The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation team probing the cause of the Oct. 31 crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane said two seconds before beginning to break-up in midair the vehicle’s two moveable tail booms unexpectedly began to deploy into a “feathering” position.

A selection of photos of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) has crashed into the Mojave Desert after experiencing an inflight “anomaly” during the first test of a new hybrid rocket motor at Mojave, California on Oct. 31.

Air Canada’s pilots have ratified by a wide margin a 10-year labor contract that the airline’s executives characterized as “ground breaking.”

Scotland’s three largest airports have called for the control of air passenger duty (APD) to be assigned to Edinburgh.

US airlines’ impressive financial turnaround has not yet been coupled with significant growth as the country’s carriers cautiously keep capacity in check, eager to maintain profitability after years of heavy losses and restructuring. But north of the border, Canada’s evolving airlines are not shying away from aggressive growth.

Etihad Airways’ first A380 emerged from behind a slowly raised hangar door on a blustery autumn evening at Airbus’ Hamburg facility. Lights and music accompanied the first public glimpse of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s new livery, which features gold, sand and brown geometric patterns that Etihad calls “facets of Abu Dhabi.”

The negotiating team of Air Namibia, in conjunction with the Namibia Cabin Crew Union (NCCU), has announced that an agreement has been signed this week following lengthy negotiations on the cabin crew benchmarking dispute of 2010.