Professor Keith Hayward, the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Head of Research offers his commentary on the RAeS ‘The Future of Heathrow - the challenges and opportunies ahead’ seminar organised by the Society’s Air Transport Group on 23 May.

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A preview of what to look forward to at this year’s Paris Air Show on 20-26 June

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Airlines are making ever increasing use of social media sites to reach out and interact with their customers. BILL READ reports on the brave new virtual world of fan pages, loyalty strategies, viral campaigns, influencers and travel tribes.   

Bill Read reports from the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg where over 500 companies showcased the latest innovations in cabin interiors.

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Part 2 of a report from the European Commission’s Aerodays conference - highlighting the latest aeronautical research and development. Go To Item

Bill Read reports from Madrid on the European Commission’s Aerodays conference - highlighting the latest aeronautical research and development. Go To Item

Day 2 aviation news highlights from the Asian Aerospace 2011 exhibition held in Hong Kong.
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Day 1 aviation news highlights from the Asian Aerospace 2011 exhibition held in Hong Kong.
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A report of the first news from the Asian Aerospace 2011 exhibition held in Hong Kong. Go To Item

The events currently unfolding in the Middle East as the people protests, fanned by social media, has profound implications for the region – which as yet are still unclear. Autocratic regimes, their rule, formerly seeming strong, are now either under siege or facing major challenges. But what are the implications for aviation?

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On 1 February the Flight Test Group Evening Lecture was given by Captain Frank Santoni - Chief Test Pilot, Commercial Airplanes, Boeing on the 787 and 747-8. A former naval aviator, Captain Santoni now heads the civil aircraft test pilot group at Boeing and, as was described in his introduction during the lecture, “is rated to fly anything with a 7 on the end of it.”

We took the opportunity to ask Captain Santoni about the 787 test schedule, his day-to-day job and the challenges of glass cockpit airliners.

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With the aviation industry now moving out of survival mode, the environment is now firmly back on the agenda for decision makers. TIM ROBINSON reports from the first Imperial College Aviation Forum held on 6 January.

In 2010 an ash cloud from an eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland caused the closure of much of Europe’s airspace for six days from 16-21 April. A conference at the Royal Aeronautical Society on 9 November focused on the events and their consequences and looked at what lessons could be learned for the future. BILL READ reports.

On 4 November Qantas flight QF32, an Airbus A380 outbound from Singapore, ran into serious problems when a turbine on its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine suffered an uncontained failure. We caught up with one of the five pilots onboard, who describes how the crew professionally dealt with the incident, the sequence of events, and how the most dangerous period was after they had landed.
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As air cargo starts to recover from the recession, Richard Gardner looks at aviation’s most vulnerable sector.

Are global airline alliances good or bad for the consumer? A recent debate at the Royal Aeronautical Society highlighted the pros and cons of these transnational giants.

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Also high on the agenda at this year’s Farnborough airshow was ‘greener aviation’ and the efforts the aerospace industry is making in pushing forward exciting new developments in sustainable aviation. With aviation growth now set to resume, technologies such as newer ultra-efficient airliners, open-rotor engines and algae-based biofuels will be critical in balancing the worldwide demand for air travel with the need to reduce its carbon footprint. We interviewed two top-level executives - Dr Jean Botti, EADS and Charles Champion, Airbus about some of these ‘green’ developments in aerospace.

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Last Thursday, Boeing released its Commercial Market Outlook – a 20 year forecast that attempts to peer into the crystal ball as to how many airliners the world will need over the next two decades. Presented to the aviation media and transport correspondents in London by Randy Tinseth (you can check out his blog here) it is available in full here. (the last 2009 CMO got downloaded some 259,971 times). Boeing has a full-time staff of six people preparing this annual report and uses it to drive its strategy as well as sharing it with customers. Go To Item