AVIONEWS - World Aeronautical Press Agency
101,497 news found

Civil aviationAirbus introduces toilets for people with reduced mobility on single-aisle airplanes (VIDEO)
Toulouse, France - The system is based on a better organization of space to guarantee them autonomy
Airbus is the first aircraft manufacturer to introduce toilets for people with reduced mobility on its single-aisle planes. The new concept, called “Space flex”, is based on the reorganization of the spa... more

AirlinesAirplanes and justice. Italian tribunal confirms penalty on Ryanair
Rome, Italy - The Irish airline will have to pay 850,000 Euros for giving “Insufficient and inadequate information on insurance policies”
The Regional administrative tribunal (Tar) of Lazio confirmed the 850,000 Euros fine imposed on Ryanair by Agcom, the regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in Italy. The... more

UAS-DronesUnmanned helicopters. Lockheed Martin bets on civil small drones market
Arlington, USA - The American company illustrated possible commercial uses of some of its models
Lockheed Martin, first defence company in the world for sales (for details see AVIONEWS) intends to place its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) also on the civil market. “On the commercial side, absolutely, t... more

AirlinesAir Canada launches a new flight from Toronto to Rio de Janeiro
Rome, Italy - The airline strengthens its offer to Brazil
Air Canada, one of the most important carriers of Canada, launched a new non-stop route from “Pearson”, Toronto airport, to Galeão of Rio de Janeiro: the airplanes will depart three times a week. It’s... more

AirlinesEtihad: preclearance extended to all passengers directed to the USA from Abu Dhabi. An example to follow…
Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates - The procedure allows travellers to undergo border controls before departure
Starting from Thursday 15 January all passengers on Etihad airplanes flying to the United States from Abu Dhabi airport will enjoy the “Border preclearance” procedure, allowing them to undergo all con... more

Science and technologyAirbus: floating black boxes to be deployed on airplanes this year?
Toulouse, France - The new devices, that automatically eject in case of accident, will be easier to retrieve if the aircraft crashes to the sea
Airbus could soon introduce on its aircraft a new kind of black box, which automatically ejects in case of accidents and can float. According to industrial sources reported by “AFP”, “At the end of la... more

IndustryAnsaldo’s sale: Insigma in Italy to illustrate its offer
Rome, Italy - The Chinese delegation met Finmeccanica’s top managers yesterday and will stay in Italy until Thursday
As reported by AVIONEWS, a Chinese delegation lead by the president of Insigma Group Li Chwen Pan is in Italy to get from Finmeccanica an exclusive negotiation for the purchase of AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo... more

DiscussionsAirplanes and ratings. Qantas was the safest airline in 2014
Rome, Italy - An airline safety rating website drew up the rank of last year’s best and worst carriers
2014 was characterized by three serious aircraft accidents. The last happened close to the end of the year, when an AirAsia flight crashed in the Java Sea after losing contact with air traffic controllers... more

HelicoptersHelicopters. Boeing delivers advanced Chinook maintenance training devices to Canada
St Louis, Usa - Also six training aids focuses on specific items
Boeing recently delivered a maintenance training system to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that will help prepare technicians to keep the RCAF’s CH-147F Chinook helicopters mission ready. The C... more

IndustryNew Airbus aircraft list prices for 2015
Toulouse, France - Effective from January 1st
Airbus has increased the average list prices of its aircraft by 3.27 per cent across the product line. The new pricing is effective from January 1st 2015. The 3.27 per cent price increase has been calculated... more

Civil aviationItalian EU Presidency: "Europe has changed direction, time now for action"
Strasbourg, France - Matteo Renzi accompanied by the Minister Paolo Gentiloni
The President of the Italian Council Matteo Renzi accompanied by the Minister Paolo Gentiloni intervened in Strasbourg for his closing speech of the six month period. Over the past six months, Europe... more

Civil aviationAirplanes. Calendar of the Italian strikes in January 2015
Rome, Italy - Four protests in two days (16 and 27 of this month)
After the holidays' season, the Italian Transports Ministry communicates the protests fixed in January 2015. The next strikes are: - January 16, 2015, UNICA, aircraft sector, personnel by ENAV (Italian... more

