AeroTime
• Jean Carmela Lim
Virgin Atlantic began nonstop flights between London Heathrow and Phuket on Oct. 18, 2026, creating the first direct link between the airport and the Thai destination. The airline is deploying Boeing 787s on the route.
Boeing
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Virgin Atlantic began nonstop flights between London Heathrow and Phuket on Oct. 18, 2026, creating the first direct link between the airport and the Thai destination. The airline is deploying Boeing 787s on the route.
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Lufthansa has operated its final A340-600 flight, while Lufthansa and SWISS are retiring their A340 fleets after 23 years of service. Separately, Lufthansa plans to retire its last eight 747-400s; Edelweiss expects to keep one A340-300 in service until January 2027.
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Boeing commercial jetliner sales chief Brad McMullen will retire in December, with Ryan Weir, who currently leads the North American market, set to take over, according to a company memo cited by Reuters. The appointment puts a new executive in one of the industry’s most prominent sales roles.
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Boeing and the FAA held a type certification board meeting, a final step before approval of the largest 737 MAX variant, according to people familiar with the milestone. The regulator has completed a critical review, putting certification potentially days away; the MAX 10 is the last 737 variant still awaiting approval.
Germany had aimed to become the first European country to field a collaborative combat aircraft by 2029, but a change in its plans to acquire Boeing’s MQ-28 drone wingman has put that timeline in doubt, according to a Boeing official. The shift leaves the country’s path to the milestone uncertain.
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Wander admitted to a scheme to defraud lenders and investors, with prosecutors alleging 777 Partners used bogus collateral and doctored bank records to obtain financing. The firm backed Canada’s Flair Airlines and Australia’s failed Bonza, and prosecutors linked borrowed funds to deposits on Boeing aircraft for the carriers.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is currently barred by ethical rules from investing in major defense contractors including Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The rules may be changing, potentially opening the fund to investments in companies it has been excluded from.
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Mammoth Freighters has inducted its first Boeing 777-200LR for conversion at STAECO’s facility in Qingdao, China. The move expands the company’s conversion network into Asia as it scales a program whose first completed aircraft was delivered only two months ago.
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