The World of Aviation

Bell Helicopter’s fly-by-wire 525 Relentless made its first flight on July 1 from the company’s assembly center in Amarillo, Texas. Unveiled at Heli-Expo in 2012, the 525’s first flight test started with a taxi test and ground maneuvering before lifting off into a hover. Once airborne, the aircraft N525TA also performed various hover manoeuvres and

The federal government will invest $274 million in the redevelopment of facilities at RAAF Base Williamtown, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced. The upgrade is part of the $1.2 billion investment in facilities that is being made to prepare Williamtown for the arrival of the F-35A Lightning II. Construction work is due to start in

Virgin Australia has appointed a marketing veteran with three decades’ experience as the new boss of its Velocity frequent flyer program. The company said on Thursday Karl Schuster will commence as Velocity chief executive on October 1, replacing Neil Thompson. Schuster will come to Velocity from Aimia Inc, where he has been president for Asia

Qantas had the highest rate of on-time arrivals and departures for May in what was generally good month for all domestic carriers in terms of punctuality, new figures show. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) report showed 89.6 per cent of Qantas’s flights arrived on-time, while 90.8 per cent of the Flying

Australia is to acquire two further Airbus KC-30A tanker-transports, taking the RAAF’s fleet to seven, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews has announced. “The two additional KC-30A aircraft will be delivered in 2018 and provide a substantial increase to the air-to-air refuelling capacity of the RAAF,” Andrews said in a statement on Wednesday. “Defence has signed an

Vietnam Airlines has become the the second airline to take delivery of the Airbus A350. The Skyteam member accepted its first A350-900 at the official handover ceremony at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France, on Tuesday morning (European time). The airline has ordered 14 A350s, with 10 to arrive from Airbus and four through lessors. This