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Low-cost giant AirAsia X is back with expanded services to London, Dubai and Istanbul this year with Perth and Melbourne, Australia to be announced shortly. The airline has also announced four new routes to Japan and Hawaii, which are on sale today. Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, executive chairman of Capital A, which backs AirAsiaX, and founder …
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DALLAS – A Boeing 747-300 freighter has remained grounded at Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airliner, which belongs to Venezuelan airline EMTRASUR, is at the center of a controversy that has gained traction, as local authorities claim inconsistencies in the number of crew members on board. EMTRASUR is a subsidiary of …
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Credit: Boeing Historical Archives And when the company had sold 500 in the mid-1950s it marked the occasion with flight attendants from most of the airlines that had purchased the plane and its larger brother the DC-7. The photo below is with then DC-6/DC-7 Program Manager Jack McGowan. Credit: Boeing Historical Archives, colorized by Benoit Vienne When …
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DALLAS – The Canadian government is to suspend on June 20 the vaccination mandates for domestic and outbound travel, federally controlled transportation sectors, and federal government employees. Furthermore, proposed legislation under Part II (Occupational Health and Safety) of the Canada Labour Code to make vaccination mandatory in all federally regulated workplaces is no longer being …
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The first flight of the YB-35 Movie buffs may recall that it was the YB-49 that delivered an attack on the alien machines in the original War of the Worlds. At the time Northrop touted the passenger appeal of the YB-49 and produced a film touting its virtues (see video below). Later Northrop would build …
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DALLAS – News from Ankara today says that the Turkish Airlines (TK) name will soon be a thing of the past. In its place will be the name “Türkiye Hava Yollar.” The change in name comes as the country moves to rebrand itself away from the “Turkey” moniker and the sometimes negative connotations and jokes …
DALLAS – The Air France-KLM Group today reported that it has generated €2.256 billion (US$2.35 billion) in final gross proceeds. This follows a 16% oversubscription to its right issue announced on May 24, 2022. The Group said it would allocate around €1.7 billion to pay back state aid it received during the pandemic crisis. This, …
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DALLAS – The Air France-KLM Group today reported that it has generated €2.256bn (US$2.35bn) in final gross proceeds. This follows a 16% oversubscription to its right issue announced on May 24, 2022. The Group said it would allocate around €1.7bn to pay back state aid it received during the pandemic crisis. This, management says, will …
Qantas’s first Boeing 747 flies over Boeing’s Everett factory in September 1971. Credit Boeing Historical Archives And there are another 1,200 wide-body planes on order. Boeing’s Everett production building is over 1km long and ½ km wide and you could fit 911 basketball courts inside. The massive production facility has six doors, each a canvas …
DALLAS – New York’s John F. Kennedy airport (JFK) expects to launch the construction of its new Terminal 1 in the summer of 2022. The US$9.5bn project has received environmental and financial clearances, allowing the airport to start the construction work. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the project its environmental approval. The regulator decided …
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DALLAS – Some Spanish Ryanair (FR) cabin crew are calling for a six-day strike later this summer. Officials for the USO and SITCPLA unions said at a press conference in Madrid on Monday that the walkout would take place from June 24 to July 2. This announcement follows the collapse of pay talks where the …
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DALLAS – Today in Aviation, a Boeing 767-200ER aircraft achieved an unofficial world distance record for twin-engine commercial airliners in 1990. The type flew 9,253 miles nonstop from Seattle to Nairobi, Kenya. The Boeing 767-200ER non-stop flight lasted 17 hours and 22 minutes. The aircraft was on its way to the island of Borneo to …
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Don Douglas (left) and C.R. Smith on Don’s boat in 1935. Robert Arnold collection colorized by Benoit Vienne But Mr Smith was persuasive and ordered 20 of the larger DC-3s that would have 50 per cent more capacity than its smaller sibling, so Mr Douglas gave in. As Mr Smith did not have the money, he …
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It was the jumbo of its day but the Stratocruiser was a mechanical nightmare because of its temperamental engines! The Boeing Model 377, dubbed the Stratocruiser, was the company’s first airliner after WW11 and it was a giant. Based on the WW11 B-29 bomber it possessed all the speed and technical improvements available to bombers …
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DALLAS – LATAM Airlines Group (LA) will reinstate services between the South American continent and the British Overseas Territory in early July. The Santiago, Chile-based carrier will begin flying between Puntas Arenas (PUQ) in Chile and Mount Pleasant (MPN) in the Falkland Islands on July 2, 2022, according to a company press release. The flight, …
DALLAS – SWISS International Air Lines AG (LX) has announced that it has terminated its bank loan facility before the end of the term. The loan, 85% guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation, was issued to protect the airline following the pandemic outbreak in March 2020 and was due to end in 2025. As part of …
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DALLAS – Today in Aviation, the Boeing 777 performed its first flight in 1994 under the command of chief test pilot John E. Cashman. This was the start of an 11-month flight test program, which was longer than any prior Boeing model’s testing. The Boeing 777, often known as the Triple Seven, is a wide-body …
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DALLAS – Brussels Airlines (SN) has relaunched flights to two important West African destinations. However, celebrations have been overshadowed by the announcement that SN pilots have filed an unlimited-duration strike notice. After a two-year absence, the relaunched routes to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Conakry, Guinea, will bring the total number of Sub-Saharan African destinations operated …
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DALLAS – Australia’s busiest airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD), has launched a new recruitment campaign to fill 5,000 job vacancies at the New South Wales facility. Approximately 15,000 staff were let go from the airport during the pandemic. But as global air travel has returned, SYD, along with airports and airlines worldwide, has struggled to …
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DALLAS – The flight data recorder (FDR) is widely considered the most important witness in the investigation of air accidents. The history of the FDR is intriguing, and it has come a long way since its introduction. For 70 years, flight recorders have been regarded as essential components of onboard equipment for both military and …
DALLAS – Today in Aviation, French Air Traffic Controllers commenced a three-day strike to protest against plans to create a single European airspace in 2013. Plans for the Single European Sky (SES) project can be traced back to 2000. The European Commission gained the consent of all EU Transport Ministers to create a single European …
Anyone for a jumbo restaurant or a downstairs cocktail lounge? They were just some of the crazy – and not so crazy ideas – that Boeing and other manufacturers came up with to sell the virtues of new jumbo designs that promised room to move. Boeing introduced the spacious age with its 747 in 1970 …
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The US is scrapping its requirement for inbound international air travelers to take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flight. The mandate will expire Sunday at 12:01 a.m. EDT. Airlines for America (A4A) President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio said: “We are pleased that the pre-departure testing requirement has been eliminated for …
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DALLAS – At present, the cargo arm of KLM (KL) operates four Boeing 747-400Fs, but their future is bleak. The carrier will soon make a final decision as to when the Jumbo jet operations will come to a close. “We will make a decision on that in the short term,” said CEO Ben Smith at …
DALLAS – According to a senior White House official, the Biden administration plans to announce today that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer require tourists to test negative for Covid-19 before entering the country. The change, first reported by CNN, will take effect at midnight on Sunday for US-bound …
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DALLAS – Syria has halted all flights to/from Damascus International Airport (DAM) after an Israeli airstrike damaged an area near the airport on Friday, according to a pro-government daily. The news outlet Al-Watan stated the strike damaged the runway but didn’t go into depth about the attack. Flightradar24 recorded no flights in the vicinity of …
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DALLAS – For the past two years, near-empty flights have haunted the skies of Europe. These “ghost flights” became common in the early days of the pandemic, a product of contractual obligations between airlines and airports that required a minimum number of flights to hold onto valuable airport slots. However, more than two years after …
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