Airlines

Without much in the way of fanfare, United Airlines began flying regularly scheduled flights using biofuels earlier this month. It's the first instance of a US airline putting commercial-scale volumes of biofuel into passenger-carrying planes on an ongoing basis.

Regular business flyers will know that planning trips is time-consuming, and that prices can fluctuate significantly. US startup OneGo, however, is out to change all that. It allows customers to pay a fixed monthly fee for unlimited flights on major airlines​.​

If a recently announced consortium of scientists and aviation companies are successful, you could one day be flying in jets powered by the remains of decay – otherwise known as biofuel from forest-industry waste.

A recently-granted Airbus pantent explores the creation of a new modular aircraft that would see detachable passenger cabins slot into a gap in an aeroplane's fuselage. The concept has the potential to revolutionize air travel, while providing significant savings for airlines.

NASA is looking to cut commercial flight times and carbon emissions with software for air carriers that monitors conditions like weather and flight paths to suggest faster routes. Virgin America and Alaska Airlines will put the system through its paces over the next three years. ​

Dubai-based airline Emirates has announced a new service between Dubai, UAE, and Panama City, Panama. The firm says Panama City will be its first gateway into Central America and that the service will be the world’s longest non-stop flight. It will cover 8,588 mi (13,821 km).

Newly-designed aircraft cabins for Swiss International Airlines are aimed at making long-haul flights more comfortable for holidaymakers and more productive for business travelers. Designed by PriestmanGoode, the cabins will provide passengers with more space, storage and privacy.

Airliner cabins can get pretty germy. They're packed full of people from all over the world, who spend hours doing things like coughing and sneezing. It was with this in mind that the GermFalcon was created. It's a robot that kills germs on planes, using ultraviolet light.

BAE System’s IntelliCabin system is aimed at not only making cabin operation more efficient for the crew, but also more pleasant for economy class passengers thanks to dimmable windows and ambient LED lighting.

Rolls-Royce has announced that the first production Trent XWB turbofan engine that powers the Airbus A350 XWB has left the factory and is on its way to Toulouse, France to be installed in a Qatar Airways A350 XWB.

If you think that you've been seeing some funny-looking airliners in the past couple of months, you're not imagining things. On February 18th, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 made the world's first commercial flight by an aircraft equipped with fuel-saving Split Scimitar Winglets.

Every 12 hours, weather balloons are launched from about 70 locations across the US. A lot can change between those intervals and those locations, however. That's why a new project is using Southwest Airlines jets as airborne weather sensors.