The World of Aviation

Qantas and China Eastern Airlines have expanded their codeshare relationship to include new services from Australia to China via Singapore. Under the expanded arrangement, Qantas will place its code on China Eastern’s three daily services between Singapore and Shanghai from July 1, while China Eastern will place its code on Qantas services from Singapore to

Rolls-Royce has started testing of its Trent XWB engine, with the first example running for the first time in a ground testbed on June 17. The sixth member of the Trent series of engines, the XWB has been designed as the sole powerplant for the Airbus A350 XWB. RR says that it expects that the

USAF acquisitions head David Van Buren has described as “unhappy” his feelings towards the management of his service’s Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAS program, adding that the pace at which the system was maturing and proposals were being submitted was “excruciating.” “Testing and delivery has been slower than expected,” Van Buren told journalists when describing

Lockheed Martin has confirmed it expects to sign a fixed price contract for the fourth batch of low rate initial production (LRIP) F-35 jets in the next few weeks. Speaking to media in Canberra on June 17, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president for F-35 program integration, Tom Burbage, said company CEO Bob Stevens had undertaken

BAE Systems Australia and Lockheed Martin have signed an MoU which may lead to BAE being selected to conduct in-service support for the RAAF’s fleet of up to 100 F-35A JSFs when they enter service later this decade. The MoU was signed by the director of aerospace for BAE Systems Australia, John Monaghan, and by

Brisbane based Ferra Engineering has signed a memorandum of agreement with Lockheed Martin to establish a “world’s first” facility to manufacture titanium spars for F-35 JSF vertical tails. The agreement covers the transfer of Lockheed Martin developed technology for direct manufacturing of titanium components which offers savings through less wastage of titanium and reduced machining