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Airbus said it is dropping plans to use lithium-ion batteries on its new A350 airplane, under development, in the wake of problems with the batteries on Chicago-based Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. The Boeing Co. rival said, while it believes the battery architecture it has been developing and qualifying for is robust and safe, it will instead use nickel cadmium main batteries, which have a proven track record. “Airbus considers this to be the most appropriate way forward in the interest of program execution and A350 reliability, Airbus said in a statement. The entire fleet of 50 Boeing 787s was grounded by...

India selects Airbus Military MRTT for six-aircraft deal India has selected the Airbus Military A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) as its preferred bid for a six aircraft requirement to supply the nation's air force. Airbus Military says it expects the deal to be finalised later this year. The decision follows a flight test campaign carried out in India where the aircraft was used to refuel multiple fighter types and also performed operations from high-altitude air bases. The European type had faced competition from the Ilyushin Il-78MK, offered via Russia's Rosoboronexport arms agency. Domingo Ureña Raso, Airbus Military chief executive, says:...

PARIS — The European Union inched closer to a trans-Atlantic trade war on Thursday, saying that it would seek to impose up to $12 billion a year in sanctions against the United States in retaliation for U.S. government subsidies to Boeing. The European Commission, the E.U. executive, said it was seeking the sanctions to compensate for the impact of illegal subsidies to Boeing that it said gave Boeing an unfair advantage over its European archrival, Airbus. The move, which follows a similar trade threat against Europe made by Washington this year, is the latest salvo in a seven-year battle over...

European plane maker Airbus intends to build its first U.S. plant in Mobile, Ala., a person with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Airbus will assemble its A320 jet there, according to the person, who requested anonymity because a public announcement has not been made. The A320 is a widely used plane flown by U.S. airlines including Delta and US Airways.

European plane maker Airbus intends to build its first U.S. plant in Mobile, Ala., a person with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Airbus will assemble its A320 jet there, according to the person, who requested anonymity because a public announcement has not been made. The A320 is a widely used plane flown by U.S. airlines including Delta and US Airways. An Alabama plant would enable Airbus to produce planes squarely in the territory of archrival Boeing Co. It would likely mean lower production costs compared with Airbus' European A320 production lines in Toulouse, France, and...

A mechanical failure sent a JetBlue plane like this one careening wildly through the skies, sparking panic among the 155 people aboard the Las Vegas to New York flight, passengers told The Post yesterday. “It was four hours of hell,” said Travis McGhie, who described how the plane kept lurching from side to side and going into steep turns when its hydraulic system failed Sunday. “People were getting sick. Some people were throwing up. There were a lot of people getting nauseous,” said another passenger, Tom Mizer. The crew did everything they could to prevent panic. One flight attendant walked...

Cameron offered air tanker as VIP jet (Reuters) - Senior British politicians and royals might consider making foreign visits in converted air force refuelling jets after a row over the use of a rented Boeing for a trade mission to tout European-made Airbus planes. Britain's aerospace industry lobby group said proposals were being drawn up by the industry that could allow Prime Minister David Cameron and even the Queen to use modified Airbus jetliners that double as refuelling planes. The proposals follow a British media storm after Cameron led a business delegation to Indonesia in a chartered Boeing 747 to...

£10billion spent on refuelling planes which don't work on RAF jets A £10billion fleet of refuelling planes for the RAF have been found to suffer leaks when they fill up British jets. Tests have shown connecting pipes leak on the Voyagers when they try to resupply Tornado jets - although they work fine when used by American fighters. It is feared the latest glitch to affect the aircraft, also used to evacuate battlefield casualties and transport troops, could delay their entry into service. The MoD agreed the PFI programme - the biggest ever - with Oxfordshire-based AirTanker for 14 planes....

Drivers may hate rising gas prices, but some companies are delighted as they watch the oil price soar. Firms like BMW and Airbus, which are leaders in fuel efficiency. actually benefit from expensive oil. They are just two of a growing number of companies that are already developing technologies for a post-fossil-fuel world. …A few cents more and a liter of super unleaded gasoline will cost German drivers €1.80 (around $9 a gallon). That means that someone driving a BMW 3 Series will have to pay over €110 ($150) to fill up the tank, with its 63 liter (17 gallon)...

