Qantas Freight to DFW
Qantas says it will add Dallas/Fort Worth to its dedicated Boeing 747-400F freighter network from June 9. The 747 freighters, which are operated by Atlas on behalf of Qantas, will stop in Dallas/Fort Worth every Thursday morning as part of a triangular routing from Australia to China and the US. Qantas, which holds cargo traffic rights from the
Etihad Airways has deployed the Airbus A380 on the Melbourne route, with the Gulf airline’s first service operated by the 496-seat flagship touching down in Australia’s second largest city on Thursday evening. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad will now operate the A380 on one of its twice daily flights to Melbourne, replacing a 777-300ER on its EY460-EY461 rotation. The
Etihad introduces the 787 to Perth
Etihad Airways has introduced the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner onto its daily flight to Perth, replacing the Airbus A330-200. The change of equipment was officially marked on Thursday, but the airline’s first 787 flight to Perth in fact landed on Monday thanks to an unscheduled aircraft substitution. 787-9 A6-BLF operated that unofficial first flight, touching down at 1:47pm on Monday
Australia requests SM-2 missiles for AWD trials
The US Department of State has approved the possible sale of Raytheon SM-2 Block IIIB missiles, equipment and support to Australia for use in Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) trials. The potential Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program deal, which has an estimated cost of US$301 million, covers up to 80 SM-2 Block IIIB vertical-launching
Virgin Australia has applied to the International Air Services Commission seeking traffic rights to operate daily services from a “major Australian gateway” to both Hong Kong and Beijing as part of its newly-announced alliance with Hainan Airlines parent company HNA. “As part of a proposed alliance with the HNA Aviation Group Co. Ltd, Virgin Australia International
Airbus has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its A320neo (new engine option) powered with CFM LEAP-1A engines. Certification of the A320neo with CFM powerplants comes about six months after regulators approved the Pratt & Whitney’s Pure Power PW1100G-JM engine variant of the updated
