The UAE military said it has signed a $346 million contract to acquire eight Piaggio P.1HH HammerHead unmanned aircraft. The general headquarters of the UAE Armed Forces made the announcement on March 8, during the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi. The military signed the contract with Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments (ADASI), whose chairman, Homaid Al Shemmari, i...
The Volocopter VC200 is bringing the helicopter into the 21st century, offering clean, energy-efficient transportation in an innovative package that will surely attract a lot of customers. Learning to pilot, take off and land vertically has never been easier, with this revolutionary e-multicopter being as easy to operate as possible; you won’t even need to spend a to...
Quantum3D, Inc., a leading provider of training and simulation solutions for government and commercial applications, today announced that it has been selected by Reiser Simulation and Training GMBH, a manufacturer of groundbreaking training technology, to provide image generators and synthetic visual databases for Reiser's civil Full-Flight Simulator (FFS) for 4t class helicopters. The planned...
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced continued program performance and outstanding customer response for the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X.. Launched at HELI-EXPO 2014, the program has moved from a mockup to prototype in less than two years. Flight testing is underway and the company is making significant progress toward type certification. “The Bell 505 program is proceedin...
Finmeccanica Helicopter Division and Era Group Inc will jointly develop an Emergency Medical Service variant of the AgustaWestland AW609 TiltRotor. Era is a major customer of AgustaWestland helicopters, both as an operator and a lessor. Following the fatal October 2015 crash of the AW609 prototype, Finmeccanica say there is only one aircraft currently flying. Two more are in various stages of c...
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Asia’s largest international airline by passengers, will soon start using Airbus Group SE’s most fuel-efficient plane as it tries to trim costs in the face of mounting competition. Cathay will receive 12 new A350 aircraft this year, with the first one due in May, Chief Executive Officer Ivan Chu said after a briefing Wednesday af...
Amazon is about to lease 20 Boeing 767 aircraft, according to Reuters, confirming months of speculation that the online retail giant is building up an air-delivery service. The planes are being leased by a company called Air Transport Services Group Inc. Rumors of Amazon's involvement with ATSG date to late last year, when Motherboard uncovered that the aviation lessor was shipping goods fo...
Heavy rains and windshear created havoc Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo, damaging at least one static display aircraft and multiple outdoor exhibits. “It was a very bad day for us and the whole of the UAE,” said Didier Mary of show organizer 4MEvents. “Luckily no one was injured. That was the most important thing.” This weather is not typical for this time of...
GI Aviation is showcasing the Pilatus PC-12 NG aircraft at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo. The aircraft, serial number 1604, arrived in Abu Dhabi on 5 March 2016. The company hoping to get its AOC during the summer. Operations will begin shortly afterwards. A second PC-12 NG is on order and will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2016. GI Aviation has appointed Marios Belidis as general manage...
Qatar Airways has confirmed a December launch for nonstop Doha-Auckland flights, with New Zealand’s most populous city one of 14 new destinations to join the airline’s fast growing network announced overnight. The route, at 7,848nm, will be the world’s longest nonstop passenger flight when the inaugural flight takes off on December 3 with Boeing 777-200LR equipment, eclipsing...
The twelve-year-old plane has taken all the trips it can, and it's time to be scrapped for parts. Touchdown Aviation (TDA), a company that stocks and distributes aircraft parts, just recently got a new arrival in the shop. The Airbus A320—formerly MSN 2137 of Air Asia—was born in October of 2003; the jet has seen some 12 years of active duty but it's stil...
United Airlines confirmed yesterday that it has ordered an additional 25 Boeing 737-700 airliners. This is in addition to the 40 737-700s the Chicago-based airline ordered in January. This marks the second time this year that United has turned down fresher models such as the Bombardier C-Series in favor of the 737-700 that will soon be discontinued. One major driver may be the serious dis...
A WOMAN who flew into Paris from Istanbul was found to have hidden a four-year-old girl in a bag on the plane, Air France have revealed. The airline said the child, travelling without a ticket, was discovered on board the flight “hidden inside a bag”. There are conflicting reports about the age of the girl, with some agencies reporting she was as young as one. A source at Char...
Hartsfield-Jackson International will soon start work on a $6 billion expansion and makeover that will update the domestic terminal and concourses, introduce new features like a hotel and eventually add another concourse and runway to the world’s busiest airport. It’s part of a 20-year plan aimed at maintaining Hartsfield-Jackson’s status as a leading airport, replacing aging...
LOW-COST AIRLINE Ryanair has announced that it is set to launch its own private jet charter. The Boeing 737-700 plane will be available for corporate and group hire. Far from the bolt-upright economy seating you might associate with the budget airline’s services around Europe, this for-hire service will come with a touch of luxury. The plane contains 60 business class reclining leat...
Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower Geared Turbofan™ engines successfully completed its first test flight on the Airbus A321neo. The PW1135G-JM engine, a 35,000 thrust class engine, for the Airbus A321neo aircraft, is the most powerful engine on the A321neo. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company. “The PurePower engine continues to meet commitm...
Keeping in line with their strategies to expand their network reach, MASkargo and Silk Way Airlines of Azerbaijan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation that will strengthen their competitive edge within the aviation industry. The agreement paves the way for greater collaboration between the airlines on cargo space agreements, ground handling and line maintenance. Both airlines will have ac...
Airbus Americas has joined the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) as a premium industrial member. Membership in IACMI aligns the mutual goals of the association and of Airbus as related to composite manufacturing. “We are enthusiastic and energized by the possibilities to work within the IACMI network of member organizations to develop t...
Private aviation membership program JetSmarter is expanding its flight capacity through an agreement with charter operator Jet Edge International to buy all its empty-leg hours and make them available to JetSmarter members at no additional charge above their annual membership fee of $9,000. JetSmarter has agreed to pay up to $350 million over the next seven years to purchase up to 35,000 flig...
Airline carriers are in a highly transformative period in which they are changing their retailing practices to be more customer centric. This shift in retail strategy has proven to lead to an improvement in profitability and customer experience. To fully realize the advantages of a customer-centric retailing approach (improved customer experience, increased product sales, and improved product m...
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) intends to become more involved in the civil market, as it looks to boost profitability. Attempts to lay-off around 1,500 workers have so far failed because of strong union and political opposition, leaving the company seeking another solution to alleviate its poor financial performance. While IAI is considered a defence aerospace company, its new strategy i...
