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SpiceJet announces direct flights to Dubai from Amritsar and Kozhikode (Calicut),

SpiceJet, India’s favourite low cost airline, today announced the launch of direct flights to Dubai from the cities of Amritsar and Kozhikode (Calicut). Bookings for tickets are open now and flight services will commence from November 15, 2015. With the launch of these flights, SpiceJet will be serving Dubai direct from eight Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Madurai,...

VLM Airlines and Birmingham Airport launch new service to Antwerp

European regional carrier, VLM Airlines, yesterday launched a direct service from Birmingham to the thriving commercial and tourist centre of Antwerp in Belgium. The inaugural flight was greeted with a water arch salute whilst VIP passengers were greeted by The Belgium Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellence Guy Trouveroy. H.E. Guy Trouveroy showed further suppor...

airberlin starts off the fall season with stable capacity utilization

In September 2015, airberlin transported a total of 3,160,104 passengers. In light of an extensive capacity reduction by 7.2 percent, the number of passengers decreased by 6.4 percent as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. Analogously, the revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) traveled within airberlin’s global flight route network decreased by 7.2 percent to 4.631 billion...

Innovative UK-based Airlines Firnas Airways launches

UK carrier Firnas Airways has launched a Gulf funding campaign in a bid to raise the US$50 million it requires for expansion. The airline’s founder and CEO, British entrepreneur Kazi Shafiqur Rahman, is confident Gulf investors will be keen to capitalise on an airline concept and business model that is unique in its scope and ambition. Firnas Airways will establish routes between...

OPINION: Unmanned aviation still a work in progress

Unmanned aircraft are the future of aviation, or so we are led to believe – not least because of their endurance, and the access they offer to some areas that cannot be reached by manned flight. It is generally accepted that they will complement the work currently carried out by manned aircraft, as well as facilitate moves into new markets. But this is easier said than done. Associated...

Cessna approaching 2,500 Caravan delivery milestone

Cessna is preparing to deliver the 2,500th Caravan this quarter, to an Alaskan charter operator which was its original launch customer for the single-engined turboprop – Bering Air. The Caravan EX rolled-off Cessna’s Wichita production line in Kansas in late September, a little over 30 years after the first iteration of the high-wing utility aircraft entered service with Bering...

UK AAIB launches investigation into fatal King Air 200 crash

UK investigators are examining how a Beechcraft King Air 200 crashed soon after taking off from Stapleford airport in Essex on 3 October, killing its two crew members. The twin-engined turboprop, registration G-BYCP (archive image below), was owned and operated by the UK’s largest charter and management company, London Executive Aviation (LEA). AirTeamImages According to the ope...

Boeing, commercial deliveries rise 7% in 3Q 2015

Boeing Co. said its deliveries of commercial airplanes rose 7% for the third quarter amid continued growth for its 787 Dreamliner and its best-selling 737 single-aisle jetliner. The aerospace and defense company delivered 199 commercial aircraft in the latest quarter, compared with 186 a year earlier. The world’s largest jetliner maker has continued to enjoy strong demand for...

Air France to cut widebody fleet, network, staff

Air France (AF,Paris CDG ) is to cut its longhaul fleet and workforce as part of a raft of new cost-cutting measures the airline's board plans to implement under its Perform 2020 plan. Following a breakdown in talks between management and flight crew unions on how to achieve an estimated EUR1.8 billion (USD1.98 billion) in additional savings, Air France's board said on Monday...

Biggin Hill gives figures for BGAD 2015

Biggin Hill is reporting that BGAD had over 700 visitors, 60 exhibitors and 20 aircraft and helicopters in the static display. The show highlighted the UK debut of the Cessna Citation Latitude; the launch of TBM dealer Flying Smart’s new sales base at Biggin Hill; Globeair’s promotion of its new collaboration with BACA and Zenith Aviation’s new charter fleet. Charter broker...

Sfera Jet with new Embraer Legacy 650

As Bizavnews found out,Russian provider of business aviation services  "Sfera Jet" received new Embraer Legacy 650 on October 3. The aircraft, tail number M-YKBO (2015 ) performed three day flight from Sao Jose dos Campos (Sao Jose Dos Campos) to Moscow "Domodedovo", through Recife, Sal Island (Sal Amilcar Cabral) and Geneva. First aircraft...

Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. Increases PT6B-37A Engine TBO by 1,500 Hours

Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (P&WC) has boosted the basic Time Between Overhaul (TBO) for the power section of the PT6B-37A turboshaft engine by a full 50 per cent, jumping from 3,000 hours to 4,500 hours, resulting in improved operating economics. All PT6B-37A engines in service are eligible for the basic TBO increase, meaning no minimum build standard is required. “This 50 per c...

RUAG Aviation Named Hartzell Propeller Service Facility in Central Europe

Hartzell Propeller Inc. has appointed RUAG Aviation in Lodrino, Switzerland as a Recommended Service Facility. The Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility covers a wide area of central Europe. RUAG Aviation's Lodrino facility is an EASA and FAA approved repair station. It is a service center for a number of aircraft manufacturers, including Cirrus, Mooney, Piper and Textron Aviation...

JSSI Continues to Expand Helicopter Programs

Jet Support Services, Inc. (JSSI), the leading provider of hourly cost maintenance programs for the business aviation industry, has announced that GE CT7-8 engine program coverage for the Sikorsky S-92 is now available as they continue to expand into the helicopter market. The JSSI Premium Program for the GE CT7-8 engine is a comprehensive hourly cost maintenance program, covering scheduled and...

UAE'S GCAA AND Eurocontrol sign flight plan data exchange accord

The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and Eurocontrol have signed an agreement at ATC Global, currently running in Dubai, to enhance co-operation between the two for flight data exchange. Frank Brenner, Eurocontrol’s Director General  (pictured above) revealed the agreement covers the exchange of flight data, updated flight plan informatio...

Portuguese competition watchdog okays Gateway control of TAP

The Portuguese Competition Authority (Autoridade da Concorrência - AdC) has given Gateway, a joint-venture between jetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) and Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras (AD,Campinas Viracopos) founder David Neeleman and Portuguese bus company Barraqueiro Group, the greenlight to acquire a 61% stake in the country's national carrier, TAP Portugal (TP, Lisbon...

Is this the plane of the future?

KLM's sleek and streamlined AHEAD aircraft is one of many proposed aircraft that could radically change the way we fly. The plane of the future could well be a sleek and streamlined aircraft with a “blended wing” if proposals by the Delft University of Technology in Holland and Dutch carrier KLM come to fruition. A blended wing is one that is seamlessly connected to the...

Air France Workers Rip Shirts from Top Managers in Jobs Protest

Air France executives were forced to flee with their clothes in tatters after workers stormed a meeting at Charles de Gaulle airport in protest at 2,900 planned job cuts. Human resources chief Xavier Broseta and Pierre Plissonnier, head of long-haul flights, scaled an eight-foot fence to escape, aided by security guards. Broseta emerged shirtless and Plissonnier had his suit ripped to...

Airbus Helicopters positive despite sluggish rotorcraft market

Despite the subdued market for new helicopters – particularly in the oil and gas segment – Airbus Helicopters remains confident that it can end the year in positive territory. Aided by some hefty commitments for the 7.5t H175 – it has taken in almost 40 orders for the type this year, including the first for the search and rescue variant – the manufacturer achieved a book...

Northrop builds first F-35 centre fuselage for assembly in Japan

Northrop Grumman has built the first F-35 centre fuselage destined for Japan’s domestic joint strike fighter assembly plant, operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The company says the centre fuselage is the core of AX-5, Japan’s fifth example, and will become the first to enter Japan's Nagoya final assembly and checkout plant instead of prime contractor Lockhe...

Crew of crashed Trigana ATR received no GPWS alerts

A preliminary report into to the fatal crash of a Trigana Air Service ATR 42-300 on 16 August indicates that the crew received no ground proximity warning system (GPWS) alerts before crashing into an 8,300ft ridge. The National Transportation Safety Committee’s (NTSC) initial report into the crash, which killed 49 passengers and five crew, is based on data from the aircraft...