The World of Aviation

Bombardier has announced plans to expand its LearJet faciity in the US city of Wichita. The company said it will expand its Bombardier Flight Test Center and establish new facilities for paint and production flight test as well as a new delivery center for its business jets. The expansion will create an estimated 450 new

Boeing says it has successfully increased 737 production to 35 aeroplanes a month as it seeks to whittle down a backlog of orders for the popular airliner. Boeing increased production from 31.5 aircraft a month last year and plans further increases to 38 a month by the second quarter of 2012 and 42 a month

Air France-KLM has finalised a firm order for 25 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with options. The order, worth about US$5 billion at list prices, had previously been recorded on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries website attributed to an unidentified customer. A preliminary 787 deal had been announced by Air France-KLM in September as part of a split

Jetstar has launched a four-times weekly Darwin-Manila-Tokyo service as it increases international flights to and from the Northern Territory capital. The budget carrier will also increase weekly flights on its Darwin-Singapore route from seven to 10. The new services go into effect on March 25. In a statement, Jetstar Australia CEO David Hall said Darwin was

Hawker Beechcraft has announced the first sale of its upgraded T-6C+ military trainer to the Mexican Air Force, with deliveries slated to begin early this year. An enhanced version of the T-6 trainer, the T-6C+ is capable of carrying external stores and delivering practice weapons. It features hard-point wings, heads-up display, up-front control panel, an

Qantas customer satisfaction fell slightly during the latter part of 2011 with Virgin Australia seeing a corresponding rise, according to a report by market research firm Roy Morgan. Satisfaction with Qantas fell during October, when the airline briefly grounded its fleet amid a labour dispute, and ended November at 84 per cent, down from a