Singapore Airlines (SIA) is joining the growing number of airlines that are introducing a premium economy class, with the product to be rolled out across a large part of its fleet over the next few years.

Kazakhstan-based Air Astana has introduced an economy sleeper class on Boeing 757 services from Astana to London and Frankfurt from Feb. 3; Paris will be added March 29.

Aircraft News-Jan. 28, 2015

Germany-based airberlin will install 23,000 new seats in its 120 narrowbody aircraft.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said the carrier is trialing the use of constant data uploads from flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders, aka black boxes, of its aircraft.

The fire aboard a parked Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 787-8 in January 2013 occurred because of “shortcomings” in designing and certifying the lithium ion batteries installed on the aircraft, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined.

Air France will improve its passenger product on medium-haul flights in a €50 million ($62 million) investment plan in a continuing move upmarket as it aims to differentiate itself from competitors and improve the performance of mid-haul services.

ATR has obtained European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for approach avionics developed for its ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 aircraft.