An Emergencies Ministry's An-148 jet departed from Ramenskoye located near Moscow for Novy Urengoy, where it has taken two seriously ill children aboard, the youngest of the evacuees is only a week old. All of them are in urgent need of highly skilled and high-tech medical care. Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, patients will be transported to a hospital of the northern capital, where they...
Russian low-cost airline Pobeda launched air connection from Bratislava to Moscow and back on Saturday. "I am convinced that this air connection will create conditions for the development of trade, tourism in Slovakia as well as in Russia," announced Slovak Transport, Construction and Regional Development Ministry's State Secretary Frantisek Palko. Palko attended the ceremony a...
A RAAF KC-30A tanker transport has completed inflight refuelling trials with a US Air Force F-16. The seven flights from Edwards Air Force Base, between December 3 and 15, saw the KC-30A conduct 444 ‘contacts’ with the F-16, offloading over 25 tonnes of fuel, and are a key element in achieving conditional clearance for the tanker transport to refuel the F-16. &ldqu...
The head of the European Union's border agency has said the large number of refugees entering Europe pose a security risk, with civil war making it harder to check the authenticity of Syrian passports. Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in countries such as Syria and Iraq have arrived in Europe this year. Since last month's attacks in Paris, concern has grown that I...
The Chile government and workers tied to the civil aviation authority reached an agreement on Sunday, ending a four day strike that forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights and left thousands of passengers stranded. "We want say to all the Chileans who were affected (by the strike) that we deeply regret this situation, that we will go the extra mile together with the airlines, with al...
Officials at Berlin's long-delayed new Brandenburg Airport denied a newspaper report that the opening had been pushed back until 2018. The airport, originally due to open in 2012, has been under construction since 2006, with red tape and technical problems repeatedly delaying its inauguration. Newspaper Bild am Sonntag cited a confidential schedule from the airport's project manageme...
The United States and Mexico have agreed to open their air markets so that airlines from both countries can operate the routes they want with no restrictions. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and his Mexican counterpart Gerardo Ruiz Esparza signed the agreement Friday at Mexico’s embassy in Washington. It will require ratification by Mexico’s Senate. Foxx and Ruiz Espar...
Private pilots can’t offer flight-sharing services to the public using an Internet model similar to those developed by Uber and Lyft, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The ruling upholds a decision earlier this year by the Federal Aviation Administration that said the service offered by Boston-based Flytenow violates flight regulations. The company’s website c...
The latest developments on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that was diverted to Kenya after a suspected bomb was found on it. 5:50 p.m. The CEO of Air France says a device discovered in the bathroom of an Air France flight was a fake bomb. The Boeing 777 was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Mauritius when its pilots requested an emergency landing at early Su...
For time-strapped luxury travelers, a private jet vacation can ensure less time traveling and more time enjoying far-flung destinations. At an astronomical price, of course. “You can get many bucket list destinations in one seamless journey,” said Afrodite Pastroumas, director of product development at TCS World Travel. “You can hit Machu Picchu, Easter Island, Angkor Wat...
IndiGo, India's largest airline by passengers carried, said the delivery of the first fuel-efficient Airbus A320neo has been delayed and there could be additional delays, citing "industrial reasons" at European plane maker Airbus SAS. "On 17 December 2015 after close of business hours, we have received an official notification from Airbus that the A320neo aircraft, the...
The Merlin PSA, an affordable high-performance single-seat Personal Sport Aircraft. Imagine an all-aluminum aircraft with a cantilevered wing, 120 mph cruise speed, plenty of cabin and luggage space, all for under $35,000! And this includes the builders' assistance program in sunny Florida. The Merlin PSA is available now as a quick-build E-AB (Experimental Amateur-Built, &qu...
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published yesterday a Technical Opinion on the safe use of drones in Europe’s civil airspace. The EASA Technical Opinion sets the direction to be followed for all future work to be done to ensure unmanned aircraft are operated safely and interact safely with other airspace users. The aim is to provide a framework that is proportionate to the activit...
Hong Kong-based Virgin Atlantic cabin crew will stage a wildcat strike starting tomorrow, December 21, in a bid to stave off job losses announced by the British airline last month. Travellers flying Virgin Atlantic this Christmas are being warned the London flight may not take-off as a result of the industrial action which will start on December 21st until January 1st. Action is being taken...
Research consultants AMR’s charity reputation index has named the Royal Flying Doctor Service as Australia’s “most reputable charity” for a fifth straight year. The AMR report found the RFDS received top marks on six of the seven criteria the company’s charity reputation index was based on, namely service, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leader...
American Airlines’ return to Australia has received a traditional welcome after touching down in Sydney over the weekend. Flight AA73, operated by Boeing 777-300ER N720AN, landed on Runway 34L a little after 0700 local time on Saturday after a 14-hour journey from Los Angeles. It was American’s first flight to Australia since the early 1990s, when it briefly operated a four times...
Rayani Air (Langkawi) commenced commercial passenger operations on Sunday, December 20 just days after it secured its Air Services Licence (ASL) and Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). Using a pair of ex-Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) B737-400s, the start-up currently operates daily return flights between Langkawi and Kuala Lump...
WestJet Encore announced today its pilots have voted in favour of a new agreement with 93 per cent of eligible pilots voting. The tentative agreement was negotiated between WestJet Encore and the WestJet Pilots’ Association (WJPA), the association representing its pilots. Voting on the agreement began on December 12, 2015 and ended December 20, 2015. Nearly 275 WestJet Encore pilots ar...
Air Canada today announced it plans to increase its new non-stop flights from Vancouver to Brisbane, Australia to daily from three times weekly beginning June 17, 2016. “Customer response to our announcement of the only non-stop flights between Canada and Brisbane has been very positive, and we thank federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau for the revised bilateral agreement which enables...
The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have reached agreement for a new Air Service Agreement (ASA) and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries. The successful agreement follows a visit this week by a senior Vanuatu delegation led by Director of Civil Aviation Vanuatu (CAAV), Joseph Niel accompanied by Air Vanuatu CEO, Joseph Laloyer and several Vanuatu government Ministry of...
An Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris was forced to make an emergency landing in Kenya early Sunday after a suspected bomb was found on board, police said. Navy and police bomb experts were called in to determine if there were any explosives on board the plane, which had 459 passengers and 14 crew members aboard. Many countries are on alert for possible attacks, including France which...
