Airbus

by

The Kaplanian Report – October 2020

ON THE BOEING FRONT

                         Tests of the 777X Continue to Ramp Up

After a slower-than planned start, tests of the first 777X family member the 777-9 continue to ramp up with the third development aircraft entering the flight-test program on August 3.  Designated WH003, the aircraft departed Boeing’s Everett, Washington, facility and flew a circuit encompassing parts of Northern Oregon and central Washington before returning to land at the company’s flight-test base at Boeing Field, Seattle.  The 2-hr. 47-min flight reached a maximum altitude of 28,000 ft  and included two missed approaches and circuits of Moses Lake, Washington.

This third aircraft, destined for launch operator Lufthansa after certification, will be used primarily to evaluate performance of General Electric GE9X engines as well as flight loads and operation of the auxiliary power unit and avionics.  It joins Boeing’s first two 777-9 development aircraft, which continue to amass test hours since the flight of the first aircraft on Jan 25, and the second on April 30.

Although WH001 testing is primarily aimed at stability and control as well as high-and low- speed aerodynamics, it has also been used for avionics, flight control systems and brake tests.The second aircraft, is engaged primarily on tests of the auto land system and ground effects testing.  WH002, which conducted outland approaches at Moses Lake on Aug 3., will also be used to augment the stability and control work of WH001.

A fourth aircraft, WH004, is also set to join the test program later this year.  Incorporating a production-representative internal cabin configuration, the last dedicated 777-9 test airframe will be used mainly to evaluate the environmental control system.  Later in the certification effort in 2021, WH004 will also conduct airport noise compliance work and ultimately, finish its test role with a phase of extended twin-engine operations and airline-like functionality and reliability operations testing.

Source: Boeing

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

Airbus Subsidiary Satair Acquires A220 Parts Service Work From Bombardier

Airbus subsidiary Satair is taking over A220 materials servicing from Bombardier, a move that comes several years after Bombardier divested the broader A220 program to Airbus.

The European airframer says the move brings parts servicing for its entire lineup of commercial aircraft in-house under Copenhagen-based Satair.

“There is only one go to company, that is Satair, for all parts customers will need,” says Satair chief executive, Bart Reijnen.

The companies began transferring parts and other equipment related to A220 parts servicing from Bombardier’s facilities to Satair sites in July.  Transfers were completed at the end of September, said Reijnen. Airbus acquired Satair in 2011.

“ Customers will now be dealing with just a single interface” under Satair, adds Rob Dewar, senior vice president of A220 customer service, customer satisfaction and product policy.  He calls the change a “key step in the integration of the A220 program into Airbus”.

Prior to taking on A220 parts servicing, Satair needed to acquire related information-technology infrastructure, achieve necessary regulatory approvals and secure new agreements with suppliers.  Satair completed those steps over the last year, said Reijnen.

Satair holds an inventory of more than 1 million different types of parts and has 10 facilities globally.  Outside Europe, the company has sites in Beijing, Singapore, Dubai and several in USA.

Source: Airbus/Satair

                     

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

                GulfStream, Jet Aviation Open New Florida Facility

Jet Aviation and sister company Gulfstream, have opened their new co-located Fixed-Base Operator(FBO)/aircraft maintenance complex at Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport more than a year after the nearly $50 million project broke ground.  While Jet Aviation will continue to operate its primary FBO on the southeast side of the field, the complex on the northwest side features a new 11,270 sq-ft satellite, two story FBO terminal of which, Gulfstream occupies 9,000 sq-ft on the first floor, and a 42,000 sq ft Jet Aviation hanger with 30 foot-high-doors.

“ This investment is the fifth new hanger we have opened in recent years and underscores our commitment to exceeding customer expectations by further strengthening our global facility network,” said Jet aviation president, David Paddock.  ”I would like to take this opportunity to thank our parent company, General Dynamics for their ongoing support of our business, particularly during these uncertain times.

The adjoining service center for Gulfstream consists of more than 104,000 sq ft of climate-controlled hangers and workshops capable of simultaneously sheltering up to seven G650s.  The two companies will share 200,000 sq ft of ramp space.

Source: Aviation International News

                             Boutique Air Grows with PC-12s 

Pilatus originally envisioned the PC-12 turboprop single engine as an executive utility aircraft, but the model has gained widespread popularity as a commuter airliner since its introduction in 1994.  Of the 1,750 PC-12s delivered through mid-August, 94 are flying with 35 passenger airlines around the world, according to the Swiss OEM.  One of these operators is Boutique Air, based in San Francisco and started operations in 2011 by high-tech executive, who bought a company with a Part 135 certificate and one aircraft.  In 2014, the airline began flying regularly scheduled service on one route between Clovis, New Mexico, and Dallas.

Today Boutique serves 29 U.S. airports in 17 states nationwide, operating a fleet of 27 PC-12-45 and PC-12-47 aircraft configured for eight passengers.  “We’re the largest PC-12 commercial carrier in the United States,” said Boutique general manager, Brian Kondrad.  In 2019 the airline flew 180,000 passengers.

Boutique operates exclusively on routes subsidized through the U.S. Department  of Transportation’s $316 million annual Essential Air Service (EAS) program, linking rural airports with major airline hubs.

Source: Boutique Air/Picture Boutique 

                                                                   

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

   Germany Took Delivery of Its First New VIP Airbus A350-900 XWB

Germany’s new “Air Force One” was delivered to the armed forces on Thursday, August 27th after arriving at Lufthansa Technik for completion for in May.

The Airbus A350-900 XWB will be replacing the country’s A340-300 fleet acquired from flag carrier Lufthansa.

The purchase came in 2019 following mechanical issues with the existing VIP aircraft, one of which forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to fly commercial to the G20 in 2018.

As Germany is home to numerous Airbus production plants, parts of the plane were even manufactured in the country, although the final assembly took place in France.  German Defense Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, received the first Airbus A350-900 XWB in Hamburg during a handover ceremony with Lufthansa Technik.

Airbus had delivered the aircraft in May, but the interior completion work was handled by the maintenance, completions, repair, and overhaul division of the German flag carrier.

Germany ordered three Airbus A350 aircraft in 2019 as a replacement to the aging Airbus A340-300 fleet that flies top government officials around the world.

Source: Business Insider

                                   GE Aviation CF34 Great Reliability

With more than 5,000 engines producing at least a 99% reliability rate, it is hard to argue that GE’s CF34 regional aircraft engine program has been anything but successful.

In 1992, GE’s CF34 engine family helped launch a new era in regional jet aviation,  it continues to set the standard for performance, durability and world-class reliability. More than 5,200 CF34 engines are in service, the engine family has accumulated more than 160 million flight hours.

The following are the details by engine family according to GE Aviation:

**The CF34-8 family includes 3,792 engines in operation with 92 operators.  The fleet has accumulated 73 million hours and 54 million cycles and it generated a 99.96% reliability rate.

**The CF34-10As are in operation with four operators.  The power plant accumulated 54,000 flight hours and 38,000 cycles and it has logged 100% reliability rate.

**The CF34-10E includes 1,643 engines in operation with 98 operators.  The power plant has accumulated 32 million flight hours and 23 million cycles, generating a 99.98% reliability rate.

The CF34-8 variants power Mitsubishi jets, 700, 900 and 1000 regional jets, Bombardier Challenger 870 and 890 business jets and Embaraer 170 and 175 regional jets. Meanwhile, the CF34-10 variants power the Comac ARJ21 family and Embraer 190, 195 and 1000 regional jets.

Source: GE Aviation/Picture GE Aviation

A New Plane for the Indian Prime Minister/President/Vice President

Air India One highly customized Boeing 777-300ERs, meant for the exclusive use Indian Prime Minister, President and Vice-President, landed in New Delhi in August.  A second will arrive by the end of this year.

The aircraft, which has its own missile defense system, called the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures(LAIRCM) and Self Protection Suites(SPS) besides state- of-the-art communication system, will be operated by the Indian Air Force(IAF), although Air India would receive it.

When the handover to the IAF is complete, the call sign is likely to change from Air India One to Air Force One, just like the one used by American Presidents.

The two new aircraft have been heavily modified keeping in mind that the planes are exclusively meant for VVIPs.

The plane has the capability to function as a full-fledged flying command center

thanks to its advanced and secure communication system, which facilitates audio and video communication without being hacked or tapped, just like Air Force one, sources added.

The interior of the aircraft has been divided into big cabin for VVIP passengers’ mini medical center, conference room and also seats for the accompanying entourage.

In February last year, the US Defence Security Agency had, in a notification to the Congress, said the US had approved the purchase of LAIRCAM and SPS for an estimated cost of USD 190 million.

The defense systems, which would bring security of Air India One at par with that of Air Force one, would be installed in two Boeing 777 Head-of-State aircraft, the Pentagon said.

Source: Defense News/Picture Airliner World

Boeing and Etihad Complete Testing on ecoDemonstrator Program

Boeing and Etihad Airways concluded testing on the aerospace company’s 2020 ecoDemonstrator program the first week in September.  It took a cross country flight using a 50/50 blend of sustainable and traditional jet fuel.

Flying from Seattle to Boeing’s manufacturing site in South Carolina, Etihad’s newest 787-10 Dreamliner used the maximum sustainable fuel blend permitted for commercial aviation.  The transcontinental flight also demonstrated a new way for pilots, air traffic controllers and airline operations centers to communicate simultaneously and optimize routing.

Mohammad Al Bulooki, Etihad Aviation Group chief operating officer, said: “Together with Boeing and the national airline’s sustainable fuel partners World Energy and PIC, Etihad used 50,000 gallons of a 50/50 blend of sustainable aviation fuel on the final flight of our ecoDemonstrator 787-10 flight tests.

Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator program takes promising technologies out of the lab and tests them in the air to accelerate innovation.  This year’s program evaluated four projects to reduce emissions and noise, plus enhance the safety and health of passengers and crew.  All the 787-10 test flights used a blend of traditional jet fuel and sustainable fuel from inedible agricultural wastes to minimize emissions, with the final flight operating at the maximum 50/50 commercial blend.

Source: Etihad Airways/Boeing/Picture Etihad

   Lufthansa to Put its Entire A380 and A340-600 Fleet In Storage

Lufthansa Group will put all of its Airbus A380s and 10 of its A340-600s into long-term storage, only to be reactivated in the event of an “unexceptional rapid market recovery”, and will permanently remove the remainder of its A340-600 fleet from service.

The German airline group says that the outlook for international air transport has “significantly worsened” in recent weeks, forcing it to revise its capacity expectations downward.

While it had previously aimed to offer 50% of its prior-year capacity on its long-haul network and 55% on short-haul in the fourth quarter of this year, Lufthansa now says it expects capacity to be ”in a range between 20% and 30%, compared to the same period in 2019.  As a result, it foresees a group-wide reduction of 150 aircraft “by the middle of this decade”.

“ The continuing high level of uncertainty in global air traffic makes short-term adjustments to the current market situation unavoidable for the foreseeable future,” says Lufthansa, adding that the expansion of pre-flight Covid-19 testing is “essential prerequisite for the resumption of global mobility.”

Source: Lufthansa/PictureLufthansa

                

LATEST NEWS

  • AerSale Aircraft trader and support specialist has acquired 24 Boeing 757-200 passenger jets that were stored at its facilities in Arizona and New Mexico.  Some will be dismantled and other will be converted into freighters.
  • ATR flies the first new-build 72-600 freighter for FedEX.  The aircraft was launched three years ago with an order for up to 50 from US express freight specialist FedEx.

  • GE Aviation has delivered its first F110-129 engines for integration with Boeing’s F-15EX fighter, ahead of the new model’s flight debut next year.

 

  • Texel Air a private airline and MRO based in Bahrain, has announced the arrival of the latest addition to its fleet, the Boeing 737-700 Flex Combi.

  • EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has completed test flights of the 737 Max, a key milestone in restoring airworthiness certification and returning the airliner to operational status.

  • French Bee Paris Orly-based long-haul, low-cost carrier French Bee remains in upbeat mood despite the coronavirus crisis.  Next year it will significantly expand its fleet with the addition of two leased Airbus A350-1000s.
  • Cayman Airways has sent one of its Boeing 737 MAXs to Victorville, California in anticipation of the aircraft returning to service.

  • Northwest International Cargo Airlines new Chinese cargo start-up has been approved by the country’s civil aviation authority to introduce three Boeing 737 freighters to its fleet.
  • El Al Israeli flag carrier has been granted a deferral to the end of November for delivery of its final Boeing 787.
  •   EVA Air has reached agreement with Boeing to exchange seven of the 787-10s yet to be delivered for four 787-9s and three 777Fs.

Sources: Flightglobal, Cayman Airways, Eva Air, Boeing, GE Aviation, Arabian Aerospace

 

AIR CARGO

                Boeing 777 Freighter Joins The Volga-Dnepr Group

On August 17th, the 777 Freighter joined Volga-Dnepr Group fleet of 24 Boeing Freighters.

AirBridge Cargo will operate the airplane via a sale-leaseback agreement with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise DAE.

“We are delighted to welcome Volga-Dnepr Group as our newest customer as they introduce the 777 Freighter to their fleet,” said Firoz Tarapore, DAE’s Chief Executive Officer.  ”DAE Capital is the world’s largest lessor of the profitable and efficient 777 freighter.  We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship with Volga-Dnepr as they continue to grow their successful operations.”

Volga-Dnepr Group is among the world’s largest Boeing freighter operators, flying 17 747 freighters and five 737 freighters, including 13 747-8F, four 747-400ERF, two 737-800BCF and three 737-400SF.

The 777Freighter, which can fly 4,970 nautical miles(9,200 kilometers),can carry a payload of 224,900 lbs.(102,010 kg) with more capacity than any other twin-engine freighter.

Source: Boeing/BoeingPicture

 

  OTHER NOTEWORTHY NEWS

                  Reactivating Parked Aircraft Requires Extra Care

Parking planes during the pandemic does not mean technicians ignore them until airlines are ready to fly again.  A great deal of mechanical support work, including electrical checks and engine starts, takes place to keep aircraft serviceable.

Even when approved maintenance schedules are followed, there are threats to the safe return of aircraft from extended downtime.

The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently issued a safety notice addressing the potential hazards of bringing aircraft out of storage as airlines resume more flights.

The agency said it found examples of incomplete maintenance and other faults associated with lengthy storage of aircraft, including two cases involving loose engine ports and missing access panel to wing flap.

In another recent case, mechanics found insect larvae in instruments that help determine an aircraft’s airspeed even though the probe’s covers had been used and the system flushed according to the manufacturer’s guidance.

