There is absolutely no doubt that the voluntary decision of All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, and subsequently regulators in the U.S., Europe and India as well as other operators of the B787 Dreamliner to ground the fleet was correct. Read More »

Etihad Airways’ string of investments in partner airlines, with reports of more to come, has intrigued its competitors. Read More »

Rob Eagles, the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Montreal-based director infrastructure implementation, has no illusions about the potential outcome for airlines if steps are not taken to prepare the air traffic management (ATM) system for the thousands of new aircraft that will be flying the region’s already congested airways in coming years. The result, he said, would be gridlock. Read More »

In his past life as boss of Unilever’s Canadian division, Christopher Luxon, would spend one week a month on the back of an ice cream truck or filling shelves in a supermarket. Read More »

As investigators on two continents try to solve the problems of Boeing’s grounded B787 Dreamliners, Asia-Pacific airline chiefs have voiced support for the beleaguered jet.Read More »

Investors appear to be baulking at the fragile operating environment of India’s airline industry. Late last year, when reports circulated that Gulf operator, Etihad Airways, was considering buying a stake in debt-laden Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines, informed industry insiders said such a deal was highly unlikely. Read More »

There is growing optimism that a specific plan to combat aviation’s emissions on a global scale will be on the table at September’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly. Read More »

Airlines worldwide have rebutted the findings of a new study by Dutch consultancy, CE Delft, which accused them of reaping huge ‘windfall’ profits - some $1.82 billion worldwide last year - from surcharges they placed on ticket prices to cover the cost of Europe’s controversial emissions trading scheme (ETS). Read More »

Huge strides have been made in the development of biofuels for aviation, but there is still a long way to go before they become widely available for commercial airline operations. Read More »

China’s only privately-owned carrier, Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, is expanding its services between the Mainland and Hong Kong as it prepares to launch a low-cost subsidiary in Hong Kong. Read More »

AirAsia has expanded like no other Asian low-cost carrier (LCC) since it was purchased by chief executive, Tony Fernandes, in 2001, with ventures in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. Read More »

Four Skyteam members, Taipei’s China Airlines and the Mainland’s China Eastern, China Southern and Xiamen Airlines have joined forces to boost market share across the Taiwan Strait between China and Taiwan. Read More »

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been hit hard by the grounding of its B787 fleet since the turn of the year, but the ANA Group enjoyed record figures in the first nine months of its 2012 financial year. Read More »

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced a “difficult” decision to bring forward the release of 76 pilots employed on fixed-term contracts as the airline addresses slow growth following the global financial crisis. Previously, pilots had only been released on completion of their contracts. Read More »

There was good news and bad news for Qantas Airways when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently released a draft ruling on the Qantas-Emirates airline alliance. Read More »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given the green light to Virgin Australia to acquire Perth-based Skywest Airlines. A decision by the competition watchdog on Virgin taking a 60% stake in Tiger Airways Australia was due as Orient Aviation went to press. Read More »

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) became an official member of the oneworld alliance last month. Read More »

AIRLINES: Singapore Airlines (SIA) has firmed up an order for 25 widebody Airbus aircraft, five A380s and 20 A350-900s. Read More »

There have been changes at the top at Airbus China. Eric Chen, formerly senior vice-president commercial and external affairs and one of the aircraft manufacturer’s pioneer salesmen in China, has succeeded Laurence Barron as president of Airbus China. Read More »

Korean Air (KAL) will introduce nine additional next generation aircraft into its fleet in 2013; two A380s, one A330-200, two B777-300ERs, two B737-900ERs, one B747-8F and one B777F. Read More »

Asia-Pacific based carriers continued to experience growth in international passenger demand in October carrying a combined 17.1 million passengers. This reflected a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. Read More »