Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) has announced that its fourth prototype of the C919 narrow-body twin-engine passenger jet has successfully completed its first test flight. The plane took off from Shanghai and lasted 1 hour 25 minutes. COMAC is looking to challenge Airbus and Boeing with its home-grown commercial jet. The company confirmed that
British Airways has lost an Appeal Court hearing to stop an impending pilots’ strike over a long-running pay dispute. The three senior judges refused to grant the airline a temporary injunction this Wednesday, having agreed that information provided to BA in a ballot notice was in accordance with the legislation which covers industrial action. This
Ryanair has reported a 21% year-on-year drop in post-tax profit at €243 million (US$270.36 million) for the three-month period up to June 30. While the carrier is not adjusting its end-of-year profit forecast of between €750 million and €950 million (US$832 million and US$1054 million), fares have fallen by 6% when compared to the same
The EU commission has issued a statement approving the merger of Dublin, Ireland-based CityJet DAC and Valencia, Spain-based Air Nostrum: “The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture between Fortress Investment Group, of the U.S., and Air Investment Valencia, of Spain. It will combine the activities of
Having made a name for itself by pioneering air-to-air refueling technology and its technology also found on Airbus jets as well as F-35 fighters, British company Cobham is to be acquired by American private equity group Advent International for £4 billion (US$5 billion). The offer equates to 165 pence in cash for each share in
On Tuesday, July 23, Kenya’s parliament voted in favour of nationalising the country’s flag-carrying airline in a bid to help it overcome problems with mounting debts. With a failed expansion program behind it and a slump in air travel which forced the carrier to restructure US$2 billion of debt in 2017, rather than allow Kenya
With over 300 of the Boeing 737 MAX jets grounded worldwide, United Technologies has seen an increase in demand for its aircraft maintenance parts and services for airlines’ other aircraft and, as a consequence, has raised its full-year sales and profit forecast. It is one of the first companies to openly signal that it has
British Airways (BA) is seeking a high court injunction to stop a potential pilots’ strike with a hearing due in the high court on Tuesday morning. The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has rejected a pay offer for BA pilots of 11.5% set over three years, despite Unite and GMB trade unions acting for BA
British Airways announced on Saturday that it was canceling all flights to Cairo with immediate effect for a period of seven days “as a precaution to allow for further assessment.” The U.K.’s Foreign Office has warned travelers to Egypt that “There’s a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation. Additional security measures are in place for
easyJet has released its financial results for the first financial half to 31 March 2019. Passenger numbers increased by 4.9 million while capacity increased by 14.5% principally due to annualizing of new operations in Berlin. Load factor decreased by 1.0 percentage points to 90.1% mainly as a result of building loads in Berlin in the
