50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

Aviation essential

Essential and most important aviation news

Latest essential aviation news

Ryanair Targeting Quarter Of European Traffic

Ryanair expects to be operating one in every four European short-haul flights within the next eight to 10 years, driven by expansion in countries such as Germany as some of its rivals retreat. The Irish carrier, which has around 380 planes on order, has a market share of about 14 percent in Europ...

Qantas to “FlyPink” in October to raise awareness about breast cancer research

Pilots across the Qantas group of airlines will “FlyPink” in October as part of breast cancer awareness month. The initiative features pilots donating money to wear pink epaulettes in place of their usual gold epaulettes to show their support for the National Breast Cancer Foundation....


Falcon Pilots Held Responsible for Passenger Luggage Content

The pilots of Dassault Falcon 50 F-GXMC–which in March 2013 was caught in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, just before takeoff for Saint-Tropez, France, with 1,500 pounds of cocaine on board (street value $26 million)–are crying foul. The case has since been known as “Air Cocaine,” and in August pilots Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos received a 20-year jail sentenc...

Transaero narrows first-half net losses to $57.6 million

Russia’s Transaero Airlines reported a 2015 first-half net loss of RUB3.2 billion ($57.6 million), narrowed from a RUB10.4 billion net loss in a year-ago period. First-half revenue grew 5.1% to RUB50.7 billion. Passengers carried in the first half remained flat year-over-year—5.8 million. RPKs decreased 11% to 19.3 billion. Transaero reported its first-half capital is negative&md...

GE Aviation to Create European Turboprop Center of Excellence

GE Aviation will create a turboprop engine development, test and production operation in Europe. This will represent an investment exceeding $400 million and ultimately support 500 – 1,000 jobs. The turboprop industry is highly global and comprised of many small aircraft operators. Among the factors driving GE Aviation to pursue the new operation in Europe is the need to support these and...

Snecma kicks off construction of new world-class engine test stand in southern France

Snecma (Safran) officially started the construction of a second open-air engine test stand at its facility located at French air force base 125 in Istres, southern France. The new installation, comprising a test stand featuring a design that is unique in Europe and a building housing all control systems, is on a par with the best engine test facilities in the world. It will be up and running in...

First Finnair A350 conducts maiden flight

Finnair’s first Airbus A350-900 has carried out its maiden flight, just a few weeks before the carrier becomes the first European customer to introduce the twinjet. Having performed its first sortie, at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered aircraft will enter a final series of ground and flight checks. Finnair will initially put the aircraft i...

Lufthansa Expects EUR500 Million Profit Boost from Board Overhaul

Lufthansa is stepping up its cost-cutting overhaul with a streamlined management structure it said will boost profit by EUR500 million (US$564 million) a year and provide a new boss for the Eurowings budget brand that has raised tensions in its long-running dispute with pilots. The German airline, long known for a focus on business customers, is expanding budget operations as it battles the lik...

Boeing to Welcome China President Xi Jinping

Boeing confirmed today that China President Xi Jinping will visit the company's Everett, Wash., factory on Sep. 23 during his visit to the U.S. Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney will be on hand to welcome President Xi, along with Boeing President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg and Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. "We're honored that President Xi will see our facto...

Airbus: Beluga XL programme achieves design freeze

The new Beluga programme, christened Beluga XL, has successfully passed the latest maturity gate milestone – marking the end of the ‘concept phase’ or design freeze ‘at aircraft level’ which is a key step in any development programme. The maturity gate review demonstrated that the Beluga XL programme is robust and mature enough to move to the next phase of developm...

Bell 505 Jet Ranger X makes Polish debut

Bell Helicopter has continued its sales push for the developmental 505 Jet Ranger X, displaying a mock-up of the light single-engined rotorcraft at the MSPO defence show held in Kielce, Poland between 1-4 September. Bell says it exhibited the four-seat, civil rotorcraft at a military exhibition "to promote its capabilities as a training platform" for the region's air forces....

Bombardier Mounts Engines on First Global 7000 Test Vehicle

Investors were rushing to pick up shares of Bombardier Inc. last week, as rumours swirled about a takeover offer for its transportation division and another report marked steady progress on its CSeries aircraft. Bombardier has now made several announcements regarding its long-range business jet program. Bombardier Business Aircraft has mounted the engines on its first flight test vehicle for th...

U.S. Air Force warns F-35 order review could damage program

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh on Tuesday warned that short-term moves to revise downward the Air Force's planned purchase of 1,763 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters could damage the program and scare off foreign buyers. "Let’s delay this discussion for a little while until we see what happens in the world," Welsh told reporters at the annual Air F...

Etihad Airways and Key Equity Partners Complete Successful Platform Financing Transaction

Etihad Airways, its airport services business and five of its equity partners have today successfully completed an innovative new platform financing transaction, raising $500 million on the international markets. Etihad Airways, Etihad Airport Services, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia and Jet Airways have together taken a new step forward in their strategic business development...

Upcoming events

ILA Berlin 2026

Running now
Germany, Berlin

Farnborough International Airshow 2026

20/07/2026 - 24/07/2026
United Kingdom, Farnborough

Top of the week

Kraków and Palma de Mallorca are now on the map: Etihad Airways lands in two of Europe's most beloved destinations

Etihad Airways announced the launch of two new European routes this June: direct services to Kraków, and Palma de Mallorca. These additions mark a significant milestone in Etihad’s e...

Deutsche Aircraft highlighted sustainable aviation progress and D328eco at ILA Berlin 2026

At ILA Berlin 2026, Deutsche Aircraft showcases its continued progress in sustainable regional aviation, highlighting the research‑driven achievements supporting the development and industrialisation...

