Airbus to help build supersonic business jet, Qantas celebrates debut of A380 flights to Texas

Qantas’ superjumbo Airbus A380 is now flying to Dallas/Fort Worth.

Qantas Flight 7 departed Sydney Airport for Dallas/Fort Worth Monday, giving the Qantas the honor of operating the longest A380 flight in the world.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said using the A380 offers the carrier both greater fuel efficiency and a 10% increase in the number of seats it offers on its route between Sydney and Dallas. Qantas previously flew a Boeing 747-400 on the route.

Joyce touted the A380 service between Sydney and DFW as offering “direct access right in the heart of the U.S. with over 50 connections to all U.S. major cities within four hours, including Orlando, Boston and Houston.”

Titan Airways, the London Stansted-based charter and airline sub-charter specialist, is tripling the size of its Airbus fleet with the introduction of 2 further Airbus A320 airliners.

The announcement of the addition of the 2 latest aircraft, the first of which will arrive this autumn with the second following in the spring of 2015, follows the successful launch of the carrier’s first Airbus, G-POWI, in 2013.

As well as a single Airbus A320, Titan Airways’ current fleet comprises 6 Boeing aircraft. The move to Airbus is a strategic one for the carrier as it aims to introduce more modern, economical and environmentally friendly aircraft to the operation.

How would you like to trim three hours off the current commercial jet flight time between Paris and Washington, D.C.? Or two hours and 48 minutes off the flight between New York and Sao Paulo? Or two and a half hours between Tokyo and Singapore?

With its Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet, the Nevada-based Aerion Corporation aims to do just that.

Now it has a gigantic new partner to help it realize those ambitions: Airbus.