The World of Aviation

The second of three 747-8F flight test aircraft, RC522, successfully completed its first flight on the evening on March 14, taking off from Paine Field in Everett for a two-and-a-half-hour flight that landed at Boeing Field in Seattle. RC522, with Captain Kirk Vining, copilot Rick Braun and systems operator Joel Conard on board, reached an

Cabin crew at British Airways will hold a three day strike from March 20 and a four day strike from March 27, which are expected to cost the airline up to £140m. The Unite union which is representing cabin crew, says that BA has put forward a new formal offer to staff ahead of the

Chinese airlines appear to be preparing to order up to 218 new aircraft this year to meet surging demand, according to the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). According to state media agency Xinhua, CAAC director Li Jiaxiang said the orders will range from regional jets up to very large airliners to

The FAA has issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) to operators and owners of Boeing 737NGs to inspect the aircraft’s elevator tab control mechanisms following an incident on a Ryanair 737-800. The FAA says the AD originated from a reported “failure of aft attach lugs on the left elevator tab control mechanism, which resulted in

Cathay Pacific has released its 2009 financial figures, showing that the consolidated Group earned a profit of HK$4.7bn (A$66.1m), reversing a loss from the year before. The profit came despite a 22.6 per cent fall in turnover to HK$67bn (A$9.4bn) due to lower demand and yields on both passenger and cargo services, although costs were

EADS has recorded a net loss of €763m (A$1.15bn) for the 2009 financial year as the European aerospace and defence conglomerate was again dragged down by the A400M and A380 programs, as well as currency losses. The company’s revenues declined by €500m (A$751m) to €42.8bn (A$64.3bn), which was buoyed by higher aircraft deliveries from Airbus