The World of Aviation

Qatar has postponed plans to inaugurate 787 services to Perth on February 1. (Mehdi Nazarinia) As the global fleet of 50 787s remains grounded while investigations into a series of onboard incidents continue, the US National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) is digging deeper into investigations that it says may be prolonged. “This is an unprecedented

French-Italian regional aircraft manufacturer ATR has recorded its highest annual turnover – US$1.44 billion – while delivering 64 aircraft during 2012. The deliveries were 18 per cent up on the previous year. A total of 115 aircraft sales were achieved during the year comprising 74 firm orders and 41 options, confirming its leading position in

Dubai Airport has opened a new concourse dedicated to A380 operations.  Concourse A will host Emirates’ current fleet of 30 A380s as well as Qantas from March 31. The airport operator built the facility for the exclusive use of Emirates and selected partner airlines. The facility’s 20 gates are being progressively opened. The new concourse

GippsAERO has selected Summit Aviation as an authorised dealer in the United States. GippsAERO and Summit Aviation will be targeting the aerial surveillance market in the US, which they believe the GA8 platform is well suited.  It is already in service with special missions and law enforcement agencies in the US. More than 200 GA8s

The loss of a multi-million dollar contract at airports across Australia will likely result in the loss of Qantas ground handling jobs. Qantas is seeking voluntary redundancies in the wake of losing the Air New Zealand ground handling contract for check in and baggage services at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.  From March Toll

A second F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has achieved 500 hours of flight testing.  AF-1  – the first conventional takeoff and landing test aircraft – reached in the milestone in 272 flights. Lockheed Martin reports to date that the F-35A has completed 43 per cent of its overall test program. Combined the three F-35 variants have achieved