United Airlines has signed a firm order for 25 Airbus A350-900 XWBs, formalizing a commitment originally announced last December, the European manufacturer announced today. Plans call for deliveries of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered jets to begin in 2016 and run through 2019.
United also plans to take delivery of 25 Boeing 787s during the same time [...]

The former Million Air FBO facility at New Orleans Lakefront Airport that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 will officially rise from the ashes tomorrow when Odyssey Aviation opens its new 30,000-sq-ft complex. Although the name is different, the FBO is under the same ownership; the Cincinnati-headquartered FBO group rebranded its seven FBOs [...]

AgustaWestland parent company Finmeccanica on Friday disclosed its 2009 results, showing increased deliveries but slashed orders for the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer. Revenues grew by 15 percent to €3.48 billion (about $4.7 billion) in 2009. This was influenced by robust deliveries of AW139 medium and AW101 heavy helicopters, as well as product support results, the company [...]

The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) has called on the U.S. government to extend the pre-clearance option now in effect at Ireland’s Shannon International Airport to business aircraft operated under commercial rules. Pre-clearance of business aircraft for U.S. customs and immigration checks began at Shannon early last week, but contrary to earlier expectations it is [...]

The FAA’s long-promised April 10 release of its ADS-B final rule appears to have hit two bureaucratic stumbling blocks. For the agency to complete the process, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must sign off on the program’s financial aspects, an activity that usually takes 90 days. Unfortunately, although FAA Administrator Randy [...]

Final agreement over the way the European Union’s new “common basic standards for aviation security” are implemented in the UK will not be achieved by the existing April 29 deadline and could well be delayed at least until late June due to the country’s general election, which is widely expected to be held on May [...]

The FAA said in its annual aviation forecast this morning that key airspace safety and modernization efforts contained in the Next Generation Air Transportation System will play a vital role in spurring long-term sustained growth in air travel and the nation’s overall economic health. Domestic mainline and regional airline enplanements are projected to increase 0.4 [...]

EADS will receive an extra €2 billion to continue the A400M program, as well as a loan of €1.5 billion to be repaid as a levy on future exports of the airlifter. An ”understanding” with the eight European partner nations also includes forgiveness of all late delivery penalties to date, and an acceleration of pre-delivery [...]

A version of the Boeing 767 dubbed “NewGen Tanker” will win the reopened U.S. Air Force KC-X competition by default, after Northrop Grumman declined to bid the Airbus A330MRTT. Northrop and EADS expressed disappointment that “the revised source selection methodology now dramatically favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker.” The transatlantic partnership further noted, “The Air Force [...]

Airbus plans to increase the monthly production rate for its single-aisle A320 family from the current rate of 34 to 36 starting in December, the company announced today. It also said that the production rate for the long-range A330/A340 family will remain at its current level of eight per month. When Airbus reduced the A320 [...]

Boeing and Turkish Airlines have finalized an order for ten 737-800s and ten 737-900ERs, the manufacturer announced today. Now flying 66 Boeing airplanes, including 58 Next Generation 737s, Turkish Airlines has yet to take delivery of a 737-900ER. Boeing places the value of the order at $1.6 billion, based on current list prices. The company [...]