- Airbus announced the sale of 40 additional A220-300s to the Lufthansa Group, whose Swiss subsidiary was one of the manufacturer’s first customers in 2016. “With today’s order for 40 additional Airbus A220s, we are continuing our unique partnership with Airbus,” Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s CEO Carsten Spohr said. As of November 2023, 31 customers have ordered 849 Airbus A220s. Eighteen airlines operate the 303 A220s already delivered.
- News reports surfaced late Friday (Jan. 5) that the RCAF CC-144 Challenger sent to retrieve Prime Minister Trudeau and his family from their vacation in Jamaica broke down in the Caribbean island nation. “A maintenance issue on the CC-144 was discovered during an inspection of the aircraft on January 2, prior to the Prime Minister’s departure date,” said DND spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin. “A maintenance team and aircraft were then dispatched and returned the aircraft to serviceability on January 3. The aircraft remained in the area as a back-up if necessary, and the Prime Minister was able to return on the original aircraft,” she added.
- Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) announced late last month that it has completed the first two milestones of the contract it has with the Department of National Defence (DND) to flight test the company’s Canary drone as part of the military’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security program. DDC’s Canary drone completed 145 flights totalling nearly 800 km. The Canary can carry a payload of up to 4.5 kg. The DND program is to test its capabilities to transfer medical equipment and supplies.