Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

KYIV, Ukraine — As U.S. President Donald Trump started the new year by flaunting American military power in Venezuela, the episode has left Ukrainian officials wondering whether Washington would exhibit a similar brand of decisiveness in 2026 to end Russian attacks on Ukraine.The Jan.3 U.S. raid to capture Venezuelan strongman president Nicolás Maduro was over before dawn, drawing praise from military leaders in Washington for its flawless execution.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched from Kyiv and didn’t bother to hide the message Ukrainians heard.“If you can do that with dictators,” Zelenskyy told reporters later, “then the United States knows what to…

I stumbled upon an interesting complaint on social media about the Park Hyatt Maldives. This is fascinating on a variety of levels. For one, there’s the core complaint, which actually seems largely valid. But beyond that, there are some influencer and “points farm” angles that I also find noteworthy. Let me explain… Racial bias, safety issues, no accountability, at Maldives resort? Hong Kong-based Instagram influencer @berlinsun has 317K followers on the platform, and recently shared his honeymoon experience at the Park Hyatt Maldives, which he calls “half heaven, half hell,” as he “almost died.” Here’s how the video is captioned:…

The electric and hybrid aviation scene is fairly varied and diverse. Nevertheless, Electra stands out as one of a kind, because of its focus on developing an ultra-short take-off and landing aircraft (ultraSTOL).  In practice, this means that the nine-seater EL9 aircraft being developed by Electra will be able to operate from surfaces as smaller than the typical supermarket parking lot. This opens up a number of interesting use cases, both in the civilian and military worlds.  And while Electra is still some way off obtaining a type certification for its novel aircraft, it has in fact it just filed…

WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to bolster the country’s Black Sea coast defense capabilities, the Bulgarian government has approved a project to purchase the Naval Strike Missile coastal defense system for the nation’s military.The procurement, which is to be carried out as a government-to-government deal with the United States, is estimated to be worth around $205 million, according to the country’s outgoing Defense Minister Atanas Zaprianov.Following the Cabinet’s decision, the acquisition of anti-ship missiles developed by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace will now be submitted for clearance by the National Assembly, Bulgaria’s unicameral parliament. Zaprianov said that payments for…

MBDA has received a new contract to supply additional Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles for the German Armed Forces, the company announced on January 21, 2026.  The order was placed through the Meteor Integrated Joint Programme Office (IJPO) on behalf of Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), continuing Germany’s participation as one of the missile’s development partners. MBDA did not disclose the contract value, quantities, or delivery timeline.  Meteor is a six-nation European program  MBDA describes Meteor as the product of a collaborative European consortium led by the company, with Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Sweden participating. The program is often cited as…

France’s defense procurement agency (DGA) has signed its first contract with MBDA for the development and production of the One Way Effector (OWE), a sovereign long-range ‘one-way’ strike munition designed to overwhelm and help expose enemy air defenses. MBDA announced the signing of the contract on January 22, 2026.  MBDA has positioned the One Way Effector as a ‘mass plus range’ option, situated between high-end cruise missiles and less expensive, shorter-range loitering munitions. The primary objective of this new munition is to contribute to modern tactics for Suppressing Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD).  Neither MBDA nor the DGA have disclosed the contract value, quantities, or delivery timelines.  One Way Effector in SEAD missions  When MBDA unveiled…

PARIS — NATO is ready to engage in a potential Arctic mission, but hasn’t started planning one as there has been no political guidance to do so, said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, after a meeting of the organization’s top military leaders on Thursday.“We’re aware of discussions about this, of course, and therefore we’re doing some thinking about how we would organize for it, but no planning has started yet,” said Grynkewich, a United States Air Force general, at a press briefing in Brussels.Grynkewich said NATO’s military headquarters has “a ton of expertise” that could be used…

Have you ever wondered what the world’s busiest airline routes are? OAG recently published this data for 2025, and I always find these lists to be quite interesting. Some people know exactly which route will be number one on the list, while others are shocked… What are the world’s busiest air routes by seats? Let’s use OAG data and look at the world’s busiest airline routes for 2025, based on the number of available seats published in each market. Let’s first look at the busiest routes overall (all of which happen to be domestic), the busiest international routes, and then…

Along with subsidiary airlines also owned by Hanjin Group, Korean Air is toughening up rules on passengers using power banks on flights over safety concerns. On January 23, 2026, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul announced that the in-flight use of power banks will be banned from January 26, 2026, as part of enhanced safety measures. The new policy means that passengers will not be allowed to use power banks to charge electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or cameras while inside the aircraft. A spokesperson for the airlines said: “Power banks may…

On January 22, 2026, Barcelona-based inflight services provider Immfly announced that it is partnering with satellite operator Eutelsat and inflight connectivity provider Gogo to offer high-speed broadband connectivity through Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.  The deal, which is aimed primarily at the low-cost and ultra-low-cost airline market, brings together the core competencies of all three firms: Immfly’s expertise in the provision of entertainment and retail services onboard passenger aircraft; Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO satellite constellation; and Gogo’s next-generation electronically steered antenna technology.  According to Immfly, a full installation on a narrow-body aircraft can be completed within 24 – 30…