To fabricate the composite parts of the giant wings of Boeing’s 777X, Mukilteo-based engineering firm Electroimpact has designed and built a new generation of robotic machines that haven’t been previously shown to outsiders. Inside a new building just west of Paine Field in Everett, a team of young engineers recently gave outsiders the first glimpse at a technological advance critic...
Airbus is renegotiating delivery schedules for its revamped A320neo jet and has told some airlines the aircraft will be delayed by around two months, industry sources said. The European planemaker missed a 2015 target for delivering the first aircraft, an upgraded fuel-saving version of its best-selling medium-haul jet, due to what it described as issues with documentation for its new Prat...
ASL Aviation Group has reached agreement to acquire the airline operations of TNT Express N.V. (hereafter TNT), comprised of TNT Airways (Belgium) and Pan Air Líneas Aéreas (Spain). The agreement is conditional on the completion of the intended acquisition ofTNT, which is expected in the first half of 2016. The change of ownership and control of TNT&r...
Completions specialist Associated Air Center (AAC) redelivered the industry’s first head-of-state-configured Boeing 787-8 to an undisclosed customer. (In 1989, AAC completed the first head-of-state-configured 757-200 for the same customer.) AAC’s in-house team designed the interior. Its 2,404 sq ft of cabin space can accommodate 82 passengers in three cabin zones, while...
Start-up times are not a problem for the Leap-1A engine nearing entry into service in mid-2016 for the Airbus A320neo, manufacturer CFM International says. Each of the two Leap-1A engines installed on an A320neo need 50s to spool-up after the activation sequence is started, says CFM executive vice-president Allen Paxson, speaking on a teleconference with journalists on 5 February....
The twin-engine multipurpose helicopter H145 has successfully proved its operational capabilities for challenging offshore missions. During a two-day flight trial in late January the established offshore operators Wiking Helikopter Service GmbH and HTM Offshore were able to test the H145 in all the relevant fields of offshore operations. Both aviation companies collaborate closely to offer their c...
Transport Canada is preparing to introduce new guidelines for the operation of unmanned air vehicles similar to those being proposed in Europe. The new regulations were first introduced in May 2015, and are considered to be more risk-based than those currently used, which only distinguish between the commercial or recreational operation of small UAVs. A consultation between May and August ga...
British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has warned it would consider leaving London City airport should any new owner raise service charges to cover the GBP2 billion (USD2.915 billion) asking price. In August last year, the airport's majority shareholder, Global Infrastructure Partners, put the airport up for sale with several entities - Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, Atlantia Spa, Macq...
St. Petersburg Airport in January was able to get ahead of Nice, Zurich and London Farnborough. St. Petersburg Center for Business Aviation "Pulkovo-3" (operated by "JetPort SPb") got the fifth place based on January 2016 statistics in the ranking of the most popular airports in Europe, according to Avinode. "Pulkovo-3" was able to bypass the airport of Nice, Zuric...
The explosion was not enough to destroy the airplane — but it reportedly sent the alleged bomber plunging toward the earth. The explosion that forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing in Somalia earlier this week may have been caused by a suicide bomber, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN and the Wall Street Journal. The Daallo Airlines airplane was scheduled t...
Poland has decided to scrap the $3 billion deal for 50 Airbus utility helicopters and will buy only a few aircraft from the European company, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday citing defense sources. The move, coming months before a NATO summit in Warsaw where Poland is expected to seek more allied presence on its territory, could strain Warsaw's ties with France and delay...
Since its establishment in 1955, the Groom Lake airfield at Edwards Air Force Base—better known as Area 51—has hosted the development of some of the most exotic and advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. These so-called black projects, named for their ultra-classified nature, have produced planes like the SR-71 Blackbird, which is still the fastest and highest-operating aircraft ev...
