In late March the EASA issued a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) aimed at improving certification rules for helicopters operating over water. At issue is the creation of realistic requirements about keeping the aircraft upright and easing passenger egress. Comments are due by June 23, and the agency expects to publish the new regulation in the third quarter. According to the&nb...
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will operate its Boeing 787-9 in a summer seasonal service from Amsterdam to San Francisco, starting from May 4. The seasonal service will be in addition to KLM’s daily scheduled flight operated by 747-400s, and it will mark the first deployment of the Dutch carrier of its 787-9s on a route to the United States. The new flight schedule will see flight KL609 lea...
Despite a fall in worldwide air freight in February, Middle East airlines’ cargo volumes continued to grow steadily, rising 3.7 per cent year-on-year, the International Air Transport Association said yesterday. Global air freight volumes fell by 5.6 per cent year-on-year in February owing in part to a spike after port strikes in the United States early last year. “The air freight...
The TRUEngine technical program continues to expand with total engine enrollments surpassing the 12,000 mark, a 20% increase in the last 18 months. More than 200 operators have opted to enroll their engines in the TRUEngine program. “The TRUEngine designation provides significant benefits to operators including optimized product support, higher asset residual values and enhanced warrantie...
Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, today announced it will begin base operations in Sibiu in August and launch four new routes from Sibiu International Airport. The company also announced it is adding Suceava as its newest Romanian destination, launching new service to London Luton. Already the largest airline operation in Romania, Sibiu will become Wizz Air&r...
AFI KLM E&M has signed an agreement with UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) covering aircraft maintenance services in connection with Airbus A350 components supplied by the North American OEM. The go-to partner for A350 operators The powerful ties it has forged with the leading OEMs mean that AFI KLM E&a...
Today the Minister for Transport of Latvia, Uldis Augulis, and CEO of airBaltic, Martin Gauss, hold an official opening of the new airBaltic headquarters featuring the most modern crew centre in the Baltic region. Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “Offering a superb product to our customer is priority. We are delighted that our new facility with its modern crew centre en...
easyJet launched 18 new routes across its European network between 23 and 29 March, starting on the former date with a four times weekly service between Venice Marco Polo (VCE) and Bristol (BRS), with the UK airport also gaining a connection to Nantes (NTE) the following day. Commenting on the launch of flights from Bristol to the Italian gateway, Shaun Browne, Aviation Director, Bristol Ai...
Nordica commenced three services from Tallinn (TLL) between 27 and 29 March according to OAG Schedules Analyser data. The first two routes to be launched were to Paris CDG (CDG) and Vienna (VIE) on the former date. Both 1,828- and 1,365-kiolometre sectors will face direct competition from airBaltic. Flights to the French capital will be operated by the carrier’s CRJ 900s thrice-weekly whi...
Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) 2016 – TAP Portugal has signed an agreement with Airbus to be the first operator of the new A330neo airliner and therefore also become the launching carrier to fly the Airspace by Airbus cabin brand in the A330neo. In 2015, the airline placed a large fleet renewal contract with Airbus which included an order for 14 A330-900neos. Passengers will soon be...
Daher unveiled the expanded range of its TBM very fast turboprop aircraft family, which now consists of the TBM 900 and the TBM 930 version – each of which retain the performance and technical features that have made the TBM 900 a business aviation success, with more than 110 sold since its launch two years ago. Daher has introduced the e-copilot® function on Model Year 2016 aircraft fo...
The expeditionary group of Russia’s Air and Space Force (VKS, formerly the Russian air force) started using two new types of attack rotorcraft—the Mil Mi-28 “Night Hunter” and Kamov Ka-52 “Alligator”—in Syria. Previously, the service relied on two less capable, older types: the Mi-8 utility and Mi-24 assault helicopters. One Mi-8 was lost during a rescue o...
Air France-KLM chairman and chief executive Alexandre de Juniac will replace Tony Tyler as the next director and CEO of the International Air Transport Association, the airline said Tuesday. De Juniac indicated to the Air France-KLM board of directors that he would accept IATA’s offer to lead that organization at its general meeting, scheduled for June 1 to 3 in Dubl...
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA) president Marc De Stoop has presented the federal government with a nine-point plan to support and revitalise the nation’s general aviation (GA) sector, including proposed changes to the nation’s aviation safety regulator and the privatisation of Airservices. The reforms are outlined in brief to government called Project Eur...
On Monday, Seattle-based airline Alaska Air announced that it will buy rival Virgin America for $2.6 billion. This was a somewhat surprising turn of events, particularly because Alaska Air operates a single fleet type of Boeing 737s for its mainline flights, whereas Virgin America uses the competing Airbus A320 family. Virgin America currently operates an all-Airbus fleet. For the next...
Many have protested the airline's request that they don headscarves when flying to the Muslim country. Air France will let female crew members opt out of flights to Tehran, after staff and unions challenged the airline’s request that female crew wear headscarves upon arrival in Iran. “If, for personal reasons, they don’t want to wear the headscarf when they leave the pl...
Public charter operator JetSuiteX wants to deliver a private jet–style experience for the cost of a commercial flight. Affordable private jet travel? It's the way of the future, if California-based JetSuite has anything to say about it. The private jet company has carved out a niche as a “value” operator, and today takes its business plan one step further by launching an u...
Have you ever wondered from your window seat at 35,000 feet exactly which town or city, lake or river, hill or mountain, you are gazing at down below? Of course you have. Well, now there’s an app that will help air passengers identify and explore the distinguishing features on the ground as they fly to their destination. Flyover Country, which is available to buy in the app store ...
Rockwell Collins’ PAVES™ Passenger Service System (PSS) has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for Airbus A330 aircraft. The company teamed with Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) to design, install and achieve the supplemental type certificate (STC) as part of a cabin upgrade for A330 from AERCAP...
Excited passengers this morning welcomed the first aircraft displaying the new Cathay Dragon livery as it took flight from Hong Kong to Beijing. Earlier this year, the Cathay Pacific Group announced that Dragonair will be rebranded as Cathay Dragon, bringing the two airline brands – Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon – closer together and offering passengers a more seamless travel exp...
The Kuwait Ministry of Defence and Finmeccanica, which leads commercial activities in Kuwait on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, today signed a contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, to be produced in Italy. The contract, part of an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries, was signed in the presence of the Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti and her Kuw...
