Many aviation-related events took place in

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Events

January

; 1 January : The Philippine airspace temporarily closed due to an issue with air traffic control and navigation systems. ; 2 January : Two helicopters collide near the Sea World theme park in the city of

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

, Australia. The collision killed four people and injured eight. ; 11 January : Thousands of flights are delayed or cancelled in the United States after a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) NOTAM system outage. ; 15 January : An ATR 72-500 operating

Yeti Airlines Flight 691 Yeti Airlines Flight 691 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal. On 15 January 2023, the aircraft being operated on the route, an ATR 72 flown by Yeti Airlines, crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all ...

from Kathmandu to

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

, Nepal, crashes near Pokhara; all 72 people on board are dead. ; 18 January : A helicopter crashes in Brovary, a suburb of Kyiv, Ukraine, killing Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Denys Monastyrsky Denys Anatoliiovych Monastyrsky ( uk, Денис Анатолійович Монастирський; born 12 June 1980) is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who has been Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs since 16 July 2021.Yevhen Yenin Yevhen Volodymyrovych Yenin ( uk, Євгеній Володимирович Єнін, 19 November 1980 – 18 January 2023) was a Ukrainian diplomat and lawyer who served as the Deputy Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine), Minister of Interna ...

, and state secretary

Yurii Lubkovych Yurii Olehovych Lubkovych ( uk, Юрій Олегович Лубкович; 31 May 1989 – 18 January 2023) was a Ukrainian diplomat who served as the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 2021 until his death in 2023.

and 11 others. ; 28 January : Flybe (2022–2023), a British

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

which relaunched in April 2022, ceases operations and enters administration. ; 31 January : The 1,574th and final

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

, a

747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck ...

freighter, is delivered to Atlas Air. : Norwegian carrier Flyr, which launched operations in June 2021, ceases operations before filing for bankruptcy after failing to secure financing. : Australian low-cost airline

Bonza Bonza Aviation Pty Ltd, operating as Bonza, is an Australian low-cost airline, headquartered on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast. Bonza commenced operations on 31 January 2023. History Background Bonza was founded in October 2021 ...

conducts its maiden flight from the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

to the Whitsundays.

February

; 4 February : A Chinese-operated high-altitude weather balloon was shot down by the US Air Force over US territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina. Over the next few days, more balloons are shot down over the US and Canada. ; 6 February : Mitsubishi Heavy Industries terminates its SpaceJet project and plans to liquidate its Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation subsidiary. : A Boeing 737-300 of

Coulson Aviation Coulson is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Andy Coulson (born 1968), English journalist and political strategist *Bernie Coulson (born 1965), Canadian actor * Bob Coulson (1887–1953), American base ...

crashes while fighting fires in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

; both pilots survive the crash. ; 14 February : In one of the largest ever purchases of passenger aircraft, Air India places orders for a total of 470 airliners: 250 from Airbus (210 A320neo family and 40

A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 w ...

s) and 220 from Boeing (190 737 MAX, 20 787s and 10 777Xs).

March

; 2 March : Virgin Atlantic joins the

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million ...

alliance. ;12 March :

Saudi Crown Prince The crown prince of Saudi Arabia is the second-most important position in Saudi Arabia, second to the King, and is his designated successor. Currently, the Crown Prince assumes power with the approval of the Allegiance Council after he is nomi ...

Mohammed bin Salman formally announces the establishment of

Riyadh Air Riyadh Air ( ar, طيران الرياض) is a planned second flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, based in Riyadh, its capital. The airline's main operational base will be at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The airline is planning to be t ...

, a new flag carrier airline of Saudi Arabia.

April

; 15 April : A Saudi Airlines Airbus A330 and a SkyUp Airlines Boeing 737-800 operating on behalf of Sun Air are badly damaged or destroyed at

Khartoum International Airport Khartoum International Airport (Arabic:مطار الخرطوم الدولي) is the principal airport in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The current airport will be replaced by the New Khartoum International Airport in Omdourman 40 kilom ...

