The World of Aviation

The mission to Afghanistan of the RAAF 5 Flight’s IAI Heron unmanned aerial system will be extended by six months to the end of 2014  following a request from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The three unmanned aircraft and the supporting detachment are based at Kandahar and are tasked to perform information, surveillance and

The sales of 123 Airbus Helicopters to Chinese interests have been confirmed during the state visit to China of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The three contracts were signed with Fujian Xinmei General Aviation Co. (GAC), Guangdong Baiyun GAC and Yunnan Fengxiang GAC for a total of 123 Ecureuil and EC135 machines. The helicopters will be

The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) has called for a better deal for regional operators over how aviation fuel is taxed. In a July 7 statement, the representative body said over $300 million is raised annually from levies on aviation fuel for domestic flights in Australia, about two-thirds of which it attributed to the

Qantas is temporarily increasing capacity on the Sydney-Honolulu route from September by adding supplementary services and upgrading Boeing 767-300ERs to Airbus A330 equipment. “From 14 September to 27 December Qantas will upgrade the aircraft to an Airbus A330 and add A330 supplementary services on some Saturdays to cater for increased demand,” the airline said in a

The Qantas Group has signed an order for 21 more Airbus A320neos to take its A320neo Family backlog to 99, but has deferred other orders until after 2016 and to as late as 2022. The 21 aircraft order was placed in June and is on top of an order for 78 neos the airline placed

The Air Sport Australia Confederation (ASAC) has awarded its Air Sports Gold Medal for 2013 to Chris Callow. The ASAC Air Sports Gold Medal is Australia’s highest air sport award, and recognises an outstanding contribution to aviation generally or to the aviation industry in Australia in particular. The contribution may be through a single outstanding