A year ago, the heads of the Asia-Pacific’s major airlines gathered in Seoul for the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) annual Assembly of Presidents. This month they convene again, in Kuala Lumpur. Read More »

It was officially signed, sealed and delivered. From November 26, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) would begin serving Sydney from Kuala Lumpur daily with one of its new A380s, offering travellers from Australia a super jumbo service all the way to London. Read More »

The director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Andrew Herdman, is expected to renew his call for Asia-Pacific nations to gain greater influence in aviation’s global decision-making processes at this month’s AAPA Assembly of Presidents, in Kuala Lumpur. Read More »

When Siim Kallas, vice-president of the European Commission (EC) spoke to a major gathering of air traffic controllers in Cyprus last month, he was not telling delegates anything they didn’t already know. Read More »

On November 3, 2010, Qantas Airways’ A380 flight QF32 took off from Singapore bound for Sydney, en route from London, with 469 passengers and crew on board. Four minutes later, climbing over Indonesia, one of its giant engines exploded. The man credited with saving the aircraft and all on board, Capt. Richard Champion de CrespignyRead More »

Imagine a big commercial jet, its undercarriage retracted, sitting atop a trolley on the threshold of the runway. The trolley, linked to a track system using electro-magnetic motors, quickly accelerates and throws the aircraft into the air, rather like a navy fighter being catapulted from an aircraft carrier. Read More »

The A350 XWB is beginning to take shape and last month the plane’s 74,000 sq. metre final assembly line (FAL), in Toulouse, was officially inaugurated by the French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and Airbus president and CEO, Fabrice Bregier. Read More »

Airbus 380s that include a permanent fix for the tiny cracks found on a large number of the in-service aircraft won’t start coming off the production line until late next year or early 2014. Read More »

The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Joint Passenger Service Committee gave the go ahead last month to a roadmap and business case for new global distribution system (GDS) standards. Read More »

How the mighty have fallen. Twelve months ago, Kingfisher Airlines was India’s second largest carrier with a fleet of 64 aircraft and many more on order, including five A380s.Read More »

As Qantas Airways seeks a regulatory green light for its ground-breaking alliance with the Gulf’s Emirates Airline, the most recent statistics from Australia’s Department of Transport report a traffic slippage of 1.3% for its loss-making international arm. This reduced Qantas’ market share of traffic into and out of Australia to 17.1%. Read More »

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is establishing a centre of excellence for air traffic management (ATM). The CAAS director general, Yap Ong Heng, said that the centre will attempt to develop new ATM concepts, technologies and solutions for the industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Read More »

AirAsia’s $80 million bid for a 49% stake in Indonesia’s Batavia Air may be off, but airline chief, Tony Fernandes, is pushing ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) of its Indonesian subsidiary, AirAsia Indonesia, with plans to triple its fleet size. Read More »

Continuing its fleet modernization at a cracking pace, Philippine Airlines (PAL) has ordered another 10 A330-300s, following its August decision to purchase an initial 10 A330-300s and 44 A321s. Read More »

Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, and Singapore’s Republic Polytechnic, have signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding to provide aviation professionals with high quality industry relevant courses. Read More »

Launch A380 customer, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has ordered five more A380s and 20 A350-900s worth US$7.5 billion. Read More »

Air safety levels and government oversight in Indonesia continues to come under scrutiny following another incident involving a domestic operator. Read More »

AIRLINES: Air China and its subsidiary, Shandong Airlines, are in negotiations with the Qingdao provincial government to establish Qingdao Airlines. British Airways and Japan Airlines launched their business partnership in October with the announcement that the two airlines would share revenue on “applicable” flights between Europe and Japan.  Read More »

For Asia-Pacific carriers, demand for international air travel continued to expand in July. The number of passengers carried grew 4.2% to a combined total of 18.3 million, whilst demand in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 2.2%, compared to the same month last year. Read More »