, Sudan, during clashes between rival factions of the country's military. Major airlines suspend their flights to the region. A United Nations Humanitarian Air Service aircraft was also badly damaged. : Estonian startup Marabu Airlines makes its first flight, from Munich to

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

May

; 1 May : An Avianca

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

crashes in the jungle in the

Caquetá Department Caquetá Department () is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders with the departments of Cauca and Huila to the west, the department of Meta to the north, the department of Guaviare to the northeast, the d ...

in Colombia. The pilot and another passenger are killed; a mother and her children survive but the mother died later. The children were found in the jungle on 10 June, after 40 days of search and rescue operations. ; 3 May : Indian airline Go First declares

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and temporarily ceases operations, citing loss of revenue as a result of

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...

engine issues. ; 9 May :

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

orders 150

Boeing 737 MAX 10 The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with t ...

s outfitted with 228 seats, with options for a further 150 aircraft, to be delivered between 2027 and 2033, for a value of $40 billion at list price. ; 11 May : Business jet operator NetJets order up to 250 Embraer Praetor 500s for $5 billion to be delivered from 2025, after having ordered up to 125

Phenom 300 The Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 is a single-pilot-certified light business jet developed by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. It can carry up to 11 occupants. Development Embraer began designing the Phenom 300 after finding that pot ...

in 2010 and 100 more in 2021. ; 28 May : China Eastern Airlines conducts the first commercial flight of the

Comac C919 The Comac C919 is a narrow-body airliner developed by Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac. The development program was launched in 2008. Production of the prototype began in December 2011, with the first prototype being ready on 2 November 201 ...

from Shanghai to Beijing. ; 30 May : UK startup Global Airlines announces the purchase of its first aircraft, an Airbus A380. The company claims to be the first new airline in eight years to own an A380.

June

; 4 June : A privately operated

Cessna 560 Citation V The Cessna Citation V is a business jet built by Cessna. A stretched version of the Citation S/II, a Model 560 prototype flew in August 1987, it was certified on December 9, 1988, and delivered from April 1989; were delivered until 2011. The ...

carrying three passengers and a pilot crashes near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia, killing everyone on board. The plane had strayed into restricted airspace;

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

fighters sent to intercept it observed that the pilot of the plane had passed out. ; 19–25 June : The Paris Air Show is held. Highlights include: :* Beyond Aero announces a four-seater aircraft with a hydrogen-electric powertrain. :* Aqualines announces an ekranoplan flying boat concept. :*

Wright Electric Wright Electric is an American startup company developing an electric airliner. Design The aircraft is to run on batteries and handle flights of under 300 miles. It will feature high aspect-ratio wings for energy efficient flight, distributed el ...

confirms that its electric motor-generator unit has achieved 1 MW of shaft power in testing. :*

Aura Aero Aura most commonly refers to: * Aura (paranormal), a field of luminous multicolored radiation around a person or object * Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure Aura may also refer to: Places Extraterrestrial * 14 ...

announces a collaboration with Airbus for its two-seater electric trainer aircraft. :*

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

unveils its hydrogen-powered Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft (HERA). :* ZeroAvia announces an order for 250 hydrogen-electric engines to power Air Cahana's proposed fleet of converted De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops. :* Airbus records a total of 849 firm orders, including 500 A320neo-family aircraft for IndiGo and 250 aircraft (210 A320neo family and 40 A350) for Air India. Boeing records 359 firm orders, including 220 for Air India (190 737 MAX, 20 787s and 10 777Xs).

De Havilland Canada De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited is an aircraft manufacturer with facilities formerly based in the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original home of de Havilland Canada was the home of the Canadian Air and Space Museum loca ...

Embraer Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where i ...

and

ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...

record 49, 28 and 24 orders respectively. ; 28–30 June : Up to 32,000 flights are delayed or cancelled across the United States. Over 1,700 flights, or roughly 1% of all US flights, are cancelled. The disruption was attributed to inclement weather and concerns about the possibility of signal interference from newly adopted 5G wireless technology. Transportation Secretary

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

said that a small portion of the US fleet had not been upgraded to protect against radio interference.

July

; 14 July : American low-cost airline New Pacific Airlines commenced operations. ; 25 July : A

Canadair CL-215 The Canadair CL-215 (Scooper) is the first model in a series of flying boat amphibious aircraft designed and built by Canadian aircraft manufacturer Canadair, and later produced by Bombardier. It is one of only a handful of large amphibious a ...

crashes while fighting a fire on the Greek island of Evia, killing two people.

