CSeries customers assembled here by Bombardier to talk up the aircraft say they are comfortable with the program's progress so far, as the company aims for a first flight by the end of this month. “On performance and timing, we are very confident we will get what we contracted for when it is wanted,” says Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa executive vice president for group fleet management. Lufthansa has 30 110-seat CS100s on firm order for subsidiary Swiss.

Airbus and Boeing are heavily invested in widebody product lines and configurations that could remain the same for decade.

LOT aims at quick turnaround to find new investors

Airbus kicked off the flight-test campaign of its newest clean-sheet widebody, the A350, on June 14. Test aircraft MSN001 took off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport at 10 a.m. local time and remained in the air for 4 hr., 5 min. Chief test pilot Peter Chandler was at the controls along with Guy Magrin, an A350 project test pilot. They climbed to 10,000 ft., then 25,000 ft., reaching 340 kt. at both altitudes. The landing gear were retracted for the first time 33 min. into the flight.

Embraer serves existing customer base, looks for new markets

Electric drive will reduce emissions and it’s ready to roll

Avantair is beginning to return aircraft to service after voluntarily grounding its fleet late last week following a discrepancy uncovered in its maintenance tracking program. The fleet grounding, which began June 6, was the second for the Clearwater, Fla.-based fractional ownership provider in the past nine months.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is writing to the Department of Homeland Security to seek answers on why a growing number of pilots and aircraft are being searched at the request of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials and on what authority the searches are taking place. AOPA is also developing a checklist for pilots who encounter such situations.