New Routes and More Flights From Avianca This Summer
Avianca is boosting its U.S. network for Summer 2026 by adding 42 weekly flights, expanding capacity on existing routes and launching new services. The carrier will debut a nonstop San Francisco‑Guatemala City flight in June and resume several seasonal routes such as Miami‑Cali and New York‑Pereira. Frequency increases affect key city pairs, including Bogota‑Orlando (up to 21 weekly flights) and Miami‑San Salvador (up to 11). The schedule aligns with rising leisure demand tied to next summer’s soccer tournament and growing business travel to Latin America.
Australia Awards Contracts for Counter-Drone Tech Based on Lasers, Interceptors
Australian Defence Minister Pat Conroy announced a A$7 bn ($5 bn) investment to double funding for counter‑drone defenses. As part of the Integrated Investment Program, AIM Defence received a A$21.3 m ($15 m) contract to enhance its Fractl high‑energy laser, while Sypaq Systems was...
Geosky Airlines Begins China-Denmark Freighter Flights
Geosky Airlines, a Georgian cargo carrier, has launched regular freighter services linking Xi’an, China, with Copenhagen, Denmark, via a stop in Tbilisi, Georgia. The route is operated with Boeing 767‑300 passenger‑to‑freighter aircraft and expands Geosky’s network that already reaches 66...
Bundeswehr Launches Loitering Munition Spending Spree with $2.16 Billion Unassigned
Germany’s Bundeswehr has opened a €2.4 billion (≈US$2.75 billion) framework for loitering‑munition systems, kicking off with a €300 million (US$344 million) contract to Rheinmetall for its FV‑014 autonomous reconnaissance‑strike drone. The deal, delayed for months, schedules qualification in Q2 2026 and initial deliveries in the...
Braving the Arctic for Upcoming Polar-Focused Satellites
The European Space Agency is preparing three new Copernicus satellites—CIMR, CRISTAL and ROSE‑L—to improve Arctic sea‑ice monitoring. To validate the instruments, an international team is conducting a six‑week field campaign on the sea ice near Cambridge Bay, collecting coordinated ground‑based...
Fuel Price Hikes Bite Thai AirAsia X Service
Thai AirAsia X is slashing flight frequencies to Tokyo, Osaka, Almaty and Delhi while suspending services to Shanghai and Riyadh until June 30. The airline attributes the cuts to soaring jet‑fuel prices driven by the US‑Israeli war on Iran, which has...
Senators Push 200 New F-15EX Fighter Jets in Bipartisan Bill
Senators Budd and Shaheen introduced a bipartisan three‑bill package that includes the Airpower Acceleration Act, authorizing the purchase of 200 additional F‑15EX fighters and setting a statutory minimum fighter fleet of 1,369 aircraft by 2030 and 1,558 by 2035. The...
Satellite Startup Univity Raises €27m to Throw Its Hat Into the Ring
French satellite startup Univity announced a €27 million ($29 M) Series A round to develop its VLEO‑based 5G constellation, uniSky. The funding, led by Blast and backed by Expansion Capital and Bpifrance’s Deeptech 2030, will finance the uniShape demonstrator – two low‑orbit satellites that...
LISI Aerospace Awarded Aero Excellence Bronze Certification
LISI Aerospace announced that its Saint‑Brieuc facility in Brittany has earned the Aero Excellence Bronze certification, the fifth of the group’s sites to do so. The award, administered by GIFAS and SPACE Aero, gauges organizational maturity and operational performance in...
Pentagon Orders Three New F-35 Test Jets
The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $177.5 million contract modification to build three new F‑35 flight‑science aircraft—one each of the A, B and C variants. The work, spread across seven sites in the United States, United Kingdom and Denmark, is slated for...
China Unveils a Fixed-Wing Drone Made of Bamboo Fibre Composite Material
China’s International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan, together with Beihang University and Long Bamboo Technology, flew the world’s first fixed‑wing drone built largely from bamboo‑based composite material. The UAV’s fuselage contains over 25% bamboo, achieving a weight reduction of more...
ZeroPol: Towards Circular Manufacturing of Aerospace Components
ZeroPol, a Swiss Innosuisse‑backed flagship project, announced the launch of Best Carbon Footprint Materials—a new generation of bio‑derived epoxy resins, vitrimers and debondable adhesives designed for circular aerospace composites. The initiative includes a full‑scale demonstrator of an aircraft sandwich component...
