The World of Aviation

The federal government has confirmed it has requested pricing and availability of 10 Alenia C-27J tactical transport aircraft for the RAAF. The Air 8000 Phase 2 Battlefield Airlifter (BFA) project aims to replace the tactical airlift capability left vacant by the retirement of the RAAF’s DHC Caribou in December 2009, and has been put off

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has confirmed the federal government is considering the acquisition of an electronic attack capability through the modification of up to 12 of the RAAF’s Boeing F/A-18F+ Super Hornets. Speaking to SKY News on October 19, Mr Smith said “we are now starting the process of looking very closely and carefully at

Qantas says it is being forced to park a further two Boeing 767-300s from next Monday due to the backlog of maintenance work caused by industrial action by its maintenance engineers, and has warned more aircraft groundings may be necessary. The airline says removing the two 767s from its fleet will mean a further 80

China Eastern has cancelled an order for 24 Boeing 787s, and will instead order 45 Boeing 737s. China’s second largest airline says it will also order 15 Airbus A330s and trade back to Airbus four A340-300s. The new A330s will be delivered from 2013 to 2015, the 737s from 2014 to 2016.

Piper has appointed its VP of operations, Simon Caldecott, as its new interim president and CEO, with immediate effect, and has announced it is reviewing the future of its Altaire (formerly PiperJet) very light jet program. Caldecott replaces Geoff Berger, who was appointed interim CEO in mid 2010, while also departing the company is executive

Lockheed Martin has handed over the first F-35 JSF weapons load training device to the F-35 Integrated Training Centre (ITC) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Configured to represent all three variants of the F-35, the training device will allow maintenance students to learn how to load weapons and fuel tanks onto the aircraft. “Designed