The World of Aviation

Skywest Airlines has recorded a profit of S$3.179m (A$2.46m) for the 2008/09 financial year, a 65 per cent drop on the previous year’s result. The profit came on revenues of S$180.85m (A$140.34m), down two per cent ,while costs increased by two per cent to S$90.17m (A$69.97m). “The financial results are entirely satisfactory given several compounding issues:

Virgin Blue has hit back at claims by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) that the airline is being lax with its maintenance practices following an incident on a Boeing 737-800 which was taxiing at Melbourne Airport on October 20. According to newspaper reports, ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas claimed that one of the

FlightSafety and Hawker Beechcraft have teamed up to offer MxPro training courses at FlightSafety’s new Maintenance Training Center at Wichita, Kansas, from November 9. The basic MxPro course will be taught by both HBC and FlightSafety instructors and incorporates two weeks of classroom and one week of hands-on instruction. It utilises a variety of methods

Thai Airways International will focus on providing more value for passengers under new president Dr Piyasvasti Amranand, who commenced his term on October 20. Piyasvasti, who has a PhD from the London School of Economics and is a former Minister for Energy, said he wants to bring his experience to turn around the loss-making airline.

Melbourne Airport announced on October 20 that total passenger numbers for the first quarter of the current financial year increased three per cent, driven primarily by strong international growth. International passenger numbers increased by 10 per cent during the quarter with a 14 per cent increase in September alone as international capacity increased significantly. Domestic

Airbus announced on October 19 that it has delivered its 10th A318 Elite business jet, which so far has accounted for nearly a quarter of the orders for members of the Airbus Corporate Jet Family. The A318 Elite was launched in November 2005, with the aircraft entering service in 2007.