Spirit AeroSystems is preparing for higher production rates on the Boeing 787 by expanding the building where it produces the airplane's forward fuselage. Construction is underway on Spirit's Composite Fuselage Facility to add 100,000 square feet. The building, visible from K-15 and 47th Street South, is where Spirit manufactures the composite forward fuselage section of the 787 twin-ai...
About 2,000 Rockwell Collins employees will be eligible for a voluntary retirement program intended to reduce the company's payroll by about 500 people. The Cedar Rapids company has a global workforce of roughly 20,000. Last week, it announced plans to trim 500 positions through a program that offers incentives for employees to retire. To take advantage of the program, employees must be...
Lawmakers in Chinese capital Beijing approved Friday government plan to issue additional bonds worth 6.7 billion yuan (US$1 billion) to finance the building of the new airport. Around 4 billion yuan of the bonds will be used to support land expropriation and housing demolition in the project, Li Yingjin, head of the municipal finance bureau, said in a report to the municipal people's c...
It seems that not a week goes by without an airline revealing newly refurbished interiors on some subfleet. But while aircraft modifications continue apace, requirements for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities over the near term are actually plateauing or declining. This is largely due to lower demand as the result of a new generation of more reliable aircraft coming on...
Because not every airline can fly everywhere, and not every city can attract a major airline, there remains a gap in commercial airline service. One Part 135 operator, Boutique Air, is gearing up to further expand its eight-passenger Pilatus PC-12 operations under the FAA’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The airline was founded in 2007 by CEO Shawn Simpson, who had come from Google...
Earlier this year, we put the question of “why” to Panasonic Avionics VP Global Communications Services David Bruner, and asked him to forecast what the future holds for IFC data packages and pricing models. Our full interview is below. Note it was originally published to RGN Premium in January so all equipage and airline contract figures have moved to the right (Panasonic an...
Wearables are the big buzz in the aviation industry right now, whether it’s for passengers or for crew. Yet most of the analysis on the way they affect the passenger experience so far has been from tech media, and has tended to lack an understanding of how and why airlines make the decisions they make. So with a new Apple Watch on-wrist, RGN decided to give its implementation of Passbook...
Russia will take tit-for-tat measures if Ukraine bans flights across its territory for Russian airlines, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Friday. "We learned from media today that the government of Arseny Yatsenyuk plans to ban flights of the Aeroflot and Transaero airlines on Ukrainian territory. If the intentions are implemented into real documents of Ukraine’s air aut...
Russian president’s press secretary said he doubted if Ukraine’s prime minister had the authority to halt air service with Russia. Kiev’s decision to stop air service with Russia, if it is really taken, will be another act of utter lunacy, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. "I don’t know whether Russia’s aviation authori...
It was earlier reported that Kiev has banned Russian air carriers Aeroflot and Transaero from flying to Ukraine with the ban taking effect on October 25 Ukrainian sanctions will force Russian air companies to suspend flights to Moldova, President of the Association of Aircraft Operators Vladimir Tasun told TASS on Friday. "When Ukraine imposes sanctions on Russia air carriers,...
Boeing yesterday celebrated completion of its expansion projects in West Jordan and Salt Lake City and its first 787-9 Dreamliner horizontal stabilizer manufactured start-to-finish in Utah. "This is an exciting time for Boeing and our Salt Lake team," said Larry Coughlin, Boeing Salt Lake general manager. "Our recent progress sets the stage for Boeing Salt Lake to become a major...
Lufthansa has hit back at GDS bookings figures revealed by Tnooz yesterday as being "heavily influenced" by industrial action affecting the airline. Pilots belonging to the carrier held their 13th strike in the last 18 months in the first week of this month, just days after Lufthansa introduced its controversial Euro 16 fee on all GDS bookings from September 1. A highly confidentia...
A Transaero Airlines Boeing 737-500, registration VP-BPA performing flight UN-167 fom Moscow Domodedovo to Krasnodar (Russia) with 115 people on board, was cleared to land on Krasnodar's runway 05C however touched down on closed runway 05R. The aircraft impacted three signs before coming to a stop. There were no injuries, the passengers disembarked onto the runway and were taken to t...
Wang Zhiqing, Deputy Chief of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) met with Yakua Lorpangkao, Director General of Laos' Civil Aviation Department in Beijing on Friday. During the meeting, the two parties exchanged in-depth views on strengthening exchanges and cooperation in the field of civil aviation between Laos and China.
Cannes Mandelieu has lifted its weight restrictions, allowing larger heavier aircraft to use the airport. Effective October 1, the airport will be able to accept aircraft weighing up to 35 tonnes. With the weight restrictions lifted, the airport will be able to handle large, long range jets. Thierry Pollet, director of Cannes Mandelieu Airport said, “This victory is the result of di...
Can a low-cost carrier transcend the bare bones model and bring added value and convenience to passengers through user-friendly digital platforms, without breaking the bank? Spanish low-cost airline, Vueling, has. The airline has defied the traditional definition of a low-cost carrier — that of an independent operator taking market share from legacy airlines &m...
Norwegian Air Shuttle AS may use the first of its Boeing Co. 737 Max jets to connect smaller European airports with cities such as New York and Boston, tapping the single-aisle planes to complement busier North American routes out of London and Scandinavia operated by wide-body 787s. The narrow-body Max, which joins the Norwegian Air fleet from 2017, has the range to fly from Europe’s &ld...
AKUREYRI, ICELAND — If you don’t read Icelandic, the clue to the location of Iceland’s aviation museum (Flugsafn Islands) is in the large nose of a Douglas DC-6 poking out the side. The museum opened its doors fifteen years ago in June 2000, and moved into its current hangar in November 2007, which is crammed full of aviation heritage from this country where the advent of flig...
EasySky (EKY, San Pedro Sula) has sourced a B 737-200 Adv from Mexico's Global Air (DMJ,Mexico City) Honduras' El Heraldo newspaper has reported. XA-UHZ (msn 21816) is currently used on 3x weekly charter flights between Havana Int'l and Roatan, the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands. EasyFly, which has been operating only charter flights since May of this year,...
At 0:50 a.m. on September 26, an Airbus A330-200 of China Eastern Airlines (MU) took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and headed toward Auckland, New Zealand, marking the airline officially commenced its third scheduled Oceanian service. The inaugural flight MU779 arrived at at Auckland Airport (AKL) at 4:30 p.m. local time, which was welcomed by a water...
Deutsche Lufthansa AG boss Carsten Spohr has crossed swords with Michael O'Leary, his counterpart at Ryanair Holdings, vowing to defend the German carrier's domestic market from further encroachment from budget airlines despite Mr. O'Leary's assurances that the business can only shrink. Mr. Spohr said Lufthansa's current revamp of its short-haul operations will protect its m...
