Courting even further controversy, beleaguered national carrier South African Airways (SAA) cut its ties with little-known ‘boutique financier’ BnP Capital.
With more than 90 per cent of the search area for MH370 now covered, the company leading recovery efforts has conceded it may have been looking in the wrong place all along.
Having recently made investments in a number of overseas airlines including a pending stake in Virgin Australia, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group’s aviation arm added an MRO to its growing portfolio at the end of last week by buying a majority stake in SR Technics subject to regulatory approval.
United has closed one of the most bizarre legal sagas in recent airline history by agreeing to pay a $2.25m fine in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement from the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO). Thus the US major will face no further action over its Newark, New Jersey-Columbia, South Carolina flights, which it allegedly re-instated as a favor to the then chairman of the Ports Authority of New Jersey, David Samson, who had a holiday home in South Carolina.
With the trade side of this year’s Farnborough International Airshow drawing to a close, the lion’s share of the week’s headlines were given to the debuting of Lockheed Martin’s F-35, the Boeing-Airbus order battle and fears that the UK’s exit from the European Union would cast a long shadow over proceedings. While traditionally the quieter of the two airshows for MRO activity, with Paris bringing a higher volume of agreements, Farnborough nevertheless saw a raft of multi-billion dollar aftermarket deals signed and sealed.
The opening days of Farnborough 2016 have underlined the power of large engine manufacturers in the aftermarket, though choice remains for narrowbody maintenance.
Over the last decade, Virgin Atlantic has increased its fleet size by 21%. Here is an infographic to see what changes in aircraft the airline has made.
So-called middle-of-the-market (MOM) aircraft sales are forecast to be worth nearly $250 billion at retail prices during the next 10 years, according to Aviation Week’s 2016 Commercial forecast.
The condensed interview: Ari Kokko, logistics manager at Finnair’s maintenance, repair and overhaul division Finnair Technical Services, on developing an RFID system with SR Technics.  
Photoluminescent Exit Signs The exit sign by Lufthansa Technik is made out of a self-illuminating and aging resistant-material, essentially eliminating the need for ever replacing the sign. Lufthansa Technik adds this product to its GuideU system, which also features non-electrical floor path marketing systems. Photo Credit: Lufthansa Technik
Travel technology provider SITA released its 2016 Airline IT Trends Survey that stated 91 percent of airlines now plan to invest in cyber security programs within the next three years.
Airbus’ decision to select Inmarsat’s new SwiftBroadband-Safety (SB-S) service as a light cockpit satcom option for its A320 and A330 families indicates the European airframer is in tune with Inmarsat’s plans technologically to revolutionize safety-related flight deck data and voice communications.
The engine MRO market for commercial aircraft has the potential to reach $126.3 billion over the next five years with the top five engine OEMs generating 92% of the total.
