Last week it was announced that the Paris Air Show, initially scheduled for June 2021, has been cancelled in light of COVID-19 concerns. The announcement came more or less as a shock in light of weeks of positive news, notably including the first COVID-19 vaccines having been approved for widespread distribution. However it appears the
Industry regulators, insurers and analysts have warned airlines of the potential risks when reactivating aircraft and staff following months of subdued demand that left workforces and fleets both grounded. Specifically, concerns have been raised regarding errors in aircraft due to an extended period of time without use, unperformed maintenance, or even insect nests built within
Boeing has continued to find defects in the fuselage of its undelivered 787 Dreamliner jets, noting it has found the same defect as previously identified in other parts of the jet. The US planemaker continues to conduct quality inspections on its assembled Dreamliners, and has now said the same flaw reported in the jet’s fuselage
Japan Airlines (JAL) has followed the likes of Emirates and Virgin Atlantic in announcing its own JAL COVID-19 insurance coverage up to €150,000 for any customer who contracts the virus on their travels. Coverage is automatically applied free of charge to any passenger who flies on an international JAL flight between 23 December 2020 and
Virgin Galactic has been forced to cut short a test flight of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane over the weekend after its rocket motor’s ignition sequence failed to complete. Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company was conducting the third crewed test of its VSS Unity spaceplane into suborbital space on Saturday when the test was abandoned partway
Airlines and aircraft lessors appear to be turning their sights to converting old passenger jets into freighters, as they bank on a post-COVID boom in e-commerce, and benefit from the falling price of used planes. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, the number of passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions around the world will increase by 36 per
