Air Transport

Rolls-Royce is set to begin flight tests of its Trent 1000 TEN engine as it steps up XWB production for the Airbus A350.

Mexican ultra-LCC Volaris recorded strong earnings in the fourth quarter of 2015, as well as for the whole year.

Virgin Galactic said dramatic improvements to the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) hybrid rocket motor will significantly shorten the test-flight program for the company’s new suborbital vehicle to be used for space tourism, unveiled here last week.

The terminal for Phase 1 of Beijing’s new airport, Daxing, will be complete by July 2019, according to contracts awarded to two state construction companies last week.

Several proposals—including a renewed push for expanded drug and alcohol testing and new background checks—have the maintenance industry keeping a close eye on the recently introduced FAA reauthorization bill.

Republic Airways says it will have a single fleet type and one operating certificate by the end of 2016, though the company is not yet ready to share how it will implement its plan.

Pipistrel tests hybrid electric; Russia flies tiltrotor UAV; coatings for smoother flying; Airbus in Singapore delivery-UAV trial; structure says where it hurts.

From battery weight and cost to motor cooling and electric arcing, a long list of issues must be tackled to make electric propulsion a reality for large aircraft.

Rolls-Royce Liberty Works and United Technologies Research Center are assessing whether parallel hybrid turbine-electric propulsion could provide fuel and emissions savings in otherwise conventional single-aisle airliners.

Boeing may be moving up the launch of a new midsize aircraft program.

Southwest Airlines is considering adding airline partnerships in the coming years, according to Dave Harvey, managing director for business development.

Copa Airlines’ results continue to be dragged down by macroeconomic weaknesses in some of its largest markets, a situation the carrier does not expect to improve in the first half of this year.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is entering Air France’s lucrative transatlantic market and will begin flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to three U.S. destinations.

Air Niugini, the largest carrier based in New Guinea, has ordered four Boeing 737-8s, which are expected to help expand its network.

Boeing expects strong long-term demand for new aircraft in Oceania, although orders will be driven more by replacements than fleet growth.

Dutch prosecutors hope to confirm by this summer the launch site of the Buk surface-to-air missile that was used to shoot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014.

The new president faces the critical challenge of steering Pratt’s production system through the largest ramp-up in its peacetime history.

Bombardier hopes to build on Air Canada order for C Series airliner to secure other major customers around the world.

Airliners, without any new equipage, will soon fly as if in domestic airspace over oceans and remote areas using Aireon’s satellite-based surveillance network, unless routes cross into regions that have not signed up.

In an interview with Aviation Week, recently retired Nav Canada CEO John Crichton discusses the ANSP industry and his new role at Aireon.

NATS is using historical data to drive out bottlenecks and increase capacity at British airports.

Experts back idea of carrier-based refueling UAV; McCain presses Obama to stand up to China; U.S. Air Force still working cost growth on GPS ground segment; airlines can apply for flights to Cuba.

In preparing facilities and support infrastructure for the MRJ, Mitsubishi Aircraft is looking at follow-on programs. Meanwhile, the first flight-test aircraft is back in the air, and the company has found its first lessor customer.

“To be honest, we have got a set of partners on [the geared turbofan] already,” says Pratt President Bob Leduc.

A small cadre of designers are boosting safe and efficient access to airports around the globe for the growing number of aircraft that have performance-based navigation capability.