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Congress reauthorized the Export-Import Bank Thursday as part of the five-year transportation funding bill that passed the House and Senate and will go to President Obama for signing. The bank, which guarantees loans on U.S. exports to foreign buyers, will be a boost for international aircraft sales, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association said in a […]

Virgin Galactic’s plans to take small commercial satellites into space took on a new twist this week — on-demand flights via an airliner that would serve as mothership for launching its new space vehicle, LauncherOne.During a ceremony in Texas, Virgin founder Richard Branson unveiled “Cosmic Girl,” a Boeing 747 transferred from his Virgin Atlantic airline. […]

Boeing’s last C-17 flew away from the factory at the Long Beach airport this week, marking the end of the transport plane’s production in California. The C-17, built in Long Beach since 1991, was the final series of aircraft made there. The plant was one of the last living pieces of the enormous manufacturing operation […]

General aviation advocates have spoken out against privatizing air traffic control, citing concerns over user fees, but this week airline officials said they think ATC would work better as a not-for-profit corporation with stable funding sources. Executives from a half-dozen major airlines, including American, Southwest and FedEx, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that […]

After more than 18 years in development, Honda Aircraft is expected to announce that its small twin-engine jet is certified Dec. 9. The company has sent invitations to aviation media to attend a “special event” at its Greensboro, N.C., plant. At the recent National Business Aviation Association convention, Honda announced that certification was imminent and […]

Solar Impulse has raised the $29 million needed to complete the nonprofit group’s round-the-world trip in a solar-powered aircraft, co-founder Andre Borschberg said at the Paris climate summit this week. The group plans to launch in April to fly from Hawaii to North America, and then continue on to Abu Dhabi, where they launched last […]

The string of incidents that led to the crash of Air Asia Flight QZ8501 on Dec. 28 last year began with a mechanical malfunction that had gone unresolved despite having failed 23 times, investigators said in their final report (PDF), issued today by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee. But in trying to cope with the […]

JetBlue plans to develop an “ab-initio” training program for its Embraer SA E190 crews, the company told Bloomberg News last week. The airline must get FAA approval for its plans, but if it does, it would become the only U.S. airline to recruit zero-time pilots. The program will start with about two dozen participants, said […]

Amazon took advantage of Cyber Monday to announce the latest details about its planned drone delivery system, releasing two new videos and a Q&A that aims to convince consumers that the concept is not “science fiction.” One day, says Amazon, “seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.” […]

China’s first indigenous commercial airliner is now in revenue service with domestic budget carrier Chengdu Airlines. The ARJ21 was delivered Sunday. The aircraft is a 90-passenger version of the MD-80, which McDonnell Douglas intended to build in China in the 1990s. The ARJ21 is built by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC)using tooling left […]