The World of Aviation

The first Boeing F/A-18F+ for the RAAF, A44-213, made its first flight at St Louis on September 23. The aircraft is the first of 12 to be modified with specific wiring, conduits and avionics racks for conversion to the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. They have been internally given the ‘+’ suffix by Boeing Australia

Virgin Blue and Etihad Airways have received interim authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for their alliance. The interim authorisation will now allow the two airlines to start selling joint fares on each others’ networks from October 1. The two carriers will integrate the Etihad Guest and Velocity programs, with members able

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has said that the airline is not interested in a possible merger with British Airways, with the company now focused on pursuing organic growth opportunities in Asia instead. “Been there, done that,” Joyce remarked when recently asked by a reporter about comments from BA CEO Willie Walsh that the airline was

The DMO has contracted Australian Aerospace to supply and manage the Michelin tyre inventories for the RAAF’s fleet of F/A-18A/B Hornet fighters and AP-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft for a five year period. “Winning the P-3 tyres business is a natural extension of the through life support services that Australian Aerospace provides the DMO under

The final report by the French Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA) has confirmed that icing in angle of attack sensors and pilot error were the main contributing factors to the fatal crash of an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 off the coast of France in November 2008. The aircraft crashed while involved in an end

The Jakarta Post reports chief of staff Marshal Imam Sufaat as saying that the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) plans to order a further six Sukhoi fighters so that it can form a full squadron of 16 aircraft. “The existing squadron of Sukhois remains insufficient to give a deterrent effect given our vast territory,” he said