Australian investigators believe both of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370’s engines flamed out, suggesting the Boeing 777-200 was not intentionally ditched. Also, new analysis has narrowed the search area for MH370, giving officials renewed hope of finding the aircraft.
The U.S government has approved the liberalized air services agreement with Mexico, and is now waiting for the Mexican Senate to ratify it so that it can go into effect, a top U.S. Transportation Department official said.
Pilots at CommutAir have overwhelmingly endorsed a new contract, their union said this week, paving the way for the small regional carrier to begin flying 40 Embraer ERJ 145 jets next year for United Express.
Cargolux Airlines International has committed to hiring 120 employees and adding one more Boeing 747 freighter to its Luxembourg-based fleet in order to avert a strike, and to pave the way for a new collective work agreement.
WestJet Airlines is looking to feed its U.S.-Canada flights through new codeshare relationships with Emirates Airline and TAM Linhas Aéreas, two recent filings with the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) show.
Russian airlines are banned from making charter flights to Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Nov. 28, also citing other anti-Turkey measures. These sanctions were imposed after a Turkish air force F-16 downed a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber near the Syria-Turkey border. The charter ban can seriously affect Russian carriers, as Turkey has been the most-popular foreign-leisure destination for Russian citizens. The ban can also affect business-aviation flights between the countries. Sanctions also include a ban on selling travel packages to Turkey.
United Airlines has taken an aggressive stance toward Virgin America’s entry into the San Francisco-Denver market, adding five additional flights on weekdays beginning in March.
After testing the waters by offering its Mint premium cabin seasonally in the Caribbean, JetBlue has seen some early success with the introduction of Mint in Barbados, and will fly Airbus A321s with the new cabin there year-round.
Due to a delay in receiving its own ETOPS certification, which it partially blames on Boeing Capital, WestJet Airlines will wet-lease two Boeing 767s from Omni Air International for one month beginning on Dec. 11, an airline spokesman said.
The White House and Congress are considering possible changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) being proposed in the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks on Paris.
Tianjin Airlines intends next year to add Europe to intercontinental plans that already include Vancouver as it introduces Airbus A330s into a fleet that is dominated by regional jets.
Members of the U.S. Congress said they have reached a bipartisan agreement on surface-transportation legislation that includes a provision to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im).
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) could de-list Brazilian carrier Gol if its share price does not reach at least $1, the minimum threshold listed securities must reach at least once in a 30-day period. Gol said it has six months to comply with the NYSE’s standard from when it received an Oct. 26 notice that it was not meeting it. In the meantime, the shares will continue to be traded. Gol, like its peers, has been affected by the dramatic depreciation of the Brazilian real.
Boeing has completed a five-year fatigue test of the 787 airframe, validating the basic strength of the predominantly composite primary structure and helping to define maintenance and inspections to cover the aircraft’s full projected-service lifetime.
Test runs of the first Trent 7000 for the reengined Airbus A330neo are getting underway at Rolls-Royce’s Derby test site in the build-up to certification work, expected to run through early 2017.
