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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1988:

Events

January

• January 26 - the French defence ministry approves full-scale development of the Dassault Rafale
• January 30 - a Boeing 747 sets a new around-the-world record of 36 hours 54 minutes

March

• Spanair commenced operations.

April

• April 8 - Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and was integrated to USAir (now US Airways).
• April 23 - Kanellos Kanellopoulos recreates the mythical flight of Daedalus by flying a pedal-powered aircraft, the MIT Daedalus from Crete to Santorini, covering the 119 km (74 miles) in 3 hours 54 minutes

May

• May 23 - Shamu One, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 painted like and named after a SeaWorld whale, begins flying for the airline.
• May 24 - British Airways takes over British Caledonian

June

• June 26 - An Air France Airbus A320 on a low-and-slow demonstration flight at an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim crashes and kills three passengers.

July

• July 3 - USS Vincennes allegedly mistakes an Iran Air Airbus A300 airliner (flight 655) for a hostile military plane, shooting it down and killing all 290 people on board.
• July 8-13 - 11-year old Chris Marshall flies a Mooney M20 from San Diego to Paris

August

• August 28 - an accident by a Frecce Tricolori pilot at an airshow at Ramstein Airbase kills 33 people.

October

• October 12 - a Bar Harbor Airlines ATR-42 misses Air Force One by less than 1,000 feet

November

• November 10 - the US Air Force publicly unveils the F-117 Nighthawk

December

• December 21 - Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747 flying from London to New York City, and carrying many passengers back home for Christmas, explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 258 persons. Libyan terrorists are blamed for the tragedy.

First flights

February

• February 19 - Boeing 737-400

April

• April 21 - Boeing 747-400

June

• June 14 - Schweizer 330
• June 28 - Sukhoi Su-35

July

• July 12 - Scaled Composites/Beechcraft Model 143 Triumph, also first flight of the Williams International FJ44 turbofan engine.
• July 14 - Socata TBM700

October

• October 15 - Eurocopter EC 135
• October 27 - ATR-72

December

• December 9 - JAS 39 Gripen

Entered service

April

• April 29 - Airbus A320 with British Airways