People Will Be 'Living and Working' On the Moon in the 2030s, Says Space Tech CEO
Voyager Technologies CEO Dylan Taylor told CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE that an inflatable lunar habitat could be operational by the end of the 2020s, with a permanent human presence on the Moon emerging in the early 2030s. He highlighted a broader...
Kepler Communications Company Profile
Kepler Communications launched ten Aether‑series optical relay satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in January 2026, marking the first commercial LEO constellation built for real‑time, SDA‑compatible laser links. In March 2026 the company commissioned 40 NVIDIA Jetson Orin GPUs across the new fleet, creating...
C-130 Hercules Crashed Into Trees Shortly After Takeoff in Colombia, Killing 69: Preliminary Probe Finds
A Colombian Air Force C‑130 Hercules crashed near Puerto Leguizamo on March 23, killing 69 and injuring 57 of the 126 aboard. Preliminary investigators say the aircraft struck three trees within four seconds of takeoff, sending vegetation into two engines and...
Earn and Spend Avios on Hawaiian Airlines as It Joins the Oneworld Alliance
Hawaiian Airlines officially joined the oneworld alliance after Alaska Airlines completed its 2024 acquisition, rebranding all flights with Alaska’s IATA codes. The carrier adds new Pacific stops—including Hilo, Rarotonga, Pago Pago and Papeete—to the alliance’s route map. Avios members can now...
Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons
Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States has fired roughly 1,100 long‑range stealth cruise missiles—almost the entire stockpile—along with more than 1,200 Patriot interceptors and over 1,000 ATACMS and Precision‑Strike missiles. The Pentagon has been forced...
Ontario International Airport Passenger Volumes Rose for 4th Straight Month in March While Freight Shipments Grew by 15%
Ontario International Airport (ONT) recorded 574,819 passengers in March 2026, a 2.7% year‑over‑year increase and the fourth consecutive month of growth. International travel surged 55.2% in March and 58.4% for the first quarter, lifting total Q1 passengers to 1.55 million, 4.1%...
The Pentagon Replicated a Ukrainian-Style Drone Attack in Florida. Now It’s Changing Its Counter-Drone Strategy
In September, the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force‑401 staged Operation Clear Horizon at Eglin Air Force Base, replicating Ukraine’s "spiderweb" drone swarm attack to evaluate U.S. counter‑UAV tactics. The exercise featured a spectrum of drones—from commercial quadcopters to Group‑3 systems—using...
SkyWest, Inc. Q1 2026 Earnings Call Summary
SkyWest reported Q1 2026 results, highlighting increased production and fleet utilization despite March storms. The airline is moving to an all dual‑class fleet, launching the CRJ450 for United, and has cut total debt by $1 billion since the end of 2022....
Alaska Airlines Strengthens California Connectivity with Inaugural Oakland–San Diego Flights
Alaska Airlines launched four daily, year‑round nonstop flights between Oakland (OAK) and San Diego (SAN), using Embraer E175 aircraft. The inaugural service was celebrated with a ribbon‑cutting ceremony attended by Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and airline executives. The new route...
The US Airport With The Most Flights In 2026 So Far
Chicago O’Hare International Airport has become the United States’ busiest airport by flight volume, logging 860,015 takeoffs and landings in 2025—a 10.8% increase over 2024. In January 2026 O’Hare recorded 64,695 aircraft operations, surpassing Atlanta’s 61,776. The surge is driven...
FCC Throws Out Satellite Spectrum Challenges as D2D Dealmaking Heats Up
The FCC issued a sweeping order on April 23 that preserves incumbent rights to Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum and dismisses petitions from SpaceX, Iridium, Kepler and others seeking access to the coveted Big LEO and 2 GHz bands. The move comes...
Airbus Advances Delta Air Lines Fleet Performance with Descent Profile Optimisation Deployment
Airbus has deployed its Descent Profile Optimisation (DPO) across Delta Air Lines’ Airbus fleet, covering 270 aircraft—including A319, A320, A321 and A330 types. The rollout, completed over the past 24 months, is the largest mixed‑fleet retrofit of DPO to date...
