Category: Top Stories

The world’s passenger fleet will more than double to 48,000 aircraft in 20 years with traffic growing at a resilient 4.4% per year, driving a need for 37,390 new passenger and freighter aircraft according to Airbus’ new Global Market Forecast 2018-2037. Growth drivers include private consumption increasing 2.4 times in emerging economies, higher disposable incomes and a near doubling of the middle classes globally. Emerging countries will account for over 60% of economic growth, with trips per capita to multiply 2.5 times for these nations. Combined with evolving airline business models and continuing liberalisation, the growing scale of air transportation Read more

At the Future of Transportation World Conference in Cologne, Germany, Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc company, announced a newly formed collaboration with Safran on the development of innovative hybrid electric power system solutions to support Bell’s vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft concept. Bell Helicopter’s Director of Innovation, Scott Drennan, commented that: “Bell is at the forefront of on-demand mobility – ushering a new era of flight where the benefits of aviation are accessible to more people in more places. This announcement is another proof point of our commitment to providing transportation of people and logistics in new, innovative and Read more

As part of its restructuring, Rolls-Royce has confirmed that 4,600 jobs are to go worldwide, including 3,000 positions based in the UK, the majority being managerial and administrative roles. The company has not ruled out the need for compulsory redundancies. It has also been confirmed that some engineers will also be leaving, predominantly those in early-stage design as they are not presently needed. This is the biggest round of redundancies since 2001 and by the end of this year 1,500 of the 4,600 jobs will have been axed. The cost of these redundancies, along with other restructuring, may well reach Read more

The Rolls-Royce 1000 Trent engine which powers the Boeing Dreamliner has developed further problems, which has caused concern over safety and which has created potential disruption for carriers including British Airways and Norwegian. Having currently focused its attention on trying to fix durability problems with the ‘Package C’ version of the engine, 166 of its ‘Package B’ engines now require further inspection. The problem would appear to be of a similar nature – parts are wearing out faster than anticipated. Already aircraft have been grounded as a result of ‘Package C’ problems, while airlines including Virgin Atlantic have been forced Read more

Airbus has announced from its production facility in Toulouse, France that a new A350-900 destined for Philippine Airlines has taken its first flight as part of the final production process. The aircraft will be ready for delivery within the next few weeks. This is the first of six A350-900s, or XWBs on order – XWB standing for Extra-wide Body – which will be used by the Philippine flag carrier for long-haul services from Manila to North America and Europe. The six jets will join Philippine Airline’s existing Airbus fleet comprising 26 A320 Family aircraft, 15 A330s and five A340s. The Read more