CityJet, an Irish regional airline, may lease the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) planes it is going to purchase in Russia to the French flag carrier Air France, a source familiar with the carrier's plans said Tuesday. CityJet announced its decision to buy 15 SSJ100 planes, with an option to purchase 10 more aircraft, in mid-October. The contract is expected to be sign...
A bomb threat on a plane preparing to leave Faro airport in Portugal's southern region of Algarve for Lisbon forced the evacuation of 38 passengers early on Tuesday, a spokesman for TAP said. "There was a bomb threat and the plane was handed over to the authorities for inspection. The passengers have been removed," he said, declining to provide details on how the threat had been d...
A passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Somalia on Tuesday when an explosion shortly after takeoff tore a large, gaping hole in its fuselage. Two people were hurt in the incident onboard the Dijbouti-bound Daallo Airlines flight, officials told BBC News, which occurred at 10,000 feet over Mogadishu. Local reports also suggested that at least one man was blown out of the pla...
Boeing Capital projects that airlines and lessors generally will encounter few problems acquiring aircraft financing this year. It describes the market as healthy as order books remain strong, industry growth continues to outstripGDP and airlines continue to turn more profits than they have in decades, all the while low fuel prices offset the effects on economies of the commodities crisi...
Qatar Airways will upgrade to non-stop B787 Dreamliner service three times weekly between Doha and Maputo, Mozambique, effective 27 March 2016. The airline currently serves the Doha – Maputo route three times a week via South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg. With the start of the new non-stop service to Maputo International Airport, passengers from Europe, the Americas, the Middl...
Yakutia Airlines will receive 800 million roubles (USD10.57 million) in state subsidies from the government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) to cover its leasing costs for this year. CEO Olga Fedorova told Russia's TASS news agency that the airline's financial health is a key concern for both management and government. In line with plans to increase its share capital and attract a str...
Boeing and Saudia, Saudi Arabia's national airline, today celebrated the triple delivery of two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and a 777-300ER (Extended Range). A third Dreamliner will be delivered to Saudia within the next week. The airline ordered eight 787-9s in 2010. Saudia is no stranger to such large deliveries. In December 1999, Boeing delivered three 777s to Saudia....
Jet Aviation St. Louis recently upgraded the controls for climate, air quality and final finish at its paint shop. It also acquired devices that analyze paint color tint, inspect pearl and metallic paints, measure the smoothness of the paint finish and assess the level of paint gloss. “Our new computerized and automated climate-control system, painter decontamination chambers, and pa...
Belgian MRO specialist Sabena Aerospace has linked up with Equatorial Congo Air (ECAir) to create a central African MRO centre. As Alan Dron discovered, this will help instil an aviation culture in a new generation of local technicians. The signing, in July 2014, of the agreement to set up a new MRO facility at the Republic of the Congo’s Maya Maya International Airport in Brazzaville w...
A Vilnius regional court has ordered Air Baltic (BT, Riga) to pay defunct Lithuanian operator FlyLAL (TE, Vilnius) EUR16 million (USD17.31 million) in damages after it was found guilty of anti-competitive practices. In its ruling, the court said Air Baltic had gained significant benefit from preferential agreements signed with Riga International Airport between 2004 and 2008. These agreements s...
CAE has underscored its position as training partner of choice with the announcement of a series of contracts, including the sale of nine full-flight simulators to airlines globally, as well as commercial and business aviation training programs with more than 10 operators. These agreements, valued at more than C$350 million, cover a broad range of CAE's training equipment and programs, from co...
Model airplane designer Peter Sripol from Flite Test created a Super Circle Plane, a large model craft with a single circular wing, for Flite Fest 2015. The unique creation was flown over a field of RC aircraft enthusiasts, many of whom used the Super Circle Plane’s circular wing as a target for their own craft. Photos via Flight Test
