Marc Joel Atrero

Bell 505 Jet Ranger X makes first flight Bell Helicopters’ 505 Jet Ranger X prototype successfully made its first flight from the company’s Mirabel, Canada facility on November 11. Chased alongside by company 429WLG, Bell’s senior test pilots Eric Emblin and Yann Lavalle hovered the 505, C-FTVI, performed a low speed controllability assessment and flew

Qantas Group news This issue we report on the deliveries of A320s to Jetstar Japan and Jetstar Pacific and the departure of a Qantas 767-300. Qantas withdrew 767-338ER VH-OGJ from service on October 6 (Traffic/November), then removed the Qantas titles and kangaroo from the aircraft before it departed Sydney on October 24 as QF6017 to

Widebody-style premium product is increasingly finding its way onto narrowbodies – will Australasia’s airlines follow suit? With the retirement of Virgin Australia’s first two Airbus A330-200 aircraft, VH-XFA and -XFB, from Australian service, VA has returned to using narrowbodied Boeing 737-800 aircraft on some transcontinental flights from Brisbane to Perth. The secondhand VH-XFA and -XFB

10 & 11 Sqns Mark 75 Years Of Maritime Patrol On the weekend of October 4-5, the RAAF’s 10 and 11SQNs celebrated a joint 75th anniversary with a hangar bash, football match, formal dinner and spectacular four- ship fly-over of the city of Adelaide. RAAF Edinburgh’s vast apron also hosted an impressive static display of

For years Singapore Airlines spearheaded innovation in inflight service in the world’s international skies but was a conservative player when it came to branching out into potentially risky ventures beyond its full-service comfort zone. Today it is in multiple markets, including no-frills… and not everything is going to plan Singapore Airlines had clearly had enough

The RAAF’s VIP fleet will soon be replaced The RAAF is mulling a plan to replace by 2017 its small fleet of VIP special purpose aircraft (SPA) operated by 34SQN – callsign Envoy – from the Fairbairn Defence Establishment at Canberra Airport. The current fleet comprises two Boeing 737-700IGW BBJs for medium-to-long-range or higher capacity