The World of Aviation

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force retired the last of its Shenyang J-6 fighters at a ceremony on June 12. A licenced copy of the MiG-19 ‘Farmer’ fighter, the Soviet Union’s first supersonic fighter, more than 4000 J-6s were built for the PLAAF between 1958 and the early 1980s, and hundreds more were exported as

Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has had its FAA Part 145 Repair Station Certificate expanded to allow it to repair and overhaul wheels on 737NGs at its Amberley facilities. The new approval will enhance BDA’s existing 737NG commercial and commercial-derivative aircraft (including the Wedgetail AEW&C) maintenance and repair services capability, and also benefit local and international

Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti is reportedly set to present a new business plan for the airline to its board this week, which will include plans to introduce business class and possibly widebody aircraft on short haul services and the adoption of a new name as the airline group plans to increase its share of

Briton Paul Bonhomme has won the New York leg of the Red Bull Air Race over the June 19-20 weekend, while Australian pilot Matt Hall was forced to sit out the event following his near miss in Windsor. Bonhomme edged out compatriot Nigel Lamb while Kirby Chambliss took out third place. Austrian Hannes Arch, who

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