As the helicopter industry continues to adapt to the challenges faced in the oil-and-gas sector, two long-established operators have added unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) services to their portfolios. And rather than starting from the ground up, the Bristow Group and Era Helicopters have partnered with experienced unmanned aircraft system (UAS) companies.
Craig Richmond is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR). Craig carved out 15 minutes to speak with Airways about the successes and challenges facing Canada’s Asia-Pacific gateway airport. He has had a long career in airport management worldwide, and re-joined multi-year SkyTrax award-winning YVR in 2013.
Competition in the long-established air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity landscape in the United States has heated up over the past two days with announcements from startup SmartSky Networks and Gogo. On Wednesday, SmartSky’s patented 4G spectrum reuse radio system received approval from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), enabling the company to use an unlicensed portion of the 2.4 GHz spectrum band for in-flight connectivity.
The recent release of Sully sheds light on the major accomplishment of the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. But Clint Eastwood wasn’t the first to honor the “Miracle on the Hudson.” Navigation solutions company Jeppesen captured the event on a commemorative chart – its most popular to date.
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to look into the future. It takes foam. Huge blocks of solid foam that are sculpted to millimeter precision by a massive five-axis milling machine that gets its instructions from sophisticated modeling software – software that gives the multidisciplinary, cross-cultural and creative team at Designworks, a subsidiary of the BMW Group, the ability to be makers, not only designers.
Up in the air, sponsored promotions have been finding their way into the aircraft cabin. And although it’s still early days, increased onboard connectivity bandwidth is becoming a reality, opening up opportunities to develop creative partnerships that enhance the passenger experience. “The foundation of all this is the deployment of more bandwidth,” says Ash ElDifrawi, chief commercial officer for in-flight connectivity provider Gogo. “What you’re going to continue to see is more and more sponsorships as we move from a constrained to a more abundant environment of megabytes.”
Thursday’s official opening of the 2016 Aerospace, Defence and Security Expo (ADSE) was punctuated by the roar of fighter jets and warbirds, arriving and practicing for this year’s Abbotsford International Air Show. Hosted by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), the two-day conference at the Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre (Tradex) saw a full slate of sessions and events. It was an important opportunity for industry suppliers, manufacturers, and government officials to mingle and meet.
On Monday, July 25th, a XiamenAir Boeing 787-8 touched down gracefully on Vancouver International Airport’s (YVR) runway 26R, marking the carriers inaugural service to Canada’s West Coast Asia-Pacific gateway. The landing at YVR not only marked Xiamen’s 32nd birthday, but also its entry into the North American market.
The Chinese airline market continues to see double-digit growth in domestic and international passenger traffic, with thousands of aircraft needed to meet the demand over the next twenty years. According to Boeing, the Chinese domestic airline market is expected to become the world’s largest. With this onslaught of new travelers comes the need for Chinese airlines to provide inflight connectivity on par with the rest of the world. Although the regulatory process has so far moved at a deliberate rate, recent announcements suggest that more passengers on Chinese airlines will soon be online.
New Distribution Capabilities. No, it isn’t a drone-based package delivery system. And it isn’t a viewing infrastructure to binge-watch your favorite program on a smartphone. New Distribution Capabilities, or NDC, is a data protocol, a schema, a standard to permit the interchange of electronic information between airlines and travel agents, ultimately benefitting travelers.
