Bond Air Services has handed over to the UK’s National Police Air Service (NPAS) the first of an eventual seven upgraded Airbus Helicopters EC135 T2+ rotorcraft. Featuring a custom mission system including a L3 Wescam MX-10 electro-optical/infrared camera, upgraded communications suite, and new digital mapping featuring augmented reality, the modification work has been performed...
Sierra Nevada Corporation is preparing its full-scale Dream Chaser engineering test vehicle for the second round of atmospheric free-flight flight testing, and the reusable spacecraft is scheduled for delivery to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Test Centre in California by early 2016. The company has been enhancing the test vehicle since its first free-flight in October 2013, which ended in a cra...
Airbus Helicopters will shortly begin trials on its Dynamic Helicopter Zero test rig of the first pair of Turbomeca Arrano engines destined for the H160 programme. Following recent delivery of the two 1,100-1,300shp (820-969kW) turboshafts to the airframer’s Marignane facility in the south of France, they were briefly installed on the second H160 prototype for ground evaluations, says Aur...
Boeing expects to reach the full production rate of 18 P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft a year in 2016 as Australia gets ready to accept the first of eight of the type on order. Components of the RAAF’s first P-8A are already in production with the fuselage for ‘Aussie 01’ due to begin final assembly in early 2016 and the first flight expected mid-year. Australi...
Regional carrier Jetgo has confirmed it will be able to begin flights between Dubbo and Melbourne on October 27 after securing access to Avalon Airport. Jetgo had planned to fly to Melbourne Tullamarine but said recently it was unable to get terminal space. Moves to operate into nearby Essendon Airport then hit a roadblock because of a lack of passenger screening facilities and regulatory...
Aviation consulting house CAPA – Centre For Aviation has recognised Qantas and its chief executive Alan Joyce for the airline’s recent revival. Qantas received the airline turnaround of the year award, while Joyce was named airline chief executive of the year, at the World Aviation Summit held in Helsinki. CAPA executive chairman Peter Harbison described Qantas’s retur...
Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX) served a total of 322,400 passengers during the week-long National Day Holiday from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, up 5.59 percent year on year, according to statistics released by the airport on Thursday. The airport handled a total of 2,069 aircraft movements during the week-long holiday, an increase of 2.48% year on year. An outbound travel peak hit the...
Hong Kong has a plan to counter growing competition from airports in North Asia. It starts in 2023. That's how long Asia's busiest international airfield must wait before opening a third runway after a near 10-year delay in winning approval for the extension. In the meantime, airports from Guangzhou to Taipei are expanding and adding more direct flights, taking business from H...
Airlines and aircraft manufacturers keep coming up with wackier ideas for squeezing more people into airplanes. Remember the saddle-seat? And the hexagon sardine scheme? The latest zany proposal is outlined in a patent filed in Europe by aircraft manufacturer Airbus to offer passengers a flying version of bunk beds. Passengers would climb stairs or a ladder to reach the upper le...
Delta Air Lines Inc. is removing seats from 179 jets to make things less cramped - for flight attendants, not the passengers. The removal of two or three seats, depending on the aircraft model, reverses some of the carrier's seat additions of recent years. The action provides more space in the galleys, spokesman Michael Thomas said. "This is an investment to give our fligh...
Airbus is on track to meet its delivery targets this year despite delays at cabin suppliers, Fabrice Bregier, head of the European planemaker, said on Wednesday. Bregier criticized suppliers whose delays have disrupted some plane deliveries and said the problems went beyond French seat supplier Zodiac Aerospace, which has had a series of high-profile production delays and profit warnings. &q...
JetBlue Airways is trying to bring a little bit of country to the city - opening its own "farm" at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The 24,000 square-foot space -- less than half the size of a football field -- outside JFK's Terminal 5 is meant to educate travelers more than actually feed them. Although eventually JetBlue would like to serve items grown t...
A senior World Trade Organization executive on Tuesday quashed the idea the trade body could help to quickly resolve a high-profile international airline spat over market access and subsidies, after calls for the institution to serve as an arbiter over competition among carriers. The three major U.S. carriers -- Delta Air Lines Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc. and American...
Ethiopian Airlines plans to place an order for Boeing Co. 777X long-range jetliners before the end of the year, the East African carrier's chief executive said. The airline could buy as many as 15 to 20 of Boeing's newest airplanes after also considering the purchase of Airbus Group's A350-1000 widebody, Tewolde Gebremariam said in an interview on Wednesday. The deal would...
The black box from an Indonesian turboprop plane that crashed in August, killing all 54 people on board, will be sent to France for analysis after a preliminary investigation failed to retrieve the data inside. Attempts to download the flight data recorder from the PT Trigana Air Service flight were unsuccessful, Indonesia;s National Transportation Safety Committee said in a report released Wed...
Heavy rain and haze in the South forced four airline flights to land at another destination, ten flights to delay their landing, and two others to turn back on Wednesday. AirAsia flight AK866 left Kuala Lumpur at 7am but diverted from Krabi to Samui and landed at the island's airport at 7:50 a.m., and the pilots of Bangkok Airways flight PG251, which departed Koh Samui Airport at...
The man who gave us MTV and now heads the largest radio-station company in the U.S. doesn’t like to waste a minute. That’s one of many reasons why he loves business jets. Bob Pittman’s resume testifies to his obsession with productivity. Perhaps best known for having led the team that founded MTV, he has also been CEO of AOL, Six Flags Theme Parks, Quantum Media, Century 21 Re...
A hearing today before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's aviation subcommittee regarding the safe utilization of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) highlights the urgent need for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue federal regulations for the burgeoning industry, said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "It is clear that lawmakers share our...
Lawrence Ryan has been appointed director of sales, USA for the Lufthansa Group. He is responsible for sales and promotional activities, overseeing corporate, retail, online travel agencies, group sales and leisure/specialty sales segments for key account management and field sales teams. Ryan succeeds Don Bunkenburg, who will take over the role of general manager for Japan, Lufthansa German...
Charter and management firm JFI Jets is expanding its fleet and adding a repair station with the acquisition of a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based ACP Jets. ACP Jets provides charter, management, maintenance and aircraft acquisition and consulting services. In addition to a Part 145 repair station, the company operates two Hawker800XPs a Citation X and four Gulstream ...
Universal Avionics Authorized Dealer, Heli-One, recently completed installation of Universal Avionics UNS-1Fw Multi-Missions Management System (MMMS) and MFD-640 Multi-Function Display on a CHC Helicopter Airbus Super Puma aircraft. With a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) in hand, rotorcraft operators have a mission-ready flight deck solution. The UNS-1Fw MMMS provides the operator with cent...
