Early August, the second prototype of the new five-bladed H145 took off for its maiden flight at the Airbus Helicopters site in Donauwörth. The helicopter will be used for additional flight tests to achieve EASA certification of the new five-bladed H145 in early 2020. The first prototype is currently performing a high altitude test campaign in South America. The second prototype will be mainly used for autopilot testing, performance and airframe structural validation.

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced today the successful first autonomous flight of the Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) 70 at their testing site near Fort Worth. Bell plans to continue to test the vehicle under an experimental type certificate throughout the remainder of the year.

Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) presented a prototype of its latest Ka-62 multi-purpose helicopter for the first time at the international aerospace show MAKS-2019. The machine is showcased at the static exposition and takes part in the flight program of the air show.

The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) has certified the civilian Mi-38 helicopter with a highly comfortable cabin. The fact that the main change to the certificate for the machine of this type was approved gives Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) new opportunities in terms of Mi-38 promotion on the Russian market and abroad. Besides, Russian aviation authorities certified an eightfold increase in the resource of the light Ansat helicopter's fuselage.

The Airbus-built T-16 telecommunications satellite has been successfully launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit said on Thursday it plans to bring its satellite launch system to Japan in partnership with airline operator ANA Holdings Inc , which will provide maintenance and possibly aircraft.

Airbus has signed a contract with Inmarsat, the world leader in global mobile satellite communications, to design, manufacture and build the first in their next generation of geostationary Ka-band satellites, Inmarsat GX7, 8 & 9. The three satellites are the first to be based on Airbus' new OneSat product line, which is fully reconfigurable in orbit.

AsBAA, Asia's non-profit representative body for the business and general aviation industry (BA/GA) has announced that its Chairperson, Jenny Lau, will stand down at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) in Singapore 11 June 2019.

Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) has delivered the first of two ACH145 helicopters to an existing private customer as the first step in a fleet renewal programme.

Norwegian helicopter operator Helitrans has taken delivery of two Airbus H125 helicopters with digital logcards, becoming the first H125 operator able to manage the maintenance history of its aircraft components digitally, resulting in better data quality, time savings, and simpler processes, thereby reinforcing flight safety.