On February 9, 1969, the Boeing 747-100 jumbo jet took to the sky for the very first time. With that event, commercial air travel changed forever. With the 747 and its widebody, dual-aisle interior, airlines greatly increased the volume of passengers it could ferry per flight. Known as the Queen of the Skies, the Boeing 747 ruled the skies for most of its life. Over the pas...
Any technical problems with the engines of Airbus's A320neo jetliner should be solved in the coming weeks, the head of engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitneysaid. "By April, most of that will be solved," Robert Leduc said at a ceremony at which German flagship carrier Lufthansa took delivery of the first A320neo. Lufthansa stepped up to become the first airline to ta...
A driverless van rolled away and struck a parked JetBlue plane early Friday morning at Boston's Logan International Airport. Shortly after passengers boarded a 6 a.m. flight to Tampa, Florida, a nearby van went rogue, causing damage to the aircraft. There were no injures on board, according to JetBlue. According to reports, it was either a fuel van or a delivery van. Passenger Chaz...
In just a matter of days, U.S. airlines will begin a fierce bidding war to win routes and airport slots to a destination that's been off-limits to them for more than 50 years: Cuba. Starting Tuesday, U.S. carriers will have 15 days to submit applications to the Department of Transportation for routes they'd like to fly between the U.S and Cuba. The development brings airlines and tra...
On boarding a BA flight to Finland in December, my four-year-old daughter was invited into the cockpit to look around. Thrilled, as she loves to fly, Antonia marvelled at the flashing buttons and levers, astounded and more than a bit suspicious that there was no actual steering wheel. And yet, when I asked her recently if she’d like to be a pilot when she grows up, she sniffed: “I&r...
Thai Airways International (THAI) will continue grounding 10 Airbus A340s it hasn’t been able to sell because it still isn’t economical to fly the four-engine aircraft even after fuel prices plunged more than 40% in the past year. "The fuel consumption is so uneconomical," President Charamporn Jotikasthira said in an interview in Bangkok Thursday. "All new planes now...
Warren East, Chief Executive, said: “In the context of challenging trading conditions our overall performance for the year was in line with the expectations we set out in July 2015. It was a year of considerable change for Rolls-Royce: in our management, in some market conditions and in our near-term outlook. At the same time, there were some important constants: the underlying growth of our...
Air Canada said today that it welcomes confirmation by the Canadian Airline Dispatchers Association (CALDA) that its members have ratified a new contract on collective agreement terms for 12 years. Air Canada’s flight dispatchers are based at the airline’s Operations Centre near Toronto Pearson International Airport and assist flight crew in the preparation for flight departures and ar...
Lufthansa, together with Airbus and the Pratt & Whitney engine manufacturer, celebrates the delivery of the world’s first Airbus A320neo. Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier and the President of Pratt & Whitney Robert Leduc invited 700 guests and media representatives to the official...
The blocking stake of Russian Helicopters may be privatized in 2016, the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said on Friday, adding that foreign investors may participate in privatization. "As far as Russian Helicopters are concerned we’re always searching for strategic, portfolio investors so it’s not ruled out that the blocking stake will be sold by (State Corporati...
Indonesia has agreed to purchase 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-35S multirole fighter jets, according to Indonesian media reports. Indonesia’s Minister of Defense, General Ryamizard Ryacudu, will visit Moscow in March to sign the final agreement. Already in September 2015, Gen. Ryamizard announced that a decision to purchase Russian jets had been made. “A decision was mad...
Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) is among several state-owned entities the Russian government is currently considering as part of its accelerated privatization plans for the year. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week convened a meeting with Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev and other state bureaucrats to begin finalizing a list of firms and shareholdings that could be sold off. The Kremli...
