The World of Aviation

Virgin Blue’s first Airbus A330-200, VH-XFA, has arrived in Australia, flying into Melbourne on March 5. The all-white aircraft features no hints as to Virgin Blue’s much anticipated rebranding and new livery, expected to be revealed in the near future, although conjecture suggests the name ‘Virgin Australia’ could be adopted. Virgin Blue has already released

BAE Systems and Marand signed a $790 million long term agreement for the supply of vertical tails for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the Avalon Airshow on Friday, the largest and highest value Australian F-35 work package announced to date. Victorian based Marand has worked closely with BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and the Victorian

Northrop Grumman will provide its Expeditionary Tactical Automated Security System (or ExTASS) for RAAF C-17s under a contract awarded by the Defence Materiel Organisation. ExTASS is an open architecture command and control platform for the integration  of force protection sensors. The RAAF will use ExTASS to protects its C-17s during expeditionary operations at home in

Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) has announced that the Hawker 4000 has received certification from CASA, opening the way for the aircraft to be delivered to local customers. “There is growing interest in the Hawker 4000 throughout the Asia-Pacific market,” said Dan Keady, HBC VP South Asia Pacific. “Its composite construction, outstanding performance and world-class cabin make

Flight testing of the F-35 JSF has got off to a promising start in 2011, with all three variants exceeding their planned schedule in January and February. Lockheed Martin’s vice president of JSF program Tom Burbage told a briefing at the Avalon Airshow on Thursday that the program had completed 114 flights so far this

Alliance Airlines has signed on as the Asia Pacific partner in Fokker Services’ ‘FLYFokker Take Off’ program, which is aimed at expanding the number of Fokker operators in the region. Under the agreement, Alliance Airlines will provide Fokker 100 jets and Fokker 50 turboprops on wet-lease to startup airlines in the Southeast Asia region, prior