IndustryAirplanes. Airbus exceeds targets in 2014 and prepares for the future
Toulouse, France - Its aircraft deliveries in 2014 were up for the 13th year in a row
Airbus has exceeded its targets for 2014, achieving a new record of 629 aircraft deliveries for 89 customers of which eight are new, comprising 490 A-320 Family aircraft, 108 A-330s, 30 A-380s and also... more

AccidentsAirAsia aircraft: divers recover both the black boxes
Jakarta, Indonesia - The Flight Data Recorder was retrieved yesterday while the Cockpit Voice Recorder has been brought to the surface this morning
Divers have retrieved the second black box from the AirAsia aircraft that crashed in the Java Sea last 28 December. Yesterday they brought to the surface the “Flight Data Recorder” (FDR), a device tha... more

AerospaceThales Alenia Space wins ESA contract for Plato phase B1 study
Rome, Italy - Part of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-25
Thales Alenia Space announced today that it has been selected by the European Space Agency for one of the three phase B1 studies of the Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillation of stars) program, part... more

Curiosities"Lisa Marie" and "Hound Dog II", Elvis Presley's airplanes at auction (VIDEO)
Memphis, Usa - The sale, began January 2, will end next February 2
The fans of "The King" and the keen of the vintage aviation are worried in all world, after the opening of the auction that put for sale two airplanes belonged to Elvis Presley, rock and roll star dead... more

IndustryAirbus: CALC firms up order for 100 A-320 family aircraft
Toulouse, France - It comprises 74 A-320neo, 16 A-320ceo and 10 A-321ceo
China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC), the independent aircraft operating lessor in China, firmed up its contract in December 2014 with Airbus for 100 A-320 Family aircraft. The order comprises 74 A-320neo,... more

PeopleAlitalia carries Pope Francis on apostolic journey to Sri Lanka and Philippines on A-330 "Giotto" airplane (VIDEO)
Rome, Italy - The aircraft will take off from Fiumicino at 6:50pm of today
Alitalia welcomes His Holiness Pope Francis on board its flight and to accompany him on his Apostolic journey to Sri Lanka and Philippines which will start today. The flight will be operated by an A-330... more

IndustryAnsaldo’s sale: Chinese delegation to arrive in Rome on Monday
Rome, Italy - Insigma Group, the only one to make a binding offer so far, will try to convince Moretti to close the deal
The sale of Finmeccanica’s railway transport sector can be close to a turning point. As reported by the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, a Chinese delegation lead by Insigma president and CEO L... more

HelicoptersAW-169 helicopter full scale production underway; deliveries to the first batch of customers to start in the 2Q15
Cascina Costa, Italy - First aircraft now on the final assembly line at Vergiate facility in Italy
Finmeccanica–AgustaWestland announced today that the new generation AW-169 light intermediate 4.5-tonne class helicopter has entered full scale production, with the first aircraft now on the final assembly l... more

ReportAirplanes and safety. The French police surrounded alleged "Charlie Hebdo" attackers close to “Charles de Gaulle” airport
Paris, France - Two runways have been closed and landing flights have been diverted to avoid flying over the area
The two brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, suspected to have participated in the massacre inside the offices of the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" on 7 January, barricaded inside a printing business in... more

AccidentsAirAsia aircraft: black boxes signals detected
Jakarta, Indonesia - The recorders might no longer be in the plane’s tail spotted on 7 January
The black boxes of AirAsia aircraft that crashed in Java Sea last 28 December might be found soon, but the flight data recorders appear to be no longer in the rear section of the plane spotted two days... more

Finance and economyAircraft and finance. Aena issues tender to insure Stock exchange quotation
Madrid, Spain - The Spanish airport management giant wants to be guaranteed from complaints concerning its IPO, due to start in February
The Spanish airport operator Aena launched a tender to draft a liability insurance contract to protect itself from complaints concerning the troubled Stock exchange quotation of 28% of its capital. The... more

Civil aviationAirplanes and transport. IATA: healthy passenger demand in November
Geneva, Switzerland - Domestic markets driving growth
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for November 2014 showing a continuation of the healthy demand trend of recent months. Total revenue passenger... more

AirlinesEmirates launches second daily A-380 airplane service to Manchester Airport
Dubai, UAE - As of 1st February 2015
Emirates has announced that as of 1st February 2015, its EK019/020 service between Dubai International Airport and Manchester Airport, currently operated by a B-777, will be replaced with an A-380 airplane.... more

