The World of Aviation

Lockheed Martin has announced that South Korea has ordered four C-130J Hercules transports for delivery from 2014. The aircraft are the stretched fuselage variant, and add to a fleet of C-130Hs already in service in Korea. The deal also includes two years of support and an aircrew and maintenance crew training program.

Emirates has now deployed the Boeing 777-200LR on both of its twice daily Dubai-Perth flights, with the type replacing Airbus A340s on the early morning EK425 service with effect from December 2. The 777-200LRs are configured with eight first class suites, 42 business class lie-flat seats, and 216 economy class seats.

The RAAF retired the F-111 on December 3 after 37 years of service, with a flypast of Ipswich, Brisbane, and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts by six F-111s accompanied by four F/A-18Fs, and a final F-111 singleton display overhead RAAF Amberley, the type’s final flight. The flights were the culmination of two days’ of retirement

Hainan Airlines will begin thrice weekly Airbus A330 flights from Shenzen and Hangzhou to Sydney from January 19 next year. “I welcome Hainan Airlines to Sydney Airport,” Sydney Airport CEO Russell Balding said. “It is a fast growing airline with an extensive domestic network across China.  This is great news for Sydney and demonstrates again

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)’s preliminary report into the Qantas Airbus A380 QF32 uncontained engine failure highlights the thorough and systematic approach the flightcrew took in responding to the inflight emergency. The report, released on December 3, details how when the aircraft (VH-OQA) was passing 7000ft at about 250kt over the Indonesian island of

Qantas says it has begun discussions with Rolls-Royce over compensation to cover loses from the QF32 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine failure and subsequent grounding of the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet. The airline says it has also filed a statement of claim and been granted an injunction by the Federal Court to ensure it can pursue