Reading Time: 2 minutes Airbus Defence and Space expects to sign this month a contract for a two-year definition study for a European medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drone, seen as a key capability for four partner countries, according to Jana Rosenmaan, the head of the company’s unmanned aerial systems division. Airbus DS, Dassault and Leonardo-Finmeccanica, who are partners in the initiative, are […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes On June 21, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finalized the first operational rules for routine commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones. The new rules will take effect in late August and affect drones weighing less than 55 pounds that are being used for purposes other than hobbyist operations. […]

Reading Time: < 1 minute Virgin Atlantic said it would buy Airbus Group SE A350 long-range planes while retaining the option to eventually take the aircraft maker’s A380 superjumbo. Virgin Atlantic said it would introduce 12 A350-1000 planes at a list price value of $4.3 billion. The airline would receive the first one in 2019, Chief Executive Craig Kreeger said […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes In the next 20 years (2016-2035), according to Airbus’ Global Market Forecast, passenger traffic will grow at an average 4.5% a year, driving a need for over 33,000 new aircraft above 100 seats (32,425 passenger & 645 freighters greater than 10 tonnes) worth US$5.2 trillion. By 2035, the world’s aircraft fleet will have doubled from […]

Reading Time: < 1 minute The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) officially certified on 11 July 2016 the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN engine, which will power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This certification confirms that the engine has fulfilled EASA’s most stringent safety requirements; it is the major engine milestone prior to the engine powering the 787 Dreamliner into service in […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes The start-up cargo carrier will operate Boeing 747s. Creation of a start-up cargo carrier called Sky Gates Airlines, which will be based at the newly opened Zhukovskiy Airport near Moscow, was announced at the airport’s opening ceremony. Russian Aviation Insider talked to the new airline’s general director Pyotr Morozov to find out some details. Morozov […]

Reading Time: < 1 minute • First half of the year 2016: Number of passengers up 2.2 percent • June 2016: 1.1 percent increase in passenger volume to almost 1,1 million Austrian Airlines carried almost 5.1 million passengers in the period January to June 2016, comprising a rise of 2.2 percent in a year-on-year comparison. The flight offering measured in […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes CAE announces today at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow a series of contracts, including long-term training agreements with airlines in Asia as well as the sale of 9 full-flight simulators (FFSs) to commercial airlines, aircraft manufacturers and operators worldwide. These agreements, valued at more than C$180 million, highlight the span of CAE’s training solutions, from […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes Boeing projects a demand for 39,620 new airplanes over the next 20 years, an increase of 4.1 percent over last year’s forecast. Boeing released its annual Current Market Outlook (CMO) on the first day of the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow, estimating the total value of those new airplanes at $5.9 trillion. “Despite recent events that […]

Reading Time: < 1 minute New airliner orders are expected to be on the light side for this year’s Farnborough International Airshow but Boeing is still set to be in the money with more than a dozen deals expected to be announced here over the next three days. Five of the new contracts will likely be with Chinese carriers, including Xiamen […]