Hibernating Planes

Airlines placed most of their fleets in a state of hibernation when COVID-19 spread worldwide in March and travel demand evaporated.  Precautions include sealing up the engines and sensors to keep out dirt, birds and insects.  Engineering frequently check wings and landing gear areas for wildlife.  Rodents can damage wires and hydraulic lines.

The top three storage locations are in the U.S.: Roswell International Air Center in Nevada; Pinal County Airpark in Arizona; and Victorville Southern California Logistics Airport, with about 900 planes combined according to Cirium.

The percentage of passenger jets in storage continues to fall, but a third of the global fleet remains grounded.  As of August 10, Cirium classified a total of 8,750 widebody, narrowbody and regional jets in storage status, while nearly 17,500 were in service. During the spring, more than two-thirds of the global fleet was in storage.

Airlines are bringing back their newest aircraft first because of better operating efficiencies.  Cirium said that fewer than half of passenger jets built prior to 2013 were used in commercial flights recently.  The most active aircraft were built in 2017.

The longer aircraft are in storage, the more likely they are to require maintenance work before they can return to service, ranging from software and technical updates to following airworthiness directives and service bulletins.

Source: Benzinga.com/FreightWaves/Cirium

                         

 

 Researched and Compiled by : 

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor  

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian  

by

The Kaplanian Report – September 2020

ON THE BOEING FRONT

 Customers Harness Boeing’s Services Solutions to Support Operations and Growth

Boeing announced a number of services orders and agreements to support international customers, streamline their operations and enhance their future growth.

These supply chain solutions will simplify customers’ asset and maintenance management, inventory and operating costs, while improving parts availability.

The agreements for Boeing’s digital solutions will provide cost savings fleet-wide, enhance airline crew situational awareness and increase operational efficiency.

“As airlines and operators continue to respond to the current challenges facing the global air travel industry, our partners are moving forward, integrating creative solutions to continue connecting people around the world,” said Ted Colbert, president and CEO,Boeing Global Services.”  Boeing is working closely with our customers around the world, delivering the customized solutions they need to improve operational efficiency, support their fleets, and reduce their costs.”

Supply Chain agreements include:

-Alaska Airlines signed its largest consumable and expendable services agreement, with a multi-year agreement for solutions which include Tailored Parts Package and Quick Engine Change kits.  The agreement supports Alaska’s fleet of 737 airplanes and provides price and availability benefits that allow the airline to streamline its maintenance operations.  The Tailored Parts Package consists of 2,900 part numbers.  Throughout the term of this three-year agreement, Boeing anticipates the shipment of nearly 800,000 parts and four Quick Engine Chain kits, which will be used to configure spare engines to allow for quick return of an airplane to service when an engine needs to be repaired or replaced.

-ALL Nippon Airways, the largest airline in Japan, announced a partnership with Boeing Global Services to install a 787-9 galley facility in its new training center to enhance crew training opportunities. And also signed an agreement for ten Quick Engine Change Kits. 

Source: Boeing global Services

                    

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

    Airbus Completed Its Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off & Landing Project

Airbus completed its Autonomous taxi, take-off, and landing project that saw one of its A350-1000 XWBs perform normally pilot-flown maneuvers entirely on its own.

The project’s successful completion opens the door for fully autonomous flights as autopilot already handles most of the functions while airborne.

The common belief with airplanes is that they fly themselves after take-off thanks to autopilot, and pilots can sit back and relax for most of the flight.  But Airbus just took that idea to the next level after proving a passenger jet can perform complex maneuvers without any pilot input.

The European manufacturer just completed flight testing for its Autonomous Taxi, Take-off, and landing project after its flagship aircraft successfully navigated each phase of flight on its own as pilots simply watched.

Over 500 flights were conducted with the new Airbus A350-1000 XWB that utilized         “ image recognition technology” to essentially give the plane a pair of eyes.  The technology, integrated with the A350’s exterior cameras, allowed it to perform the phases of flight on its own, Airbus announced.

With Airbus proving that its jet can also land and taxi on its own, the door is now open to fully autonomous flights.

Source: Airbus/Picture Airbus           

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

            Textron Aviation Introduces the Beechcraft King Air 360 

Textron Aviation has ushered in the next generation of its King Air turboprop family with the Beechcraft King Air 360/360ER.

The updated turboprop offers the latest technological advancements in the cockpit, a redesigned cabin, and enhancements to passenger comfort.  The aircraft is currently in production with customer deliveries expected to begin in the Fall of 2020. 

The Cockpit is the new digital pressurization controller, which automatically schedules cabin pressurization during both climb and descent, reducing pilot workload and increasing overall passenger comfort.  The Pressurization gauges have been integrated with the powerful Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion flight deck.

With seating for up to nine passengers, the latest King Air offers an even greater passenger experience than its predecessor. The aircraft features a cabin altitude of when compared to the King Air 350i.  The improved cabin altitude levels provide greater comfort to passengers, especially during longer flights.

The new turboprop twin models are priced at $7.9 million and $8.795 million, respectively.

Source: Textron Aviation/Picture Textron Aviation

              Gulfstream Opens New Farnborough Service Center 

Gulfstream Aerospace’s new service center at Farnborough Airport is now open and took in its first aircraft, a Middle East-based Gulfstream, for service.  The 225,000 sq m to 20,903 sq m facility can simultaneously accommodate up to 13 ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650 or G700s.

The Farnborough center is able to provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul services, as well as interior refurbishments and aftermarket modifications.  To complement the site, Gulfstream’s Field and Airborne Support Teams(FAST) continues to maintain a presence at London Luton Airport.

“Gulfstream Farnborough is already seeing great demand,” said Gulfstream Customer Support president Derek Zimmerman.  ”This opening marks the completion of another goal in our overarching strategy to enhance convenience and increase options for our customers.  The new facilities we are building can better accommodate more of the large-cabin Gulfstream aircraft our customers are flying.”

Source: Gulfstream Aerospace

                                                                   

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

Israel Government Authority to Recommend El Al Control Permit for Rosenberg

Israel’s Government Companies Authority said it would recommend allowing Eli Rosenberg to buy control of cash-strapped El Al Israel Airlines.

Rosenberg in July offered to funnel $75 million into the airline in return for a 45% stake. He is the son of American businessman Kenny Rosenberg, who is CEO of New York-based nursing home chain Centers Health Care. 

The authority said it would allow control of Israel’s flag carrier with a stake of over $40% conditioned upon proof Rosenberg’s Israeli citizenship or regency.Israel would retain a golden share.

Israel’s finance and transport ministers also need to approve Rosenberg becoming the controlling shareholder.

El Al’s board had agreed to a bailout that could put the carrier back under state ownership after the coronavirus pushed it to the verge of bankruptcy.

The government has offered to back $250 million in bank loans while El Al must issue $150 million in shares, which the state will buy if no one else does.

The carrier’s unions have already agreed to a significant cost-cutting measures.

El Al, which has reported losses for two years running and racked up debt to renew its fleet, suspended flights when Israel closed its borders and furloughed most of its employees.

Source: Reuters/picture El Al

                Emirates Covers Customers from COVID-19 Expenses

Emirates will cover medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 ($176,000) and quarantine costs of EUR 100 per day ($118.00 prepay for 14 days) should they be diagnosed with Covid-19 during their travel, while they are away from home.

This cover is provided by the airline, free of costs to its customers.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Group chairman and chief executive said: “Under the directive of his Highness Sheik Mohammed,UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Emirates is proud to lead the way in boosting confidence for international travel.  We know people are yearning to fly as borders around the world gradually re-open, but they are seeking flexibility and assurances should something unforeseen happen during their travel.”

He added : “Emirates has worked hard to put in place measures at every step of the customer journey to mitigate risk of infection, and we have also revamped our booking policies to offer flexibility.   We are now taking it to the next level, by being the first in the industry to offer our customers free global cover for Covid-19 medical expenses and quarantine costs should they incur these costs during their travel.  It is an investment on our part, but we are putting our customers firsthand we believe they will welcome this initiative.”

Emirates is the first airline in the world to offer free, global cover for Covid-19 related costs.

Source: Emirates/Picture Emirates

      Taiwan Parliament Passes Proposal To Rebrand China Airlines

Taiwan’s parliament passed a proposal on July 22nd to rebrand the island’s largest airline to avoid confusion with carriers on the Chinese mainland.

China Airlines (CAL) is frequently mistaken for Air China… the mainland’s national carrier…and there have long been calls to rename it or make it more clearly Taiwanese.

But the movement received fresh impetus during the coronavirus pandemic, which Taiwan has successfully tackled.

The self-ruled island has sent medical aid overseas as a diplomatic gesture of goodwill, often on China Airlines aircraft, sparking some public confusion abroad over where the shipments had come from.

The motion did not set a timeline for when the airline should be eventually renamed, saying it would require further discussion.

The name China Airlines is a throwback to the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War, when the defeated Kuomintang nationalists fled to Taiwan.

The Republic of China …Taiwan’s official name…set itself up as a rival to the People’s Republic of China.

Taiwan has since morphed into one of Asia’s most progressive democracies and a distant Taiwanese identity has emerged.

Source: AFP

                                Deferral to Cost Twice as Much

Fiji Airways will have to pay double the amount it owes over a longer period of time if it gets a deferral on a loan, says managing director and CEO Andre Viljoen.

He made the comment while addressing public assumptions on the airline’s cost-cutting efforts.  Mr Vijoen said requesting for a decal from their financier would put the airline in more trouble.

“The second myth that some people are saying is you solve the problem with a deferral,” said Mr. Viljoen.

“ The Banks come to us and say ‘ sure, you can have three months or six months but that’s it ‘, and when the six months is over you repay it together with the normal payments so you got double the payments to make.”  So the noose was loosened slightly for a few months and re-tightened again but now it’s tighter.”

He said the only way a deferral of payment work was if the airline was committed to a longer plan.

According to Mr. Viljoen, Fiji Airways cannot simply hand back leased aircraft.  He said binding agreements signed between the national carrier, leasing companies and financial institutions were a “noose” the airline could not “wiggle out of”.

Fiji Airways has recurring costs of $38 million a month, which includes lease and loan repayments.  Mr. Viljoen said if the airline defaulted on the repayment for one aircraft, it could go belly up.

Source: The Fiji Times

          

      LATEST NEWS

  • Cathay Pacific Airways will transfer a third of passenger aircraft from Hong Kong. The first batch of 12 aircraft will will go to Alice Springs in Australia for storage.

  • Kawasaki, Korean Air renew 787 aft wheel bulkhead contract with Boeing tier one supplier Kawasaki Heavy Industries 
  • Boeing has secured an A$287 million($205 million) sustainment contract for the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fleet of 12 P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.
  • Vistara, a joint venture between TATA group and Singapore Airlines, took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo in New Delhi on July 24th.

  • KLM will retire its last three Boeing 747-400s in October.  In March KLM announced it would retire the seven total passenger airplanes that were in its fleet, a move prompted by the coronavirus crisis.

  • Boeing’s third 777X airframe has launched on its maiden flightless than a week after the airframer said its first delivery of the type would be pushed back to 2022.
  • Icelandair Group is cutting four Boeing 737 Max jets from its order commitment and revising deliveries of the remaining six as part of a final settlement with Boeing.
  • Cessna SkyCourier the second SkyCourier 408 completed its second flight which lasted one hour and 35 minutes, and reached a maximum altitude of 14,200 feet, and a maximum speed of 210kt (378km/h).

  • Boeing’s 737 Max backlog declined nearly 20% in the first seven months of 2020,   with the company stripping more than 850 jets from its books due to order cancellations and accounting adjustments.
  • Cathay Pacific appears to have converted a pair of Airbus A350-1000s to the Smaller-900 variant, the Hong Kong-based carrier’s half-year accounts indicate.

Sources: Boeing, Icelandair, Cessna, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Vistara.

AIR CARGO

         GECAS Cargo Tops Up Orderbook with More 737-800BCFs

GECAS(GE Capital Aviation Services) signed an agreement with Boeing converting 11 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter(BCF) options to firm orders and adding nine additional options to the GECAS Cargo order book.

This agreement marks a repeat order by the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric for the 737-800BCF, bringing their total order book for the type to 74(60 firm and 14 options) since the narrowbody conversion program was announced in 2015.  The 20 in this agreement are scheduled to complete conversions between 2022 and 2024.  To date, Boeing has delivered 23 of the converted 737-800BCFs to GECAS for its leasing customers.

“It is an honor to extend our strong partnership with GECAS as they place their third repeat order for the 737-800BCF.  GECAS is renowned for providing great freighter solutions and this order is another testament to the 737-800BCF’s ability to extend the life of an airplane and help cargo carriers reduce operating costs,” said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing, The Boeing Company.

Source: GECAS

             S7 Plans to Receive Two Boeing Boeing 737-800BCFs

S7 has signed a contract with GECAS to supply two Boeing 737-800BCF air freighters, the Russian air carrier said on Thursday August 13th.  These are the first airplanes fully focused on freight transportation only in the airline fleet.

S7 Airlines ”plans to receive two Boeing 737-800BCF aircraft in November 2020 and in January 2021.”  S7 Cargo, the master agent for sales of freight transportation by S7 Group of companies, will implement commercial management of cargo traffic, the company said .

“ The extra capabilities will be engaged in destinations with high demand and limited capabilities of freight compartments of passenger aircraft.  The wide geography of S7 Airlines’ flights, cooperation with leading logistical companies and branched network of agents enable us to carry various categories of goods and mail within short terms and support efficient loading of aircraft.  According to our estimate, new airplanes will enable increasing the volume of transported cargo and mail by 30%,” S7 cargo CEO IIya Yaroslavtsev said in a comment.

Source: Russian Aviation/ Picture S7

                OTHER NOTEWORTHY NEWS

       Boeing Recognized for Sustainability Leadership

On August 13, 2020, Boeing received a 2020 Sustainability Leadership Award from the National Association of Manufactures.

The award recognizes the company’s innovative efforts to recycle aerospace carbon fiber, diverting waste away from landfills across the globe.

Since 2018, Boeing has partnered with UK based ELG Carbon Fiber to recycle excess aerospace carbon fiber.  Boeing collects the scrap material, which ELG then treats in a furnace to remove binding agents. The result of the process is clean material that can be sold to third parties to make products such as electronic accessories and automotive equipment.

“Boeing is demonstrating that you can be environmentally sustainable in a cost effective way,” said Bryan Scott, vice president of Environment, Health & Safety at Boeing.  ”We are the largest consumer of aerospace-grade composite and the only company able to recycle 100% of it.”

The carbon fiber recycling process has now been implemented at 11 of Boeing’s global airplane manufacturing sites.  Most excess carbon fiber comes from sites in Australia, the Puget Sound region of Washington state, and Salt lake City,Utah.

