ON THE BOEING FRONT

                           Boeing Reaches Record $2 Billion in E-Commerce Sales

Boeing achieved an annual record for e-commerce parts sales last year with more than$2 billion in online orders.  Fueled by investment in digital tools, Boeing Distribution Inc.(formerly Avail), sold nearly 70,000 parts products through its e.commerce site to commercial and government customs, eclipsing pre-pandemic levels.  Commercial orders accounted for $1.5 billion sales, reflecting the continued recovery in the airline industry.

“Our $2 billion closeout to 2021 was a great capstone as the market heads to a stable recovery.” said Ted Colbert, president & chief executive officer, Boeing Global Services, at theSingapore Airshow on February 14th.  ”Our e-commerce capabilities are a great example of the digital solutions we provide to enable industry recovery and growth.  Our focus as always is on bringing value through our products and services, and we will continue to partner with our customers as they navigate the dynamic environment.”

Boeing Distribution Inc.’s online revenue last year was 15 % higher compared to pre-pandemic levels, while orders were 20 % higher.  The stronger sales came as the company rolled out new tools to improve the customer experience, including a new homepage, a live-chat feature, and online knowledge center.

The refreshed e-commerce parts website, which features over 500,000 products, saw five million visits from 50 countries last year.

Source: Boeing Global Services, Picture Boeing Global Services

                                         Boeing Logs 75 More Orders In January

Boeing kicked off 2022 with a positive order momentum, and padded its backlog during the month with orders for 75 jets, including for the Max and newly launched 777-8 Freighter.

Boeing’s deliveries in January came to 32 aircraft 27 737 Max Jets, a 777F plus four aircraft for military programs.  Deliveries of 787s remained paused in January due to manufacturing quality issues.

Source: Boeing                    

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

                           Airbus Setting up New Airline to Offer A300-600ST Beluga Fleet

Airbus has set up a new commercial outsize transport service intended to capitalize on the remaining flying life of its A300-600ST Beluga fleets, as it phases out the type from its main internal logistics operation.

The Airbus Beluga Transport service has already carried out its first work, with aircraft F-GSTC lifting a heavy helicopter from Marignane, near Marseille, to the Japanese city of Kobe at the end of last year.  This long-haul operation involved technical stops at Warsaw, Novosibirsk and Seoul.

The airframer is aiming to attract civil or military customers, not only in the aerospace industry, but the energy, space, maritime and humanitarian sectors.

Airbus Beluga Transport project Leader Clement Beaunis says the Beluga will be a complementary offering to the niche outsize market, which is served by aircraft types such as the Antonov An-124.

Beaunis says that, while the AN-124 is “very good at heavy payloads”, the Beluga, which has a 40t capability, can provide a large-diameter fuselage to handle tall and wide shipments, including engines, without the need to dismantle them.

Source: Airbus,Picture Airbus

                     Airbus Orders And Deliveries for January

Two Qatar Airways Airbus A350-1000s have been dropped from the airline’s backlog, the airframer’s latest official figures reveal.

Airbus’s backlog for January 2022 shows the number of Qatar A350-1000s on order has fallen from 42 to 40 leaving total orders for the -1000 from all customers on the A350 at 162.

Qatar Airways has taken delivery of all 34 A350-900s on order, but has only taken 19 A350-1000s so far.

It has listed new orders, including an agreement with US lessor Azorra Aviation, for 22 A220s, plus 14 A320neos and A321neos from two unidentified customers.

But the Qatar cancellations have pushed the airframer’s overall net orders into deficit for the first month of the year.  Airbus delivered 30 aircraft in January, comprising four A350s,24 A320neo-family jets and a pair of A220s.

Source: Airbus

            

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

                              8,000th Cessna Citation Delivered to Scotts Miracle-Gro

Textron Aviation has delivered its 8,000th Cessna Citation, the airframer announced on February 15.  The milestone aircraft, a Citation Longitude, was delivered at a special ceremony at the OEM’s headquarters in Wichita to customer Scotts Miracle-Gro. The super-midsize twinjet is the fifth in the lawn-and-garden product manufacturer’s fleet.

