United Airlines has made a firm order for 25 of Airbus’ A350 extra-wide bodied jets worth an estimated US$6 billion, fulfilling a commitment signed in December, the European aircraft manufacturer said recently. Deliveries of the A350-900s are scheduled to begin in 2016 and run through 2019, Airbus said in a statement. The order is half of a 50-aircraft order United announced in December, when it also unveiled plans to buy 25 of Airbus’ rival Boeing Co.’s … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: United makes firm order for 25 A350s

Boeing 747 programme vice president and general manager Mo Yahyavi has said current testing on the 747-8F is proceeding well after completing initial air worthiness testing in mid-March. Yahyavi also acknowledged that a slight redesign of the landing gear door will be required to address aerodynamic issues when the gear is lowered and the flaps are fully deployed for landing. The 777 had a similar problem with its nose gear in 1994. The test programme involves three aircraft with 1,600 hours … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Boeing happy with 747-8F testing progress

Boeing has announced that it will accelerate planned rate increases on both the 777 and 747 programmes. The accelerated rate increases will support increasing customer demand in the recovering airplane market. “Our customers recognize the great capability and value of the 777 and 747-8. Market improvement and our conservatively managed approach to production have put us in a position where we see it necessary to raise aircraft output. Increasing our rate is the right thing to do to … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Boeing ups production rate for 777/747s

The CEO of Air Canada, Calin Rovinescu, has sharply rebuked recent efforts by UAE-based Emirates to expand its services to Canada. “Air Canada and other international airlines such as China Airlines, EVA Air, Korean Airlines and Japan Airlines all depend upon a certain amount of connection traffic beyond their respective hubs to make their pointto- point service profitable. “If Emirates pours seats into a market where there is minimal point-to-point demand, it will sop up … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: Air Canada CEO slams Emirates plan

The US Department of Homeland Security could be years away from achieving its objective of 100 per cent screening for air cargo carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Gale Rossides, acting director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee it was feasible to screen all domestic cargo by the 3 August deadline. But the deadline for incoming international flights will be missed, Rossides said, adding that 65 per cent … [Read more...] about AMERICAS: 100% screening deadline won’t be met

Strong performance in charter and scheduled air cargo markets helped Volga-Dnepr Group out-perform the industry average traffic figures in 2009, by a wide margin. Volga-Dnepr Group’s results for 2009 show its charter and scheduled cargo airline businesses posted an overall freight traffic growth of seven per cent on 2008, compared to an industry average drop of 10 per cent. The Group has reported freight traffic carried by Volga-Dnepr Airlines and AirBridgeCargo Airlines rose … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Volga-Dnepr does well in difficult year