HelicoptersAgustaWestland to supply 160 AW-189 civil helicopters to oil company Rosneft by 2025
Cascina Costa, Italy - HeliVert, jv between Russian Helicopters and Finmeccanica-AW, will assemble the aircraft in Russia
Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland, announced yesterday that, following an agreement signed on 29th December, it will provide 160 AW-189 civil helicopters to the oil company Rosneft by 2025. The supply will be... more

ReportTurkey. Airplane crash in Isparta: eight sentences among them then top of World Focus Airlines and of AtlasJet
Ankara, Turkey - Also then two high officials of the Turkish civil aviation condemned
A MD-83 airplane with 50 passengers and 7 crewmembers on board crashed last November 30, 2007 against a rocky while it was approaching to the runway of the Ispart airport, in Turkey. No survivor. The... more

Press releaseAirplanes and airlines. Italian ENAC starts check on disruptions of the Maltese FlyHermes
Rome, Italy - Possible sanctions for delays and cancellations under considerations and the request of a major supervision to the Maltese counterpart authority
With reference to delays and cancellations that have interested some flights of the Maltese airline FlyHermes, the President of ENAC (Italian Civil Aviation Authority) Vito Riggio asked to director general,... more

AirportsAirplane. Aci Europe: EU and Non-EU airports report similar traffic performance in November
Bruxelles, Belgium - Balanced growth that drives exceptional economic performance, especially in Greece, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, Romania, Portugal and Croatia
European airport trade body, ACI EUROPE today released its traffic report for November. The report is the only air transport report which includes all types of civil aviation passenger flights: network,... more

IndustryFinmeccanica: year-end contracts in every business sector (airplanes, helicopters)
Rome, Italy - Four important agreements were signed: AA, AW, Selex ES and Ansaldo STS
End of the year characterized by new contracts for the Finmeccanica Group; in the last days of 2014 four important agreements in every sector of the Group's activities were signed. In the Aeronautic... more

AerospaceItalian ASI: Samantha Cristoforetti continues experimental activitity on the ISS
Rome, Italy - She successfully carried out second session of Blind and Imagined/Slink experiments, one of the nine projects selected and developed by the Agency for the "Futura" mission
Samantha Cristoforetti successfully conducted the second session of the"Blind and Imagined/Slink" experiments. The Italian astronaut of ESA (European Space Agency) and commander pilot of the Italian Air... more

CargoAircraft and transport. IATA: November global air freight growth concentrates in Asia and Middle East
Geneva, Switzerland - At 5.9% and 12.9%, respectively
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported November 2014 data for global air freight markets showing that demand measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTK) grew 4.2% compared to November... more

AirportsAircraft and finance. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund interested in Adr
Rome, Italy - Atlantia would sell a 20-30% share
Atlantia might open AdR-Aeroporti di Roma’s capital to a new partner. As reported by sources quoted by “Milano Finanza”, the holding controlled by the Benetton family has committed to the advisor Lazar... more

AerospaceThales Alenia Space to build SWOT oceanography satellite
Rome, Italy - The industry has been selected by French space Agency CNES
Thales Alenia Space announced that it has been selected by French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) to build the oceanography satellite SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography).... more

Finance and economyAirplanes and finance. Atlantia SpA is competing for Santiago del Chile airport
Rome, Italy - The Italian holding would be one of the bidders for a twenty-year concession over the South American facility
Atlantia SpA is one of the bidders for the management of Santiago del Chile airport. The news was reported by “Milano Finanza”, saying that the Italian holding applied through the “Grupo Aeropuerto Santi... more

IndustryBoeing Commercial Airplanes achieves milestone year for deliveries, orders in 2014
Seattle, USA - Commercial orders valued at $232.7 billion at list prices
Boeing employees helped the company set a record for the most commercial airplanes delivered in a single year at 723 in 2014, breaking the company record for a second consecutive year. The company's sales... more

PeopleATR appoints new Senior Vice-President Procurement: David Brigante
Toulouse, France - He has held different positions within Alenia Aermacchi
David Brigante, 54, has been appointed as new Senior Vice-President of the new Procurement directorate of ATR. He will be in charge of the contract negotiations with the suppliers of the aircraft manufacturer... more

AccidentsAirAsia aircraft: rescuers find the tail; it may contain the black boxes
Jakarta, Indonesia - Improved weather conditions allowed divers to restore searches
Indonesian divers identified today the tail of the Airbus A-320/200 that disappeared from radars on 28 December after a piece was spotted by an underwater machine using a sonar scan. The news was given... more

