The World of Aviation

The USAF has awarded Boeing a US$69.7m (A$76m) contract for the initial engineering, manufacturing and development of QF-16 full scale aerial targets. The USAF requirement calls for up to 126 F-16s to be converted to QF-16 drones, with the aircraft being drawn from retired F-16A stocks. The first QF-16 is due to enter service from

Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) says it has responded to the Australian Army’s tender for deeper maintenance of its six CH-47D Chinook helicopters. The six year contract will commence in September at Townsville, and requires the delivery of deeper maintenance support services to the Chinook fleet. For the Australian contract, BDA has teamed with Vector Aerospace

According to statistics released by the Airports Council International, passenger and freight traffic rebounded strongly during January. ACI says that total passenger traffic for the month was up by 5.4 per cent. This was aided by strong growth in international passenger numbers, which increased by 5.8 per cent, driven by double digit increases in the

The Department of Finance and Deregulation has sent out an advisory to all federal government departments about new requirements for official travel, ahead of the announcement of the winner of a travel management tender later this year. Under the new policies, public servants will have to ensure that other alternatives to travel, such as phone

Skywest has released its operating statistics for February, showing an increase in passengers on its regular public transport (RPT) services, although charter services were down slightly compared to the same time last year. For the month, the airline recorded a 14.3 per cent increase in RPT passengers carried, which went up to 25,000. This helped

Airbus has announced that it will increase the production rate of its A320 Family lines, while Boeing has indicated that it is examining possibly raising output on its 737NG and 777 lines. From December Airbus will lift its production rate for the A320 Family to 36 per month, an additional two aircraft each month. The