In the April 2016 issue of Airways, Andreas Spaeth wrote about Dutch carrier KLM’s (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij or Royal Dutch Airlines) introduction of the Boeing 787-9 into its fleet. Initial destinations served by the new aircraft included Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Rio de Janeiro, Osaka, Delhi, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Chengdu. And on May 4, San Francisco (SFO) was added...
A Ryanair passenger was arrested Thursday night after he shouted a bomb threat while his plane was landing. The man was aggravated that flight crew refused him a beer, and decided to exact revenge by claiming there was a bomb onboard, according to local reports. The flight from Tenerife landed in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, at 9:28 p.m. local time. As the plane was preparing to land, t...
A start-up company hosted in an ESA business incubator is developing the world’s first vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for personal use. The electric two-seater will open the door to a new class of simpler, quieter and environmentally friendly planes available from 2018. “Our goal is to develop an aircraft for use in everyday life,” explains Daniel Wiegand, CEO and one o...
Pilots at a South Korean airline are suing their chairman after he claimed that “flying is easier than driving a car”. The union at Korean Air, South Korea's flag carrier, has filed a lawsuit to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against Cho Yang-Ho, who is also the president of the Olympic organising committee for PyeongChang's 2018 Winter Games, for conte...
On 14 October 1947, US test pilot Chuck Yeager did what many thought was impossible. Strapped into the seat of the Bell X1 rocket plane – painfully so, having broken two ribs a few days before in a horse-riding accident – Yeager became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. While Yeager’s name may be the one celebrated in the record books, there were other pilots...
The municipality of Kaunas decided on May 3rd to provide 500,000 euros to the low-cost airline Wizz Air to help it operate more flights from Lithuania's second-biggest city, reports LETA/BNS. The city expects that this will help attract more tourists. Wizz Air asked the city to co-fund four new flights from Kaunas Airport, with plans to fly to the Dutch city of Eindhoven and the Nor...
GainJet Aviation has added a new long range executive jet to its fleet, adding a third Bombardier Challenger aircraft, a CL605. The aircraft, registration SX-SHC, was delivered on 15 April 2016, and it is available for charter based between Amman, Jordan and Athens, Greece. The CL605 can carry 12 passengers. The cabin features four individual VIP seats, a club-four dining seating area, and a fo...
Air Serbia will build on Belgrade’s position as a strategic gateway to the United States as it expands its route network across the Balkans and the Atlantic this year. The airline, part-owned by Etihad Airways, on Wednesday reported a 44 per cent jump in its net profit for 2015 to €3.9 million (Dh16.4m) compared with €2.7m a year earlier. “Last year, we c...
VistaJet, the global leader in business aviation, today reached an important milestone in its history when it welcomed its 100th ever aircraft to its fleet. The company has invested billions in jets in the past decade, growing its fleet from just 5 jets in 2006 to over 60 today, with a market value of more than $1.8bn. The company has come a long way in the past decade. In 2006, VistaJet travel...
The Chinese government is setting up a plan that will open up further low-level airspace for business and general aviation. The move follows a meeting of the State Council of The People’s Republic of China that was presided over by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on May 4. In a statement issued on the Council’s English website, the government agreed to open up more low-altitude airspa...
The first European LPV-200 IFR approach was implemented at Charles de Gaulle Airport’s Runway 26L on Tuesday, following publication of the procedure on April 28. The new approach mirrors Cat I ILS approach minimums, including a 200-foot decision height, and it is supported by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos), Europe’s satellite-base...
Comlux America, the Comlux Group’s completion and service center in Indianapolis, christened its newly enlarged completion hangar late last week. The project expanded the hangar size to 157,000 sq ft from 128,000 sq ft, allowing the building to house one widebody and up to four single-aisle bizliners simultaneously. Comlux America’s first widebody completion, an&...
