The World of Aviation

Sydney Airport has announced that it will close the southern end of its main (16R/34L) runway overnight until the end of the year to conduct essential safety work. The works will be carried out during the curfew period between 11pm and 5am to minimise interruption, and will involve re-sheeting, line-marking and ground lighting works. Aircraft

Tiger Airways Australia has announced that its fleet of Airbus A320s will increase to 12 from early next year as the carrier takes delivery of an additional three aircraft. Tiger is currently expecting its 10th A320 to arrive before the end of the year, with the aircraft to be stationed at its Melbourne Tullamarine base.

Jetstar has announced that it will reinstate its direct Melbourne-Ballina services from December 21. The budget airline will operate three weekly services on the route on a year-round basis, and comes as it prepares to take its Sydney-Ballina frequencies up to twice daily from December 2. The services will be operated by 177-seat Airbus A320s.

Malaysia Airlines has announced that it will operate a second daily service between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney from November 1. The new service, which is scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 777-200, will depart daily from Kuala Lumpur at 0900, arriving into Sydney at 1955, while the return service departs at 2155 from Sydney

The Department of Defence has released images of the test dropping of a AGM-154C JSOW glide bomb from a RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet last month. The weapon release was part of 1SQN’s first live weapon trials with the Super Hornet at the Woomera Test Range, north of Adelaide. Five Super Hornets and about 100 aircrew,

Hawker Beechcraft has launched the King Air 250 at the NBAA Conference in Atlanta, with the new twin-turboprop utilising composite technology to improve  performance. The King Air 250 features composite winglets and propellers, as well as changes to the engine induction system. Compared to the B200GT, the 250 has a 122m advantage in takeoff distance