The World of Aviation

The B-1B Lancer bomber, more colloquially known as the ‘Bone’ as a play on its B-1 designation, celebrated 25 years in USAF service on April 29. Originally designed and built by Rockwell (since merged into Boeing) at Palmdale north of Los Angeles, the first supersonic B-1B entered service on April 29 1985. Rockwell built 100

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has unveiled the Sea Avenger carrier based derivative of its jet powered Predator-C Avenger designed to fulfill a US Navy requirement for an unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike system. The UAS (unmanned aerial system) concept is in response to a US Navy RFI which was issued on April

Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand have announced details of their planned revenue sharing trans-Tasman alliance proposal, first revealed to the ASX last week, confirming it will be a non-equity arrangement. The airlines said in a joint statement released on May 3 that the alliance will allow them to “strengthen their competitive offering” on the

Embraer recorded a net income (profit) of US$35.5m (A$38.3m) for the quarter ending March 31, reversing a US$23.4m (A$26.2m) loss during the same time last year. The improvement in net income came as net sales for the Brazilian company declined by 14 per cent to US$990m (A$1068m) as the weaker commercial airliner market weighed down

Angolan airline TAAG Linhas Aereas has ordered two Boeing 777-300ERs and taken purchase rights on a further two. The order is valued at US$544m (A$587m) at list prices, and was originally posted as an order to an unidentified customer on the Boeing Orders and Deliveries website last year. The airline currently operates three 777-200ERs.

Lufthansa has announced that Beijing and Tokyo will be the first routes to receive regular A380 services, the first of which will be delivered on May 19. From June 11, the German flag carrier will operate three weekly services with the A380 on the Frankfurt-Tokyo Narita route, followed by a three times weekly A380 operation