Virgin Atlantic has abandoned its relationship with Vertical Aerospace in favour of a deal with US air taxi developer Joby Aviation. The UK-based long-haul carrier announced on 16 March a partnership with Joby aimed at integrating air taxi operations into its passenger-carrying network. Asked about a previous plan, announced in 2021, to pursue similar operations with UK air taxi developer Vertical, Virgin tells FlightGlobal that deal was dissolved in November. “Joby is the market leader and their existing relationship with our shareholder and joint venture partner, Delta, allows us to explore end-to-end journeys in the UK and the US,” Virgin says. Joby has been partnered since 2022 with Delta Air Lines, which owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic. Together, Delta and Joby have envisioned the roll-out of city centre-to-airport air taxi services that would flow passengers into Delta’s hubs. Virgin and Joby will pursue a similar model, with air taxi routes established “across the UK” but starting at Virgin’s hubs at Heathrow and Manchester airports. The carrier says it will boost Joby’s UK market entry “through marketing the service to customers, engaging regulators alongside Joby and helping to build support for the development of landing infrastructure at key airports”. Virgin envisions an air taxi service in which its passengers can reserve a seat on a four-seat Joby aircraft via Virgin’s mobile app and website. <br/>
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Neither pilot of a Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8-200 noticed that the aircraft was descending from its assigned altitude during a go-around, after the captain wrongly assumed the autopilot and autothrottle were engaged. The aircraft, inbound from Szczecin on 8 March last year, had conducted a go-around at 15ft during approach to London Stansted’s runway 04. It levelled at 3,000ft ahead of a left turn which formed part of the missed-approach procedure. The first officer, who was flying, agreed to set up the flight-management computer for the second approach and temporarily hand over control to the captain. But the first officer, during the handover, did not mentioned that the autopilot and autothrottle had been disengaged just before the go-around. “The [first officer] said that this was the first time he had handed over control during manual flight and that he did not know the precise call outs that were stated in the [flight manual],” says the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch. It states that the first officer “did not highlight” the fact that he was flying manually and “assumed” the captain realised this. The inquiry adds that the full go-around procedure – including flap retraction and potential re-engagement of the autopilot and autothrottle – had not been completed before the handover. After the captain took control, it says, the first officer was loading the flight-management computer, and the captain was monitoring this process. As a result, neither noticed that the aircraft had started descending after entering the procedural left turn.<br/>
Kazakh operator Air Astana Group is expecting to expand its fleet to 84 aircraft by the end of the decade, from 57 at the close of last year. Air Astana ended 2024 with 34 aircraft while its FlyArystan subsidiary had 23, after each carrier took delivery of five jets over the 12-month period. The company adds that it redelivered three Embraer E2-family jets, as part of a fleet-simplification strategy under which all the Embraer jets will be phased out in favour of Airbus single-aisle jets. “All Embraer pilots have now been converted to Airbus,” it states. Over the first part of 2025 the group has taken the total fleet to 60 aircraft and expects to have 63 by year-end. “We continue to proactively manage the fleet and add capacity in line with our growth strategy,” says CE Peter Foster. Air Astana Group says its A320 full-flight simulator is operating at “full utilisation” and it received a second simulator in February which will be commissioned by the end of this year – potentially providing a revenue stream from third-party training. It adds that it is “in the final stages” of being granted a multi-pilot licence.<br/>