kitted out Audi with a net on top to catch it. With a barcode like the one you would find on a magazine - along with other trackers on top of the car - the drone tracked t...
Bertrand Piccard, the mastermind of a solar-powered attempt to circumnavigate the globe, draws fire after backing government decision to cut solar panel subsidies by 65% Bertrand Piccard , the pioneer of a solar-powered attempt to fly around the Earth, has defended a decision by David Cameron’s government to cut subsidies for householders installing solar panels by 65%. A cap on s...
Late last week, Lufthansa announced that it had agreed to enter arbitration with UFO. For those of you not familiar with UFO, they are the union that represents Lufthansa’s cabin crews. The new agreement promises labor peace between UFO and LH until June 30th at which point this arbitration agreement is set expire. This latest agreement for arbitration is importa...
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting here attracts a high-flying set of attendees. This year, Quartz endeavored to discover just how high-flying these Davos men and women are by tracking private helicopter travel in and out of the Alpine town during the conference. To do that, we built an antenna and installed it at our apartment in Davos from Jan. 19, the day before the event o...
In December, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) awarded the certification of the increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) for the H145. With this enhancement, the helicopter can carry an extra 50kg, raising the MTOW to a total of 3.7 metric tons. It will be available for customers in early 2016. As the improvement does not require any structural modifications or additional equipment, it wi...
At least 70 passengers were offloaded from a Raipur-bound Indigo flight at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Friday night due to “unruly behaviour”, following which the passengers lodged a complaint with airport police alleging that they were harassed by the staff. The incident took place between 8.30pm and 9.00pm. The passengers, who as a group were travelling to R...
