Boeing marked the 50th anniversary of the first flight of its 707 jetliner, and the point in commercial aviation history when propellers gave way to the jet age and air travel became affordable and available. On a typically cold and rainy Northwest Friday afternoon 20 December, 1957, Boeing's chief of flight test Tex Johnston, his copilot Jim Gannet and flight engineer Tom Layne sat on the drenched runway at Renton Municipal Airport in the first production 707, checked weather reports and … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Boeing marks 50th anniversary of 707 Flight
air freighting
AMERICAS: Cargojet adds B767-200 freighters
Cargojet Income Fund said it plans to add two Boeing 767-200 extended range freighter aircraft to its fleet. The company said the new aircraft have a maximum structural payload of 45.4 tonnes, 67 per cent more than its current B727-200 advanced freighter aircraft. Cargojet said it will be the first Canadian air cargo operator to introduce the new Boeing 767-200. It plans to introduce them in the second and third quarters of 2008. Cargojet provides time sensitive, overnight air cargo … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Cargojet adds B767-200 freighters
AMERICAS: Dreamliners remain a dream, for now
Boeing announced recently the widely anticipated news that the 787 would be delayed with the first delivery now expected only in early 2009. "The fundamental design and technologies of the 787 remain sound," said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "However, we continue to be challenged by start-up issues in our factory and in our extended global supply-chain." The first flight of the 787 has been moved from the end of the first quarter of this year to around … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Dreamliners remain a dream, for now
AMERICAS: Atlanta to host 2012 TIACA event
Atlanta has won the bid to host The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) International Air Cargo Forum & Exhibition in 2012 where thousands of top executives from all sectors of the air cargo supply chain around the world will gather to celebrate the event's 50th anniversary. For TIACA, the decision means a return to the city that hosted the Association's first ever industry event in1962. It will also be the first time in 12 years that the forum and exhibition hastaken place in the … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Atlanta to host 2012 TIACA event
FRANCE: Air France-KLM won’t pull Alitalia out of Milan
Air France-KLM said the planned purchase of Alitalia would create a European champion and the airline would not abandon Milan's airport hub. Jean-Cyrill Spinetta, chairman of Air France, said the airline does not plan to abandon Milan and will keep a very dense network. Politicians in northern Italy oppose the Franco-Dutch carrier's plan to make Rome the nation's main airport hub at the expense of Milan. Spinetta said he planned to change the flight schedule for Milan's Malpensa airport, … [Read more...] about FRANCE: Air France-KLM won’t pull Alitalia out of Milan
FRANCE: Unions give ‘OK’ to US Airbus assembly
French unions issued conditional backing recently to proposals by Airbus to assemble the freight version of the A330 in the US if it wins a contract to provide refueling planes to the Pentagon. Airbus parent EADS earlier sweetened its bid for a US$40 billion US Air Force refueling contract by offering to assemble the commercial freighter version of the A330 in Mobile, Alabama, alongside a sister aircraft to be used for the tankers. The A330-200F freighter was launched last year to fill a … [Read more...] about FRANCE: Unions give ‘OK’ to US Airbus assembly
