After several postponements and three years of delays Japan’s new candidate in the commercial passenger aircraft space, the Mitsubishi MRJ regional jet, is set to take to the skies for the first time in May. Tom Ballantyne spoke to the aerospace manufacturer’s president, Teruaki Kawai, in Tokyo. It hasn’t been easy, says 66-yearold Teruaki Kawai,
Australia has lost yet another regional airline, with Cairns-based Skytrans voluntarily shutting up shop It perhaps says something about the viability and importance of direct air services from Cairns to Cape York communities in Far North Queensland that local airlines have enthusiastically stepped in to fill the gap created when Skytrans closed its doors after
Qantas rolls out its new A330 business class with Asian, as much as domestic, rivals in mind New business class seats being rolled out on Qantas’s Airbus A330 fleet say as much about the ongoing evolution of the airline’s Asian network as it does about the white-hot battle with rival Virgin Australia in the domestic
Instant scrutiny, life-long repercussions The image seems frozen in time. An ATR airline category aeroplane captured in an obscene pose, nose down and wings on a knife’s edge. Seconds later the aircraft would enter the waters of the Taiwanese river and take with it the lives of sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. Another human
Competition for pilots is breeding unhappiness at pay disparities Ho Chi Minh would be turning over in his mausoleum in central Hanoi. While industrial action by factory workers in Vietnam is relatively common, white collar staff disrupting business is almost unheard of… until now. As the busy New Year travel season, the Lunar Tet holiday
A familiar design but a new soft product for SQ’s premium economy The release of Singapore Airlines’ much-awaited new premium economy is about more than just a class between business and the back of the bus. With a completely changed colour and brand positioning, it’s about creating an onboard product that’s completely different to anything