Recent Updates

Having proven the idea of subscription-based on-demand charter, Wheels Up continues to expand the Textron King Air fleet on which the service is based, according to CEO Kenny Dichter. At NBAA-BACE on Monday, Dichter said the company has 78 King Air 350i aircraft, most of which have been purchased new. The fleet also has Citation […]

An American Airlines Boeing 777 was damaged Monday evening at Hong Kong Airport when either luggage or cargo being loaded on the aircraft caught fire. The fire occurred just as a container was being put in the aft cargo hold. Video from the scene shows a ramp worker falling from the hold and being helped […]

With eight aircraft already in final assembly, Bombardier showed off a cabin mock-up and test article for its new long-range business jet, the Global 7000, at the NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas on Monday. The test article is the fourth aircraft in the test fleet and is dubbed “The Architect” for its intended purpose of proving […]

Aviation companies are a little like people in that they have different personalities. And they’re especially different when it comes to dealing with the press. Some are friendly, forthright and open while others tend toward the cagey. I’d put Pratt & Whitney in that second category, almost to the point of detachment. During Monday’s press […]

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the shortening of the runway at Santa Monica Airport the day before the work was to begin. As the National Business Aviation Association convenes in Las Vegas for its annual convention, the last-ditch order prevents the removal of 1,500 feet of the SMO runway, which effectively […]

GA groups have mustered some considerable star power to fight the proposed privatization of air traffic control in the U.S. and will be unleashing the campaign on Tuesday at the opening general session of the NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas. Such well-known aviators as Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, Flight 1549 Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, aerobatics pilot […]

It’s been stormy in Europe this week and that, of course, has sent planespotters to runways all over the continent looking for gear-punishing landings and they found a couple. The bounce on the 747 landing at Schiphol in Amsterdam is cringeworthy while the A380 arrival at Frankfurt reminds us the wind demands respect, no matter […]

Danish officials have found parts from an Air France A380 engine that fell on the Greenland icecap on Sept. 30 following an uncontained failure. Investigators used information from the plane’s flight data recorder to narrow down the search area and a helicopter was sent to look for remnants of the main fan and front cowling, […]

Canadian officials say they’ll talk to their counterparts in India after air traffic controllers reportedly ignored a series of Mayday calls from an Air Canada Boeing 787 and ordered the crew to enter holds instead. The Dreamliner had finished a 16-hour flight from Toronto to Mumbai on Sept. 18 but a runway overrun by a […]

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has the go-ahead to use a fleet of balloons to restore internet and communication services to hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico. The balloons, recently deployed in Peru for the same purpose, were developed by Loon, an Alphabet subsidiary and sister company to Google. The balloons are about the size of a tennis court […]