The World of Aviation

Long held plans to put the Fokker 100 back into production have gained a boost, with the Dutch government providing a loan to fund the development of a prototype new generation version of the aircraft. NG Aircraft, which is a successor to the Rekoff company which has been planning to restart production of the Fokker

Jetstar says that a serious incident at Melbourne Airport in 2007 which was initially not reported to the ATSB has seen it change its procedures for handling go-arounds and training of its A320 crews. The ATSB released its final report on the incident on March 5, which occurred on July 21 2007 at Melbourne Airport.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese has approved a Major Development Plan for the western concourse extension at Canberra Airport. The western concourse extenstion is the second of the two-phase $350 million new multi-level passenger terminal project. The existing terminal will be demolished in stages to make room for the new facility, with the project being undertaken

LAN Airlines has announced that it will operate its first service on the Santiago-Auckland-Sydney route since a major earthquake struck the country on February 28, with the inbound service arriving on March 6. The airline had temporarily suspended operations on the route due to damage to the international terminal at Santiago Airport, and has now

The first ATR 42-600 made its first flight at Toulouse on March 4, kicking off a 75 hour flight test campaign ahead of the type’s expected entry into service in 2011. The two hour maiden flight saw the aircraft undergo tests of the engines, avionics, hydraulics and electrical systems, as well as blade balancing. The

Tajikistan based carrier Somon Air has ordered two Boeing 737-900ERs, valued at US$163m (A$181m) at list prices. Somon is Tajikistan’s first private full service airline and operates two 737-800s from Dushanbe to cities in Russia, Germany, Turkey and the UAE.