August

; 15 August : Irkut Corporation formally rebrands itself as Yakovlev. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is to be rebranded as the SJ-100, and the Irkut MC-21 also adopts the Yakovlev name. ; 18 August : A Beechcraft Premier I operated by Malaysian operator Jet Valet crashes onto an expressway near Elmina, Malaysia. Ten people are killed including all eight on board the aircraft and two on the ground. One of the fatalities is Malaysian Federal politician Johari Harun. ; 23 August : An Embraer Legacy 600 business jet crashes in Russia, killing all three crew members and seven passengers, reportedly including Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group. ; 28 August : The air traffic service in the UK ( NATS) experienced significant delays after a technical issue with automated flight plan processing. The fault was triggered at 08:32 by a valid (but unusual) flight plan. At about 12:30 the 4 hour buffer of processed plans expired, and manual processing of flight plans began with reduced capacity. Severe disruption and delays occurred. The problem was subsequently identified as a bug in the handling of identically named but geographically distant waypoints in a single flight plan.

September

; 12 September : An Airbus A320 operating Ural Airlines Flight 1383 from

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

makes an emergency landing in a field near Kamenka, Russia, following a hydraulic system failure. All 159 passengers and 6 crew survive. ; 23 September : An

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...

military transport crashes whilst attempting to land at Gao International Airport, Mali. Initial reports suggest the aircraft may have been linked to the Russian paramilitary organisation

PMC Wagner The Wagner Group (russian: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner ( «Вагнер», ChVK «Vagner»; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a ...

October

; 23 October : An Alaska Airlines flight operated by Horizon Air, flying from Seattle Paine Field International Airport to San Francisco, is forced to divert to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

after an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot, travelling as a passenger on this flight, attempts to activate the engine fire extinguishers. After the aircraft landed, the passenger was arrested and is now facing criminal charges including attempted murder.

November

; 10 November : The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber makes its first flight from Plant 42 in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...

. ; 13–17 November : The Dubai Airshow is held. Highlights include: :* Boeing recorded 259 aircraft orders, whilst Airbus recorded only 66 and ATR 10. Wide-body aircraft accounted for over half of the orders placed. :* Spanish eVTOL developer Crisalion Mobility debuted its Integrity six-seater electric aircraft. :* Archer Aviation announced plans by Air Chateau to purchase 100 of its Midnight eVTOL aircraft. ; 16 November : A

Boeing 787-9 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

sets a record for the largest aircraft to land in Antarctica. The charter flight, operated by Norse Atlantic Airways on behalf of the

Norwegian Polar Institute The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; no, Norsk Polarinstitutt) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Min ...

, flew from Oslo via Cape Town to an ice runway at the Norwegian

Troll Research Station Troll is a Norwegian research station located at Jutulsessen, from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the s ...

. ; 19 November : Two Marchetti S.211 former military jet aircraft collide above Port Phillip Bay, near Melbourne, Australia. One aircraft lands safely at Essendon Airport; the other crashes, killing the two people on board.

20 November

: A Boeing P-8A Poseidon operated by the United States Navy overran the runway of the

Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay or MCAS Kaneohe Bay is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) airfield located within the Marine Corps Base Hawaii complex, formerly known as Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) Kaneohe Bay or Naval Air Station (NAS) ...

and

ditched In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an Landing, aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the ...

into the Kāneʻohe Bay in Oʻahu, Hawaii. None of the nine crew members were injured, and all of them evacuated from the aircraft safely. ; 28 November : A Boeing 787 operated by Virgin Atlantic completes the first transatlantic flight by a commercial airliner using Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

December

; 3 December : Alaska Air Group announces a planned acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. ; 22 December : A Gulfstream G-1159A has reported missing on a private flight. It took from, Canouan Airport, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The plane landed in Suriname and was seen departing to its next destination. Current location is unknown.

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year involved an

military transport which overran the runway at Gao International Airport, Mali, on 23 September, reportedly killing up to 140 people. The deadliest crash of a civilian airliner was

, an ATR 72 which crashed on final approach to

, Nepal, on 15 January, killing all 72 people on board.

References

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