Engineering and leasing news

Airbus is preparing the A340 Blade aircraft for its first flights to test a breakthrough new wing with a laminar profile to help reduce fuel usage and increase efficiency. The Blade (Breakthrough Laminar Aircraft Demonstrator in Europe) is no stranger to testing as it is the 25-year-old A340-300 prototype MSN0001, registered as F-WWAI. [read more]

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued an emergency directive regarding a potentially explosive Airbus A350 fault. The directive, Number 2017-0154-E, relates to the hydraulic fuel cooling system which is located in the fuel tanks. It has been found that there is an overheat failure mode of the hydraulic pumps [read more]

Saad Hammad, the previous Chief Operating Officer of Flybe, created “Project Blackbird” to resolve the problem of nine Embraer E195 in the fleet whose capacity at 118 seats had proved too large for the route structure. Cardiff  Airport is the beneficiary of two and their presence has been a boon [read more]

Katherine Bennett has been promoted to head Airbus UK following a shake-up of its management team in the UK. Having previously held the post of Senior VP (Vice-President), Public Affairs Ms Bennett’s new role will be as Senior VP, Airbus in the UK. The move follows the departure, by mutual [read more]

Airbus has sought to allay fears that it could move manufacturing out of the UK following BREXIT by reaffirming its commitment to its UK sites. European airframer Airbus has two sites in the UK, one in Hawarden Airport, Broughton in North Wales and the other at the former Filton Airfield, Bristol [read more]

In a bid to halt the stagnant sales of the Airbus A380, Airbus have announced the A380plus, an upgraded version of the super-jumbo which entered service in 2007. The Airbus A380, who’s wings are made at the Airbus UK site at Broughton, North Wales has seen declining sales and cancelled [read more]

Airbus has carried out a unique family flight including aircraft from nearly all branches of the company. The formation flight involved fixed-wing and rotary aircraft from their Commercial, Military and Helicopter businesses. It featured the Airbus A350-1000 XWB and Airbus A400M. Both of which have their wings made at Airbus [read more]

The Welsh Government has sought to distance itself from Cardiff Aviation this week as financial problems continue to dog the St Athan based business. We have been contacted by numerous current and former employees who are still owed wages from May. Financial problems hit Cardiff Aviation Ltd towards the end [read more]