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NewsBulgaria’s Cargo Air takes Europe's first AEI 737-800 freighter
Bulgarian operator Cargo Air has become the first European carrier to take delivery of a converted Boeing 737-800 freighter from US specialist Aeronautical Engineers. Aeronautical Engineers secured certification of the 737-800SF modification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on 7 May. It has subsequently delivered the initial ...
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Irkut receives first wing panels for serial MC-21
Russian airframer Irkut has received the first MC-21 wing panels for a serial production aircraft, delivered to the Irkutsk-based facility by road. The 17.5m panel was manufactured at the AeroKompozit plant in Ulyanovsk – a distance of some 3,600km from the MC-21 final assembly line. Irkut will used ...
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Rolls-Royce in talks with Boeing about new-aircraft development
Rolls-Royce is in talks with Boeing about powering a future commercial aircraft, following the UK manufacturer’s 2019 withdrawal from the race to provide an engine for the US airframer’s then-proposed New Mid-market Airplane.
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Airbus appears to deliver A321neo test aircraft to VietJet
Airbus appears to have delivered the first A321neo manufactured, the MSN6673 test aircraft, to Asian carrier VietJet Air. The twinjet – powered by Pratt Whitney PW1100G engines – was the first A321neo for which Airbus completed initial assembly. But it was beaten to the variant’s maiden ...
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Airbus procurement chief assigned to lead A220 towards profitability
Airbus systems procurement chief Benoit Schultz is to take over as head of the A220 operation, as chief executive of Airbus Canada, succeeding Philippe Balducchi who has led the division for nearly three years. Balducchi has “decided to pursue other opportunities” outside of Airbus, says the airframer, having spent ...
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ATR ready to start STOL version’s production under new schedule
Turboprop manufacturer ATR has completed the design phase and is preparing to begin production of the short take-off and landing (STOL) version of the ATR 42-600 under a revised schedule.
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Next-gen fuel for regional operators ‘will take time’: ATR
Turboprop manufacturer ATR has highlighted the difficulty of establishing a supply infrastructure for next-generation aviation fuels in remote areas that are served by regional aircraft.
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Confident Airbus restarts work on new Toulouse A321neo production line
Airbus has given a further sign of its confidence in single-aisle recovery, by resuming work on an additional assembly line for A321neo twinjets. The airframer had unveiled plans for the modernised Toulouse line in January 2020, just weeks before the pandemic crisis forced it to slash production rates and ...
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EASA draws up criteria for single-pane observation window modification
European authorities have put forward safety proposals after receiving an application for a large aircraft modification which involves installing two observation windows in the upper aft fuselage. The windows need to be “optical quality”, says the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which means they will comprise only a single ...
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Rolls-Royce UltraFan receives first intermediate compressor case
Rolls-Royce has taken delivery of the first UltraFan engine demonstrator’s intermediate compressor case. The structure has been produced by GKN Aerospace at its Swedish facility. UltraFan is a high-bypass engine being developed by Rolls-Royce for large civil aircraft applications from the middle of this decade, and is intended ...
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MHI aerospace business narrows full-year losses
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ aircraft, defence and space unit narrowed its full-year losses, though the group’s SpaceJet regional aircraft programme will remain frozen in the near term.
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Delta agreement for A321neos lifts Airbus orders in April
Airbus recorded orders for 48 aircraft in April, including 25 A321neos for Delta Air Lines and 22 for lessor Avolon. But the Avolon order – for 14 A321neos and eight A320neos – appears to be a rejig of a previous agreement. Airbus listed 22 cancellations for the month and ...
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Long-haul ‘tipping point’ not likely before mid-2022: Airbus chief
Airbus is not expecting to see a notable upward shift in the long-haul market until the middle of 2022, as it prepares to begin ramping-up single-aisle production. Speaking during the Atlantic Council EU-US Future Forum on 6 May, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said the crisis impact had been ...
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Airbus chief sees single-aisle ‘triopoly’ with China as early as end-decade
Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury believes its single-aisle duopoly with Boeing could transform into a three-way competition by the end of the decade if China progresses strongly with its Comac C919. Speaking during the Atlantic Council EU-US Future Forum on 6 May, Faury said such a development was “not ...
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Irish lessor GTLK Europe to take A321 converted freighters
Irish-based lessor GTLK Europe is to acquire four Airbus A321 converted freighters, induction for which will commence this year. The aircraft will undergo modification by the EFW joint venture which is run by ST Engineering and Airbus. GTLK Europe is affiliated with the Russian state leasing company GTLK, ...
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Airbus announces death of civil fly-by-wire pioneer Ziegler
Airbus has announced the death of engineering icon Bernard Ziegler, the figure it credits with driving introduction of the commercial digital fly-by-wire technology which became a fundamental characteristic of the airframer’s aircraft. While Ziegler’s legacy – the use of sidestick controls and the software which provided flight-envelope protection – ...
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Israel Aerospace to set up 777 freighter conversion line in Seoul
Israel Aerospace Industries is intending to establish a Boeing 777 passenger-to-freighter conversion facility in South Korea, specialising in both -200LR and -300ER modification. The company has reached a preliminary agreement with Sharp Technics K and Seoul’s Incheon airport regarding the plan. IAI says it aims to convert six ...
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ZeroAvia: System integrity 'maintained' during test aircraft accident
Hydrogen-electric propulsion specialist ZeroAvia believes its ambitions to develop larger commercial aircraft will not be adversely affected, as it probes the accident which badly damaged its single-engined test airframe. The six-seat modified Piper M350 was wrecked as it landed in a field near the UK’s Cranfield airport on 29 ...
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Airbus parks second Beluga as larger XL variant takes over
Airbus has parked a second A300-600ST Beluga transport following the introduction of the higher-capacity BelugaXL. The airframer withdrew one of its five -600STs – the Beluga 2 aircraft, F-GSTB – last October, placing it into temporary storage. Airbus tells FlightGlobal that it has similarly stored another aircraft, Beluga ...
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Airbus signals intention to address ‘weak’ presence in freighter market
Airbus has signalled that it intends to reinforce its participation in the freight sector, after admitting that it has a relatively poor presence in the market. The airframer only has a single dedicated freighter, the A330-200F, in its aircraft range, having previously ceased production of the older A300-600F and ...
