On 15 June 1919, two exhausted British airmen climbed out of a wrecked biplane half-buried in a bog in County Galway — and into history. The day before, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown had taken off from Newfoundland to attempt something no one had ever done: fly across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. Our series Defining Moments in Aviation begins, fittingly for an Irish school, with a landing in Ireland.
Continue reading Aviation History: The First Non-Stop Flight Across the Atlantic
Qantas has edged closer to operating the longest commercial flights in the world. On 2 June 2026, the first Airbus A350-1000ULR built for the airline’s “Project Sunrise” took off from Toulouse on its maiden flight, an event that marks the beginning of the end of a programme the carrier has been pursuing for the better part of a decade.
Continue reading Qantas A350 Completes First Project Sunrise Test Flight
Southwest Airlines has stopped flying from two of America’s busiest airports. From 4 June 2026, the low-cost carrier no longer serves Chicago O’Hare or Washington Dulles, and the final Southwest flights from both airports departed the day before. The move ends a roughly five-year experiment at two major hubs.
Continue reading Southwest Ends All Flights at O’Hare and Dulles
When Rolls-Royce and easyJet announced that they had run a modern aero-engine on 100% hydrogen, the headlines wrote themselves: the age of zero-carbon flight had arrived. The reality is more complicated — and more interesting. Aviation Explained looks at what it would actually take to fly the world’s airliners on hydrogen, and why a fuel so promising on paper remains so stubbornly difficult in practice.
Continue reading Aviation Explained: Can a Jet Really Run on Hydrogen?
Air India and IndiGo, India’s two largest airlines, have announced cuts to their domestic schedules after the Iran conflict drove aviation fuel prices to record levels. Air India will cancel 22% of its planned domestic flights for June and July 2026, while IndiGo has made comparable reductions. Both airlines say affected passengers will be rebooked or given full refunds.
Continue reading Air India Cuts 22% of Flights as Fuel Costs Soar
An American aerospace company has broken the sound barrier for the first time as a private firm. Hermeus flew its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 aircraft to Mach 1.21 on 26 May 2026. It was only the jet’s third test flight.
Continue reading Hermeus Breaks Sound Barrier with Unmanned Jet at Mach 1.21