ATSB says birdstrike incidents up over past two years
There has been a significant increase in the number of birdstrike incidents over the past two years involving high capacity aircraft operations, new figure show. The findings were part of an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report into birdstrike events recorded over the past 10 years. The report said there were 16,069 birdstrikes reported to
Virgin Australia and Alliance Airlines call on ACCC to reverse course and approve charter partnership
Virgin Australia/Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) and Alliance Airlines say they are willing to have the competition regulator monitor their charter operations in an effort to secure approval for a proposed partnership. In December, the ACCC knocked back the pair’s application for a charter alliance, which if approved would allow Virgin and Alliance to work
RAAF deploys Wedgetail, C-130J to Nevada for Red Flag
Royal Australian Air Force personnel have deployed to Nevada with an E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C platform and a C-130J Hercules tactical airlifter for the Red Flag 17-1 exercise. Alongside counterparts from the US and the UK, about RAAF 200 personnel will support and participate in missions involving up to 100 aircraft, flying over 31,000 square kilometres
Centre fuselages for next RAAF F-35s in production
No fewer than six centre fuselage sections for the RAAF’s next batch of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters are currently in production at Northrop Grumman’s F-35 Integrated Assembly Line (IAL) at Palmdale, California. The fuselage sections are for six of the RAAF’s next eight F-35As, which are scheduled for delivery in 2018, after the first two
Boeing 737 MAX heads Down Under as part of flight test program
Boeing’s next generation narrowbody the 737 MAX is in Australia as part its flight test program, with 737 MAX 8 development aircraft N8704Q arriving in Darwin a little before 1730 local time on Thursday. Since landing in Darwin, N8704Q, the fourth of four 737 MAX 8 development aircraft built, has flown to Alice Springs, as
American and Qantas wind back cooperation ahead of second effort to win US approval on expanded alliance
Qantas and American Airlines plan to make another effort to convince US regulators the pair should be allowed to form a joint-venture partnership on trans-Pacific routes. The two oneworld alliance members announced over the weekend they would submit a new application to the US Department of Transport (DOT) for anti-trust immunity (ATI) on a metal-neutral,
