The World of Aviation

Qantas has applied to the International Air Services Commission (IASC) for a major increase in capacity on the Indonesia route, as well as further fifth freedom rights to carry passengers beyond Indonesia. Qantas has applied for an additional 3898 seats each week between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth and Indonesia, which it says would allow

German carrier Air Berlin has accepted an invitation for it to start the process of joining the oneworld airline alliance, with the full membership expected to be completed by early 2012. Air Berlin will develop one-on-one co-operative agreements with key established members of the alliance American Airlines and Finnair, to take effect this coming winter

A Boeing MD-11 Freighter operated by Lufthansa Cargo has been involved in an accident while landing in Riyadh on July 27. The aircraft, registered D-ALCQ, was operating a flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong via Riyadh and Sharjah with 80 tonnes of freight on board. According to some reports, the aircraft’s fuselage fractured while landing

Emirates has appointed Barry Brown as its new vice president for Australasia. Prior to his new role, Brown was the chief commercial officer at Oman Air, and held similar positions with SriLankan Airlines and Hazelton Airlines.

Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens has told financial analysts in the US that the three F-35B STOVL test aircraft based at NAS Patuxent River are not meeting their flight test schedule due to parts failures. Stevens said the flight test schedule was running 21 flights behind the 95 the company had hoped to have achieved

Indonesian carrier Batavia Air is planning to launch flights from Denpasar to Perth, while it is also looking to fly to Melbourne and Sydney. Batavia has not yet announced a start date for the services, but it is expected to soon launch daily flights between Perth and Denpasar utilising Airbus A319s, which would make it