Iran War: Jet Fuel Shortages Equal Expensive Summer Travel
The escalation of the Iran‑Israel conflict has choked the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for roughly 25% of global jet fuel, prompting airlines to slash routes and brace for higher prices this summer. Lufthansa Group announced the cancellation of 20,000...
U.S.-Japan GPI Workshare Revealed: Northrop Details 50-50 Split in Hypersonic Interceptor Program
Northrop Grumman disclosed a detailed 50‑50 workshare between the United States and Japan for the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI), a hypersonic missile designed to counter glide‑phase threats. The U.S. will provide the first‑stage booster, third‑stage solid motor, and key kill‑vehicle...
Spy Drones Are Compromising America’s Nuclear Triad
In early March, a series of high‑altitude drones repeatedly breached the airspace of Barksdale Air Force Base, a key site for the U.S. B‑52 strategic bomber fleet. The incursions forced a halt to flight operations, evaded handheld jammers, and displayed...
The Top 5 Most Fuel-Efficient Widebody Aircraft In Commercial Service In 2026
The article ranks the five most fuel‑efficient wide‑body jets operating in 2026, highlighting the Airbus A330‑900neo, A350‑1000, A350‑900, and Boeing 787‑9/‑10 Dreamliners. The A330‑900neo achieves a 14 % fuel‑burn reduction versus the legacy A330, while the A350 family and 787 variants...
SpaceX Wins $57 Million U.S. Military Contract for Satellite Crosslink Demo
Space Systems Command awarded SpaceX a $57 million contract to demonstrate Link‑182 satellite‑to‑satellite communications for the MILNET data‑relay constellation. The two‑year demo must be completed by April 2027 and will validate the RF link that underpins the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile‑defense concept....
Confirmed: Boeing 777X To Enter Service In 2027 After 7-Year & $15 Billion Delay
Boeing confirmed that the 777‑9, the flagship model of its 777X program, is slated for first delivery in 2027, restoring the timeline for launch customer Lufthansa. The aircraft’s entry into service has slipped seven years from the original 2020 target,...
Allan Carswell, Visionary Behind Space Lidar Technology, Passes Away
Allan Carswell, a Toronto‑born physicist and York University professor, died at 92 after a career that reshaped lidar technology. He co‑founded Optech in 1974, turning laboratory laser research into commercial remote‑sensing instruments used worldwide. Carswell’s work powered NASA’s LITE experiment...
NASA Shares SpaceX Crew-13 Assignments for Space Station Mission
NASA announced the crew assignments for the upcoming SpaceX Crew-13 mission, slated to launch no earlier than mid-September. The four-person team includes NASA commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney, joined by Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey...
NTSB Prelim: Stop Calls, No Alert Before LGA Collision
The NTSB’s preliminary report details a fatal collision at LaGuardia where an Air Canada Express CRJ‑900 struck a rescue vehicle that had been cleared onto runway 4 while the jet was on short final. The controller cleared the truck at...
The Smartest Money in the Room Is Looking Up
Private investors have poured roughly $3 billion into commercial low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) station platforms, with Vast raising about $500 million and Redwire $350 million. Industry leaders argue the market already exists, pointing to 166 paying payloads for Axiom and early sovereign research contracts as...
Isaacman Before Congress: Speaking the Truth to Power
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman testified before the House Science Committee, urging the cancellation of the Lunar Gateway and supporting President Trump’s proposed budget reductions. He downplayed concerns about alleged corrosion in two Gateway modules, emphasizing that Congress would not challenge...
Air Force Doubles Planned F-15EX Fleet to 267 Fighters
The U.S. Air Force announced it will more than double its planned F-15EX Eagle II fleet, raising the total order from 129 to 267 aircraft. The move follows a series of revisions since the 2020 contract, which originally targeted 144 jets,...
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Ranked: Delta Air Lines' Top 15 Long-Haul Routes [Summer 2026 Flights]
Delta Air Lines is set to operate a record 11,895 long‑haul departures in Q3 2026, a 2% increase over the previous high. The airline will average 129 daily long‑haul flights, with frequencies ranging from 124 to 132. Growth is strongest...