Airbus completes qualification of Mirage 2000 and F-16 for UAE in flight refuelling Posted 26 March 2012 · Add Comment Airbus Military has successfully completed receiver qualification of the two primary aircraft-types that the UAE Air Force will refuel from the three A330 MRTT multi role tanker transports that it currently has on order. In an extensive series of flight tests in Abu Dhabi, the compatibility of the new generation A330 MRTT with UAE Air Force Mirage 2000 and F-16 Block 60 fighters was fully demonstrated. Operating from Al Dhafra airbase, the aircraft performed air-to-air refuelling at speeds throughout the...

On the evening of May 31, 2009, 216 passengers and 12 crew members boarded an Air France Airbus 330 at Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The flight, Air France 447, departed at 7.29pm local time for a scheduled 11-hour flight to Paris. It never arrived. At 7 o’clock the next morning, when the aircraft failed to appear on the radar screens of air traffic controllers in Europe, Air France began to worry, and contacted civil aviation authorities. By 11am, they concluded that their worst fears had been confirmed. AF447 had gone missing somewhere over the...

<p>SYDNEY – Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) said Wednesday it has taken one of its Airbus A380 superjumbos out of service after cracks were discovered in its wings.</p>

Norwegian Air has signed deals valued at $21.5 billion for 222 Boeing Co. and Airbus single-aisle aircraft, the carrier said Wednesday. The carrier ordered 100 of Boeing's new 737 MAX jets and 22 of Boeing's existing 737 aircraft. Its Boeing's largest order ever from a European airline, Boeing said. The Boeing order is valued at $11.4 billion at list prices, though airlines negotiate discounts, especially on large orders like this one.

Airbus said on Thursday it had discovered more cracks in the wings of A380 superjumbo aircraft but insisted the world's largest jetliner remained safe to fly. The announcement comes two weeks after tiny cracks were first reported in the wings of the 525-seat, double-decker aircraft, which entered service just over four years ago. Airbus said it was in talks with the European safety agency, EASA. "Additional cracks have been found and we are working closely on this issue with EASA," an Airbus spokesman said. "They do not affect safe operation of the aircraft.

Australian aircraft engineers have called for Airbus A380 - the world's biggest passenger aircraft - to be grounded, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas found cracks in the wings of their super-jumbos. 'We can't continue to gamble with people's lives and allow those aircraft to fly around and hope that they make it until their four-yearly inspection,' said Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.

Airbus halts production of long-haul A340 plane AFP | Nov 10, 2011, 06.07PM IST PARIS: European planemaker Airbus said today it was abandoning production of its A340 long-haul four-engine aircraft, which failed to compete with Boeing's 777. "We have accepted reality. We have not sold any A340s for nearly two years," Airbus finance director Hans Peter Ring said during a presentation on the third-quarter results of Airbus parent company EADS. The abandoning of the programme will allow Airbus to write back into its books a provision of 192 million euros ($261 million) it had made on the programme. The A340...

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — A confused cockpit crew without proper training to head off high-altitude disaster flew toward it, instead, with wrong-headed maneuvers, no task-sharing and perhaps unaware their flight was about to end in the Atlantic Ocean. Screeching stall alarms and incoherent speed readings from faulty sensors, bad weather in a darkened sky and growing stress make up the chaotic cockpit scenario in the final moments of the Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009. All 228 people aboard the plane were killed. Friday's third report by France's accident investigation agency, or...

"What do you think? What do you think? What should we do?" The 37-year-old Air France co-pilot with over 6,000 flying hours was running out of ideas as a stall alarm bellowed through the Airbus cockpit for the sixth time in exactly two minutes. His junior colleague with two years on the job was already in despair as he battled to control the jet's speed and prevent it rocking left to right in pitch darkness over the Atlantic, on only his second Rio de Janeiro-Paris trip as an A330 pilot. "I don't have control of the plane. I don't have...

The pilots did it. Put bluntly, that seems to be what the latest report by French air crash investigators on the loss of Air France flight 447 two years ago is saying. More precisely, the pilots had not been trained to deal with the sudden emergency they faced and lost control. What the investigating body, France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), are not saying, at least not overtly, is that the crash should never have happened–and, but for a technical failure, would not have. Air crash investigation reports always deliver a torrent of technical jargon that has been through...

The crew piloting a doomed Air France jet over the Atlantic did not realize the plane was in a stall, were insufficiently trained in flying manually, and never informed the passengers that anything was wrong before they plunged into the sea, according to new findings released Friday. Based on newly discovered cockpit recordings from the 2009 crash, the French air accident investigation agency is recommending mandatory training for all pilots to help them fly planes manually and handle a high-altitude stall.