On this week’s episode of AvTalk, employees at Boeing’s 787 assembly facility in South Carolina were falsifying inspection records. Spirit Aerosystems loses nearly as much in the first quarter of 2024 as it did in all of 2023, Alaska Airlines gets some Boeing store credit, and Emirates announces where it will send its new A350s first. Thank you for listening! Thank you so much for listening to AvTalk! Like the podcast? Have suggestions for future shows? Let us know by leaving a review on iTunes. Reviews on iTunes not only help us make a better show, they help more people find the podcast! Want ..read more

Airbus and Boeing dominate the commercial aviation industry, accounting for the vast majority of aircraft carrying passengers and cargo through the skies. With so many similarities between aircraft, it can be difficult to visually differentiate between the two. Here, we’ll take a look at the biggest clues to spotting the difference in the European and American giants’ fleets.  Flight deck windows When you’re spotting at the airport (or with a long lens) one key difference between the manufacturers are the flight deck windows. On all Airbus narrow-body aircraft (with the exception of ..read more

Air China’s first flight from Beijing via Madrid arrived at Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo on April 28th at 04:56 local time. Operations will be carried out twice a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft seating 293 passengers. Brazil and China recovered their connection after a four-year suspension due to the COVID pandemic. Until early 2020, the airline offered this same schedule. It is the third Asian carrier to operate to Sao Paulo, following Emirates and Qatar, which provide services from Dubai and Doha, respectively. After the assumption of the new president in December 2023, the ne ..read more

Southwest Airlines (WN/SWA) was founded in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King. Initially conceptualized to serve as an intrastate airline connecting major cities within Texas, the airline was officially established in 1971 with its first flights crisscrossing between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The business model of Southwest Airlines disrupted the traditional airline industry through its innovative strategies, such as using a point-to-point transit system rather than the traditional hub-and-spoke model, which enabled faster turnaround times and increased aircraft utilization. It a ..read more

FedEx Express (FX/FDX) is one of the world’s largest cargo airlines. Founded as ‘Federal Express’ in 1971, the air arm carried its first package in 1973. Today the carrier operates a fleet of 741 aircraft and delivers freight to 220 countries per day. Let’s take a look at FedEx’s large freighter fleet, and identify oldest aircraft in service and their origins.  The Top 10 Largest Airlines in the World The FedEx fleet in 2024 FedEx has a higher average fleet age than many passenger carriers, with an average aircraft age of 19 years. This is a common phenomenon amongst freighters, ma ..read more

On April 15th at 13:44 local time, the first scheduled flight of Hawaiian Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from Honolulu Airport.  After just over a month of certification and crew preparation flights, the 787 registered as N781HA entered service under flight HA 12/11 with the Honolulu – San Francisco route. For the next few weeks, San Francisco will be the only destination for Hawaiian’s Boeing 787s. Beginning May 14th, flights will commence to Los Angeles, and to Phoenix effective May 15th. The company’s second Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is already in operation, having arrived in ..read more

On this week’s episode of AvTalk, we learn that Embraer is considering a challenge to the Airbus-Boeing duopoly with a new mainline single-aisle aircraft of its own. Indigo orders up to 100 Airbus A350s, while Airbus navigates Boeing’s potential purchase of Spirit Aerosystems and what that means for the A350 fuselage sections and A220 wings Spirit produces. Finnair suspends flights to Tartu, Estonia due to GPS interference. Lessors get a win in their battle to get their aircraft back from Go First, but the long road ahead to get the A320neos flying again is just beginning. Australian low-cost ..read more

NOTAMs – notices to air missions (formerly notices to airmen) – are critical to safe operations because they contain the details of, well, everything and anything going on at airports and airspaces, which might impact flight operations. New York (KJFK | JFK) is fixing up a taxiway? The details will be in a NOTAM. North Korea fired a missile that might encroach of Japanese airspace? Check the NOTAMs. Large flocks of birds are hanging around Mumbai? You got it, there is a NOTAM for it. Actually, we rather like this one about highly endangered birds for Chiang Mai, although sadly ..read more

The Indonesian volcano Semeru, Mount Ruang on remote Tagaulandang island in Indonesia has erupted, causing significant disruption to flight operations in the region. The Darwin VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Center), responsible for monitoring volcanoes in the southern Asian region, has issued an ash advisory coding the latest eruption as orange – moderate impact for aviation. The primary eruption resulted in an ash cloud rising to approximately 5km, however due to meteorological cloud in the area, satellite imagery is currently unable to determine the level of volcanic ash in the region. FV ..read more

Australian low-cost-carrier Bonza Airlines (AB/BNZ) announced it was suspending operations on April 29, 2024. The airline operates a fleet of 6 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which are under the Australian and Canadian registries. Let’s take a look at where these aircraft are positioned at the time of the suspension of operations.  The Bonza fleet Aircraft type Registration Age Boeing 737 MAX 8 C-FLHI 4 years Boeing 737 MAX 8 C-FLKC 4 years Boeing 737 MAX 8 VH-UIK 5 years Boeing 737 MAX 8 VH-UJK 4 years Boeing 737 MAX 8 VH-UJT 4 years Boeing 737 MAX 8 VH-UKH 4 years VH-UI ..read more