Hawaiian Airlines Entry Strengthens Oneworld’s U.S. Presence
oneworld has officially added Hawaiian Airlines as its newest member, making Honolulu a global hub and bringing the alliance’s U.S. carrier count to three alongside American and Alaska. The partnership opens new routes to Hilo, Rarotonga, Pago Pago and Papeete,...
Space Force Budget Cuts SDA’s Data Transport Funding
The Space Force’s FY2027 budget request drops future funding for the Space Development Agency’s dedicated data‑transport layer, moving roughly $1.5 billion of procurement and an equal R&D line into a new “Proliferated Low‑Earth‑Orbit” account. The service proposes a hybrid Space Data...
Iridium Continues IoT Subscriber Growth in Q1, Desch Talks NTN Direct Launch and Spectrum
Iridium reported a modest 2% year‑over‑year revenue rise in Q1 2026, reaching $219.1 million, while adding 18,000 new subscribers to total 2.434 million commercial users. IoT data revenue grew 5% to $46 million, now accounting for 83% of its subscriber base, even as...
Joby, Real Estate Firm Plan Los Angeles Vertiport
Joby Aviation and private‑equity real‑estate firm Reuben Brothers announced plans to transform the South Tower’s existing helipad at Park Elm Residences in Century City into an all‑electric eVTOL vertiport. The project will add charging infrastructure and the company’s first passenger...
Asian Airlines Capture Demand as Iran Conflict Reroutes Travel
The Iran‑Israel conflict forced Gulf hubs to shut, prompting Asian and Australian airlines to capture displaced long‑haul traffic. Singapore Airlines boosted its London service to six daily flights, while Korean Air and Qantas shifted capacity toward Europe, reporting strong yields...
American and Alaska Airlines Flirt With a Bigger Tie-Up
American Airlines and Alaska Air are in advanced talks about a strategic partnership that could evolve into a full merger, potentially creating the nation’s third‑largest carrier. The combined entity would integrate Alaska’s strong West Coast presence with American’s extensive domestic...
Destinus Tests New Version of Its Long-Range Cruise Missile System
Destinus successfully flight‑tested Ruta Block 2, confirming in‑flight wing deployment, an inline booster, and a sealed container launch architecture. Block 2 redesign folds wings and moves the booster inline, allowing the missile to be stored and launched from standard containers. The new...
In First, Ukrainian Unmanned Vessel Launches Interceptor to Knock Out Shahed Drone
Ukraine’s 412th Brigade Nemesis intercepted a Russian Shahed drone by launching a Sting interceptor from an unmanned seaborne vehicle, marking the world’s first successful sea‑borne counter‑UAV operation. The maneuver adds a new layer to Kyiv’s air‑defense architecture, which has been...
Xpeng/Aridge “to Start eVTOL Mass Production in 2027”
Chinese EV maker Xpeng, through its Aridge subsidiary, will begin mass production of eVTOL aircraft in 2027 after moving its Land Aircraft Carrier model to the eve of full‑scale output, backed by more than 7,000 orders. Aridge is developing two...
Exploding Shells May Turn the Apache Helicopter Into a Drone Hunter
The U.S. Army is testing AH‑64 Apache helicopters equipped with 30mm proximity‑fuzed shells and guided rockets to counter Group 3‑5 unmanned aerial systems weighing 55 lb to over 1,000 lb. The effort, driven by lessons from Ukraine and Iran, aims to provide a...
An-28 Armed with Interceptor Drones Goes Hunting for Russian Shaheds
Ukraine has converted a Soviet‑era Antonov An‑28 turboprop into an airborne drone‑interceptor platform, mounting P1‑Sun and Merops AS‑3 Surveyor interceptor drones on wing pylons alongside an M134 Minigun. Pilot Tymur Fatkullin released video showing the aircraft launching the drones and confirming successful engagements...
Orbiting Space Junk Poses Threat to GPS, Satellites
Space debris now exceeds 45,000 trackable objects, weighing about 9,000 metric tons, and threatens a cascade of collisions known as the Kessler effect. Recent satellite crashes, including two Starlink incidents, have added to the clutter, with Starlink alone accounting for...
SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto, Leaf Space
Leaf Space, an Italian ground‑segment‑as‑a‑service provider, now operates over 40 stations in 19 locations, handling more than 22,000 satellite passes each month. Its proprietary Leaf Line hardware and Leaf Key software platform support 170 low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, with 18 new stations...