“I, along with the members of our flight department, congratulate Textron Aviation on the delivery of its 8,000th Citation aircraft,” said Scotts CEO Jim Hagedom, who personally owns a Citation CJ4 and is a former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot.  “Reaching this milestone is a credit to the Cessna brand.”

The first Citation 500 was delivered in 1972 to American Airlines.  Since then, more than 30 Citation models have been certified over more than 50-year history of the brand.  Six Citation models are in production, representing the light, midsize, and super-midsize categories of business jets: M2 Gen2, CJ4 Gen2, XLS Gen 2, Latitude, and Longitude.

“A milestone like this wouldn’t be possible without all the owners and operators who love to fly our aircraft,” said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper.  ”With more than 41 million flight hours across the globe, our customers continue to make Citation jets their aircraft of choice.”

Source:  Textron Aviation

                                                                       

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

                                       Korean Air Introduces Its First Boeing 737-Max 8

Korean Air announced that its first Boeing 737 Max 8 was delivered to Incheon Airport on February 13.  The newly introduced Boeing 737 Max 8 is scheduled to begin flying March 1, after undergoing standard safety procedures such as an airworthiness test.

Kicking off with its first delivery of the 737 Max 8, Korean Air is slated to receive a total of six aircraft this year.  In November 2015, Korean Air signed an agreement to acquire 30 737 Max 8s.  Korean will fly the aircraft in a two-class,146-seat configuration, which includes eight premium seats.

South Korean regulators cleared the path to restoring Boeing Max services in November 2021, following the types global grounding.  The 737 Max 8 has demonstrated high operational reliability, with a 99.38% performance over the 898,737 flight hours logged so far.

Source: Korean Air, picture Korean Air 

                                 SIA Places $2.8 Billion Order for GE9X Engines

Singapore Airlines has signed an order for 22 additional GE9X engines, which will power its fleet of Boeing 777-9s.

The contract, announced at the Singapore Airshow, also includes a long-term engine services contract, and adds to an initial order for 40 GE9X first announced in 2017.  It is valued at $2.8 billion at list price, states GE aviation.

SIA has 31 777-9 aircraft on order, and will be the first in the Asia-Pacific region to operate the type.  There are two other Asian operators with orders for the 777X: Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong as well as All Nippon Airways in Japan.

Lau Hwa Peng, SIA’s senior vice president of engineering says: “the cutting edge technologies that have gone into the Boeing 777-9 and GE9X engines will help SIA to increase our operating efficiencies, lower our fuel burn, and materially reduce our carbon emissions.  This will reinforce SIA’s position as a leading global airline, and enable us to capture future growth opportunities.”

Source: GE Aviation, Boeing Picture

               Kenya Airways Signs For Boeing Landing Gear Exchange Services

Boeing and Kenya Airways have signed an MoU for landing gear exchange services.  Boeing will provide nine landing gear chipsets wherever and whenever needed to support the Kenya Airways 787 fleet, enabling more efficient and cost-effective maintenance operations.

“The customer is key in all our operations and this program will help is continue to offer world class customer service.   It will safeguard our operations and minimize disruptions to our guests,” commented Evans Kihara, technical director at Kenya Airways.  ”This allows us to plan our cash outflow in advance and at the same time enables us to work with Boeing to ensure that our network schedule integrity is achieved, bringing the much-desired predictability to our guests.”

“This is just one example of how we can bring value to our customers through solutions tailored to meet their specific needs -in this case, an increase in Kenya Airways’ 787 maintenance efficiency and cost effectiveness.” said Anbessie Yitbarek, vice president of commercial services sales and marketing for Boeing.

“We look forward to implementing these programs with Kenya Airways, and continuing our long-standing relationship for many years to come.”

Sources: Kenya Airways,Boeing,Air International 

      

LATEST NEWS

• Viva Aerobus took delivery of the first of four A321neo leased from AMBC Aviation Capital in Hamburg on February 28th.

• Jaramco Amman-based maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) has extended its agreement with the global delivery company DHL to cover heavy checks on four of DHL’s Airbus A300-600 wide -bodied aircraft.

• Norwegian Scandinavian budget carrier agreed to lease 18 737s, including several Max variants from AerCap to build is fleet over the next two summer seasons.

