Aircraft & Propulsion

Nepal Airlines has taken delivery of the first of two Airbus A320 aircraft.

Ethiopian Airlines is evaluating the Airbus A350-1000 and the Boeing 777X as it considers further widebody order plans, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam has confirmed to ATW.

Japan-based All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to extend its dedicated freighter hub in Okinawa for its midnight express and intra-Asia/Japanese domestic network.

Bombardier has completed flutter, cold-weather and passenger-evacuation testing as CSeries flight tests pass the 900-hour mark en route to the 2,400 hours expected to be required for certification of the initial CS100 version.

Flydubai took delivery of its 44th Boeing 737-800 of an order for 50 placed at the Farnborough Airshow in 2008. The remaining 737s from the order will arrive at the airline this year. The average age of the flydubai fleet is 3.1 years. Flydubai also has on order 75 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and 11 more Boeing 737-800s, placed at the Dubai Airshow 2013.

LATAM Airlines Group, parent of TAM and LAN Airlines, has become the first airline company in Latin America to take delivery the Boeing 787-9.

Both of TransAsia Airways flight GE235’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines stopped producing thrust during the brief flight of the ATR 72-600, investigators said.

Boeing delivered 49 commercial aircraft in January, leading rival Airbus’ 36 deliveries for the month.

Avianca Holdings, the Latin American airline power that has been studying the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX in advance of a much-anticipated large narrowbody order, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Airbus to order 100 A320neo family aircraft.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has ordered Taiwanese airlines TransAsia Airways and Uni Air to ground their ATR 72s and conduct engine inspections on the turboprops following the Feb. 4 crash of a TransAsia ATR 72-600 in Taipei.

[UPDATED] A TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 has crashed into a river in Taipei, with at least 30 people reported dead. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from Taipei’s Songshan Airport just before 11am local time Feb. 4.

Phoenix-based regional Mesa Airlines—which operates as American Eagle and US Airways Express—has reached an agreement in principle with Montreal-based Bombardier to buy seven new CRJ900 NextGen aircraft to operate under a long-term capacity purchase agreement with a major US airline.

The founder and CEO of all-business-class airline La Compagnie said he would like to double the company’s fleet to four aircraft by 2016.

Toulouse-based Airbus and French-Italian turboprop manufacturer ATR have announced a series of senior appointments.

Allegiant Travel Co. has agreed to purchase four Airbus A320s, to be added to the Allegiant Air fleet in the second half of 2017.

ICAO is proposing that airlines begin taking responsibility for knowing the whereabouts of their aircraft in oceanic areas by late 2016.

Etihad Airways has begun operations with its recently delivered Boeing 787-9.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is joining the growing number of airlines that are introducing a premium economy class, with the product to be rolled out across a large part of its fleet over the next few years.

Chorus Aviation, parent of Jazz Aviation, has finalized its amended capacity purchase agreement (CPA) with Air Canada and placed an order for 13 firm Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft valued at $424 million plus 10 options.

Global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat launched its second Global Xpress (GX) satellite—Inmarsat-5 F2—on Feb. 1.

Regional Express (Rex) has taken delivery of a Saab 340B in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Tianjin-based Okay Airways has taken delivery of its first of eight Boeing 737-900ERs.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has placed orders for Airbus and Boeing aircraft to bolster the airline’s growing fleet.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) has received an order for 20 C919s from Huaxia Financial Leasing Co.

The US Air Force has chosen Boeing as the sole-source provider and prime integrator for the multibillion dollar program to develop the next US presidential transport, based on the company’s 747-8.