The World of Aviation

In a boon for wearable tech devotees, Air New Zealand says passengers on its domestic and international flights will be able to operate their Bluetooth devices ‘gate to gate’ from this Thursday, provided the devices are set to flight mode. “This means customers can remain connected with their wearable Bluetooth tech such as Fitbit devices,

Hainan Airlines will return to Sydney from September when it resumes services from Xi’an and commences new Changsha-Sydney flights. Twice-weekly flights from Changsha, in China’s south-central province of Hunan, will begin on September 15, while twice-weekly flights from Xi’an will resume on September 17, Sydney Airport announced last week. The flights will be operated by 250-seat Airbus A330-200s.

A United States Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion has landed aboard HMAS Canberra for the first time, becoming the largest helicopter type to land abroad an Australian LHD amphibious assault ship. The heavy lift helicopter from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 landed on HMAS Canberra’s flightdeck on July 17 as the ship was off the coast of Hawaii

Bombardier’s clean-sheet CSeries has completed its maiden commercial flight with launch customer Swiss. The CS100, registration HB-JBA, operated flight LX638 on Friday (European time), taking off from Zurich at 1230 and touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle about two hours later. Swiss has named the aircraft Kanton Zurich. There were celebrations at Zurich airport

A formation flight of 16 CT-4B Airtrainers on July 12 has marked 250,000 flying hours by the type with the ADF’s Basic Flying Training School (BFTS). Based at Tamworth, BAE Systems Australia has operated BTFS under contract since 1999 to provide initial pilot training and pilot screening for all three arms of the ADF, with

Japan’s ANA is adding a fourth Star Wars-themed aircraft to its fleet, with a Boeing 777-200 in C-3PO livery set to take to the skies from March 2017. The airline, which launched the C-3PO 777-200 at a Star Wars Celebration Europe event in London, said the aircraft would be flown on domestic Japanese routes. ANA