Air India entrusts Lufthansa Technik with long-term A350 APU support

Air India and Lufthansa Technik have recently concluded a multi-year contract covering the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of the Auxiliary Power Units of the Indian carrier’s growing Air...

Do228 NXT launch customer announced - NGO acquires versatile turboprop aircraft for humanitarian and special mission operations

Following the successful first flight and Roll-Out of the demonstrator aircraft of the Do228 NXT series, German aircraft manufacturer General Atomics AeroTec Systems announced the sale of the first Do...

Flexjet advances global expansion with acquisition of The Jet Business

Flexjet announced the acquisition of London-based aircraft brokerage and advisory firm, The Jet Business. The deal extends Flexjet’s capabilities in whole private aircraft sales, procuremen...

Gulfstream announced new on-site customer support in Singapore strengthening Asia-Pacific service network

Gulfstream Aerospace announced new on-site Gulfstream Customer Support in Singapore, further strengthening the company’s service capabilities across the Asia-Pacific region and reinfor...

airBaltic recognized for best Wi-Fi in Europe by APEX

airBaltic has been awarded Best Wi-Fi in Europe for 2026 by APEX – one of the world’s largest international airline associations. The award is based on passenger r...

ExecuJet MRO services Belgium completes extensive project on Falcon 7X

ExecuJet MRO Services Europe completed a major project on a Dassault Falcon 7X that included: installing a Starlink system and antennae, performing an avionics upgrade, an engine change, exterior repa...

Deutsche Aircraft and INERATEC demonstrate fuel-to-flight concept at ILA Berlin

Deutsche Aircraft and INERATEC are advancing their collaboration to demonstrate a fully integrated fuel-to-flight solution for sustainable and resilient aviation at ILA Berlin. At the centre...

easyJet marks its 100th NEO delivery in Hamburg

easyJet took delivery of its 100th A320neo Family aircraft in Hamburg, underscoring the airline’s continued commitment to modernising its fleet and improving operational efficiency. The mil...

Safran, MTU and Avio Aero welcome EU support for SHARP project focusing on technologies for next-gen helicopter engines

European Commission decided to support Safran Helicopter Engines, MTU Aero Engines and Avio Aero in their technological research project known as SHARP (Sovereign High-performance Architecture for Rot...

ACL reaches 80th airport milestone with Bucharest slot coordination agreement

  Airport Coordination Limited has reached a significant global milestone with the signing of Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP) as the 80th airport in its worldwide portfolio....

Otto Aerospace advances Phantom 3500 program with FAA certification basis milestone

Otto Aerospace announced a major regulatory milestone for its flagship Phantom 3500 program: closure of the G-1 Issue Paper, which establishes the aircraft's Certification Basis with the Federal A...

European Flyers expands its advanced training fleet with the ALSIM Airliner, the first in Spain

European Flyers has selected both the Airliner and the ALX for its bases in Madrid and Alicante, making it the first Airliner simulator installed in Spain. This dual acquisition highlights European Fl...

Electra unveils turbo-electric aircraft concept for next-generation airliner as part of NASA AACES 2050 program

Electra unveiled new conceptual aircraft design for next-generation airliners developed as part of NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 program. The...

ATR sees Vietnam as a key growth market for regional aviation in Southeast Asia

ATR highlighted Vietnam's significant potential as a market for modern regional aviation, pointing to strong underlying demand, an expanding airport network and a new generation of turboprop...

Airbus introduces uncrewed version of the H145, the U145

Airbus Helicopters will introduce an uncrewed version of its proven H145, the U145, during ILA Berlin airshow, where the company will display a full-scale mock-up of the new model. The U145 complement...

H55 delivers certification-grade propulsion battery modules to Pratt & Whitney Canada, supporting demonstration of hybrid-electric aircraft technology

H55 announced the delivery of certification-grade propulsion battery modules to Pratt & Whitney Canada in support of the RTX Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator — a milestone that further va...

Supporting unprecedented growth - CANAVIA Aviation Academy places new order for four Tecnam NG aircraft

CANAVIA Aviation Academy is significantly expanding its training capabilities with a major fleet upgrade. The academy has placed a new order for a P2006T NG twin-engine (MEP) and a ...

The countdown begins: tickets now live for Air Charter Expo – ACE’26

The Air Charter Association is announcing tickets for Air Charter Expo – ACE’26 are now officially on sale. Taking place on Tuesday 8 September 2026, ACE is a partnership between The ACA,...

Jetfly is redefining business aviation with its Shared Ownership Program

For over 25 years, Jetfly has stood out in Europe as a pioneer of a distinctive shared ownership model in business aviation. Designed to offer the flexibility of private aviation without the constrain...

Gulfstream G300 and G400 make their European debut in Farnborough

Gulfstream Aerospace marked the European debut of the Gulfstream G300 and Gulfstream G400, bringing two of the company’s newest next-generation aircraft to customers and industry leaders at its...

Bombardier & Elie Saab collaboration introduces the Haute Couture of aviation with Global 8000 cabin design

Bombardier and ELIE SAAB unveiled a new chapter in business aviation: a bespoke cabin design for the Global 8000 aircraft that redefines the onboard experience through the lens of haute cout...

FlyBy Aviation Academy celebrates new pilot graduation and launches third ATPL integrated EASA class of 2026

FlyBy Aviation Academy announced that during the month of May, the Academy celebrated yet another pilot graduation ceremony, marking the successful completion of training for 18 new pilots representin...

First UK-built Islander passes 75% completion at Bembridge, on schedule for delivery

Britten-Norman has confirmed that first new Islander to be produced through its fully reshored UK production line has reached 75% completion at the company’s Bembridge facility on the Isle of Wi...