 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Visit our directory of manufacturers, suppliers and service providers
Search through years of
AIN past issues
Search through the latest
events and conferences
RSS Feed
Second Boeing 747-8 Freighter Completes First Flight
March 15, 2010
The second Boeing 747-8 Freighter, RC 522, completed its first flight yesterday evening, the company announced today. The airplane took off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., at 3:57 p.m. local time and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle at 6:25 p.m.
Captained by Kirk Vining and copiloted by Rick Braun, the airplane reached an altitude of 27,000 feet and...
moreFourth 787 Joins Boeing Flight-Test Fleet
March 15, 2010
Boeing has added the fourth 787 to its flight-test fleet with yesterday’s first flight of Dreamliner ZA003. The airplane departed Paine Field in Everett, Wash., at 10:55 a.m. local time and landed at 2:01 p.m. at Boeing Field in Seattle.
Captains Ray Craig and Mike Bryan piloted the airplane on its three-hour, six-minute flight. ZA003 is the final 787 with...
moreBoeing 747-8 Freighter Achieves Initial Airworthiness Milestone
March 11, 2010
Boeing has finished initial airworthiness testing on the 747-8 Freighter, the company announced today. The milestone allows test engineers to fly aboard future flights and the remaining pair of test airplanes to begin flight test.
“The airplane is performing as expected in the initial stages of flight test,” said Mo Yahyavi, vice president and 747 program...
moreUnited Signs Firm Order for 25 A350 XWB aircraft
March 10, 2010
United Airlines has signed a firm order for 25 Airbus A350-900 XWBs, formalizing a commitment originally announced last December, the European manufacturer announced today. Plans call for deliveries of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered jets to begin in 2016 and run through 2019.
United also plans to take delivery of 25 Boeing 787s during the same time...
moreAirbus To Boost A320 Production in December
March 09, 2010
Airbus plans to increase the monthly production rate for its single-aisle A320 family from the current rate of 34 to 36 starting in December, the company announced today. It also said that the production rate for the long-range A330/A340 family will remain at its current level of eight per month. When Airbus reduced the A320 monthly build rate from 36 to 34...
moreBoeing, Turkish Airlines Finalize Order for 20 Next Generation 737s
March 08, 2010
Boeing and Turkish Airlines have finalized an order for ten 737-800s and ten 737-900ERs, the manufacturer announced today. Now flying 66 Boeing airplanes, including 58 Next Generation 737s, Turkish Airlines has yet to take delivery of a 737-900ER. Boeing places the value of the order at $1.6 billion, based on current list prices. The company had already...
moreAtlas Air To Fly Boeing Dreamlifters, Replacing Evergreen
March 05, 2010
Boeing has awarded a nine-year contract to Atlas Air for the operation of the manufacturer’s four Dreamlifter cargo haulers starting “toward the latter part of 2010,” spelling the end of Evergreen International Airlines’ three-year stint flying the modified 747-400s. At that time Atlas Air will assume responsibility for delivering major 787 assemblies from...
moreATR 42-600 Completes First Flight
March 04, 2010
The sole ATR 42-600 prototype successfully completed its maiden flight today in Toulouse, France, the Franco-Italian manufacturer announced this afternoon. Powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines, the aircraft took off at 3 p.m. local time and flew for two hours, marking the start of a flight-test campaign expected to last some 75...
moreIATA Figures Show Big Jump in January Traffic
March 02, 2010
In perhaps another sign of an impending recovery for the world’s air transport industry, international scheduled air traffic for January rose 6.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to figures released today by the International Air Transport Association (IATA.) The relatively robust gain came as airlines increased capacity by a mere...
moreSukhoi engages in engine shuffle as Superjet limps to finish line
March 01, 2010
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) managed to fly the fourth Superjet 100 prototype for the first time on February 4, notwithstanding continuing delays associated with the airplane’s engines, built by the joint venture between France’s Snecma and Russia’s NPO Saturn known as Powerjet. During an impromptu program update issued to AIN on the third day of last...
moreMitsubishi recruits BAE for MRJ engine help
March 01, 2010
Mitsubishi Aircraft has hired the engineering division of BAE Systems Regional Aircraft to provide design integration and certification services for the development of its new MRJ regional jet. The program will focus on the integration of the aircraft’s propulsion system, specifically on the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engine and its pylons, nacelles, auxiliary...
moreKoito Industries Seat Fraud Not News to Boeing, Airbus
February 26, 2010
Boeing discovered from its field representatives in Japan that Yokohama-based Koito Industries had falsified records related to flammability testing of its aircraft passengers seats more than a year ago, but subsequent tests concluded that no safety “issues” existed, a Boeing spokesperson told AIN. “We started working with Koito last January [2009], and we...
moreBoeing, Airbus Commit to Re-engining Decisions by Year-end
February 26, 2010
All the speculation and chatter over the prospects of re-engining the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s families will finally end this year, judging by statements from senior Airbus and Boeing executives this month. In fact, John Leahy, Airbus COO for customers, went so far as to say that his company would like to decide whether or not to proceed with a...
moreFourth Superjet 100 Flies on Borrowed Powerjet Engines
February 26, 2010
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) managed to fly the fourth prototype of the Superjet 100 this month, no thanks to Russian engine maker NPO Saturn, which partners with Snecma in building the Superjet’s Powerjet engines. Clearly feeling desperate after the Saturn-Snecma partnership failed to deliver the program’s seventh and eighth Powerjet SaM146 turbofans in...
more