Boeing will train companies on the recycling process ,beginning with its supply chain.  “Creating commercially viable solutions for recycling carbon fiber composites is good for the industry and good for the environment”, said Tia Benson, director of advanced Materials and Product Development at Boeing.

Source: Boeing

 

                         

 

Researched and Compiled by : 

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor  

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian  

by

The Kaplanian Report – May 2020

ON THE BOEING FRONT

                 Status of Boeing Strategy Concerning the 737 & 787

Boeing believes it will resume 737 Max deliveries in the third quarter of 2020, with chief executive David Calhoun saying the company is progressing well through certification work despite challenges posed by coronavirus.

“We currently expect the necessary regulatory approval to allow Max deliveries in the third quarter,” Calhoun says on April 29.  ”We are very confident that the process will conclude with the certification.”

Boeing is now working through what Calhoun describes as “a mountain” of documentation work.  He says the certification pace has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced staff to work from home.

Boeing expects to resume 737 Max production this year at “low rates”.   It does not specify initial production volumes, but says production will “gradually increase” to 31 aircraft monthly in 2021, with additional increases to follow.

As to the 787, Boeing has no immediate plan to restructure its 787 manufacturing footprint despite announcing a major cut in production.  However, Chief Executive David Calhoun says Boeing will have time to review it manufacturing strategy in the coming years, as 787 production further declines.

On April 29 Boeing announced it will reduce 787 production from 14 aircraft monthly to 10 monthly this year-end then to seven monthly by 2022.

“Certainly, both lines will be running during the initial phase of reducing production to 10 787 monthly.”  Calhoun says.  ”We have not made any decision on the 787 production locations,” he adds of production requirements after 2020.

“We will have plenty of time to figure out exactly the way to go.”

Source: Boeing

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

  Airbus Sees More Pain in Commercial Market Through 3Q 2020

Airbus does not expect to have clear visibility of full short-to medium-term impact of the Covid-19 crisis until June.  In a briefing for financial analysts the morning of April 29 to announce diminished first-quarter results for 2020, Airbus indicated that it will likely defer decisions on steps to right-size the business for another two or three months.  This will allow more time to reassess the situation of its airline customers and also get more complete guidance from governments on steps to ease lockdown restrictions.

Group CEO Guillaume Faury told analysts that the greatest Covid-19 impact so far has been on its commercial aircraft business.  Its short-term reaction has been to scale back production rates by around a third to 48 units a month, including 40 A320s, 6 A350s and 2 A330s.  The A220 production line in Canada is expected to return progressively to a monthly output rate of 4 aircraft.

“The industry is now facing the gravest crisis in its history and we have a strong focus on matching production to demand and also cash containment,” Faury said.

Earlier in April Airbus announced that it is tapping government-backed payroll protection support schemes.  This has resulted in around 3,000 being furloughed on close to full pay in France and a further 3,200 in the UK.

Airbus is deferring further decisions on possible workforce reductions until June, when it expects to have a clearer idea of reduced demand for airliners.

Source: Airbus          

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

  Supersonic Jet Maker Aerion to Build Manufacturing Site In Florida

Supersonic business jet company Aerion will manufacture its in-development AS2 transport aircraft at a new facility in the Florida city of Melbourne, in the heart of the state’s aerospace cluster.

The company, currently based in Reno, intends this year to begin constructing in Melbourne a “global headquarters and integrated campus for research, design, build and maintenance” of the AS2, Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ office said on April 24.  Aerion’s media representative confirms the plan.

The $300 million project will create a facility called “ Aerion Park” in a region of Florida known as the “Space Coast”, says the governor.

The Company intends to begin manufacturing AS2 there in 2023, and the site will employ 675 people by 2026. 

“ Having evaluated a number of potential locations for our new home, we are excited to partner with Florida and Melbourne community to create a sustainable supersonic future,” says Aerion chief executive Tom Vice.  Aerion has said it hopes to complete first flight of the 12- passenger AS2 in 2024.

Source: Aerion/Picture Aerion          

                                                       

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

        AvioInteriors Seating Innovation Addresses Covid Concerns

Italian aircraft seat and cabin interior supplier AvioInteriors has released a concept for new seating solution designed to theoretically allow airlines to fill their middle seats amid Covid-19 concerns.  Calling it a “kit-level solution”, operators can install on existing seats to make close proximity safer, the company’s Glasssafe and Janus products feature transparencies to create an isolated volume around the passenger to avoid or minimize the spread of germs between occupants.

The Company can supply a Glasssafe retrofit kit in opaque material or with different degrees of transparency.   AvioInteriors designed the application with various executions and fixing systems that allow easy installation and removal and to allow for traditional seat-back magazine pockets and tables.

The Proposal for the second product, called Janus, features a center seat of a three-abreast layout positioned in the opposite direction, while passengers seated on the side seats, aisle, and fuselage continue to face in the forward direction.

As in the Glasssafe applications high shield that prevents breath propagation surrounds each Janus seat.  But another advantage of the Janus setup is the middle seat passenger has unobstructed access to both armrests.

If approved the AvioInteriors products would allow airlines to generate 33 percent more revenue if regulators call for middle seats to remain empty.  In fact, International Air Transport Association director general Alexandre de Juniac warned of the likelihood of higher airfares due to empty middle seat requirement.

Source: ainonline

              Southwest Delays Deliveries of 59 737 Max to Post-2021

Southwest Airlines, among the world’s top Boeing 737 Max customers, has pushed back deliveries of 59 Max aircraft in response to the travel downturn caused by the coronaviris pandemic.

Previously, Southwest anticipated receiving 107 Max jets from Boeing in 2020 and 2021, including 62 aircraft that had been scheduled for delivery in 2020 and 45 scheduled for 2021, securities filing shows.

The airline provides few details about how many 737 Max aircraft it intends to acquire in 2020 and 2021, other than saying it expects to receive less than 27 jets from Boeing this year.

Those 737 Max are aircraft Boeing manufactured for Southwest after regulators grounded the type in March 2019.  Boeing continued manufacturing the jets after grounding, storing the airliners until the grounding lifts.

Southwest is “still working on specifics of how many we want to take between now and the end of the year,” chief financial officer Tammy Romo says, during Southwest’s first-quarter earnings call on April 28.  “We have fleet flexibility.”

News of the deferrals came the day Southwest reported a first-quarter loss of$94 million, reflecting the collapse of travel demand during the pandemic.

While some Max customers have cancelled orders in recent weeks, Romo says Southwest still prefers to take new jets.”Our preference is to get new airplanes from Boeing,” she says.

Romo adds that “Max’s 14% fuel savings (compared to 737NGS) is still very meaningful and significant”, despite tumbling fuel prices, which have eroded the financial value of efficiency.

Source: Southwest/Flightglobal

                   Delta to Retire Its MD-88, MD-90 Fleets in June

Delta Air Lines will retire the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft earlier than previously planned, with both aircraft types exiting the fleet effective June 2020.

The accelerated retirement schedule of both aircraft is a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as the airline reduces capacity systemwide.

Delta cut its overall active fleet by about half, parking more than 600 mainline and regional aircraft in the last two months.

The 149-seat MD-88 was previously set to retire by the end of 2020.  As of February this year, prior to the coronavirus-driven fleet reduction, there were 47 MD-88s and 29 MD90s operating.  Both aircraft operated across much of Delta’s domestic network and have been workhorses for the airline.

Delta continues to evaluate its broader fleet plan and will consider additional aircraft retirement to focus on a modern, more simplified fleet going forward.

Source: World Airline News

                

LATEST NEWS

  • Airbus has backed out of a joint venture with Thai Airways to build a new MRO campus at Thailand’s U-Tapao airport.
  • El Al Israeli flag-carrier has reached a sale-and-leaseback agreement with an unidentified foreign company covering three Boeing 737-800s.
  • American Airlines sets a company cargo record on a Boeing 777-300, the flight on April 15 broke American’s all-time record for freight volume, removing 115,349 pounds(52,321 kilograms) of soybean seeds.On one of American’s cargo-only routes from Buenos Aires to Miami.

  • Lufthansa is prematurely phasing out six Airbus A380 as part of fleet cuts across the airline group.
  • Rolls-Royce says it is aiming to bring the number of Boeing 787s on the ground for Trent 1000 engine modification reasons down to fewer than 10 by the end of the second quarter.
  • Silver Air a private jet management and charter company has added a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) with unrestricted charter access based in West Palm beach, Florida.

  • Boeing conducted a successful first flight of its second 777X airplane. Designated WH002 the second of four 777-9 flight test vehicles.

  • Qantas is putting Project Sunrise on hold, citing the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on air travel.
  • United Airlines will sell and lease back 22 planes to Bank of China(BOC) Aviation.The deal involves six Boeing 787-9s and 16 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft.
  • German Government First A350 Airbus has transferred the first of three A350-900s for the federal German government to Hamburg for outfitting at the Lufthansa Technik facility on May 7.

Sources: United Airlines, Flightglobal, Boeing, Qantas, Rolls-Royce, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Airbus, El Al. 

 

AIR CARGO

                         Air Freight Market Goes Into Overdrive

Damian Brett, the editor of Air Cargo News, outlines how the freight sector has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

While passenger airlines have heavily reduced their services over recent weeks, the air cargo market has gone into overdrive as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The sector is managing a huge capacity crunch as airlines have largely stopped operating the bellyhold services which make up roughly 50% of cargo capacity.

Consultant Seabury estimates that at the end of March, cargo capacity was down by around 35% compared with the year-ago figure.

The drop-off in demand lags the capacity reductions, as a result, freight rates have taken off.

Numbers from Tac Index show that rates an services from China/Hong Kong to Europe increased by 156% from March 2 to April 6.

On China/Hong Kong to North America an increase of 90.5% as recorded during the same timeframe.

So what of the coming months? There are some early signs that the situation is easing as carriers have started to re-activate parked-up freighters aircraft, passenger aircraft are being utilized as ad hoc freighters and containership operations come into play.

Lufthansa Cargo chief executive Peter Gerber says that while it is impossible to predict what the future holds, it could be the case that there are several spikes in cargo demand over the coming months as production plants in various countries come back on line.

The prospect of this outcome was also posited by logistics and parcels giant Deutsche Post DHL in recent business performance update.

“While the development of the business situation in China has been quite promising in the last weeks, Europe and North America are still in an earlier stage of the pandemic,” DP DHL said.

Source: Air Cargo News/Picture Cargolux

 

OTHER NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Lessors see no ( one-size-fits- all ) solution to help airlines through crisis

While aircraft lessors are agreeing to a number of rental deferral requests to help airline customers struggling through the coronavirus crisis, leasing executives stress there is no one size-fits-all approach being sought by airlines.

Speaking  on May 6 during the Leasing Leaders on Aviation Crisis webinar, organized by FlightGlobal in association with IBA Group.  BOC Aviation chief executive Robert Martin notes rapid funding action- including measures from governments-means some airlines have been more interested in, for example, sale-and lease-back activity.

“Clearly a lot of our customers were immediately hit and have asked for help, but it’s not one-size-fits-all,” he says.”  Some airlines didn’t need liquidity because they already have access to liquidity in other ways.  So actually they were more interested in doing purchase-and lease-back business, and we have done $5 billion of that since Covid started.”

“As we have addressed these issues, it’s clear to us you can tell the experienced airlines who have been through something like this before,” he says.  For example, editing the speed with which North American carriers acted to improve their liquidity and that Chinese carriers tapped their domestic bond market.

Another lessor leader panelist on the webinar, chief executive of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Firoz Tarapore, concurs that there is no single response.

In publishing its first quarter results, the lessor says that at the end of April, it had granted rent deferral requests from 25 customers – an aggregate rent totaling 5% of annual revenue. It is also evaluating rent deferral request from 33 customers, the aggregate rent deferral for which totals 10% of annual revenue.

“It’s been a deliberate and corroborative approach to make sure we carefully balance the needs of our clients and our own needs to make sure we are here for our other customers tomorrow.” said Tarapore.

Separately another aircraft lessor, Avalon, in reporting its first quarter results said it has received requests for payment relief from more than 80% of its current owned and managed customer base.

Source: Flightglobal.com/webinars

                         

Researched and Compiled by :

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian 

by

The Kaplanian Report – October 2019

ON THE BOEING FRONT

               Boeing Global Services Continues to Be On the Roll

Boeing’s services business has signed a series of orders and contracts from Asia-Pacific carriers, primarily for its digital products.

This comes on the back of a Boeing Global Services forecast projecting the Asia-Pacific commercial aviation services market will grow 5% annually over the next twenty years.  By 2038, it is estimated to be worth $3.4 billion.

Boeing announced that Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo signed a deal for crew and aircraft scheduling and management solutions offered by Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen.

Japanese low-cost operator Peach Aviation has signed for Boeing’s digital aircraft positioning products.  Chinese carriers, Shandong Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines, both renewed multi-year contracts for various Jeppesen products as well.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific and Philippine Airlines inked deals with Boeing for performance improvement packages for their Boeing 777-300ER fleets.

The second version of the packages feature aircraft modifications, associated retrofit parts kits and accompanying service bulletins.  These  will improve aircraft fuel efficiency, payload and range capability without requiring airlines to significantly change operational policies or procedures, says Boeing.

Lastly, Malaysia Airlines signed a consumables and expendables services agreement, allowing Boeing to provide supply chain solutions.

Source : Boeing

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

              Airbus Inaugurates Automated Fuselage Line in Hamburg                         

Airbus has inaugurated an automated fuselage structure assembly line for the A320 family of aircraft in Hamburg, the company announced on October 1st.

The new facility features 20 robots, new logistics concept, automated positioning by laser measurement, and digital data acquisition system.

For the initial section assembly, Airbus uses a modular, lightweight automated system called Flextrack, which employs eight robots and counter-sinking 1,100 to 2,400 holes per longitudinal joint.  In the next production step,12 robots, each operating on seven axes, combine the center and aft fuselage sections with the tail to form one major component, drilling, counter-sinking, sealing, and inserting 3,000 rivets per orbital joint.

Besides the use of robots, Airbus will implement new methods and technologies in material and parts logistics to aid production efficiency, improve ergonomics, and shorten lead times. The initiative includes the separation of logistics and production levels, demand-oriented material replenishment, and use of autonomous guided vehicles.

The Hamburg structure assembly facility carries responsibility for joining single fuselage shells into sections and final assembly of single sections to aircraft fuselages.  Mechanics equip aircraft parts with electrical and mechanical systems their delivery to the final assembly lines in France, Germany, China, and the U.S.

Source : ainonline/Picture Airbus             

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

              Flagship Cessna Citation Longitude Enters Service

Textron Aviation has announced the first deliveries of the company’s new flagship Cessna Citation Longitude super-midsize business jet, which it says signals the start of a new dimension in business travel.

