The World of Aviation

The World Trade Organisation has upheld most of its 2010 ruling against Boeing, finding that the aerospace giant received billions in illegal subsidies from US federal and state agencies. The WTO did not put a precise figure on the size of the subsidies but the total was far below the nearly $24 billion in illegal

Century Tokyo Leasing Corp will buy a 16.7 per cent share in Jetstar Japan from Mitsubishi, the Japanese Nikkei reported. Mitsubishi currently owns a 33.4 per cent stake in the start up budget carrier, which is scheduled to commence flights in July. Qantas and Japan Airlines each own 33.3 per cent of the carrier. Century

Airbus parent EADS has predicted booming profits this year after releasing solid financial results for 2011. EADS, which also owns Eurocopter, Astrium and Cassidian, finished the year with a record order book worth €541bn euros (A$670bn) and revenues of €49bn (AU$60.6bn), a seven percent increase.  Fourth quarter profits were up 72 per cent to €612m

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched legal action against Flight Centre over claims the travel agency attempted to fix airline ticket prices. The ACCC says that between 2005 and 2009 Flight Centre tried to induce Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Emirates to stop offering lower prices on their websites than the fares offered

Boeing has scored nearly four times as many aircraft orders as Airbus over the first two months of 2012 as it seeks to make up ground on its European rival. The US airframer sold 387 aircraft during January and February, headlined by the closing of a deal for 230 737 MAX aircraft with Indonesian LCC

Boeing says it has completed all testing required for type certification of its 787-8 Dreamliner with General Electric GEnx engines. “The last phase of testing focused on extended operations onboard a production airplane,” said Mike Sinnett, vice president and chief project engineer, 787 program. “The airplane performed beautifully during this testing, further demonstrating its reliability.”