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
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
The United States government has launched a new website that lets anyone track how a $12.5 billion investment in air traffic control (ATC) infrastructure is being spent. Called Modern Skies, the platform was unveiled on 22 May 2026 by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It shows the progress of more than 10,000 projects at over 4,600 FAA facilities around the country.
Continue reading FAA Launches Public Tracker for $12.5 Billion ATC Rebuild
Two days of public hearings in Washington last week revealed that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration had been aware of a critical cracking risk in the aft pylon of the Boeing MD-11 freighter for more than two decades before the component failed during the takeoff of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville last November, killing all 15 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators presented evidence of at least ten prior incidents involving the same spherical bearing — the part believed to have fractured and initiated the catastrophic separation of the left engine and pylon — dating back to 2002. For the aviation industry, the hearings revived questions about whether the mechanisms that translate known risk into mandatory corrective action are fit for purpose.
Continue reading NTSB: Boeing Knew of Engine Pylon Risk for Two Decades