“The newly certified Citation Longitude brings unrivaled technology to the business travel market, for both the passenger and the pilot, offering our customers the most efficient and productive super-midsize jet now in operation,” said Ron Draper, president and CEO.  ”We are thrilled to now transition this program into service.”

The Longitude features the longest maintenance intervals in its class—800 hours or 18 months—and is the most cost-effective aircraft in its category.

“The Longitude was designed around maximizing reliability and operational availability for our customers,” said Kriya Shortt, senior vice president, global Customer support.

Source : Textron Aviation/Picture Textron Aviation

                                                                       

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

   Aeroflot Announce Contract on 777 Passenger Cabin Modifications

Aeroflot and Boeing announced a contract to modify passenger cabins on 18 of the Russian flagship carrier’s 777-300ERs.

Boeing will perform engineering work and supply component kits for the planned cabin interior reconfiguration.

“It’s a great honor that a leading Russian carrier selected Boeing solutions,” said Stan Deal, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Global Services.  ”Aeroflot is an experienced 777 operator and we are pleased to provide them with the expertise that will support their implementation, long-term strategic growth and development plans.” 

Aeroflot is a member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance.  It serves 159 destinations in 54 countries.  Aeroflot’s 249-strong fleet is the youngest of any airline worldwide that operates more than 100 aircraft.  In 2018, Aeroflot carried 35.8 million passengers.

Source : Boeing/Picture Aeroflot

         Gulf Air Receives its Seventh 787-9 Dreamliner with New Livery

The airline received the aircraft at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC.In attendance at the event marking the arrival, which took place ahead of Gulf Air’s 70th anniversary, was the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, and Chairman of Gulf Air’s Board of Directors, HE Zayed, R. Alzayani and the United States Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur L.Ross.

Attendees toured the aircraft, which displayed a redesigned vintage of the Golden Falcon Locheed TriStar livery, representing the company’s iconic design from the 1970s.

Alzayani said: “It gives me great honor to reveal this special livery which would definitely resonate nostalgically with our global audience.The revival of this livery is a homage to our resilient national carrier as it celebrates being one of the first established carriers in the Middle East and how it continues to connect the Kingdom of Bahrain to the world”.

The new Dreamliner will join the fleet by the end of this month, increasing the total number of Dreamliners operated by the airline to seven aircraft following the delivery of three more by 2021.

Source : Arabian Aerospace

      Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Delays Entry into Service of A350-1000 Jets

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is delaying the entry into service of five Airbus A350-1000 jets as it strives to return to profitability after three consecutive years of losses.

The state-owned carrier has been downsizing its fleet and route network following a failed strategy to rapidly expand to compete with more established Gulf airlines like Emirates.

The Spokesman for the airline said the largest version of the A350 jet remained important to Etihad’s future plans, but did not say when the airline would start using it.  Airbus declines to comment, referring questions to Etihad.

Etihad has canceled billions of dollars in aircraft orders, including for 40 of the smaller A350-900 jets and two A350-1000s, as part of a five-year turnaround strategy started in 2016.  It has committed to take delivery of five A350-1000s from a current order of 20.

Etihad replaced the management who led the aggressive expansion strategy, which also included investments in airlines that later ceased operations due to their own financial turbulence.

Source : Reuters   

      

LATEST NEWS

  • SpiceXpress has taken delivery of its first 737-800 Boeing converted Freighter (BCF)

  • Pegasus Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A321neo on September 11, equipped with a 239-seat high-density cabin layout.

  • China’s AVIC begins first MA700 assembly; on September 27, aiming for first flight in 2020 and certification in 2022.
  • EasyJet UK budget carrier has emerged as the recipient of the 9,000th Airbus A320-family jet to undergo delivery to customers.
  • Turkmenistan Airlines buys a Boeing 777-200LR which is planned for delivery in January 2021.
  • Mongolian Airlines will receive its first Boeing 787-9 from Air Lease Finance in the Spring of 2021.
  • Saudia the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has welcomed its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner with a special ceremony that included a water cannon salute at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport on Monday September 30.

  • Flydubai introduces Split Scimitar Winglets on its NG Boeing 737-800 fleet.

  • Boeing says it remains fully committed to the development of the ultra-long-range 777-8 variant despite its decision to shelve development to focus on recovering the schedule of the baseline 777-9.
  • ATR regional aircraft manufacturer, confirms it has received authorization from the board of directors for the launch of the ATR 42-600S.

 

Sources: Flightglobal, Boeing, Arabian Aerospace, World Airline News, Airbus.

 

AIR CARGO

           Express Cargo Operator Atran Adds Extra 737-800 BCF

 

Russian express airline Atran has added another freighter to its fleet as it continues adding capacity to cater for an e-commerce bonanza.

The addition of a second Boeing 737-800 BCF brings the Volga-Dnepr-owned airline’s fleet to six aircraft.

Atran has now taken delivery of three freighters this year and its fleet also includes four 737-400Fs and another 23t-capacity 737-800BCF.

The company says that the additional capacity will help it meet growing demand for e-commerce shipments, including mail, between China, Russia and CIS states.

The 737-800BCF is 19ft (6m) longer than the -400F variant and also has a wider cargo door.

Atran says that the “step-by-step” fleet expansion and addition of new destinations has allowed it to achieve a “more than 15-fold volume upsurge from China to Russia, eight fold increase of domestic traffic, and more than six-fold uptick from Europe to Russia.”

Source : Volga-Dnepr/Flightglobal/Picture Atran Airlines

 

MAINTENANCE, REPAIR AND OVERHAUL NEWS

                  Japan Airlines Strives for No Irregular Operations

Japan Airlines is a bit of a phoenix that has risen past adversity and now has an engineering division that is striving toward achieving the highest safety goals, what it terms zero, zero, 100 irregular operations and inflight shutdowns; zero flight squawks and 100% on-time departure. 

Since starting its zero, zero, 100 safety goals in 2017,JAL’s flight operations have improved. One big achievement is not having any inflight shutdowns in 2018 and none in 2019 as of this writing, says Yasuo Yoshida, VP maintenance, corporate planning and finance.  This is a first for JAL.

He also revealed that the airline’s on-time domestic and international on-time departure rate is more than 99.38%, as of August.

“We’d like to be first MRO” to reach the zero, zero, 100 goal, he says.  While he says some people think the airline’s goals are “far too high” or “may sound crazy”, he says they are largely driven by three detrimental things: the crash of  flight JA8119, a Boeing 747 that crashed in 1958 and resulted in 520 deaths; the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau issuing a “business improvement order” in 2005 after a series of three unsafe events: and the airline filing bankruptcy in 2010 after accumulating $264 trillion in debt.

“We had given so much trouble to society due to the accident and bankruptcy that we felt that we needed to give back,” says Yoshida. JAL, relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

 

 

 

Researched and Compiled by :

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian 

 

 

 

 

by

The Kaplanian Report – April 2019

ON THE BOEING FRONT

                        Boeing has Released Images of the First 777-X

        The 777-9 variant was quietly unveiled to employees on March 13.  Boeing had intended to rollout the aircraft during an employee and media event the same day, but scaled back the unveiling back the unveiling in light of the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Boeing 737 Max.

Still, the company put the 777x on display for employees, releasing pictures from the event showing the aircraft in the hanger, freshly painted in Boeing’s blue-and-white livery.

The 777-8 will have an 8,700nm (16,110km) range and capacity for 350-375 passengers, while the 777-9 will have 7,600nm range and ability to carry 400-425 passengers.

Source : Boeing

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

 Airbus Shows Off the Second High-Capacity BelugaXL Transport

The aircraft -MSN1853- carries the similar beluga whale paint scheme of the first airframe, MSN1824, which began its flight-test campaign in July  last year. 

Airbus had previously indicated that MSN1853 would be the first aircraft to enter service.

Airbus has already demonstrated that the aircraft is able to fly a set of A350 wings from Bremen to Toulouse, the primary task for which the twinjet has been developed.  

Formally known as the A330-700L, the BelugaXL is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and is a successor to the A300-600 ST Beluga transport.

This older aircraft was unable to handle more than one A350 wing and airbus developed the larger A330-based version in order to cope with A350 production ramp-up.

Source : Airbus/Flightglobal/picture Airbus        

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

 Embraer’s Praetor 600 has Entered the final Phase of Flight-testing

Certification testing of the Super-midsize business jet was completed on March 11, says the Brazilian airframer, with three aircraft—two prototypes and a production-confirming example— logging 440hrs across 372 flights at Embraer’s Gaviao Peixoto test base.

A maturity campaign—designed to ease the jet’s entry into service— is now under way, and production-conforming aircraft has so far accumulated around 30 hrs of an expected 50 hrs of flying, says Embraer .

Powered by Honeywell HTF7500E turbofans, the Praetors are derivatives of the Legacy 450 and 500 with which they share the same fuselage and wings, supplied by the company’s metal and composites manufacturing facility in Evora, Portugal.  

Improving on the capabilities of the Legacy 500, the Praetor 600 gains new winglets and two extra belly fuel tanks, while engine thrust has been increased by 500lb(2.2kN), taking range to 3,900nm (7,200km).  That is 760nm more than the Legacy 500, and almost 300nm longer than its closest super-midsize competitor, the Gulfstream G280. 

Both models will share an assembly line with the Legacy duo in Sao Jose dos Campos, and at Embraer’s US business aviation manufacturing facility in Melbourne,Florida. 

Source : Embraer/Picture Embraer

 Genghis Khan Airlines Takes Delivery of its First Comic ARJ21-700 

The operator has orders for 25 ARJ21s, which are powered by General Electric CF34-10A engines.  The twinjet will be used to operate regional routes within Inner Mongolia from its base of Hohhot Baita International airport, says Comac. 

Genghis Khan received preliminary regulatory approval from the Civil Aviation of China just under a year ago.  It is wholly backed by state-owned Inner Mongolia Aviation Tourism Investment.

Initial plans were based around a fleet of bombardier CRJ900s, however the carrier subsequently ordered 25 ARJ21s, with options for another 25, in August of last year. It aims to have 25 aircraft in service within five years operating, a network of 40 destinations.

Source : China Aviation News/Picture COMAC                                                            

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

 Ryanair is to Resurrect the ‘Buzz’ Airline Brand Later this Year 

The airline says it will rebrand Ryanair Sun, which was set up last year, with new identity being introduced from autumn. The name will be used for its newly-established Polish operation Ryanair Sun.

Ryanair Sun flies under a Polish air operator’s certificate and uses a fleet of 17 Boeing 737-800s.

The Buzz brand was acquired by Ryanair when it took over KLM UK budget airline operating under this name in April 2003.

The Buzz brand name is to be revived with the Polish operation and Buzz will become one of the four carriers within Ryanair Holdings—along Ryanair itself, Laudamotion, and Ryanair UK. 

Ryanair Sun chief executive Michal Kaczmarzyk says the fleet will have a “new and unique branding” when Buzz is launched. 

Buzz will operate scheduled and charter flights and Ryanair aims to expand its fleet to 25 aircraft by summer this year.

Source : Ryanair/picture Ryanair

                    EgyptAir Takes Delivery of its First 787-9 Dreamliner

The Aircraft is one of six Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered Dreamliners that the Egyptian flag carrier is taking on lease from AerCap. The delivery took place on March 27, 2019. 

The aircraft will join EgyptAir’s existing widebody fleet, which comprises of eight airbus A330s and eight Boeing 777s.

It waived on March 28 at Cairo International Airport and has been received at Caro by Capt. Ahmed Adel-Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Holding. Adel said: “we are delighted to welcome the first B787-9 Dreamliner to our Fleet.” 

In 2017, The national air carrier added nine aircraft of B737-800 Next Generation to join the airline’s fleet. The same year, EgyptAir announced the that 33 aircraft will be joining the fleet by the end of 2020. (6) B787-9 Dreamliners,(12) A220-300, and (15) A320neo.  

Source : Arabian Aerospace/EgyptAir

                              Lufthansa Revealed 777X Milestone

German National carrier Lufthansa has taken to social media to share an image of its first Boeing 777-9 in production at the manufacturer’s Everett site.  The aircraft’s nose, mid and aft fuselage sections have been attached, reaching what Boeing calls ‘ final body join’—-a major milestone in the construction process.

The wide body is due to redelivered to the airlines 777x launch customer in the summer of 2020.  The carrier, which has ordered 20 examples of the 252 feet long jet(77m), is expected to be the second operator of the type after Dubai-based Emirates.

Lufthansa confirmed last September it will launch a new business class cabin with its 777-9s. The aircraft is expected to replace the carrier’s last remaining 747-400s, complementing Airbus A350-900s, A380s and Boeing 747-8s on long-haul services.

Source : Lufthansa/Picture Boeing/Lufthansa

           Taiwanese Startup Starlux Airlines Firms A350 Commitment 

Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines has confirmed an order for 17 Airbus A350-family aircraft, as the startup carrier prepares to begin operations next year. 

The Airline had signed an MOU for the A350s at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2018. The deal includes five -900s, which will be delivered from late 2021, and 12-1000s to begin arriving in late 2022. 

Starlux said the A350s will be used for long-haul services from Taipei to Europe and North America as well as on some Asia -Pacific routes.

The A350s will not be available for the carrier’s launch, which is planned for early 2020.The airline has signed a separate deal to lease 10 A321neos, and these are expected to begin deliveries in October this year.

Source : ATW/Picture Airbus  

LATEST NEWS

  • Avianca is canceling orders for 17 Airbus A320neo family aircraft and deferring delivery of 35 more by at lease seven years, the Colombia-baed airline said on March 15.
  • All Nippon Airways (ANA) received its first of three Airbus A380s on March 20, which the carrier plans to use to double capacity between Japan and Hawaii.
  • Air Vanuato has become an Airbus customer with the purchase of four A220s. The order, split equally between the -100 and larger-300 variants.
  • Air New Zealand is pushing back deliveries of four Airbus A320neo family jets as it dials back its planned capacity growth over the next three years.
  • Evelop Airlines has taken delivery of its first A350.The A350-900, supplied by Air Lease, will be used to serve Caribbean destinations from Madrid.
  • Mauritania Airlines has become the first airline to Africa to take delivery of an Embraer 175.
  • Lufthansa completed an order for 20 787-9 Dreamliners. With the deal valued at up to $5.8 billion per list prices.

Sources : ATW, Lufthansa, Flightglobal, ,ANA,Air New Zealand

AIR CARGO

 Atran Airlines Takes Russia’s First 737-800 Converted Freighter

Russia’s Atran Airlines, an express subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr Group, took delivery of its first Boeing 737-800BCFs from GE Aviation Capital(GECAS) in October 2018.  The aircraft has already operated its first flight from Moscow Vnukovo to Norlisk (city in Krasnoyarsk Krai above the Arctic Circle) and Yakutsk in the Far East of Russia, carrying consumer goods, including perishables, general cargo and e-commerce shipments.

