The World of Aviation

Boeing has rolled out its 4000th Next Generation 737, a 126-passenger 737-700 destined for China Southern Airways. The milestone comes as Boeing ramps up 737 production to whittle down a backlog of more than 2600 orders. The US planemaker hopes to hit a production target of 42 aircraft per month by 2014. Somewhat confusingly, Boeing

Virgin Australia will end its thrice weekly flights between Townsville and the Gold Coast from May 3 due to poor demand. The airline said the route had been under review for some time and continuing revenue losses meant the flights would be scuttled in favour of increased services from the Gold Coast to Sydney and

A biofuel powered Qantas A330 took to the skies today in an Australian first as the airline announced a new government-backed effort to study the feasibility of an Australian biofuel industry. “Australia has the skills, resources and infrastructure to take the lead in this emerging sector,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a press conference

The cargo wing of Emirates Airlines will launch a second weekly freighter flight to Sydney in what the airline calls a sign of Australia’s growing importance in international trade. Emirates SkyCargo currently operates a single weekly Boeing 777 freighter flight on its Dubai-Singapore-Sydney-Hong Kong-Dubai route. That service launched seven months ago. “The demand for a

A US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey has crashed during a training exercise in Morocco, killing two Marines. The US State Department confirmed the fatal crash but has so far released few details. The incident occurred during a bilateral training exercise known as ‘African Lion’, which includes about 1000 US Marines and 200 personnel from other

Virgin Australia is sprucing up the interior of its international fleet of Boeing 777s with new seat fabrics and carpets. Seats across all three classes will receive extra padding and new covers and headrests as part of the redesign, which will bring the widebody aircraft in line with the rest of Virgin’s fleet. The airline