News

China Eastern Airlines has abandoned plans to acquire 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners but will instead purchase 45 737s, and Boeing expects more changes. The company says it is expecting to see more cancellations (and more orders) for its newest jet as it works through mitigation with customers affected by the aircraft’s delayed arrival to market. […]

The RAF’s twin-engine, variable-sweep wing, low-level attack Tornado has hit a milestone few other aircraft models may reach — it has surpassed one million hours flying in 30 years with the RAF and 7,000 hours of combat operations. Tuesday one of the 131 Tornados still in service with the RAF was flown back to a […]

A tower controller fell asleep on the overnight shift in March due to fatigue that resulted, at least in part, from the FAA’s scheduling practices, the NTSB concluded in a report released on Wednesday. Two air carrier flights landed at Reagan National Airport, in Washington, D.C., after the controller failed to respond. After the incident, […]

Hang glider enthusiasts will celebrate 100 years of sport soaring this weekend at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. The event marks the date of a glider flight by Orville Wright, on Oct. 24, 1911, that lasted for almost 10 minutes, setting a record that held for almost 10 years. That flight marked the start […]

As WhiteKnightTwo, the space vehicle designed by Scaled Composites, flew overhead on Monday, Sir Richard Branson celebrated the construction of a new spaceport facility in New Mexico that will support Virgin Galactic’s space-tourism business. The 110,000-square-foot Gateway to Space building will serve as a combined operations terminal and hangar, with room to store two WhiteKnightTwo […]

New rules governing the accounting of private jet use by political candidates have Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry on the defensive, and others in the race are undoubtedly hoping to learn from his experience. Despite the negative rhetoric from Washington disdaining their use, private aircraft are the transport tool of choice for high-level campaigns and […]

Although some pundits have been dismissive of China’s proposed C919 single-aisle airliner, one of the world’s biggest airlines appears to be taking it seriously. In an address to an engineers’ convention in Toulouse Tuesday, Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways’ parent IAG, said that on paper, at least, the C919 looks like a viable alternative […]

Bombardier is now officially floating the idea of a corporate version of its CSeries airliner. In an interview with the Globe and Mail at NBAA last week, Rodney Williams, VP of marketing for Bombardier Business Jets, said there is interest in the airplane. “We have had demand from customers who have asked us to look […]

LightSquared, the broadband company that has met with resistance from GPS users due to interference from its system, said last week technology company Partron America has developed a filter that costs only $6. This technology, along with several other prototypes, will undergo extensive testing in the coming weeks, LightSquared said. “Preliminary testing leaves LightSquared confident […]

Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson said last week his company is investing in technology that will develop low-carbon jet fuels from the waste materials produced in the steel industry. Virgin Atlantic aircraft will be using the new fuel within two to three years, Branson said. “With oil running out, it is important that new fuel […]