Atran Airlines general director Dmitry Obsharov said: “ As the upgraded version of the Boeing 737, the airplane has more technical and operational capabilities.

We are confident that with this new aircraft type we will be able to guarantee high-service quality for our customers, leveraging trade flows in the markets we serve, with special focus on china-Russia routes and emerging volumes of cross-border e-commerce and mail shipments.”

Boeing announced the 737-800BCF program in 2016.The aircraft carries up to 52,800 pounds(23.9 metric tons of cargo, flying routes of nearly 2,000nm(3,690 km).

Atran Airlines, which joined Volga-Dnepr in 2011, operates a fleet of five 737 freighters on short-and medium-haul routes; and is based in Moscow Vnukovo.

Source: ATW/Volga-Dnepr/Atran Airlines Boeing 737-800 BCF Picture

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

737 Demand, Pricing is Firming Up

After the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft fleet was grounded by regulators across the world in earl March, some noticeable trends are occurring in the market concerning Boeing 737 classics and NG aircraft, according to Firoz Tarapore, CEO of Dubai based lessor DAE Capital.

With changes due, including a new software fix and an overhaul of pilot training put forward by Boeing earlier this week, he does not see this being the new norm.”This phenomenon is likely to abate after a permanent and satisfactory fix has been put in place for the MAX,” Tarapore says.

DAE Capital currently has 103 737s in total under ownership, in its portfolio of 110 clients in 60 countries worth around $14 billion.It took delivery of its first 737 MAX in July of last year on lease to Brazilian carrier Gol Linhas Aereas. However, despite the documented issues of the 737 MAX, Tarapore does not see the lessor changing its investment strategy for the aircraft long-term.

The business is also building its fleet of managed assets.In January 2019,DAE Capital announced that its managed portfolio of aircraft grew to 54.Following this, Tarapore says it has a target of $5 billion for the portfolio’s value over the next few years. However, he does not see DAE Capital expanding its reach beyond aircraft to engines.

Source : DAE Capital

 

 

 

 

Researched and Compiled by : 

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor  

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian  

 

by

Kaplanian Report March 2019

On the Boeing Front             

    Boeing Partners with Aerion to Accelerate Supersonic Travel                                                 

On February 5th Boeing announced a partnership with Aerion, a Reno, Nevada-based company pioneering next-generation supersonic aircraft.

As part of the agreement, Boeing made a significant investment in Aerion to accelerate technology development and aircraft design and unlock supersonic air travel for new markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Boeing will provide engineering, manufacturing and flight test resources, as well as strategic vertical content, to bring Aerion’s AS2 supersonic business jet to market.

The AS2 is designed to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.4 or approximately 1,000 miles per hour. With the ability to fly up to 70 percent faster than today’s business jets, the AS2 will save approximately three hours on a transatlantic flight meeting environmental performance requirements. The aircraft is slated for first flight in 2023.

“Boeing is leading a mobility transformation that will safely and efficiently connect the world faster than ever before,” said Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing NeXt. “This is a strategic and disciplined leading-edge investment in further maturing supersonic technology.  Through this partnership and experience, we have the right team to build the future of sustainable flight.”

Founded in 2003 to develop new, more efficient aerodynamic technologies for supersonic aircraft, Aerion introduced its AS2 12-passenger business jet design in 2014.  The company unveiled the AS2’s GE Affinity engine design in 2018.

Source : Boeing/Picture Aerion

                     

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

                                      Airbus Terminates A380 Program                                                     

While stressing it would continue to fully support the A380 customers that operate a total of about 230 of the four-engine jetliners, Airbus on February 14th confirmed enduring speculation it would end the program.  It was launched in 2000 as part of its goal to gain a share of the market Boeing had covered with 747.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders described the decision as “painful” but inevitable after Emirates Airline, by far the largest customer of the aircraft, reduced its outstanding A380 order by 39 aircraft.

Speaking Thursday during a fourth-quarter/full-year earnings presentation with analysts, Enders said the European OEM had “invested a lot of efforts lot of resources, and a lot of sweat” in the A380 program.”  But obviously we need to be realistic,” he explained. ”With the decision of Emirates to reduce their orders, our order backlog is not sufficient to sustain production beyond 2021 despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years.” 

Airbus said it will produce just 17 A380s—14 for Emirates and three for All Nippon Airways—until it closes the type’s final assembly line. The last two, for  Emirates, will roll off the assembly line in 2021, when the Dubai airline will have taken delivery of 123 units. 

Source : Airbus,World Airlines,Photo Emirates       

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

    Business Jet Deliveries To Middle East Are Expected To Total 200

This according to data from the Aviation Week Network, with 12 deliveries in 2019 rising to 20 in 2028.  The top deliveries through the 10-year period from 2018 through 2028 are expected to be the Boeing 737 MAX, with 23 deliveries, followed by the Gulfstream G650, with Bombardier Global 7500 and the Gulfstream G600 tied for third place.  At the same time, the business jet fleet in the Middle East is expected to grow to nearly 435 aircraft in 2019 and to 580 by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.3%, according to AviationWeek data.

Source : BCA

                         Pilatus Delivers PC-24 To Swiss Government            

                              

Pilatus has delivered a PC-24 to the Swiss government.  The aircraft was handed over during a dedicated ceremony in Berne on February 18th, and will replaced a similarly sized Cessna Citation XLS in service.

The eight-seat PC-24 will be used for government transportation “primarily around Europe, and operated by the Swiss Air Force”. 

Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk describes the latest addition as “the new Swiss Air Force One” and says he is “confident that other governments will adopt the PC-24 once they see the unrivaled opportunities and flexibility which it offers.”

The PC-24 is powered by the Williams International FJ44-4A with a range of 2,000nm(3,700km) and designed to take off from grass and gravel strips.

Source : Pilatus/Picture Pilatus                                                                                                                                             

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

                                   El AL Brings Its 767 Era to a Close                                                          

Israeli flag-carrier El Al has formally withdrawn the 767 from its fleet, following a final service from Milan to Tel Aviv on February 3rd.

El Al says it has used different variants of the 767 for 36 years, following the introduction of -200s in 1983, and that the type has logged over 100,000 flights with the airline.

The carrier has been introducing Boeing 787s to replace the 767.  It has eight 787-9s in its fleet.

Chief executive Gonen Usishkin, who opted to accelerate the withdrawal of the 767s, says the aircraft has featured in some high-profile roles for the carrier, including transport of the country’s prime ministers.

The 767 enabled the carrier to become the first airline to operate a twin-engined aircraft on the transatlantic commercial service.

Source : Flightglobal/Picture El Al                                                                                                         

                     Boeing Seeing More Airplane Buyers Paying Cash                                Financing than Ever Before

“We’re seeing more customers with near-term demand and in the ability to either finance or pay cash than we’ve ever seen,” Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith told FOX Business.

The company will now produce 57 737s a month (up from 52) and will increase production of its 787 Dreamliner to 14 per month (up from 12). The U.S. airplane maker has nearly 5,900 aircraft currently on backlog, valued at $490 billion.  Over the course of next 20 years, Boeing forecasts 8,800 airplanes will need to be delivered to airlines.

“When you look at assets that are in North America today…almost half are being replaced with much more efficient aircraft than those they are operating today,” Smith said, regarding operating costs. ”So that’s creating a lot of demand.”

“There’s lot of replacement opportunity there near term and long term,” Smith said. “There’s also more growth there, and that just goes to the fundamentals of what’s happening within their society and their economy; with the growth in middle class and a real desire to travel…within the region but also outside of the region.”

Source : Boeing/FoxBusiness

British Airways’ BOAC-Painted Boeing 747-400 Lands at London Heathrow

Monday, February 18, 2019—Large crowds gathered at Heathrow in the rain to watch the much-anticipated arrival of a British Airways Boeing 747-400; painted in the iconic design of its predecessor British Overseas Airways Corporation BOAC.

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said: “The enormous interest we’ve had in this project demonstrated the attachment many people have to British Airways’ history. It’s something we are incredibly proud of, so our centenary year it’s a pleasure to be celebrating our past while also looking to the future. We look forward to many more exciting moments like this as our other aircraft with heritage designs enter service.” 

From the paint bay at Dublin Airport, the BOAC Boeing 747-400 flew directly to Heathrow on the aptly named BA100 touching down in the morning.  Its next flight on Tuesday February 19, when it departed for New York JFK operating as flight BA117.   This flight is particularly significant as it was the first route the Boeing 747-100 flew in BOAC colors.

The BOAC livery will remain on the Boeing 747-400 until it retires in 2023, to allow as many customers as possible to have a chance to see it. By this time, British Airways will have retired the majority of its 747 fleet, replacing them with new state-of-the-art long-haul aircraft.

Source : British Airways/Picture British Airways    

      

LATEST NEWS

  • Icelandair has taken its first Boeing 737 Max 9, which has been delivered from BOC aviation.                                                                                                                                         
  • US Bangla Airline has agreed to lease a Boeing 737 Max 8 from AerCap, making it the first Bangladeshi carrier to have committed to the re-engined variant.
  • Bahamasair takes first 737-700 purchased from AerCap and formerly operated by Alaska Airlines and Lucky Air.
  • EgyptAir plans to begin new service to Washington Dulles International in June. EgyptAir has six 787-9s leased from AerCap on order with all aircraft due this year.             
  • British Airways is ordering up to 42 Boeing 777-9s to modernize the UK flag-carrier’s long-haul fleet. Eighteen are firm orders complimented by another 24 as options.             
  • Rolls-Royce has pulled out of the competition to develop an engine for Boeing’s proposed New Mid-market airplane. The UK engine manufacturer says it is ”unable to commit” to the required timetable and ensure that it has a “sufficiently mature” power plant for the aircraft.
  • Lufthansa On February 19, Lufthansa revealed that the body sections of its first 777-9 have been joined on the assembly line in Everett, Washington. The Lufthansa aircraft is the first of 20 777-9s the German flag carrier has on order, with deliveries due from the summer of next year.
  • Bamboo Airways & VietJet Air have firmed up commitments to order 110 Boeing aircraft 10 787-9s for Bamboo and 80 Max 10s and 20 737Max 8s for VietJet Air             

Source : BOC Aviation, AerCap, Flightglobal, British Airways, Boeing                                                

AIR CARGO

            Pemco Launches Full Conversion Program for 737-700                                 

Pemco Conversions has launched a passenger-to-full-freighter conversion program for the Boeing 737-700, the first of which would enter service with Bahraini non-scheduled cargo operator Texel Air.  The Tampa-based maintenance, modifications, and engineering company announced it the first week in February.

Texel’s parent company, Chisholm Enterprises, collaborated with Pemco to develop the conversion for use out of Bahrain International Airport.  Chisholm also served as the launch customer for Pemco’s 737-700 FlexCombi converted freighters supplemental type certificate for which remains pending.

“As we developed the 737-700 FexCombi conversion, our understanding of their requirements grew, allowing us to implement comprehensive solutions that enhance our vision of the 737-700 full freighter.  This made Chisholm the ideal launch customer for the conversion,” said Pemco director for conversion programs Mike Andrews.                                     

Pemco plans to receive a 737-700 for full freighter modification at its headquarters in Tampa during the second quarter of this year. The Company plans to amend its pending application with the FAA for the 737-700 FC STC to accommodate the full freighter conversion in an effort to streamline the approval process.  After gaining FAA approval, Pemco plans to certify both 737-700 conversion programs with the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

When the aircraft is delivered to Texel Air, it will join two 737-300 converted freighters in Texels fleet.

Source : ainonline/Picture Texel Air                                                                                                        

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

                          United Breaks Ground on a New                                             Technical Operations Center at LAX

United Airlines and Los Angeles World Airports(LAWA) broke ground on February 28 on a state-of-art Technical Operations center (TOC) at Los Angeles International Airport(LAX) that will enable the airline to provide exceptional service for all its aircraft fleets. The new facility will include two connected buildings-a ground service equipment and facilities maintenance building and a line maintenance hanger, including an engine support shop that will focus on the aircraft’s Dreamliner fleet.

The commencement of this $352 million TOC pushes the airline’s investment at its Los Angeles hub to nearly $1 billion in recent years.

The new TOC will consolidate two facilities that United currently operates at LAX that are located a half mile apart, improving efficiency with not only moving aircraft around the airport .With this new facility, transporting employees, parts, tools and other supplies-ultimately leading to more efficient operation for customers.

The TOC will be located near the airline’s terminal and stand at 407,408 square feet. The facility’s hanger will be able to accommodate up to six narrow-body and two wide body aircraft at a time, supporting United’s 150 flights that depart from LAX every day.

Source : United Airlines

                         

 

 

Researched and Compiled by : 

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian 

by

The Kaplanian Report – February 2019

On the Boeing Front

                                           Boeing Unveils 777X Cabin Design

Boeing has released images of its 777X’s cabin and disclosed design changes that will make the aircraft’s cabin more comfortable than the current-generation 777.

In addition, Boeing is giving 777X customers more flexibility in cabin layout by enabling them to choose from a greater variety of “cabin interior linings”, says the company. Linings include sidewalls, bins and ceilings, and encompass aircraft lighting.                                                              

“We have been able to… create a suite of options for airlines to actually customize aircraft without the typical customization headaches,” says Boeing regional director of cabin experience and revenue analysis Kent Craver. ”Those lining packages allow us to have multiple ceiling treatments, multiple bin options.”

Windows in the 777X will be 16% larger than those of the 777, and they will be slightly higher, giving passengers on the aircraft a better view of the outside.  The top of the passenger cabin windows are about 2.6 in higher than the 777’s windows, Craver says.

The 777’X cabin draws influence from the 787s and the “SKY” cabin found in the newer 737s, Boeing says.                                                                                                                                            

The 777X has enough storage to enable each passenger to stow a bag. Boeing redesigned the sidewalls so that the 777X cabin is 102 mm(4in) wider than the 777’s cabin.

The 777-8 will have an 8,700nm (16,110km) range and a capacity of 350-375 passengers, while the 777-9 will have 7,600 nm (14,075 km) range and the ability to carry 400-425) passengers, Boeing says.

Source : Boeing/Flightglobal)

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

         Airbus Takes Wait and See Response to Boeing’s Proposed NMA

Airbus’s incoming chief executive feels no pressure to scramble in response to Boeing’s concept for a New Mid-market Airplane (NMA).

Rather, Guillaume Faury describes Boeing’s NMA — which remains little more than a proposal—as a potential response by the US manufacturer to a market already controlled by Airbus.

