Virgin Australia is deploying Airbus A330s on an international route for the first time, and introducing the aircraft on its busiest routes in Australia’s east coast corridor.

Instead of developing new aircraft, the two major aircraft manufacturers will now turn their attention to putting re-engined versions of already existing aircraft types into the market.

Today, 3-D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is rapidly passing from the “gee-whiz” stage to an accepted, if still novel, aspect of the aerospace industry.

Mexican airline Interjet has firmed 10 Sukhoi Superjet 100 options valued at $350 million.

The larger version of Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft, the CS300, reached an altitude of 41,000 ft. (12,500 m.) and a speed of 255 knots (470 km/h) during its first flight.

In a sign of the increasing maturity of Bombardier’s CSeries airliner, the first test aircraft for the stretched, 135-seat CS300 variant flew for about five hours on its maiden flight from Mirabel, near Montreal, Feb. 27.

The unmanned aerial systems (UAS) revolution is having an effect on what’s flying and what it can do for people almost as dramatic as that of the introduction of powered manned flight.