50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

France aviation news

Airbus declares Silicon Valley initiatives on-line

Airbus has declared its new Silicon Valley-based $150 million venture capital fund and innovation centre to be fully operational. The objective of the Airbus Ventures fund is identifying and investing in “visionary entrepreneurs in the global aerospace ecosystem,” says the manufacturer. It has already made an unspecified investment in an Arizona company, Local Motors, which has e...

Air France Tells Unions It Will Expand Routes if They’ll Ease up on Demands

Air France told unions that it’s ready to add planes and routes to expand capacity by 2 to 3 percent annually from 2017 through 2020 in return for productivity improvements as an improved economic outlook boosts earnings prospects. Management told representatives of pilots, flight attendants and ground staff at a works council meeting Friday that Air France remains prepared to adopt...

Air France Drops 'Plan B' Restructuring

Air France is reported to have dropped its "plan B" restructuring of job losses that triggered clashes with staff last year. In new plans outlined to the airline's works council, Air France targeted growth in its long-haul network from 2017, Reuters news agency reported. The measures are conditional on greater productivity efforts from pilots and cabin crew. Net investments...

The ACA Group has another record year

The Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur (ACA) Group has had a record year for business aviation movements. A total of 46,000 movements were processed at Nice, Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Helicopter movements saw 2% growth during the year, rising to 54,000 total movements. Cannes Mandelieu Airport has also significantly improved its aircraft reception capacity by raising tonnage which...

A350-1000 to enter final assembly next month

Airbus is expecting the first A350-1000 to enter the final assembly line in February, with first flight set to take place by the end of this year. The aircraft is at the pre-final assembly stage and chief operating officer Tom Williams says its development is progressing relatively smoothly. “It’s coming together really well, probably better than the -900,” he told Flightgl...

ANALYSIS: A350 Challenges Are Transitory

The delivery of the first Airbus A350 (an A350-900) to Singapore Airlines has been delayed, according to a report in Australian Business Traveler. The aircraft was scheduled to be delivered this month, but initial delivery was delayed due to issues with the interiors (seats and toilets) provided by component manufacturer Zodiac Aerospace. Singapore Airlines told Australian Business Traveler tha...

Mont-Blanc Helicopteres - special team in the mountains

Amazing number of colleagues and friends are already there or planning to go on skiing vacation. For us it is just one more reason to remind everyone about very special people. They can be almost invisible until the moment their help is needed. After an accident with a friend, I had to find out all in detail due to professional curiosity. MBH Avoriaz, about 20 years of service....

Airbus forms joint venture in bid for Canadian contract

Airbus Defense and Space and Canada's Provincial Aerospace have formed a joint venture company in a bid for a Canadian government contract. The new company, AirPro SAR Services, will be the Canadian in-service support integrator of Canada's Fixed Wing Search and Rescue fleet of C295W aircraft if Airbus wins its bid for the replacement of existing Buffalo and Hercules SAR aircraft. &q...

Airbus commits to future of A380 aircraft

European planemaker Airbus has given its backing to the long-term future of the A380 superjumbo, after finally starting to break even on the programme. The Toulouse-based manufacturer assembled 27 A380s in 2015, taking the total number of superjumbos built to 179, with 13 airlines. Airbus announced a new order for three A380s from an un-named customer, thought to be Japan's All Nippon Ai...

Air France, the world’s first airline to fly an Airbus A380 to Latin America

This winter, Air France is offering six weekly frequencies between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Mexico. Starting on 12 January 2016, three weekly flights are operated by Airbus A380, the Company’s largest super jumbo (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). The three other flights are operated by Boeing 777-300. From 27 March 2016, the A380 will fly between the two cities daily. On board, custome...

Body found in landing gear of plane at Paris airport

A man's body was found at Paris’ Orly airport in the landing gear of an Air France plane that had flown in from Brazil, police and airport sources said. The corpse was discovered during maintenance operations on the Boeing 777 at Orly after flying in to Paris’ main international Charles de Gaulle airport from Sao Paulo two days earlier, a police source said. The body is...

Airbus exceeds targets in 2015 – delivers the most aircraft ever

Highest number of Airbus airliners ever delivered – 635 · Net orders achieved totaling 1,036 aircraft – increasing backlog by 401 aircraft · Overall result: industry year-end record backlog of 6,787 aircraft Airbus has exceeded its targets for 2015, achieving a new record of 635 aircraft deliveries for 85 customers of which 10 are new. These deliveries compris...