“They are in the situation where they are losing this part of the market because they no longer have the right products,” says Faury of Boeing. “They believe they have to do something about it, and this is on them to make the next move”.

Faury, who spoke in Mobile in January, currently heads the Airbus Commercial aircraft division but is in line to succeed Tom Enders as Airbus CEO in April.

Boeing has taken a very different public approach, with executives saying they see a significant demand for an aircraft with 200 to 270 seats and range of 5,000nm (9,300km).

“This airplane is a big opportunity for us,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Kevin McAllister said last year.

Meanwhile, Airbus had made inroads by squeezing more range from its A321neo. The European company has developed a long-range A321LR and speculation abounds that even longer-range derivative, known as the “A321LRX”, might be in the works.

Fauey declines any comment about the XLR, but insists Airbus’s products already meet airlines’ needs.”We don’t have this gaps we don’t feel under pressure to react even before Boeing has moved. We will wait and see and observe,” he says.

Source : Airbus/Flightglobal             

        

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

                  AMAC Secures Its First BBJ Max 9 Completion Contract

Swiss firm AMAC Aerospace has secured its first BBJ Max 9 completion contract and plans to take delivery of the re-engined narrow body at its Basel facility in September.

Bernd Schramm, AMAC chief operating officer, says the design team has already started work on a mock-up of the interior, which he describes as “very special and unique”.

The completed aircraft is scheduled for re-delivery to its unnamed customer in 2021.

AMAC is now working on three green completions projects in Basel—two narrow bodies and a Boeing BBJ 747-8I—and is preparing to accept its first BBJ Max 8 in the fourth quarter.

Boeing, meanwhile, holds 19 orders for the BBJ Max family: 12 Max 8s —the first

two units were delivered green in 2018—three Max 9s, and four Max 7s. Three orders remain on backlog for the original BBJ, based on the 737NG airframe. Boeing also holds an order for a BBJ 787-8 wide body. 

Source : Boeing Business Jet /AMAC

                                                                  

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

          JetBlue Sees Delays to A321neos, Pushes Out A220 Deliveries

JetBlue Airways expects delays to the delivery of up to seven Airbus A321neos this year-end and says it has postponed deliveries of its first A220-300s to allow more time for the airline to choose suppliers of the aircraft’s interiors.

The New York-based airline now expects to take six A321neos “minimum” in 2019, down from 13 deliveries previously, says chief financial officer Steve Priest in an earnings call on January 24. ”We’ve been officially notified by Airbus of widely-known delays in neo deliveries,” says Priest.

JetBlue continues to expect that its first A321neo will enter service in mid-year.

The airline has orders for 85 A321neos. In 2020, JetBlue will receive only one A220-300, instead of five it initially planned for. Priest says two of the four postponed deliveries will shift to 2021, the other two to 2025. An updated fleet plan shows the airline will take delivery of six A220-300s in 2021, up from four previously.

Priest says the order book changes have no impact on the airline’s capacity plans for 2019 and 2020, or cost guidance. The carrier expects first quarter capacity to grow 7.5% to 9.5%,and full-year capacity to rise 5-7%. 

Source : JetBlue/World Airlines

                   British Airways will unveil BOAC 747-400 RetroJet

British Airways will unveil a Boeing 747-400 “retrojet” this month adorned in the colors of its predecessor airline BOAC, as part of the airline’s centenary celebrations.

The UK carrier says that one of its 747-400s—registration G-BYGC— will arrive at Heathrow from the printshop on February 18 in the BOAC scheme, and that will remain in place until it retires in 2023.

Tantalisingly ,it says that the 747 will be the “first aircraft to receive this design from British Airways’ past with more details of further designs to be revealed in due course”.

“So many British Airways customers and Colleagues have fond memories of our previous liveries, regularly sharing their photos from across the globes it’s incredibly exciting to be re-introducing this classic BOAC design,” says Alex Cruz, British Airways (BA) chairman and chief executive.

Source : British Airways/Picture British Airways

            Trent 1000s Start Receiving Approved Redesigned Blades

Rolls-Royce has started installing a redesigned intermediate pressure compressor blade design on certain Trent 1000 engines, following approval from European and US regulators.

The new blades, for the Package C version of the Boeing 787 powerplant, have obtained European Aviation Safety Agency and US FAA certification.

Boeing and Rolls-Royce started issuing bulletins to customers in December 2018, Rolls-Royce adds. The Package C engines are fitted to some 170 Boeing 787s.

Rolls-Royce says the first engine to receive the new blades is “currently being serviced” at the company’s overhaul facility in Derby.

The blades have also been flown on an airborne testbed aircraft in Tucson.

“As testing proved the design, Rolls-Royce began making new sets of blades, ready for introduction, in anticipation of regulatory approval,” says the company.

It adds that the new blades are part of a program of activity intended to minimize disruption to 787 operators.

Source : Rolls-Royce

            

LATEST NEWS

  • Air Premia South Korean startup carrier has selected the Boeing 787-9 to form the basis of its fleet, with deliveries to start in 2020.                                                                     
  • Saudia is to introduce Boeing 787-10 this year, the largest variant of the twinjet family.   
  • Aeromexico will receive its first Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft this year, allowing the carrier to add seats at constrained airports with its network.                                                               
  • Cayman Airways has received the first of four Boeing 737-8s. The four Max 8s will replace the airline’s existing 737-300s.
  • American Airlines has taken delivery of its first A321neo, making it the latest US carrier to add the re-engined narrow body to its fleet.                                                                          
  • United Airlines took delivery of their 1,600th brand new Boeing aircraft since deliveries first began with the 707 in 1959.  The 737 MAX is the carrier’s 12th of the new fuel-efficient jet.                                                                                                                                      
  • Qatar Airways converts 10 of its 50 Airbus A321neo on order to the longer- range Airbus A321LR.                                                                                                                                     
  • Royal Air Maroc has signaled that it is preparing for an extensive fleet expansion possibly involving upwards of 50 aircraft.                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Sources : Royal Air Maroc, Flightglobal, Air Lease, Qatar Airways                                                       

AIR CARGO

                                     Delta Cargo, Virgin Atlantic Cargo to Move                                   Into a New Facility at LHR

Delta Cargo, Virgin Atlantic Cargo are to move into a new purpose-built dnata City East, London Heathrow’s most state-of-art cargo facility.

The move to the new facility is scheduled for the second half of this year and will ultimately increase the size of Delta’s cargo and Virgin operation at Heathrow to 335,000 square feet, and see customers benefit from greater automation and faster truck and cargo handling times.

The Carriers’ facility at the off-airport data City Set building will be located opposite the Heathrow Cargo Terminal and adjacent to the airport’s southern perimeter road, which will provide quick access to the airport’s operational areas.

The Purpose-built facility will deliver the highest levels of service, security and automation.

The New location will also include temperature-controlled services for biopharmaceuticals and life science products, as well as a space for perishables and an enlarged center for live animals.

Source : AirCargoAirports/Delta Cargo                                                                                                   

Lufthansa Salutes The Boeing 747

The 747 turned 50 on February 9th.  Lufthansa salutes the aircraft by releasing a picture of one of their freighters a Boeing 747-230F, taken in 1972.  Nickname:”Beetle Swallower”, as it had space for 72 VW Beetles.

Source:  Lufthansa

 

      Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

                                     Parts Providers Step Up 777 Teardowns

The Boeing 777 maintenance market will be worth north of $110 billion over the next 10 years;  with about a quarter of that spend earmarked for components, according to Aviation Week data.

Accordingly, several parts suppliers are stepping up efforts to source 777 material, buying aircraft from carriers that are upgrading their fleets.

The latest example is GA Telesis, which at the end of January announced the consignment of four 777s from Cathay Pacific for disassembly in the U.S. and the UK. The first disassembly has already begun and the aftermarket company has committed to take five 777s in 2020.

A significant chunk of the components salvaged could be bound for Asia, which is forecast to account for more than a quarter of 777 maintenance demand over the next 10 years—the largest any region.

However, the Middle East carriers will operate the largest number of 777s by 2027, when it will be home to roughly 800 of nearly 2,000 77s in service by that year, according to Aviation Week data.

Across all regions, meanwhile, engine maintenance will be the most important part of the 777 aftermarket, generating more than a third of overall demand.

Source : MRO network/Aviation Week data

 

    

 

Researched and Compiled by :

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian 

                   

by

The Kaplanian Report – January 2019

On the Boeing Front

                        GE Begins Second Round of GE9X Flight Testing                                  

GE Aviation’s GE9X turbofan returned to the skies on December 10, kicking off a second round of airborne testing during which the engine maker will evaluate the power plant’s software and performance in hot-and-high conditions.

The latest round of testing will involve roughly 18 flight of GE’s flying Boeing 747-400 testbed, which will carry the massive GE9X turbofan under its wing, GE says.

The 105,000 lb thrust (467kN) GE9X will power Boeing’s 777-9s and 777-8s.

GE9X flight tests will stretch into the first quarter of this year, bringing GE closer to achieving its goal of receiving certification of the engine by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to the Ohio-based engine maker.

“During the second round of testing, GE will continue software development testing that began in the first round, perform hot-and-high starts and fill in remaining gaps from the first round of testing,” says GE.  “Tests that remain include blade out, hailstone, bird ingestion and block or insurance testing,” GE Says.

The GE9X-105B variant of the engine will power the 777-9, which Boeing expects will achieve first flight this year and enter service in 2020.

GE aviation acquired its 747-400 flying testbed from Japan Airlines, then modified and strengthened the aircraft’s wing and strut to accommodate test engines, it says.

Source : GE Aviation/Picture GE Aviation

                      

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

          Airbus Strategy Review Augurs Clean Break Under New CEO

Airbus has launched a strategic review to outline changes under the incoming chief executive, Guillaume Faury, as it faces industrial challenges and prepares to overdue modernization, industry sources said.

The “Airbus Next Chapter” review involves a team of planners working outside the normal strategy organization in pursuit of a break from years of industrial problems, management feuds and ongoing bribery scandal.

It is being led by investor relations chief Julie Kitcher, in what one insider described as a signal to financial markets that profits will be embedded in strategy’s as the one state sponsored European project marks its 50th anniversary.

Planemaking boss Faury, who becomes CEO when Tom Enders retires in April, ”wants to go fast and introduce a new state of mind: he wants to turn the page on the past”, a person familiar with the company said.

Founded in 1969, Airbus has risen to compete on par with Boeing and is one of Europe’s leading exporters. The review may address how Airbus can meet demand by sharply ramping up production of its jets like its A320. One previous taboo that may come for discussion is a fragmented production system securing jobs in The UK, France, Germany and Spain.

The A320 is the lifeblood of Europe’s largest aerospace group, described by operations chief Tom Williams, who retired in late 2018, as the “golden goose.”

Executives are warning Airbus must not find itself lacking in proven technology for the A320’s successor after 2030, as it had been in wide-bodies when Boeing launched the 787.

For now, Airbus is winning a bigger slice of the market on the A320 but some analysts say it has fallen behind Boeing in manufacturing techniques-a gap that could grow if Boeing launches a mid-market jet with a new factory system.

Source : Tim Hepher, Reuters

     

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

      Boeing Business Jets Launches Longest-Range Jet with BBJ 777X

Boeing Business Jets is confident that its newly launched BBJ 777X will deliver significant sales in the Middle East, justifying the unveiling of the VVIP airliner at the Middle East Business Aviation Association(MEBAA).

“Our most exclusive customers want to travel with best space and comfort, and fly directly to their destination,” says Greg Laxton, head of Boeing Business Jets.  The BBJ 777x will be able to do this like no other airplane before it, redefining ultra-long-range VIP travel.”

He says the company has been touting the aircraft to customers ahead of its formal launch at MEBBA and has received positive feedback.

“The Middle East traditionally accounts for over 52% of our wide body BBJ sales and there is no reason why the breakdown won’t apply on the 777X, ”Laxton adds.

Like the commercial aircraft on which it is based, the BBJ 777X will be available in -8 and -9 variants and becomes the fourth current production wide body in the BBJ range, joining the 787-8/9,747-8 and 777-200 LR/300ER.

BBJ also announced a new order at MEBAA for a BBJ Max, bringing to 21 the total orders for the business jet version of the re-engined narrow body family: 14 Max 8s, three Max 9s and four Max 7s.

Source : Flightglobal/Boeing Business Jets

                                                                       

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

           Boeing Delivers the 787th 787-9 to AerCap and China Southern

On December 13, 2018, Boeing delivered the 787th 787 Dreamliner to come off the production line, marking a special milestone for the super-efficient airplane family and the fastest-selling twin-aisle jet in history.

Since its first delivery in September, 2011, the 787 family has flown nearly 300 million passengers on more than 1.5 million flights around the world, including more than 210 new nonstop routes made possible by the airplane’s superior fuel efficiency and range.

The airplane was delivered to AerCap, the world’s largest lessor and 787 customer. Sporting a special logo commemorating the production milestone, the airplane will be leased and operated by China Southern, which continues to expand its long-haul fleet of 787 Dreamliners, including 10 787-8s and eight 787-9s.

China Southern Airlines first ordered 10 787-8 Dreamliners in 2005 and further increased its capability on long-haul routes when they placed an order for 787-9s in 2016.

Source : World Airline News/Boeing/Boeing Picture

                    Boeing Delivers First China-Completed 737 Max

On December 15, 2018 Boeing marked a key milestone in its relationship with China’s aviation industry, delivering the first aircraft from its 737 completion and delivery center in Zhoushan.

The hand-over, undertaken in conjunction with joint-venture partner Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), involved a 737 Max 8 for Air China, registration B-1178. The aircraft was built on Boeing’s 737 assembly line in Renton, Washington, but completion was undertaken at the Chinese facility in Zhoushan.

The milestone comes 20 months after construction began at the 100-acre site, says Boeing, which is its first such facility outside the USA. It was built in partnership with the Zhejiang Provincial and Zhoushan Municipal Governments and will become fully operational in phases as capacity increases, adds Boeing.

“This moment signifies our growing partnership with China that stretches back over nearly half a century,” says Kevin McAllister, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Source : Flightglobal/Boeing/Boeing Picture

                         Boeing 767 Era Ends at British Airways                                                         

On November 25th, 2018 British Airways flew its final Boeing 767 passenger flight revenue flight as it retires the type after almost three decades of service.

BA was the last customer for the Rolls-Royce RB211-powered version of Boeing’s wide body twin. This proved a relatively unpopular option, with just 31 delivered-28 to British Airways(BA) and three to China’s Yunnan Airlines.

