To the extent that delays in delivery of new aircraft or the modifications, products and services that support current types can be remedied by instant exchange of accurate information within the whole supply chain, relief may be in sight. Product Lifecycle Management tools have been improved and are being used more aggressively by aerospace manufacturers. In July, Boeing expanded its agreement to use Siemens' Teamcenter to standardize PLM across all commercial and military units.
Blue Sky Alliance, a recent joint venture among Avio-Diepen, Interturbine Logistik and Satair, signed a deal with Airbus to serve as its "preferred provider" offering aftermarket spares including consumables, expendables and standard hardware materials through a single point of contact. Based in Hamburg, BSA aims to make it easier and less cost-intensive for Airbus operators to acquire spares and other parts for maintenance. Adopting a one-stop-shop concept, the alliance will employ a joint IT platform that facilitates the complex supply process for customers.
ON JULY 17, 2007, A TAM A320 touched down on Sao Paulo Conganhas's rain-slickened main runway but its 6,365 ft. were not sufficient for a safe landing. The skidding aircraft tragically overran the runway, slid across a multilane road and slammed into a TAM Cargo building. All 187 passengers and crew were killed, as were 12 occupants of the building, and the A320 was destroyed in Brazil's worst-ever airline accident.
TO TAKE OVER IN MID-COURSE THE reins of an airline with a culture that places a high value on tradition, honor and respect for hierarchy takes courage. That is what Japan Airlines Senior VP-Finance and Purchasing Haruka Nishimatsu had to do in early 2006 as the company was riven by dissension in the senior ranks while simultaneously confronting a spate of embarrassing operational incidents, some with implications for safety. Nishimatsu, who had joined JAL in 1972, was named president and CEO, becoming the third person to hold the position in just 18 months.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE ON AN industry leader, you had better have deep financial pockets and a defendable niche. Toronto-based Porter Airlines appears to have both and the result is that the regional startup has managed to stay aloft for the past two years despite operating out of Air Canada's primary hub city. But Porter isn't flying out of Toronto Pearson International, where it would be just a tiny fish in a big pond filled with hungry predators like AC and its regional affiliate AC Jazz.
Travelport GDS and Microsoft Inc. are collaborating on the development of a new set of integrated services for travelers, suppliers and travel agents, slated for introduction in the first quarter. Beckie Watson, vice president of new business development for Travelport GDS, said the services will provide travelers with a "personalized journey" via an end-to-end application that spans all channels and devices and is "always with them."
a 757 leaves Boston Logan for Los Angeles International, about 3,000 gal. of fuel is sucked up from an underground piping system and injected into its tanks. The system is pressurized and linked to hydrants established at gates. Hydrant carts with hoses and pressure controls connect to aircraft fuel tank intakes. For transcontinental flights, the process usually takes about 15 min.
FINALLY, THE END IS IN SIGHT FOR the biggest--and longest--airport capital improvement program underway in the US. Miami International's new North Terminal, the last piece of the airport's $6 billion-plus modernization that began in 1992 and already has produced a 28-gate, 1.7-million-sq.-ft. South Terminal, a fourth runway and expanded cargo, parking and road facilities, is on track for completion in 2011. When this reporter last visited MIA in late 1999, the target date was 2007--and even that was four years later than previous estimates.
Hamilton Sundstrand 787 Program VP Geoff Hunt spoke recently with Airline Procurement about the company's $15 billion deal with Boeing to provide the electrical, auxiliary power, air-thermal management, hydraulic, fire protection and engine systems for the Dreamliner. (Edited for clarity and length.) AP: Can you please provide an overview of Hamilton Sundstrand's 787 systems program?
Aer Lingus Group appointed Colm Barrington chairman. Airbus promoted Andy Shankland to head-worldwide marketing, Stefan Schaffrath to head-media relations, Maggie Bergsma to deputy head-media relations, Chris Jones to VP-sales-Airbus Americas and Mary Prettyman to VP-marketing-Airbus Americas. Air France KLM elevated Francoise Dessy to communication mgr.-Europe & North Africa. Air Pacific promoted Jona Sevura to mgr.-government & industry affairs.
IT'S EASY TO UNDERSTAND WHY procurement at one of Latin America's premier carriers is so dispersed. Grupo TACA is an airborne amalgam of six airlines: Guatemala's Aviateca, Costa Rica's Lacsa, Nicaragua's NICA, El Salvador's TACA International, Honduras's TACA de Honduras and newcomer TACA Peru.
IN THE US SOME 50 YEARS AGO WHEN MANUFACTURING STILL prospered widely, more than a third of the workforce belonged to a union. Today, barely a tenth of workers in private companies are unionized. Public support for organized labor also has slipped. Outsourcing, technology and economic restructuring have contributed to this decline. How products are made nowadays also bears some weight.
