Melbourne-based John Holland Aviation Services has won another significant Virgin Blue contract, this time for heavy maintenance work on the carrier’s Embraer regional jet fleet. Built from the former Ansett engineering business and considerably redeveloped. JHAS already has a five year Virgin Blue Boeing 737 maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO) contract.

Virgin Blue today launched a fully underwritten equity raising of approximately $231.4 million, supported by the Virgin Group, to improve liquidity and provide increased financial flexibility.  Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey said “This is an opportunity to invest in one of the industry’s most respected airline brands.”  The proceeds of this raising will significantly strengthen Virgin Blue’s capital position, and improve liquidity and financial…

ST. LOUIS, July 8, 2009 – Boeing today unveiled the first of 24 F/A-18F Block II Super Hornets for the RAAF in a ceremony at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ production facilities in St. Louis. The aircraft will be delivered later this month, three months ahead of schedule.

Santiago based LAN Airlines will resume daily one-stop flights between Sydney and South America from tomorrow, Friday July 10, after cutting back to six frequencies while its long-haul Airbus A340-300 aircraft fleet was refurbished.  The A340s, used on the Sydney-Santiago route…

V Australia has turned up the heat on competition for the transpacific premium traveller, with an offer of free door-to-door limo pickup and dropoff if you’re traveling on its top tier Business Flexi fare.  The chauffeur service will apply to both departing and arriving guests, but despite the enticing image…

Boeing plans to acquire the business and operations of Vought Aircraft Industries at its North Charleston facility in South Carolina, where Vought builds a key aft fuselage structures for Boeing’s next-generation 787 Dreamliner.  The US$580 million deal will secure continuity of Vought’s many Boeing-related programs, including other components of the 787, as well as structures and components on the 737, 747, 767, 777, C-17 and V-22 through operations located elsewhere.

Air France Flight 447, the Airbus A330 that crashed in the mid-Atlantic at night a month ago “did not break up or become destroyed in flight,” but contacted the ocean surface belly first and apparently upright at a high rate of descent.  This revelation by the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses has put to rest major concerns that…

Global power systems company Rolls-Royce has won type certification for its new BR725 engine which will power the first flight of Gulfstream’s G650 business jet later this year.  Type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is for thrust ratings of 16,100lbf (71.6 kN).  Since first engine run in April 2008, the BR725 has completed all major development testing as well as accumulating almost 1,100 running hours and 3,500 engine cycles.

Qantas announced today it had reached a mutual agreement with Boeing to defer the delivery of 15 B787-8 “Dreamliner” aircraft by four years and to cancel orders for 15 B787-9s scheduled for delivery in 2014/2015.  Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, said the changes to the Group’s B787 orders were appropriate in the current climate…

An international team of students from the University of Queensland won the inaugural Airbus “Fly Your Ideas” challenge at the Paris-Le Bourget Air Show this week. The “COz” team won the prize for its project that used the castor plant to develop the first-ever single plant-based high performance composite materials for aircraft cabin components.

A Continental Airlines Boeing 777 landed safely at Liberty International Airport, Newark, NJ on June 18 after the aircraft’s 60-year-old captain died of a suspected heart attack during a flight from Brussels.  The 247 passengers on the flight were unaware of any problems despite a request from a cabin attendant asking if there was doctor on board.

Final assembly has now begun on Boeing’s first B 787 Dreamliner, destined for delivery to launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan.  ANA and Boeing launched the 787 program with a firm order for 50 of the all-new composite jetliner. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

50 million jobs and US$3.6 trillion of the world’s GDP will depend on aviation by 2026.  Limiting aviation’s growth even to 1% below its current trend rate would cost 6 million aviation related jobs and reduce the industry’s GDP contribution by US$600 billion.  These are among the findings of a study by Oxford Economics, a world leader in quantitative analysis and economic forecasting, commissioned by Airbus Industrie. Its new report on the economic and social impact of aviation entitled “Aviation: The Real World Wide Web”…

Qantas and QantasLink have led the field in a new air safety enhancement.  Bird strikes and related damage have been significantly reduced across the entire Qantas and QantasLink B737 and DHC8 fleet by a new and relatively low cost initiative.  The bird strike problem was highlighted when an Airbus A320 passenger jet…

Qantas has reacted angrily to public comments by Steve Purvinas, Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) following the emergency diversion to Guam of a Jetstar Airbus A330 today.  The flight from Osaka diverted when an electrical fire occurred in the aircraft’s windscreen…

Airbus Industrie and China’s aerospace industry made history yesterday (May 18) when the first Airbus A320 aircraft assembled outside Europe successfully completed its first flight.  The Airbus Final Assembly Line China (FALC) is a joint-venture between Airbus and a Chinese consortium comprising Tianjin Free Trade Zone…

Qantas has struck an agreement with employees at its Brisbane heavy maintenance base, which will secure the future of heavy maintenance work for the airline’s Airbus A330 fleet in Australia.  In April the carrier scrapped plans for a maintenance joint venture with Malaysian Airlines, abandoning a move…

A team from The University of Queensland has won through to the final round of Airbus Industrie’s Fly Your Ideas global competition for higher education students. The UQ team will be competing for a €30,000 prize with four other teams – from Singapore, the Czech Republic, Spain and the US.