An infrastructure vehicle backed by Asia's richest man is among five short-listed bidders expected to make offers for London City Airport this week. Asia’s richest man is among five suitors that are this week expected to make final bids for London City Airport to clinch a deal that could value the business at about £2bn. Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings (CKI), the firm controlled by Hong...
When it comes to commercial airplane production, two companies essentially have the industry on lock: American-made Boeing and European-produced Airbus. Boeing’s 737, 777 and 787 models — as well as Airbus’ A320, A330 and A350 models — dominate airports across the world. Now, a Russian company is seeking to squeeze one of its planes right into the middle of the ma...
Carriers which had passed the IATA operational safety audit were involved in five hull-loss accidents last year, but the accident rate for these operators was nevertheless three times better than for those outside of the scheme. The accident rate was 1.14 per million flights for IOSA-registered airlines compared with 3.23 for non-IOSA operators. IATA says that, over the five-year span from 2...
Despite challenges in the Chinese economy, Asia-Pacific will account for 12 percent of worldwide business aircraft deliveries through 2024 with South East Asia helping bolster the market, according to the Jetcraft brokerage group. In its recent 10-year Market Outlook, Jetcraft (Stand U63) predicted a global market for 8,755 business aircraft valued at $271.1 billion through 2024. Nort...
Sky Valet has opened a new FBO in Malaga, Spain. Sky Valet launched in 2015. It offers ground handling services to passengers, crew members and aircraft at Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Valencia, La Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza airports. These FBOs are all coordinated from an operations centre in Madrid. Sky Valet is committed to the IS-BAH standa...
Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services recently signed a heavy maintenance agreement with Thomas Cook Airlines for supporting the UK carrier’s Boeing 767 fleet. Two Thomas Cook 767s have already gone to Boeing Shanghai’s facilities at Pudong International Airport to undergo extensive C-checks and another aircraft is due to arrive in the next few weeks. The maintenance prov...
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that its all-new, recently-certified CS100 aircraft in the livery of first operator SWISS has kicked off demonstration tours and that its first stop will be Manama, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In addition to stops in the Middle East, the aircraft – which is en route to the Singapore Airshow 2016 - is expected to make stops in a number of Asia-Pac...
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is looking at an incentive-based scheme to attract commercial airlines and general aviation companies to adopt India’s “GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation” (Gagan)–which is equivalent to Europe’s EGNOS and the U.S. WAAS system, but for the Indian subcontinent. As such, Gagan will be the firs...
Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), the flag carrier airline of Malaysia and a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, will no longer cut its network capacity in 2016. Malaysia Airlines will now focus on expanding its network to emerging markets in the region instead, as the carrier sets its eyes on being profitable by 2018. Christoph Mueller, newly appointed chief executive of Malays...
Alliance Aviation Services and Virgin Australia have announced a partnership agreement that will see them cooperate in the fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) resource charter market. “Both airlines will benefit from the ability to leverage each other’s strengths, particularly in terms of network, brand, product and service offering, and technical expertise,” the two companies said in a joi...
Aviation could receive greater ministerial attention in the federal government after the appointment of Nationals MP Darren Chester as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Chester, the Member for Gippsland, a former journalist and currently Assistant Minister for Defence, was named as the new minister with responsibility for aviation as part of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s...
The nation’s two top flight attendant unions are divided on the value of pending legislation to increase the amount of required rest for flight attendants. The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents 60,000 flight attendants at United and 18 other airlines, is backing the legislation. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents the 25,000 flight attendan...
Europe’s airline sector is on course for further consolidation, while the region offers “massive opportunities” for growth, according to Carolyn McCall, chief executive of British budget airline EasyJet. “I definitely think there will be consolidation in Europe,” McCall said in a recent interview held in EasyJet’s headquarters at Luton airport, north of Londo...
Record plane orders placed by ambitious Southeast Asian airlines could be at risk in an environment of intense competition, low profitability and turmoil in financial markets, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Sunday. "The budget carriers have captured a lot of market share but one has to ask how profitable are they and are the growth plans that some of...
Plane was a few minutes into flight to New York when it reported a medical issue and asked for permission to return before landing safely. A Virgin Atlantic flight was forced to return to Heathrow on Sunday night after its first officer reported being dazzled by a laser outside London. The Airbus A340 was a few minutes into its journey to New York's JFK airport when it reported the incid...
Did you notice this big investment Google made last year? You may have missed it. After all, the U.S. space company hadn't yet earned itself a name for successfully landing a rocket on the ground just after the rocket delivered a payload in space. But the investment shouldn't be overlooked. Indeed, it may be one of Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (formerly Google) boldest m...
Only weeks after Iran sealed a lucrative deal with Airbus to purchase 118 new planes that include long-range aircraft, a debate has opened in the country as to for which destinations those planes will be used. Titre20.ir, a Persian-language news website, speculated on Sunday that the long-range Airbus 380 planes will be most specifically used for direct flights to New York and Toronto which exp...
Asia’s biggest aerospace show is set to start on the 16th of February in Singapore, and Finmeccanica will be participating with its newly integrated “One Company” organisation. Leader in the aerospace, defence and security sectors, Finmeccanica will be exhibiting its latest technologies and products in the helicopter, aeronautics and security fields to the Singapore and...
The right turbine of the plane caught fire while on the runway, according to a spokesman for Brazilian airline Jet. The aircraft was being pushed back from the airport gate in Brasilia, the country's capital, at the time of the blaze yesterday. Four fire trucks raced to the scene at around 3:20pm local time and contained the fire in the fuselage next to the engine. The 145 passengers...
DC Aviation Al Futtaim to increase fleet by two in 2016. Dubai-based business jet operator DC Aviation Al Futtaim believes it can cut its losses to break even this year against a backdrop of a softening regional economy. The operator plans to add two aircraft in 2016, increasing its managed fleet to six, General Manager Holger Ostheimer told Gulf News by phone this week. Ostheimer...
Passengers praised the pilots who safely landed a Boeing-777 with 350 passengers after an engine fire, and later, a chassis fire. Passengers of the Orenair plane heading to Moscow from the Dominican Republic thanked the pilots for their safe landing. It is not known why the plane, a Boeing-777 made in 2005 and thoroughly inspected prior to the flight, had the ac...