IN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT OF mass globalization, multinational conglomerates and globe-spanning airline alliances, it is heartening to find in the midst of it all a family-owned niche carrier that is effectively managing to compete against legacy airlines and LCC newcomers alike.
IF TUI TRAVEL CONSOLIDATED ITS SEVERAL AIRLINES, IT would rank just behind British Airways as Europe's sixth-largest carrier in terms of passengers and 18th on ATW's list of the world's Top 25. The group's airlines enplaned 33 million passengers in 2007, RPKs topped 88 billion and they flew 99 billion ASKs for a TUI-wide load factor of 88%.
LET'S TAKE A TRIP BACK to the future for a glimpse at the MRO market in 2018. The purchasing professional in 2018 will be part of a much different environment. Certainly the fleet is bigger and more is spent on MRO than in 2008. The fleet is 28,000 aircraft, an increase of 9,000 since 2008, and the A320 family and 737NGs make up nearly half of it. Airlines are spending $61 billion on MRO, up from $45 billion in 2008. Engine MRO alone exceeds $22 billion.
In an average year, approximately 98,000 Americans die from infections they acquire in hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many and perhaps most of these deaths could be avoided if well-understood sanitary methods, such as proper sterilization of equipment and hand-washing, were followed. In addition to the toll from infections, medical mistakes kill 44,000-98,000 each year, states a report from the Institute of Medicine.
THE GREAT ANTI-MANPADS DEBATE is in abeyance just now. Perhaps it is the US's success in helping destroy some 26,000 of the shoulder-fired devices since 2003. Maybe it is the US State Dept.'s efforts to keep those that remain out of the hands of bad guys. Then, just maybe, there's pure, undiluted luck. In any event, no passengers on a regularly scheduled flight have died from a Man-Portable Air Defense System attack since Oct. 10, 1998, when Tutsi rebels downed a Lignes Aerinnes Congolaises 727-100, killing 41. Since the mid-1970s, State Dept.
Amadeus plans to introduce Crazy Shopping, an application that will free searches from the tyranny of origin, destination and time frame, in the second quarter of next year. The new search functionality enable users to query airlines in new ways: "I live between Frankfurt and Munich and can fly from either airport. I would like to go to either Thailand or Indonesia. Show me my options." Or, "I have €600. Where can I go?"
Parts management, as opposed to merely transactional parts sales, began with engine OEMs several decades ago. Component manufacturers and third-party firms became active in this market. Now, airframe OEMs have entered it aggressively.
ALTHOUGH IT MAY SEEM counterintuitive in today's troubled economic environment, demand for aircraft maintenance technicians is expected to more than double over the next two decades. The numbers are daunting. Alteon, for example, estimates that on average 24,000 mechanics need to be hired annually through 2027 to support fleet growth and replace retiring technicians, or 480,000 in total. By comparison, the Boeing subsidiary estimates that over the same period 360,000 new pilots will be required, or 18,000 per year.
IN FEBRUARY, A NEW umbrella brand was launched in the aviation services industry to integrate various competencies now encompassed by airline catering giant Gate Gourmet and other brands it has acquired since 2007. Representing 11 brands, gategroup is the result of a process begun in 2005 to first restructure and then expand Gate Gourmet to turn it into a one-stop provider with a full range of cabin-related services.
Greek government yesterday called for expressions of interest from potential purchasers of Olympic Airlines and holding company Pantheon. "The buyer of Pantheon will be selected through a multistage process. It is envisioned that a number of qualifying interested parties will be allowed to participate in the net stages of the process," the government said in a statement cited by Reuters.
EU and India signed a horizontal aviation agreement that brings the 26 bilateral agreements India has with individual EU members into conformity with Community law. With nearly 5.7 million passenger traveling between the EU and India last year, India ranked 11th in passenger traffic between EU and non-EU countries. Over the past three years, EU-India passenger traffic has increased 75%.
SAS Group yesterday signed an MOU with Gate Gourmet Switzerland for a five-year catering contract scheduled to be finalized in two weeks. Agreement, which includes a two-year extension option, applies to catering supplies for SAS departures from Copenhagen, Stockholm Arlanda, Gothenburg, Malmo, Oslo and Bergen.
Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy said the manufacturer has agreed to sell 280 additional aircraft to Chinese airlines. He was in Tianjin earlier this week to mark the opening of the newest A320 Family Final Assembly Line ( ATWOnline, Sept. 30). According to multiple news service reports, Leahy said as many as 160 of the new aircraft orders could be approved by Beijing and officially announced by year end. They will help Airbus tally about 850 total orders for 2008, he added.
