50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

World aircraft news

aircraft related aviation news

Air Serbia targets more US traffic as profit soars

Air Serbia will build on Belgrade’s position as a strategic gateway to the United States as it expands its route network across the Balkans and the At­lan­tic this year. The airline, part-owned by Etihad Airways, on Wednesday re­ported a 44 per cent jump in its net profit for 2015 to €3.9 million (Dh16.4m) compared with €2.7m a year earlier. “Last year, we c...

VistaJet passes 100th aircraft milestone

VistaJet, the global leader in business aviation, today reached an important milestone in its history when it welcomed its 100th ever aircraft to its fleet. The company has invested billions in jets in the past decade, growing its fleet from just 5 jets in 2006 to over 60 today, with a market value of more than $1.8bn. The company has come a long way in the past decade. In 2006, VistaJet travel...

Chinese government plans to open more low-level airspace

The Chinese government is setting up a plan that will open up further low-level airspace for business and general aviation. The move follows a meeting of the State Council of The People’s Republic of China that was presided over by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on May 4. In a statement issued on the Council’s English website, the government agreed to open up more low-altitude airspa...

First LPV Approach Goes Live at Charles de Gaulle Airport

The first European LPV-200 IFR approach was implemented at Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Runway 26L on Tuesday, following publication of the procedure on April 28. The new approach mirrors Cat I ILS approach minimums, including a 200-foot decision height, and it is supported by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos), Europe’s satellite-base...

Comlux America Expands Hangar, Adds Widebody Capability

Comlux America, the Comlux Group’s completion and service center in Indianapolis, christened its newly enlarged completion hangar late last week. The project expanded the hangar size to 157,000 sq ft from 128,000 sq ft, allowing the building to house one widebody and up to four single-aisle bizliners simultaneously. Comlux America’s first widebody completion, an&...

Middle Eastern carriers saw 12% rise in demand in March

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced global passenger traffic results for March showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 5.3%, compared to the same month last year, with African airlines continuing to enjoy strong demand, with traffic up 11.2%. Capacity grew slightly faster at 5.9% which pushed the average load factor down by half...

CHC Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Offshore helicopter operator CHC Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow it time to restructure its financial assets. The company said it expects day-to-day operations to continue without interruption during a court-supervised process. The company filed “voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankrupt...

Triumph Gear Systems receives award from Sikorsky

Triumph Group subsidiary Triumph Gear Systems has received the 2015 Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training Supplier of the Year from helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky. Thomas Holzthum, executive vice-president for integrated systems, said: “We are very pleased to receive this distinguished award, which is a testament to the manufacturing expertise, valued-added solutions and exceptio...

Check out the Canadian airliner that's trying to challenge Boeing

Bombardier Aerospace announced late last week that Delta Air Lines agreed to order 75 of the company's C Series airliners in a deal worth up to $5.6 billion. Shortly after the deal's announcement, Bombardier flew one of its C Series demonstrators down to Delta's Atlanta headquarters for journalists and the airline's staff to get a closer look. Although Bombardier has been a glob...

Finnair Named World's Greenest Airline

Out of 20 major airlines, Finnair was the least polluting of the world’s largest airlines in 2014, according to a new study. The study was conducted by the U.K.’s University of Warwick in Coventry. They examined data from the annual reports of 20 large airlines as well as from the Carbon Disclosure Project, a voluntary carbon data reporting organization based in London. They looked...

Bell Helicopter mates fuselage and wings of first V-280

Bell Helicopter has joined the fuselage to the tilting wings and fixed nacelles of the V-280 Valor more than a year in advanced of a scheduled fly-off for the US Army. “This is a major milestone,” says Lisa Atherton, Bell’s executive vice-president for military business development. For the next year, Bell’s development will concentrate on the fly-by-wire flight contr...

Pilot Report: Pilatus PC-12 NG

There’s no mistaking a 2016 Pilatus PC-12 NG from earlier versions of the aircraft. The third iteration of this 22-year old model sports a five-blade Hartzell prop with scimitar shaped blades made of black carbon fiber. Because of the new prop’s computer-refined blade airfoil and thin chord section, it’s more efficient at converting torque into thrust in all phases of flight...