• How Will Russia-Ukraine Conflict Affect Air Travel? the flights will be longer, the fuel costs will be higher, there will be fewer planes flying.

• Alaska Airlines has switched its 737 Max order, adding the smaller 737Max 8 & the largest 737 Max 10 to its fleet.  The move will see Alaska exercise all its options, bringing the fleet size to 145.  The new breakdown of the fleet will see 60 737 Max 10s,70 Max 9s, and 15 Max 8s.

• WestJet Group & Sunwing announced on March 2nd that they have reached a definitive agreement that WestJet Group of companies will acquire Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines.

• Corendon Airlines of Turkey will take nine Boeing 737 Max jets from US Lessor Air Lease.  The airline will receive five 737Max 8 in the spring of this year and the rest to follow in the first quarter of 2023.

• Etihad Airways has selected Boeing to provide the airline with the Jeppesen FliteDeck Advisor digital solution for the carrier’s 787 Dreamliner fleet.

•   BOC Aviation Limited has announced it has agreed to purchase 11 new Boeing 737 Max-8 from Boeing for lease to Lynx Air.

Sources: Alaska Airlines, WestJet, Norwegian, FlightGlobal, Jaramco, DHL, Boeing, Etihad

AIR CARGO

                        Ethiopian Signs An MOU For Five Boeing 777-8 F Freighters

On March 4th, Boeing and its longstanding customer Ethiopian Airlines, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the intent to purchase of five 777-8 Freighters, the industry’s newest, most capable and most fuel-efficient twin-engine freighter.

The MOU to order the 777-8 Freighter will enable Ethiopian Airlines to meet the expanding global cargo demand fro its hub in Addis Ababa and position the carrier for long-term sustainable growth.

Boeing launched the new 777-8 Freighter in January of this year and has already booked 34 firm orders for the model, which features the advanced technology from the new 777X family and proven performance of the market-leading 777 Freighter.  With payload capacity nearly identical to the 747-400 Freighter and 30% improvement in Fuel Efficiency, emissions and operating costs, the 777-8 Freighter will enable a more sustainable and profitable business for operators.

Source: Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines, Picture Boeing

OTHER NOTEWORTHY NEWS

                 Italian Prosecutors To Wrap Probe On Boeing 787 Parts by July

Prosecutors investigating suspected flawed parts produced by Italian company for the Boeing787 Dreamliner are expected to wrap up probe by July; when they will say if the alleged defects could threaten the airplane safety, two sources said.

A team of independent experts appointed by the prosecutors in analyzing the components and their impact on the overall airworthiness of the aircraft, the sources close to the matter told Reuters.

The experts are currently focusing on the bigger components, including titanium parts that help secure the aircraft’s floor, which were removed in Italy from around 30 fuselages intended for Boeing 787 airplanes, a third source said.

Boeing said some 787 Dreamliner parts supplied by Italy’s Manufacturing Process  Specification(MPS) had been improperly manufactured, marking the latest in a series of industrial snags to hit the wide-body aircraft.

MPS and its now-bankrupt predecessor company Process Speciali had supplied floor fittings, spaces, brackets and clips to Italian aerospace group Leonardo, which makes two fuselage sections for the Boeing 787 at its plant in Grottaglie, near Brindisi.  Both Leonardo and Boeing have dropped MPS from their Supplier’ list.

In December of last year, prosecutors ordered the seizure of titanium and aluminum parts supplied by MPS and its Predecessor from Leonardo’s Grottaglie plant.

Initial results of the investigation launched by Brindisi prosecutors suggest that MPS and Process Speciali produced more than 4,000 flawed parts between 2016 and 2021 for the Boeing 787, the prosecutors said in a confidential report seen by Reuters in December.

Prosecutors allege that MPS or Process Speciali made parts using titanium and aluminum of different quality and origin from those ordered by the customer, breaching the relevant technical specifications.

Eight individuals, including the former head of MPS and former head of Processi Speciali, are under investigation for fraud and for actions threatening the safety of air transport.

Source: Reuters,Picture of Dreamliner Boeing.

                         

Researched and Compiled by :

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@yahoo.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian