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OPINION: Rotorcraft sector must go back to basics

"There doesn’t seem to be a strategy to expand the industry. We’ve been suckling too long on the oil and gas teat.” However provocative, that stray comment from one of the organising team at the HAI Heli-Expo show neatly captures the state of the rotorcraft sector. Hamstrun...

Boeing and Paramount join forces for multi-role aircraft

US plane maker Boeing and the South African defence company Paramount said they would collaborate on light multi-role aircraft. Boeing will provide advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and weapons systems for Paramount’s Mwari military aircraft, the companies...


Airbus touts its ‘Make In India’ credentials

The Airbus Group produced over $500 million worth of aero-structures, components, materials, and services in India during 2015. In the five years up to 2020, the company hopes to achieve a cumulative $2 billion in procurement from India, says Airbus Group in a statement. “Indian suppliers are a cornerstone of our globalisation strategy,” said Airbus chief procurement officer Klau...

Analysts Continue Panicking About the Boeing 777

In the past year or so, a growing contingent of aerospace analysts have made dire predictions about demand for Boeing's 777 widebody jet. They found some support for their bearish viewpoint earlier this year, when Boeing announced plans to cut the 777 production rate from 8.3 per month to seven per month for 2017. Weak demand for the current-generation 777 could potentially be exp...

Blast from the Past: Soviet-Era Tu-160M2 Is More Lethal Than Ever

Russia’s upgraded Tupolev Tu-160M2 Blackjack supersonic bomber is expected to make its first flight in 2019. Moscow currently has sixteen of the original version of the Mach 2.0-capable bomber, which are the last surviving examples of the thirty-five aircraft built by the Soviet Union before its demise. Moscow hopes to build fifty new Tu-160M2 aircraft to upgrade its aging strategic bombe...

'World's largest aircraft' prepares for first flight

The Airlander 10, a cross between an airship and an aeroplane, is reportedly weeks away from its maiden flight. The "world's largest aircraft", a cross between an airship and an aeroplane, is only weeks away from its maiden flight, Sky News reported on Sunday. The Airlander 10 was originally developed for the US Army back in 2009, but re-imagined for commercial use when the pro...

Check Out the Military’s Experimental Helicopter Plane

What takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane, and looks like something Orville Wright might dream up on mescaline? The military’s next X-Plane! On Thursday, aircraft maker Aurora Flight Sciences announced that its LightningStrike design had received the prime contract to continue the development of the VTOL X-Plane project. (VTOL stands for vertical takeoff and/or landing.) The De...

Airbus and Boeing February 2016 O&D Roundup

Boeing delivered 55 commercial aircraft to 23 airlines, six lessors and one unidentified customer in February. Airbus had 46 commercial aircraft deliveries to 29 airlines and two lessors during the month. Year-to-date, Boeing has delivered a total of 104 commercial aircraft, compared to Airbus’ 68 total deliveries as of Feb. 29, 2016. February commercial aircraft orders were relatively...

ANALYSIS: America's hypersonic missile revolution beckons

Long before hitching a ride to the moon aboard Apollo 11, then US Air Force test pilot Neil Armstrong was zipping around in a rocket-powered North American X-15, which to this day remains the fastest manned, winged aircraft ever built. That flight record of Mach 6.72 or 7,274km/h was set by pilot William “Pete” Knight in 1967. Now, some 59 years later, America still hasn’t ful...

Photo Tour of Honeywell's Boeing 757 Test Aircraft

BY DAVID PARKER BROWN Honeywell recently reached out and let me know that their Boeing 757 would be parked at Paine Field (north of Seattle) overnight. They asked if I’d like to take a tour before it departed back to Phoenix. Um… yes please! The third engine on the side of the 757, with a B-52 in the background The rain partly cleared as I arrived and the first obvio...

Iran invites Boeing to talk about plane purchases: State TV

Iran has invited U.S. planemaker Boeing Co to Tehran to discuss purchasing jetliners aimed at revamping its aging fleet hit by decades of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, state TV reported on Friday. In February, Iran's deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told Reuters the country was ready to buy at least 100 jets from Boeing. Boeing said it was assessing the ste...

This wild new concept aircraft is electric, autonomous, and powered by dozens of fans

DARPA has awarded a contract to Aurora Flight Sciences to develop the agency's newest unpiloted vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The new "X-plane" concept (no, not that X-plane) will reach speeds of 400 knots and carry cargo loads of at least 40 percent of the plane's expected 10,000- to 12,000-pound gross weight, all while beating the efficiency of its predecessor,...

