Air Transport World

Dubai-based flydubai has doubled the number of Dubai-Moscow flights, launching daily Boeing 737-800 service between Dubai and Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport.

Venezuelan carrier Avior Airlines has been added to the list of airlines that are banned from the European Union (EU) in the latest update of the EU Air Safety List, which is more commonly known as the EU blacklist.

Russia’s S7 Airlines and Qatar Airways plan to expand their existing codeshare agreement to include flights from Russia to Australia’s Sydney, Adelaide and Perth via Doha.

A technical glitch in American Airlines’ pilot scheduling system has left the Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier without enough pilots during the upcoming holiday season, igniting a social media uproar Nov. 29 when news of the situation became public.

MRO Briefs-Nov. 29, 2017

LATAM Airlines Group will offer inflight internet from the first half of 2018, starting with domestic and regional routes in Brazil.

Spanish flag carrier Iberia has refurbished its Velázquez Lounge at Madrid Airport T4, where its hub is based, and offering 2,500 sq m of premium lounge space.

Center European LCC Wizz Air said it would further increase its fleet at the UK’s London Luton Airport, as it acquires a number of slots from insolvent Monarch Airlines, just a few days after it unveiled a major expansion at the airport.

Memphis-based FedEx Corp. has signed on to be the launch customer for a brand new cargo aircraft, the Cessna SkyCourier 408 turboprop produced by Wichita, Kansas-based Textron Aviation.

Airbus has begun final assembly of the first A330-800, the second member of the A330neo family.

Austrian Airlines will phase out its final Fokker aircraft—an F100—in December, marking the end of the Lufthansa subsidiary’s Fokker operations.

Air France-KLM and India’s Jet Airways have signed an enhanced cooperation agreement to develop operations between Europe and India.

The small Balkan state of Albania seems on the verge of opening a new national airline.

Central and Eastern European LCC Wizz Air will close its base at Lublin airport in eastern Poland in June 2018 and redeploy its Lublin-based Airbus A320 aircraft to Katowice in the southwest of the country, the airline said Nov. 28.

South Africa’s CemAir has finalized an order for two new Bombardier Q400 turboprops, which was announced at the 2017 Paris Air Show.

The European Commission (EC) is seriously considering blocking the planned acquisition of airberlin subsidiary NIKI by Lufthansa, according to industry sources.

Drone collisions with aircraft will cause more impact damage than a bird strike of equivalent size and speed, concludes a study conducted for the FAA.

Berlin Tegel Airport has reported a 12% year-over-year (YOY) drop in passenger throughput for October following airberlin’s insolvency.

Aircraft News-Nov. 28, 2017

The team investigating a Khabarovsk Airlines Let L-410 crash in Russia’s Khabarovsk region is analyzing flight recorder data, Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) has said.

Aeromexico reported flight 51 cancellations at Mexico City International Airport Nov. 28 following a no-show by a group of Aeromexico Connect pilots protesting the firing of a colleague.

Air Zimbabwe plans to order three Chinese-manufactured MA60 turboprops, according to widespread Chinese news reports, quoting Zimbabwe’s local media bulawayo24.

A day after entering insolvency proceedings, Lugano, Switzerland-based regional carrier Darwin Airline has had its air operator’s certificate (AOC) suspended by Swiss regulators.

UK-based bmi regional is likely to strike up some form of partnership with a European Union (EU) airline to allow it to continue to operate inside the EU after Brexit, CCO Jochen Schnadt said in London Nov. 28.

German leisure carrier Condor has agreed to wet lease aircraft to easyJet starting in January 2018 to allow the airline to pull forward the opening of new routes.