Rex Airlines accuses Qantas and Virgin Australia of “plundering” their pilots

The Chief Operating Officer of Australia’s third largest airline, Regional Express (Rex), has published an open letter blaming Qantas and Virgin Australia for poaching it’s pilots, leading to a regional airline pilot shortage. Rex, which also owns regional airlines Pel-Air and AirLink, opened the Australian Airline Pilot Academy 10 years ago to increase it’s pilot…

First BelugaXL successfully completes its 4 hours and 11 minutes maiden flight

The first of five BelugaXL aircraft to fly has landed at Toulouse-Blagnac, France at 14:41 hrs local time after successfully completing its first flight lasting four hours and 11 minutes. The crew in the cockpit on board this flight comprised: Captain Christophe Cail, Co-Pilot Bernardo Saez-Benito Hernandez and Test-Flight Engineer Jean Michel Pin. Meanwhile, monitoring the aircraft systems and…

Airbus forecasts a need for 540,000 new pilots in the next 20 years

Airbus’ new Global Services Forecast predicts a US$4.6 trillion worldwide market for commercial aircraft services from 2018 to 2037. The new analysis is based on a three-way market segmentation, respectively focusing on the aircraft, the airline operation, and the passenger experience. Aircraft-focused lifecycle services represent the largest segment of growth and include maintenance, spares pool…