Airline industry’s global debt could rise to $550 billion (Dh2 trillion) by year-end, an increase of 28 percent or $120 billion when compared at the start of 2020, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. The new debt is comprised of $50 billion government loans, $5 billion deferred taxes and $12 billion loan guarantees byRead More

Avation is ending its formal sale process as the Covid-19 pandemic brings unprecedented disruption to the aviation industry that is still ongoing. The Singapore-based lessor says in a statement that over the past “several weeks”, Covid-19 has “continued to disrupt business activities, particularly air travel, on an unprecedented scale”. “Market volatility remains high and theRead More

AVIC’s unmanned helicopter prototype has completed its first test flight in Jiangxi province in East China. The AR500C took off on its 20-minute long test flight on 20 May, having performed a series of manoeuvres, such as front-to-back, left-to-right, as well as hovering rotations. The unmanned rotorcraft can fly at altitudes of about 16,400ft, withRead More

As Malaysia Airlines parks nearly half of its fleet in long-term storage amid the coronavirus outbreak, its engineering unit has switched up its usual operations. For instance, various representatives from divisions within the unit — such as technical services, quality assurance, and maintenance control — have come together to form a ‘command center’ to marshallRead More

India plans to restart domestic civil aviation in a ‘calibrated manner’ from 25 May. Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a Twitter post that all airports and airlines are being informed to be ready for operations from that date. He added that standard operating procedures for passenger movement are separately being issued byRead More

Lufthansa Group is holding advanced talks with the German economic stabilization fund WSF for conditional assistance of up to €9 billion. The company says €3 billion of this assistance would take the form of a loan from bank KfW. Lufthansa Group says an agreement ‘has not yet been finalized’. It is continuing the ‘advanced’ talksRead More

EasyJet became a target of a cyberattack, the airline revealed on May 19, 2020. The attackers accessed personal data of 9 million customers, including credit card details of over 2,000 passengers, the airline said. While the data breach mostly involves email addresses and travel details, the hackers also accessed credit card details of 2,208 customers.Read More

The Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, today announced the scheduled launch of its Mars Hope Probe in a 495,000,000km journey to reach and orbit the Red Planet. The countdown to the launch begins after the probe’s successful transfer from the UAE to Japan, in a journey that spannedRead More