Airbus Helicopters Foundation supports Fiji in the aftermath of tropical cyclone Winston

Airbus Helicopters Foundation provided support to humanitarian relief efforts following the tropical cyclone Winston that hit the Fiji Islands on 21 February 2016, killing at least 43 people and affecting 350 000 others. The disaster has left large areas of the Fiji archipelago without power, water supplies and communication and heavy rains have brought flash flooding, landslides and coastal in...

First U.S.-built A321 exits paint shop

Painting of the first U.S.-built A321 has been completed as it emerged from the paintshop in Mobile, Alabama in its JetBlue livery. This latest milestone shows that the first aircraft to be produced at the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility is progressing well on its route to first flight and delivery in spring 2016.   The aircraft painting was achieved by MAAS Aviation. The company is re...

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Essential news

Archer announces air taxi networks across Houston, Dallas and Austin

Archer Aviation has unveiled plans to develop three air taxi networks across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, aiming to improve connectivity between major airports, business centers and key regi...

FAA certifies Boeing 737-10, bringing the largest 737 MAX variant to market

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has certified the Boeing 737-10, the newest and largest member of the 737 MAX family, paving the way for Boeing [NYSE: BA] to begin customer deliveri...

Airbus expects global freighter fleet to nearly double by 2045

Airbus 2026 Cargo Global Market Forecast, unveiled at the Cargo Facts Symposium, predicts that the global fleet of dedicated freighter aircraft will expand by 46%, rising from 2,360 aircraft in 2026 t...

Dassault brings EASy IV upgrade to Falcon 2000 series, extending its latest standard to the best-selling family

Dassault will introduce the fourth-generation EASy IV flight deck on newly built Falcon 2000LXS aircraft, while also making the upgrade available as a retrofit across the entire Falcon 2000 EASy fleet...

Celebrating 10 years of the Vision Jet, the aircraft that changed personal aviation

Cirrus Aircraft is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Collier Trophy-winning Vision Jet at NBAA-BACE 2026, marking a decade of innovation that has continuously advanced the world&r...

Archer showcases electric air taxi operations in historic San Francisco Bay flights

Archer Aviation all-electric Midnight air taxi successfully completed several days of piloted flights across the San Francisco Bay Area as part of the company’s “No Roads” flight tou...

Norway unveils five sites for landmark hybrid-electric aircraft demonstrations in 2027

Bristow Group Inc., in partnership with Electra, Avinor and the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA Norway), will undertake a series of demonstration flights across five locations in Norway using...

Daher highlights expanding business aviation role of TBM and Kodiak at NBAA-BACE 2026

Daher Aircraft will present its TBM and Kodiak aircraft families at next week’s NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), showcasing how their combination of performance, e...

iOS Apps development in Riga, Latvia

Top of the week

HALO-Flight expands Texas Air Med fleet with additional Bell 407GXi helicopter order

HALO-Flight is set to further expand its South Texas air medical capabilities following the order of an additional Bell 407GXi announced by Bell Textron at AMTC 2026. The new aircraft will bring the o...

PAL-V and Nobleo partner to industrialise FlyDrive production facility and scale manufacturing readiness

PAL-V has appointed Nobleo Manufacturing as its strategic industrialisation partner for the world’s first FlyDrive production facility. Following the achievement of both automotive and aviation...

Embraer reports record US$35.7 billion backlog in Q3 2026, marking a new all-time high

Embraer reported a record backlog of US$35.7 billion in the third quarter of 2026, surpassing its previous all-time high by 3% quarter-over-quarter and increasing 14% compared with the...

Electra demonstrates runway-free operations with ultra-short takeoff and landing at Manhattan Heliport

Electra has successfully completed the takeoff and landing of its hybrid-electric Ultra Short aircraft at Downtown Skyport in Lower Manhattan, in what is believed to be the first time a fixed-wing air...

The PC-12 PRO simulator: bringing real-world flight training to life

A professional training device such as the new PC-12 PRO simulator is built on flight data supplied and validated by Pilatus. Drawing on actual flight-test and performance data, it accurately reproduc...

Oriens Aviation appoints Narine Melkumjan as Tecnam Sales Manager for the Netherlands

Oriens Aviation has appointed Narine Melkumjan as Sales Manager for the Netherlands, strengthening its presence in the Dutch market following its designation as Tecnam’s exclusive dealer in the...

Cirrus breaks ground on new engine run-up facility

Cirrus Aircraft has broken ground on a new 15,000-square-foot Engine Run-Up Center that will centralize engine testing, fuel calibration and certification activities for the SR Series, Vision Jet and...