School’s in for future astronauts

Australia’s first woman in space could be a Brisbane schoolgirl.

Instability hurts climate change fight: Branson

Australia’s churn of prime ministers is hurting the country’s capacity to tackle big ­issues, ­according to Sir Richard Branson.

Branson spaceship on standby

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo is ‘weeks off’ making its maiden suborbital voyage.

Tailwind for Sydney Seaplanes

Sydney Seaplanes has found a new partner in hotelier Jerry Schwarz, with a welcome injection of funds and aircraft.

F-35s will take immense pressure off fighter pilots

The F-35’s aerodynamic design characteristics and technology mean it will not subject pilots to the limits of extreme stress.

Zen approach to fear of flying

Virgin Australia is positioning itself as the carrier for ‘anxious flyers’ with a world-first foray into mindfulness in flight.

‘I believe in quotas for women’

Richard Branson said he supported quotas for women in business positions… but how does the Virgin Australia board stack up?

On board for inflight meditation

Virgin Australia is targeting anxious flyers with its latest initiative — inflight guided meditation programs.

‘Unseen fatigue cracks’ behind propeller loss

Fatigue cracking in the propeller shaft went unnoticed because maintenance engineers were not told to look for it.

Qantas in KLM codeshare deal

Qantas says adding KLM to its codeshare network will give travellers more choice between Australia and Europe.

Why plane lost propeller in air

An aeroplane’s propeller which fell off during a flight above Sydney last year was “an extremely rare event”, the ATSB says.

Airbus poised to name new CEO

Airbus is set to name Guillaume Faury as its next chief executive, two people familiar with the matter said.

Airlines reject harassment claim

Australia’s major airline groups have rejected claims they don’t take sexual harassment of staff seriously.

Sunday sickies chaos at airport

Thousands of travellers were left stranded at Australian airports yesterday after two air traffic control staffers called in sick.

Hero’s quick action saves lives

The Australian hero of an Air Niugini crash in Micronesia has been reluctantly unmasked.

Short haul

Qantas is doing its bit to help embattled strawberry farmers in the wake of the damaging needle contamination crisis.

Modern-day flying fraught with acronyms

The hardest part of being trained on a new aircraft type is managing the acronyms on the pre-flight checklists.

Mayday as United runs low on fuel

A fuel mayday from United Airlines triggered a major emergency at Sydney Airport yesterday.

Airline passengers much prefer self-service and automation until something goes wrong, a global passenger survey has found.

Cheap seats not so welcoming as low-cost carriers lose appeal

The lure of cheap airfares in return for nothing but an airline seat may be losing its appeal.