One of the fallouts of the recent few months has been the rapid acceleration of retirements of aircraft that airlines believed were going to withstand a few more years. Peel back the emotional retirements like McDonnell-Douglas MD-80s and Boeing 747s and you will find some other noteworthy names fading into history, including the increased disappearance of the Embraer ERJ-190 from North America and for years to come. Coming off the back of the successful Embraer ERJ-170, the ERJ-190 was built…
Air France has announced it will immediately retire its Airbus A380 fleet following the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The airline was due to retire nine A380s from its fleet by 2022, however, the French flag carrier has brought this date forward. In a statement, the airline said: "In the…
Textron Aviation announced a successful first flight of its new twin utility turboprop, the Cessna SkyCourier. The clean sheet designed SkyCourier, featuring Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SC engines, will be offered in various configurations including a 6,000-pound payload capable freighter, a 19-seat passenger version or a mixed passenger/freight combination, all…
Delta Air Lines has announced it will retire the Boeing 777 from its fleet by the end of this year. A decision that will see the removal of eight 777-200(ER) and ten 777-200(LR) from its mainline fleet of 864 aircraft. The decision was announced by Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta,…
Air travel has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and aircraft are gradually becoming airborne again after months of hiatus and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker may share the same idea but he is a little skeptical that air travel will take…
Last month it was reported that the deal between Boeing and Embraer had fallen apart. It wasn’t a tiny agreement, but rather a huge joint venture worth over $4 billion. The venture was a strategic play by Boeing and Embraer to compete against Airbus in the small aircraft market after…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Bombardier announced on Thursday that they will close their deal for the CRJ aircraft series on June 1. Bombardier is selling the line to Mitsubishi for $500 million whilst Mitsubishi will assume liabilities worth $200 million. Bombardier will maintain CRJ production until the aircraft’s backlog runs…
In an internal memo to employees, American Airlines announced that it will move its Airbus A330-200 fleet into long-term storage until at least 2022 as demand for flights has plummeted, making the jet’s operation too costly on both long-haul and domestic routes. American has already parked around 450 planes and…
On April 30, Boeing announced the first successful test flight of the second Boeing 777x aircraft had been completed. The announcement marked yet another important step toward the aerospace giant's latest twin heavy jet entering service. Often referred to among pilots and aviation enthusiasts as the “Triple Seven,” Boeing's 777…
Boeing is developing plans for its New Midsize Airplane (NMA) program, which aims to replace Boeing’s 757 and 767 planes and compete with the relatively-new Airbus A321XLR, Reuters reports. Boeing shelved the program in January to finish working on fixes to recertify its troubled 737MAX jet. A Boeing spokesperson said,…
