Air New Zealand’s latest safety video has become a global hit on YouTube with 6.2 million viewers so far. Featuring characters from The Hobbit in advance of the release of the first in a new trilogy from award-winning Peter Jackson, the video was watched by more than one million people in the first day of
When Alexander Kennedy took to the skies as the first Q.A.N.T.A.S. passenger, he exclaimed: “Damn the doubters!” That was 90 years ago today. But as Alan Joyce stood in front of shareholders at today’s annual general meeting in Canberra, he could just as well have uttered those same words. Instead it was one of the
Virgin Australia changed its radio call sign to ‘velocity’ on October 29, replacing the four separate callsigns the airline previously operated under. On the same day the airline changed its ICAO code to VOZ. The changes occurred to create what the airline describes as a “new group code and callsign [to] support the integration of
The Royal Australian Air Force has taken delivery of its sixth and final C-17 Globemaster transport in a ceremony at Boeing’s Long Beach, California factory on November 1. The airflifter will join five already in service with 36 Squadron at RAAF Amberley. “I am delighted to accept the sixth C-17 on behalf of the Royal
The long-awaited decision by Honda Aircraft that it will begin production of the HondaJet has finally been made. Announced at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in Florida, the first production HondaJet is now under assembly after 12 months of flight, systems and structural testing of the design. “An assembly line for HondaJet production is in place,
The Australian aviation community is paying its respects to Ron Yates, who passed away in Sydney on October 27. Mr Yates is acknowledged as being instrumental to shaping today’s aviation industry, having been principally responsible for introducing the Lockheed Electra, Boeing 707, 747 and 767 to Australian service when he was the Qantas project manager