The 767 was selected by BA in 1987 over Airbus’s pitch-A300-600R. BA said at the time of selection that, before deciding on the Boeing 767, it had “conducted a most careful study of the closely comparable Airbus A300”,but the final decision was based upon the 767’s commonalities with the 757 ( common type rating),and the availability of the RB211.

The first 767-300ER arrived in February 1990, and the twinge proved very agile throughout its 28 years, operating across its short-haul network as well as further afield to destinations in North America, the Caribbean, and Africa and the Middle East.

The last commercial flight took place on aircraft registration G-BZHA between Larnaca, Cyprus and London Heathrow. It first flew in 1998 and flew an estimated 23 million miles. It has visited Larnaca 900 times in its life, but its most popular route is actually to Athens, where it completed 1275 round trips. According to British Airways, its estimated that this specific aircraft has carried around 4 million customers across nearly 23,000 flights.

Source : British Airways/Photo Boeing

                 

LATEST NEWS

  • Air Kiribati Embraer signed a contract with the Government of Kiribati in partnership with their national airline, Air Kiribati, for two firm orders for the E190-E2 E-Jets and two purchase rights for the same model.                                                                                            
  • Bombardier has delivered the third and final Challenger 650 to Swiss rescue and medical services provider Rega. From a 2015 order for the large-cabin business jet.         
  • Azul firmed up an order for 21 Embraer E-195-E2s previously announced at the Farnborough air show in July 2018.                                                                                           
  • Flydeal Boeing and Flydeal announced on December the Middle East carrier is growing its fleet with 737 MAX aircraft, the airline committed to ordering 30 aircraft with options for 20 more.
  • Green Africa Airways Nigerian start-up carrier Green Africa Airways has committed to acquiring up to 100 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets                                                                                                                                                                  
  • Easter Jet has become the first South Korean carrier to take delivery of a Boeing 737 Max 8. It is one of two that the leisure carrier is taking through VEB-Leasing, which will join its fleet of 19 737-800s.
  • Nordic Aviation Capital will lease seven new Embraer E190s to Air France regional subsidiary HOP!
  • Airbus delivered 89 aircraft (two A220s; 71 A320s; three A330s; 11 A350s; two A380s) in November 2018 vs 74 in November 2017.
  • Air Europa will begin phasing out its Embraer E195 aircraft in 2021 as part of a strategy to transition to an all-Boeing fleet in 2023.
  • Subaru Aerospace Company has moved up the value chain with its center wing-box work for the Boeing 777X, as it seeks to further improve efficiency and manage costs.
  • Middle East Airlines of Lebanon announced has announced plans to purchase four Airbus A330-900neos, with options on a further two.                                                                  

AIR CARGO

              Ethiopian Airlines Cargo Celebrates Liege Anniversary                                  

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services has celebrated 10 years of cooperation with Belgian airfreight hub Liege. The anniversary was celebrated at the recent 2nd Africa Aviation summit, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya in late November 2018 at the Liege Airport.

The next summit, in 2020, is to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and will be hosted by Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistic Services and Liege Airport.

Fitsum Abady, general manager Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Services, said in Nairobi that the carrier’s choice of Liege in 2008 as its European hub has proved to be a wise choice.  The freight carrier has grown rapidly over the last decade: its freighter fleet has evolved from two leased MD11s to an inventory of eight brand-new Boeing 777 freighters—with more to come.

Ethiopian Cargo played a role in the creation of Liege Airport Cargo North as a gateway for flowers and other perishables, and is seen as an important partner for the future by Belgian gateway.

Source : aircargonews/Ethiopian Photo                                                                                                 

                        White-glove Service for Red-Carpet Event                                                

The Standard limousine wasn’t good enough to chauffeur government officials and corporate executives for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November of last year in Papua New Guinea.

Kuwait-based Agility Logistics chartered two Boeing 747-8 freighters operated by Air Bridge Cargo, to fly 40 Maserati Quattroportes from Milan, Italy, about 8,500 miles to the event.

The Quattroportes were jacketed in protective covers as part of the white-glove treatment.

Source : Automotive News/Picture Air Bridge Cargo

 

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

             Cold-Soak Software Fix Expanded to Leap-1B Engines                                               

European And US regulators have expanded a software-upgrade mandate to CFM International Leap-1B engines that ensures Boeing 737 Max-powered aircraft will not experience engine-fan-speed issues caused by extremely cold weather.

The European Aviation Safety Agency and the U.S. FAA mandates, issued

November 27 and December 11, 2018 respectively, mirror earlier requirements that covered Leap-1A engines that power A320neos. The latest directives require 737 Max-family operatives to upgrade full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and prognostic health monitoring (PHM) software within 60 days of their respective effective dates. The Boeing fleet upgrades were recommended in a CFM service bulletin issued October 24, 2018.

The Issue stems from engines cold-soaking after sitting at least six hours in temperatures well below freezing. Frontier Airlines reported six incidents when Airbus A320neo-family aircraft departing on their first flights of the day were forced to return to their gates when engines would not reach the required takeoff fan speed. In each case, water and ice was discovered in engine pressure-sensor lines affecting the sensor’s accuracy.

“While we have not received any reports of aborted takeoffs with the CFM Leap-1B model engine, the unsafe condition is likely to exist because of similarities in design and instances of ice and moisture found in the pressure sense subsystem lines,” FAA said.

Source : pro-network.com

 

Sources on Latest News: Airbus,World Airline News, Flightglobal ,Air Europa, Middle East Airlines & Bombardier.                

  • Sources of Header Pictures : Boeing Archives, Airbus & Embraer

 

 

 

Researched and Compiled by :

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian

 

by

Volume 5 Issue 11 The Kaplanian Report

On the Boeing Front

    Max 10 Maintains Family Ties Following Landing Gear Tweak Design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boeing will introduce a levered main landing gear on the 737 Max10 to overcome the potential threat to commonality with the rest of the narrow body family posed by its longer fuselage. To Preserve commonality in the Max family, Boeing has long been studying different options for the largest member of the Max family, the fuselage of which, at 143 ft (43.8m),is 1.6 m longer than the Max 9.

Boeing picked the levered design which will enable the gear to extend 9.5 in (24.1cm) during takeoff rotation, says Gary Hamatani Max chief project engineer.  “We have put in this new lever that extends down to 9.5 in, to provide us the rotation.”

The design is similar to that of the 777-300, in addition to the lever, the 737-10’s main gear has a steel “innovating shrinking mechanism”, dubbed a “shrink link”, which pulls the inner cylinder as the gear retracts, enabling it to fit in the same wheel well, Hamatani says.                   

“From a pilot’s perspective, there is absolutely nothing different the Max10 landing gear and the existing Max family,” Hamatani adds.

The Max 10 will carry 188 passengers in two-class layout and have a range of 3,300 nautical miles (6110km). The 737Max10 was launched at the Paris air show in 2017.

Source : Boeing /Flightglobal /Boeing Photo

                    

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

                             Airbus A330-900 Gains EASA Certification

The Airbus A330-900 has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), clearing it for first delivery to launch customer TAP Air Portugal. TAp’s first aircraft served as a demonstrator for route proving, during which it visited 12 countries. Including the two A330-900 flight-test aircraft, the certification campaign logged some 1,400 hours in the air since first flight on October 19, 2017.

Carrying an Airspace by Airbus cabin and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, the A330neo family consists of the A330-900 and the smaller A330-800.

Airbus launched the A330-900 and -800 simultaneously in July 2014.The company stresses the negligible extra cost of developing the smaller -800 due to the fact that the variants share 99 percent commonality. Fuel efficiency benefits come from a switch from the A330’s Rolls-Royce Trent 700 to the new Trent 7000, the addition of sharklet wingtip devices and the use of composite nacelles.

According to Airbus a result of those changes, both the A330-900neo and the smaller, A330-800neo (based on the A330-200),deliver a claimed improvement of some 25 percent over older generation aircraft of a similar size.

While the fuselages remain unchanged, Airbus specifications show 10 more passenger seats, giving the -900neo a three- class capacity of 287 and the -800 a capacity of 257.

Firm orders for the A330-900 now stand at 224, while the A330-800 lost its sole remaining customer in May, when Hawaiian Airlines canceled its order for six airplanes. Tap Air Portugal has ordered 10 of the-900 and plans to operate a similar number on lease. AirAsiaX by far ranks as the largest customer, having placed an order for 66 A330-900s.(On October 16 Kuwait Airways became the newest customer of the A330-800 with an order for eight aircraft.)

Source : Airbus/Ainonline/Ed’s research

                    

             REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS                     

  Helvetic Airways Firms Up Its Order For 12 Embraer E190-E2 Jets

Helvetic Airways has signed a firm order of 12 E190-E2 jets. This agreement was announced as a letter of intent (LOI) at the recent Farnborough Air Show in July.

The firm order has a value of $730 million, based on current list prices and was   included in Embraer’s 2018 third quarter. backlog.

The contract also includes purchase rights for a further 12 E190-E2, with conversion rights to the E195-E2, bringing the total potential order up to 24 E-jets E2s.

With all the purchase rights being exercised, the deal has a list price of 1.5 billion. The first E190-E2 aircraft will begin replacing Helvetic’s five Fokker 100s and seven E190s, starting in late 2019 and completing in autumn 2021.

The Purchase options for a further 12 aircraft (E190-E2 or E195-E2) will enable Helvetic Airways to grow according to market opportunities.

Source : World Airline News

Zunum Picks Safran for Developmental Hybrid-Electric Commuter 

 

 

 

 

 

Boeing-backed US hybrid-electric aircraft start-up Zunum Aero has selected Safran Helicopter Engines to supply a turboshaft engine to generate electric power propulsion of its in-development 12-seat commuter aircraft.

Safran says it will supply a new variant of its 1,700-2,000shp (1,270-1,500kW) Ardiden engine family—designated 3Z— which will be capable of delivering 500KW in combination with an electric generator.

The 12-seater—internally dubbed ZA10— will also be equipped with battery packs to “supplement” electric power during “key stages of flight and over long ranges”.

The company has received financial support from Boeing’s HorizonX division, JetBlue Technology Ventures and the State of Washington Clean Energy Fund.

Source : Flightglobal /Safran/Safran Picture       

                                                             

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

         ATSG Signed an Agreement to Acquire Omni Air International

US air cargo company Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) has signed an agreement to acquire Tulsa-based charter operator Omni Air International for $855 million in cash.

The move, which remains subject to regulatory approval, will significantly expand ATSG’s global reach and see the company acquire its first Boeing 777s, says Wilmington, Ohio-based ATSG on October 2nd.

ATSG anticipates closing the deal in the 4th quarter. It will fund the purchase with money borrowed through an existing line of credit, the company says in a media release.

In Business since 1993, Omni flies charters and operates wide bodies under aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance(ACMI) agreements. Its customers include the US government. Omni’s fleet includes 13 passenger-configured wide bodies—seven 767-300ERs, three 767-200 ERs and three 777-200ERs.

Acquiring Omni will expand ATSG’s(ACMI) work, diversify its revenue with new customers and enable it to expand globally thanks to the capability of Omni’s 777s, which have more range than anything in ATSG’s fleet the company said.

If the deal closes, Omni will continue operating from Tulsa as an ATSG subsidiary and will be headed by Current CEO Jeff Crippen.

ATSG’s fleet includes some 73 aircraft, including 767-200Fs, 767-300ERFs,757-200Fs and 737-400Fs. Acquiring Omni’s fleet will bring ATSG’s fleet to 90 aircraft.

Source : ATSG

The Jet Travel Era Began in Earnest—60 Years Ago

              This year marks the 60th anniversary of a seminal moment in commercial aviation: the start of transatlantic jet services. While jet travel was nothing particularly new by 1958, the launch of services between the US and Europe in October that year by British Airways (formerly BOAC) and US airline icon Pan Am is a true legacy of what the airline industry represent today. Prior to 1958, the industry’s foray into jet services had been sporadic.

BOAC ushered in the jet travel in 1952 when it began services with the de Havilland Comet 1, powered by four of the company’s Ghost turbojets. The inaugural flight was a multi-hop service from London down through Africa to Johannesburg.

Sadly, the pioneering operations of the Comet 1 came to an abrupt halt within two years when the jet was grounded after a series of tragic accidents subsequently traced to metal fatigue proliferated by design error.

By the time this happened, Boeing was already well advanced with the development of its own jet transport that would become the 707, while de Havilland was working on larger and longer-range Comet variants powered by Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets.

During 1957 and 1958, as de Havilland raced to develop its improved Comet 4, incorporating changes resulting from the inquiry into the 1954 accidents, Boeing was surging ahead with its much more advanced model 707.The Boeing jet, was powered by Pratt& Whitney JT3C turbojets, flew on December 20,1957 with first production Comet 4 taking to the air four months later on April 27,1958.

Both types received their certificate of airworthiness in September that year and the race was on to be the first to inaugurate transatlantic flight, with BOAC championing the British Comet 4 and Pan Am flying the Boeing 707.

There was no turning back after those transatlantic jet inaugurals 60 years ago. While development of the Comet fizzled  out after the Comet 4 series, the development of the 707 and its rival the Douglas DC-8 rapidly provided airlines with longer-range jet transports.

Source : Ed’s Research/Flightglobal/Flightglobal Pictures           

      

LATEST NEWS

  • Air Tahiti Nui has received the first of four Boeing 787-9s it has on order, which will replace its aging Airbus A340-300s
  • BOC Aviation will lease three Airbus A320ceos for Saudia’s LLC subsidiary FlyDeal. All three aircraft will be delivered in 2018.
  • AirBaltic received its 12th Airbus A220-300; two more are expected by the end of 2018.
  • AviaAM Financial Leasing China delivered a Boeing 737-800 to China’s Okay Airways.
  • Airbus has named current Commercial Aircraft CEO Guillaume Faury to replace Tom Enders as chief executive of the entire entity.
  • United Airlines has ordered nine more Boeing 787-9s, bringing its backlog for the type to 13 aircraft.
  • Oman Air took delivery of the fourth of 30 new Boeing 737-MAX 8’s it has on order. By the end of 2018, Oman Air will have taken delivery of five new MAX aircraft and three 787-9s.
  • Scoot has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo out of the 39 jets it has on firm order with Airbus
  • Copa Airlines has unveiled its first 737 Max 9, featuring the first lie-flat seats in business class and new economy extra section                                                                         
  • EVA Air took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 leased from Air Lease. EVA will begin deploying the type on International routes this month.

 

Source: Ed’s Research

                               

AIR CARGO

    Atran Airlines to Lease two GECAS Boeing 737-800 Freighters                          

Atran Airlines, the scheduled express cargo carrier within the Volga-Dnepr Group, has signed a deal with GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) for lease of two passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions.

The aircraft are scheduled to be phased in during the remainder of 2018 and the first half of 2019. The will provide additional capacity to supplement Atran’s all-cargo fleet of three B737-400 SFs.

