Completions specialist Associated Air Center (AAC) redelivered the industry’s first head-of-state-configured Boeing 787-8 to an undisclosed customer. (In 1989, AAC completed the first head-of-state-configured 757-200 for the same customer.) AAC’s in-house team designed the interior. Its 2,404 sq ft of cabin space can accommodate 82 passengers in three cabin zones, while...
Start-up times are not a problem for the Leap-1A engine nearing entry into service in mid-2016 for the Airbus A320neo, manufacturer CFM International says. Each of the two Leap-1A engines installed on an A320neo need 50s to spool-up after the activation sequence is started, says CFM executive vice-president Allen Paxson, speaking on a teleconference with journalists on 5 February....
The twin-engine multipurpose helicopter H145 has successfully proved its operational capabilities for challenging offshore missions. During a two-day flight trial in late January the established offshore operators Wiking Helikopter Service GmbH and HTM Offshore were able to test the H145 in all the relevant fields of offshore operations. Both aviation companies collaborate closely to offer their c...
Transport Canada is preparing to introduce new guidelines for the operation of unmanned air vehicles similar to those being proposed in Europe. The new regulations were first introduced in May 2015, and are considered to be more risk-based than those currently used, which only distinguish between the commercial or recreational operation of small UAVs. A consultation between May and August ga...
When Singapore’s Changi Airport announced plans for a fourth terminal in March 2012, to replace its six-year old Budget Terminal, the reception was mixed. The same sentiment lingers a year before Terminal 4 is set to begin operations, in mid-2017. Analysts question T4’s effectiveness to complement the wider Changi airport and its facilities, especially with its l...
British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has warned it would consider leaving London City airport should any new owner raise service charges to cover the GBP2 billion (USD2.915 billion) asking price. In August last year, the airport's majority shareholder, Global Infrastructure Partners, put the airport up for sale with several entities - Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, Atlantia Spa, Macq...
St. Petersburg Airport in January was able to get ahead of Nice, Zurich and London Farnborough. St. Petersburg Center for Business Aviation "Pulkovo-3" (operated by "JetPort SPb") got the fifth place based on January 2016 statistics in the ranking of the most popular airports in Europe, according to Avinode. "Pulkovo-3" was able to bypass the airport of Nice, Zuric...
The explosion was not enough to destroy the airplane — but it reportedly sent the alleged bomber plunging toward the earth. The explosion that forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing in Somalia earlier this week may have been caused by a suicide bomber, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN and the Wall Street Journal. The Daallo Airlines airplane was scheduled t...
Poland has decided to scrap the $3 billion deal for 50 Airbus utility helicopters and will buy only a few aircraft from the European company, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday citing defense sources. The move, coming months before a NATO summit in Warsaw where Poland is expected to seek more allied presence on its territory, could strain Warsaw's ties with France and delay...
Since its establishment in 1955, the Groom Lake airfield at Edwards Air Force Base—better known as Area 51—has hosted the development of some of the most exotic and advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. These so-called black projects, named for their ultra-classified nature, have produced planes like the SR-71 Blackbird, which is still the fastest and highest-operating aircraft ev...
Consistent with the UN aviation agency’s ongoing prioritization of the effective implementation in all States of global civil aviation’s standards and policies, ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu conducted a wide range of high-level meetings and consultations while visiting Ethiopia last week. President Aliu was in Addis Ababa for the 28th Ordinary Session of...
Malindo Air today continues its international network expansion by launching 2016’s second new services, from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The new route will boost the airline’s presence in the robust Asia’s market. The daily services to Hong Kong mark the 2nd Malindo Air’s destination in China after Sanya in Hainan Province. Introductory fare for the new route, Kuala L...
Riga. Yesterday an agreement was signed between the Latvian government and Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes. Under the deal, a total of EUR 132 million of fresh capital will be invested in the Latvian carrier for fleet modernisation and its new Horizon 2021 business plan. Ralf-Dieter Montag-Girmes, German investor: “airBaltic is an outstanding carrier in a unique market niche with Riga...
In 2015 the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU’s long-term lending institution, fostered projects in Finland with loans totalling EUR 1.62bn – this is an all-time record high EIB commitment in Finland. Today, the EIB provided a EUR 230m loan to Finavia Corp., the Finnish airport operator, for the expansion of Helsinki Airport. This investment...
Demand for air travel in 2015 grew at its strongest pace since the end of the global financial crisis, with more passengers taking to the skies amid lower airfares, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says. The latest passenger traffic numbers from IATA showed international revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) grew by 6.5 per cent in 2015, compared with the prior year. It was th...
Air New Zealand plans to install its fleet of ATR turboprops with Required Navigation Performance (RNP) technology at a cost of NS$25 million. The Star Alliance carrier will become the first ATR operator to use RNP, which allows aircraft to fly along predefined routes with the aid of GPS navigation systems. In practical terms, this means pilots trained for RNP can fly at lower altitudes and...
Airbus Helicopters has received EASA certification for the Rig’N Fly (Rig Integrated GPS approaches with eNhanced Fly-ability and safetY), an avionics enhancement designed to provide automatic rig approaches for offshore operations. First developed on H225. it will also be implemented on H175 (end 2016) and on H160. Rig’N Fly uses a combination of sensors (GPS, barometric...
Business aviation activity in Europe started off this year on bad footing, with departures falling 4.5 percent year-over-year last month, to 47,628, according to data released today by WingX Advance. Flights of business jets and pistons were each down 5 percent from a year ago, while turboprop flights declined 1.5 percent. Last month’s decline mainly came in Western Europe—espe...
Honda Aircraft’s HA-420 HondaJet is one of nine nominees—and the only business jet contender—selected by a National Aeronautic Association (NAA) committee to vie for the 2015 Robert J. Collier Trophy, the NAAannounced on Tuesday. The Collier Trophy is awarded annually “for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America.” While the&nbs...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's (D) office announced a deal earlier this week that would force the city's five existing helitour operators using the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, located near Wall Street on the East River, to curtail flights by 50 percent by Jan. 1, 2017. Reductions will begin in April, with an elimination of all Sunday flights followed by further cuts of 20 percen...
Owners of hunting falcons across the Middle East will find transporting their classic birds of prey on VIP jets and commercial aircraft has become a little bit easier thanks to a new product from Lufthansa Technik. “They can make a bit of a mess during flight and of course transporting falcons can also mean having to remove seats beforehand,” said Lufthansa Technik Middle East...
