The World of Aviation

The first test aircraft of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet program, Japan’s first domestically-produced commercial passenger jetliner in five decades, took off from Nagoya Airport a little after 0930 local time on Wednesday. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation said the aircraft “confirmed its basic characteristics and functionality in ascent, descent and turning in airspace off the Pacific coast”

Hainan Airlines is returning to Sydney for the first time since 2012 with service from Xi’an over summer. Sydney Airport has confirmed Hainan’s two flights a week between Sydney and Xi’an were due to commence on December 23 and operate until the end of March 2016 with Airbus A330-200s. Hainan launched flights to Sydney in January

Better flying conditions in the vicinity of Bali Airport has allowed Virgin Australia and Jetstar to operate some daylight flights from Indonesia back to Australia. Jetstar has scheduled 11 recovery flights on Thursday, which will operate in daylight hours, while Virgin has planned three flights from Bali to Australia. “Flying conditions are forecast to remain

American Airlines will start daily flights between Los Angeles and Auckland from June 2016 with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in partnership with alliance partner Qantas. The announcement was made in Wellington on Wednesday by American chief executive Doug Parker and Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce. “Growth in the Asia Pacific region is critically important to American Airlines,”

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will establish a dedicated team of full-time staff to address issues raised by the suite of new licensing regulations. There will be 26 people assigned to the taskforce, whose job it will be to find solutions to issues identified with CASA’s Regulations Parts 61, 64, 141 and 142, CASA

Jetstar has joined Tigerair Australia at Melbourne Tullamarine’s new Terminal 4. The Qantas-owned low-cost carrier set up shop in the new terminal, which features 36 automated checkin kiosks and 18 bag drop units, as well as a larger departures lounge and more shopping and food choices, on Tuesday morning. Jetstar will have priority access to