Aircraft lessor GECAS noted that the B737-800 freighters are “perfectly suited to short and mid-range routes,” which form the basis of Atran’s scheduled network between Russia and Europe. The carrier also specializes in handling growing international e-commerce shipments. Paul Nolan, fleet development director at Cargo Logic Management (a UK-based Volga-Dnepr Group company specializing in management consulting services for international airlines) commented: “these newly converted 737-800 freighters will assist Atran Airlines in achieving its strategic objectives and serving customers in e-commerce and express services on Russia-China routes.”

Atran Airlines was established in 1942 and is among the oldest Russia-based airfreight carriers. It joined the Volga-Dnepr Group in 2011.

Source: Air Cargo News/GECAS

 

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

 Southwest to Invest in New MRO Facility at Baltimore/Washington

Southwest Airlines will co-fund a new $130 million regional maintenance facility at Baltimore/Washington International airport, to better meet its needs at the second busiest airport in its network.

Construction of the (130,000 square feet) line maintenance facility will begin early next year, with completion in 2021. Southwest will invest 480 million, with the Maryland Aviation Administration contributing the remaining $50 million.

The three-bay hanger will be the first of its kind for Southwest in the northeast, complementing six maintenance hangers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Orlando and Phoenix. The facility will include additional exterior parking spots for eight aircraft well as office space.

Construction of the hanger is expected to create 450 jobs,  but will not significantly grow maintenance employees numbers at the airline. Southwest currently employs more than 120 technical operations staff at the airport, which is its largest line operation and has the most number of Southwest aircraft remaining overnight.

The new facility will provide shelter to these employees in inclement weather, and also provide more space for storage of parts according to Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly and another signal of the airline’s “serious commitment” to Baltimore/Washington.

News of the planned maintenance facility comes as the airline celebrates its 25th year of service at Baltimore/Washington. It employs more than 4,800 staff at the airport.

Source: Flightglobal/Southwest

 

                                      MRO Latest News

  • Lufthansa Technik  has a China Aviation Supplies Co. contract to provide Airbus A350 component support for Air China.
  • AJW Group was selected by Air Mediterranean to provide Boeing 737-400 component support.
  • Turkish Aerospace Industries signed a collaboration agreement with Airbus for research and development of secondary aircraft structures, such as movable parts, for Airbus commercial aircraft.
  • Turkish Technic was selected by India’s SpiceJet to provide Boeing 737 MAX component support.
  • Liebherr wins follow-up component supply deal for current 777s and the 777X.
  • Diehl Aviation cabin interior specialist has won a contract from Boeing to supply     emergency lighting equipment for the 787 program.

Source : Ed’s Research

 

Researched and Compiled by :

                                                      Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor 

                                                      Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

                                                      Editor:   Lee Kaplanian 

by

Volume 5 Issue 9 Sept 2018

On the Boeing Front

                    Boeing Making Steady Progress With 777X (Part 1)

Engineers have attached the first fuselage barrels for the first Boeing 777-9s—the static test airframe and the first flight test example—and moved them into systems installation, Boeing reported in late June, and the first pair of wings have emerged from the horizontal build line at the company’s wide body plant in Everett, Washington. 

Scheduled to complete the static test airframe by the end of the year, Boeing has moved the wings for the larger of the two 777X variants into letdown and systems installation, while at the 1.3-million-sq-ft composite wing center(CWC), the company has begun fabricating wings for the fifth airplane. So far, Boeing has sent four sets of wings out of the CWC and into spar assembly.

Boeing has now completed 98 percent of its engineering releases, leaving “very few left to do”, according to a company spokeswoman, who reported the remainder involves mainly systems. In the factory, Boeing has completed the static test rig in Everett, and now is loading it with all its test equipment, while the fatigue test rig has reached the halfway point of construction.

Meanwhile, the airplane’s folding wingtips have arrived from their production site in St. Louis for the static airplane and the first-test article. One of the airplane’s most visually distinguishing characteristics, the 12-foot-long folding wingtip will allow regulators to classify both airplanes as Code E, meaning they will fit the same size parking space the 777-300ER now uses.

The Airbus A380, conversely, operates as a Code F airplane, significantly limiting the number of airports it can use.

See more about this subject in my October report.

Source : ainonline/Boeing/Boeing pictures

 

ON THE AIRBUS FRONT

           Airbus BelugaXL Completes First Flight in Toulouse 

Airbus’s first BelugaXL has completed its first flight, paving the way for a 10-month long test certification campaign and a planned entry into service next year.

The BelugaXL, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, took off from Blagnac in Toulouse, southwest France, where Airbus is based ,on July 19 and landed four hours and 11 min. later, Airbus said.

The aircraft, with its livery designed to look like a smiling beluga whale, the result of a vote by Airbus’s 20,000 employees, is the first of five BelugaXL’s that will enter service in 2019, gradually replacing the existing five BelugaST transporters Airbus uses to carry complete sections of its aircraft from production sites across Europe to final assembly. 

Airbus launched the BelugaXL, in November 2014 to address transport and ramp-up capacity requirements beyond 2019.The new oversize air transporters are based on the A330-200 freighter, with a large re-use of existing components and equipment. It has a payload lifting capacity of four tons greater than the current Beluga A300-600ST.  

Source : Airbus/Airbus Picture         

                                   

REGIONAL/BUSINESS JETS

Transport Canada Certifies 90-Seat Cabin for Bombardier’s Q400 Aircraft

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced on August 1 that its 90-passenger Q400 aircraft certification has received its certification from Transport Canada, becoming the first in-production commercial turboprop in the world to reach that capacity.  

Todd Young, head of the Q Series Aircraft Program, said “This milestone certification showcases the unique versatility of the Q400 turboprop and continued commitment to the evolution of the program”. 

The 90-seat configuration represents another step in Bombardier’s continuous improvement of its Q400 aircraft. Other improvements under development    

includes a 2,000 lb- increase in payload capacity and an escalation of the A-Check and C-Check intervals from 600/6000 to 800/8000 flight hours.  

Launch customer for this aircraft is SpiceJet of India.

Source : Bombardier Commercial Aircraft

            

       Rockwell Collins Signs Contracts with AVIC For MA700 

Rockwell Collins has signed master contracts with China’s AVIC Aircraft to supply its Pro Line Fusion avionics suite and air data systems for the MA700 twin-engine turboprop. AVIC Aircraft also has designated the Rockwell Collins HGS 3500 Head-up guidance System as an option.

AVIC Aircraft plans to fly the first MA700, powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150C engines in November 2019 and to obtain certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in late 2021.

Pro Line Fusion on the MA700 features four, 14-in. widescreen primary and multifunction flight displays and Multifunction weather radar with predictive windshear capability.

Avionics work will take place at Rockwell Collins facilities in the U.S. and Hyderabad, India as well as at the company’s Rockwell Collins CETC Avionics Co. joint venture in Chengdu, China.

Source : ATW/Picture Rockwell Collins

                                                                 

OTHER AVIATION NEWS

  Canadian North, First Air Will Merge to Serve Canadian Arctic  

Calgary-based Canadian North and Ottawa-based First Air airlines have announced plans to merge—the latest step in the carriers’ efforts to combine air services to best meet the needs of the communities in the Canadian arctic.

The two carriers plan to operate under the Canadian North name with an administrative headquarters in Ottawa. The deal, which requires regulatory approvals is expected to close this year.

The two carriers provide key passenger and cargo connections between communities in Canada’s northern region as well as links to the country’s major metropolitan areas down south.

The two carriers said combining forces ”is the only viable way” to meet air service demands in the Canadian north. A 2017 investigation by Canada’s Competition Bureau concluded that a merger’s benefits would outweigh its drawbacks. 

First Air operates a fleet of 20 aircraft, including 13 ATR 42s, five Boeing 737-400s and two 737-200s, Canadian North has 16 aircraft, including 10 737-300s, three 737-200s, and three de Havilland Twin Otters. 

Source : ATW/Picture Canadian North

 

   Cathay Pacific Announces New Seattle to Hong Kong Direct Service  

Cathay Pacific, one of Asia’s best-known airlines, announced plans to debut nonstop service between Hong Kong and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in April 2019.

The four-times weekly service will see Seattle-Tacoma become the airline’s eighth passenger gateway in the United States, and its 10th in North America.

Cathay Pacific currently serves Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York(JFK), Newark, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver. A new Cathay Pacific service to Washington, DC will commence on the 16th of this month.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg said the Seattle route, which will be operated by the airline’s Airbus A350-900 aircraft, underscores the airlines expansion strategy to connect new destinations not otherwise served from Hong Kong.

CX857 will depart Seattle on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings at 1:05 a.m., arriving in Hong Kong the following day at 5:25 a.m. This early morning arrival allows passengers to connect with every Cathay Pacific flight across Asia—including, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and over 20 gateways in mainland China—without a lengthy layover in Hong Kong. The return flight, CX858, will depart Hong Kong at 11:55 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday arriving Seattle at 9:00 p.m.(same day).

Source : World Airline News/Cathay Pacific Picture

 

 Iran Air Receives Five ATR 72-600s Before Return of US Sanctions  

European turboprop manufacturer ATR delivered five ATR 72-600 aircraft to Iranian flag carrier Iran Air just before US sanctions came back into force. The carrier has now received 13 out of an order of 20 aircraft, the Toulouse-based manufacturer said.

The aircraft took off from Toulouse on Aug.4, arriving in Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport after refueling stop for a welcome ceremony that took place Aug.5. 

“This is an important decision for ATR,” the manufacturer’s CEO Christian Scherer said. “The next step will consist of working on getting an appropriate authorization from the US administration to ensure a reasonable level of maintenance.”  

The company now faces “challenges” over the remaining aircraft Iran Air ordered for which ATR received a first US license in 2017, before the revocation, Scherer said.

Source : ATW/Picture ATR    

      

LATEST NEWS

  • El Al took delivery of its latest 787-9 featuring a retro livery of the Israeli flag -carrier. El Al adopted the livery on 707s, the carriers first jets, from 1961. 

  • Turkish Airlines has taken delivery in mid-July of the first higher capacity A321neo ACF(Airbus Cabin Flex) that can accommodate up to 240 seats in a single-class layout, in combination with a space-saving aft galley. 
  • Boeing plans to establish 100,000 sqft autonomous aircraft research and development facility at MIT in Cambridge, MA; facility will house engineering teams from Aurora Flight Sciences.
  • Cebu Air has agreed to lease five A320neos from Avolon for delivery starting in 2019.
  • Pobeda Russian airlines wholly owned subsidiary of Aeroflot, has agreed with Boeing for the order of 15 737 MAX8 aircraft, with delivery from autumn of 2019.
  • British Airways announced on July 19th a commitment for three 777-300ER.The airline will take the 777s on an operating lease with a leasing company.
  • Jeju Air becomes first low-cost carrier in Korea to own and operate 737-800. The delivery marks the first of three new 737-800 NGs the airline has on order with Boeing. 

  • Air China has become the first mainland Chinese carrier to take delivery of an Airbus A350, after the airframe secured Chinese validation of the type’s certificate in mid-jury.
  • CDB Aviation Lease Finance will convert its order for eight Boeing 787-9s into one for 22 additional 737 Max 8s.
  • China Airlines has revealed a special carbon fiber livery for its 14th and final A350-900. 

 

AIR CARGO

                Expanding Freight Firms Deliver Big Deals to Boeing

A raft of cargo deals were announced during the Farnborough Air show for a mix of new and converted aircraft. The biggest deal came at the start of the of the show, when DHL Express announced an order for 14 Boeing 777-200LRFs worth $4.7 billion.

The German express shipper expects the first four of the aircraft to be delivered in 2019, and has also taken purchase rights and options on a total of seven more.

Volga-Dnepr placed a firm order for five 747-8F Freighters and a commitment of 29 777-200LRFs. The Russian cargo airline is also in discussion with Boeing about further orders of new and converted 767 freighters and converted 737-800 BCFs.

Qatar Airways finalized an order for five 777-200LRFs, confirming a deal announced as a commitment in April.

Lessor GECAS is to take up to 35 more 737-800 BCFs, building on its current commitment for 15. The deal comprises firm orders for 20 conversions and options on 15 more.

Source : Flightglobal/Boeing 

                   Ethiopian Airlines, DHL Form Logistics Joint Venture

Ethiopian Airlines and DHL have agreed to form a joint-venture company to create what they call the leading cargo logistics provider in Africa. Named DHL-Ethiopian Logistics services, the company will base its operations in Ethiopia and do business throughout A, thereby improving Ethiopia’s logistics infrastructure and connections.

Under the terms of the contract, Ethiopian Airlines takes majority stake in the joint venture and has agreed to provide regulatory and operational support, while DHL establishes air, ocean, and road freight connections between Ethiopia’s main trade hubs and the rest of the world.

The joint venture builds on an extended partnership between Ethiopian and DHL Global Forwarding, which since 2010 has supported the maintenance, repair, and overhaul(MRO) operations of Ethiopian Airlines’ commercial segment, providing logistics services for aircraft parts, engines, and mechanical modules to textiles, utensils, food. and beverages via air and ocean freight between Europe and Asia.

Source: Ain International 

 

 Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul News

                    SR Technics to Expand in Malta 

Having signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May 2017 to expand its aircraft maintenance facility in Malta, SR Technics furthered its plans on Monday August 6 by penning a contract with national economic development agency Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks which oversees the management of government-owned properties.

The new 322,000 square foot facility located at Malta International Airport will accommodate wide body and narrow body aircraft and will hold greater workshop space which will enable increased capacity for heavy maintenance work, C-checks and cabin modifications or retrofits to up to six narrow body aircraft at a time. The investment will stand at a reported $40.5 million.

Construction is expected to begin this year with four bays scheduled to be completed by November 2019.Initial focus will be on Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737NG aircraft.

Source : SR Technics/Picture SR Technics

 

 

                      LATEST MRO NEWS

  • AJW Group secured a 5-year power-by-the-hour Airbus A320 contract with Cambodia Airways, which is scheduled to begin operations later this year.
  • Turkish Technic was selected by Russia Nordwind Airlines to replace the landing gear on a Boeing 777.
  • Monarch has an Air Transat contract for Airbus A310/A330 line maintenance at Glasgow.
  • EFW(Elbe Flugzeugwerke) delivered its first converted Airbus A330-200P2F to EgyptAir.  EFW says EgyptAir ordered Three A330-200 PSFs.

  • S7 Technics opened a new line maintenance station at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

 

                      

 

Researched and Compiled by : 

Ed Kaplanian    Commercial Aviation Advisor  

Contact – ekaplanian@msn.com

Editor:   Lee Kaplanian