MiscellaneousAVIONEWS wishes a Happy Epiphany to everybody
Rome, Italy - The Agency will regularly open the day after tomorrow, January 7, 2015 at the end of the holiday's season
AVIONEWS communicates to its own subscribers, readers, fans of social network and reporters that the agency will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday January 6, in the occasion of the Epiphany. The normal diffusion... more

DiscussionsAirplanes and occurrences. Pilots: fog procedures in Abu Dhabi are inadequate
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - The airport is equipped with cutting-edge systems for landing but it seems to lack radars allowing air traffic controllers to guide traffic on the ground
The severe inconveniences that affected passengers in Abu Dhabi in the past days have brought to light the problems in dealing with fog at the airport (see also AVIONEWS). The Emirates capital facility... more

OccurrencesMumbai: passengers lose connecting aircraft to Heathrow and British Airways leaves them one night in the airport
Mumbai, India - The BA flight did not wait for people coming from Goa, delayed by a number of problems after landing
38 British Airways passengers spent the night between 4 and 5 January on the floor in Mumbai’s airport after losing the connecting flight to London and some of them are still stuck in India. Sean R... more

IndustryAnsaldo’s sale. Year 2014 ended with no decision by Finmeccanica
Rome, Italy - Now the dismissing of the railway sector’s subsidiaries might overlap with the business plan presentation
Finmeccanica was supposed to take a decision on AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo Sts sale by the end of last year. Or at least this was what the aerospace Group CEO Mauro Moretti guaranteed at the end of November.... more

AirlinesAircraft and airlines. Qatar sovereign wealth fund ready to buy 20% of Meridiana
Olbia, Italy - The airline denies contacts. Meanwhile negotiations with the unions start again on Friday 9
Meridiana’s controversy might have come to a new turning point as a Qatar sovereign wealth fund might want to buy 20% of Alisarda, the holding owning the airline. The company denies contacts with the E... more

ReportTravellers stuck for 12 hours inside Etihad aircraft on the runway
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Passengers, going to San Francisco, say the airline did not give them information or assistance
Passengers of an Etihad Airways aircraft flying from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco on 3 January say the airline left them 12 hours stuck inside the plane, standing on the runway before take off, without information... more

CuriositiesAirplanes and airlines. Saudia Airlines will separate male and female passengers
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - New rules will be introduced following complaints by some travellers
Saudia Airlines is the most strict among Gulf carriers in following Islamic rules: cabin crew members are all men, no alcoholic beverages and pork meat are offered on board, a verse of the Quran is read... more

AirlinesAirplanes and airlines. American Airlines pilots pay raised by 26% in 2015
Fort Worth, USA - The agreement between the company and the union will have to be voted on by pilots
American Airlines Group Inc has reached an agreement with its pilots’ union as part of an operation to combine operations of American Airlines and US Airways. The Group was formed on the December 2013 m... more

ReportViareggio train disaster. The victims’ relatives complain about Moretti’s and Elia’s designations
Viareggio, Italy - In an open letter to Viareggio prefectural commissioner they accuse the Italian institutions
The prefectural commissioner Valerio Massimo Romeo, who is running the city of Viareggio until the election of a new mayor, received an open letter by the relatives of Viareggio train disaster’s victims. T... more

AccidentsAirAsia aircraft: large pieces of the aircraft detected on the seabed
Jakarta, Indonesia - But their recovery has been hampered by bad weather
Search teams are still working on the recovery of the airplane’s wreckage and passengers’ bodies from AirAsia QZ8501 flight that disappeared from radars last 28 December. The head of Indonesia's National Sea... more

Civil aviationAirplanes and carriers. AEA: European airlines achieved record load factor of 81% in 2014
Brussels, Belgium - According to initial estimates
According to initial estimates, AEA member airlines achieved a record load factor of nearly 81% in 2014. The airlines participating in the AEA’s traffic data analysis welcomed on board of their domestic, E... more

ReportAirplanes and assistance. Australian bushfire: race against time
Adelaide, Australia - Firefighters and aircraft to stop the blaze
A huge bushfire hits the South Australia and it seems to not stop. The RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) made available six water bombers and three observation aircraft, in addition to 700 firefighters... more