American Puts Chicago Back on the Tokyo Map

American Puts Chicago Back on the Tokyo Map

Share this story Seven years after American Airlines walked away from the route, Chicago and Tokyo are about to be joined by a nonstop again — and this time American is flying it with its own metal. Starting 27 March 2027, American will run a daily Boeing 787-9...
A Gulf First: Qatar Airways Reaches Caracas

A Gulf First: Qatar Airways Reaches Caracas

Share this story On 22 July, a Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR will do something no Gulf airline has ever done: land in Venezuela. The flight is QR783, and it does not fly a straight line. It threads Doha to Bogotá to Caracas and back — a single sprawling triangle...
Landing Blind: How Autoland Works

Landing Blind: How Autoland Works

Share this story Heathrow, a December morning. The fog is so dense that from the cockpit of a taxiing 777 the crew cannot see their own wingtip. Officially, the runway visual range is 125 metres — about the length of the aircraft plus a bus. And yet, every couple of...
Why Airliners Don’t Fly Over Tibet

Why Airliners Don’t Fly Over Tibet

Share this story Pull up a live flight tracker and look at the airways between Europe and East Asia. Hundreds of yellow aircraft icons stream across Siberia, Central Asia, India. And in the middle of it all sits a hole the size of Western Europe with almost nothing in...
The A380 That Refused to Die

The A380 That Refused to Die

Share this story Four minutes after lifting off from Singapore Changi Airport on 4 November 2010, Qantas Flight 32 was climbing through 7,400 feet when the passengers heard it: a bang, then a second, heavier one that shuddered through the cabin. On the flight deck,...
Air New Zealand’s Engine Nightmare Is Over

Air New Zealand’s Engine Nightmare Is Over

Share this story In the red dirt of Alice Springs, in the middle of the Australian outback, a Boeing 787-9 sat parked for the better part of a year — not broken, not retired, just waiting for engines. On June 28 it finally flew home to Auckland, and with it, Air New...
GOL Goes Long-Haul: Rio to New York

GOL Goes Long-Haul: Rio to New York

Share this story For a quarter of a century, GOL has been Brazil’s definitive short-haul airline: a vast orange-tailed fleet of Boeing 737s hopping between São Paulo, Rio and every corner of South America. On July 8, that identity changes. A GOL flight number will...