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The A380, the most advanced and modern passenger aircraft, will participate for the first time at the international aviation and space salon MAKS, to be held from August 16th to 21st in Zhukovsky, Moscow region. Airbus flight test aircraft, MSN 004, will be present at the static display and take part in the flying displays every day during the show.

CALGARY, April 21 /CNW/ - WestJet today announced it will fly 51,611 guests today, setting a new single-day record for the airline. The previous record of 50,336 guests was set on December 23, 2010.

Qantas announced today it would increase international fuel surcharges as a further response to continuing rises in oil and jet fuel prices. Domestic, Regional and Tasman fares will also increase by five percent and a fuel surcharge will be added to Domestic and Tasman Qantas Frequent Flyer Classic Award redemption seats.

Austrian Airlines is to reincorporate the Vienna-Baghdad-Vienna route into its scheduled flight programme from 8 June 2011 onwards. The carrier will operate a total of three flights a week to the Iraqi capital. The service will be provided using an aircraft from the Airbus A320 fleet. 

Japan Air Lines (JAL) is continuing to adjust its schedules in the aftermath of last month's earthquake and tsunami in the northeast of the country, reducing capacity on several international sectors while re-introducing additional domestic flights to the affected region.

Flight attendants at American Airlines say the company has rejected a proposal for a 6% pay raise and the tabling of other contract items for 18 months.

Dutch firm AELS has taken on a new project to dismantle this ex-Air India Airbus A310-300 aircraft after a planned freighter conversion fell through.

Recent tweaks to its mainline fleet plans mean Qantas Airways will be retiring seven Boeing 737-400s and three 767-300s during this calendar year and will receive 14 new Boeing 737-800s.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) delivered Qatar Airways its 25th 777 at a ceremony on April 1. The airplane is a 777-300ER (extended range) model, which can carry up to 335 passengers in a two-class configuration up to 7,930 nautical miles (14,685 km).

Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Turkish Airlines (THY) have announced the Istanbul-based carrier has exercised options for 15 Next-Generation 737s. The order, comprised of 10 737-800s and 5 737-900ERs, has an average list-price value of more than $1.2 billion.

Ryanair is to impose a new levy on passengers to offset the cost of compensation mandated under Euroepan Union legislation for delays or cancellations of flights.

Qantas says it will cut its capacity targets for the current fiscal year by suspending some routes and accelerating aircraft retirements, as it looks to offset soaring fuel costs and the effects of natural disasters in Australia and overseas.

The first passenger version of the Boeing 747-8, the 747-8 Intercontinental, took to the air for the first time today from a chilly and windy Paine Field in Everett, Wash., in front of thousands of Boeing employees, company managers and media. The largest passenger airplane ever build by Boeing took off at about 9:58 a.m. local time, in sunny conditions, and flew to the north, climbed to 5,000 feet before heading west over the Olympic Peninsula, by which time 747-8 chief pilot Mark Feuerstein and copilot Paul Stemer officially had begun flight-test program duties.

Boeing has confirmed its 747-8 Intercontinental is slated to fly on Sunday 20 March, following a first flight readiness review expected later this week.

Air Canada has received a delivery schedule from Boeing for its first five 787 aircraft, and now expects to start accepting deliveries of the twinjet beginning in the fourth quarter of 2013.

United Continental Holdings, as expected, has trimmed international growth for 2011 because of the recent rise in fuel costs, and is warning that “certain less fuel-efficient aircraft” could be culled from its fleet.