WHETHER BY design or by circumstance, the competitive battle between Boeing and Airbus is morphing day by day into a titanic tussle between Boeing/General Electric on the one hand and Airbus/Rolls-Royce on the other. Boeing's 777-300ER/-200LR/-200F and 747-8 are all single-source GE engine programs and the 737NG is exclusively a CFM56 program. Airbus's A350 XWB and A340-500/-600, by contrast, are powered exclusively by the UK engine manufacturer's Trent family.
THAT WELL COULD HAVE BEEN THE headline for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore as it opened its S$1.75 billion ($1.20 billion) Terminal 3 at Changi Airport on Jan. 9. Impressive is hardly the word. "Stunning" better describes T3's spectacular roof that allows filtered light to enter the terminal, its magnificent gardens and a bright yet soothing color scheme.
LIFE IS RIFE WITH EXAMPLES OF short-term projects turning into long-term templates, initiatives that started out tackling a specific issue and wound up governing the way things would work in general. Southwest Airlines Purchasing VP Ray Sears has seen it happen. The carrier set out not long ago to cut the cost of servicing aircraft at its airport locations. It was spending in the neighborhood of $50 million a year to do things like clean airplanes, verify tickets, provide wheelchair services and employ skycaps.
Star Alliance It is common knowledge that a rising tide lifts all boats, but does that hold true for much heavier equipment? In the spring of 1997, five visionary airlinesLufthansa, United Airlines, Thai Airways, SAS and Air Canadaopted to test those waters, announcing the formation of Star Alliance and setting out to prove that cooperation beyond bilaterals has a place in this most competitive of industries.
Denis Vercherin joined Snecma Services on Oct. 1, 2007, as chairman and CEO. He recently spoke with Airline Procurement about the company's standing and his strategy for future growth. (Edited for clarity and length.) AP: Can you please describe Snecma Services' MRO business and expertise with CFM56 engines?
Flight Safety Foundation It is impossible to overstate the importance of safety in commercial aviation. Despite becoming a routine part of modern life, air travel is still a highly complicated technical exercise in which mistakes can and do lead to catastrophic accidents. Safety always must be the foremost concern of those employed in and around the industry and aviation regulatory agencies.
Winston Churchill famously described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." It is a formulation that is equally applicable to the Chinese government and particularly to the fluid relationship between the government and the industries and enterprises it both owns and regulates. Over the past few months, the aviation community got perhaps its deepest and most detailed glimpse into that world and how it is evolving as Air China and its parent China National Aviation Holding Co.
A NEW LOCATION AND A PURPOSE-built exhibition hall await visitors to this month's Singapore Airshow (Feb. 19-24). This is the 14th edition of the biennial aerospace exhibition in the Lion City but the first that does not bear the name Asian Aerospace following a falling-out prior to the 13th Asian Aerospace in 2006 between former show organizers Reed Exhibitions, which owned the name, and the Singapore aerospace industry. Singapore Air Show and Events Pte. Ltd., a joint venture between the Singapore CAA and the Defence Science and Technology Agency, is orchestrating this year's event.
Amadeus unveiled a three-year, full-content program in Europe and said 34 airlines have signed up for it. Among them are Air France-KLM, Iberia, Alitalia, TAP Air Portugal, Air Europa and Malev. The new agreement is an extension of the one-year Amadeus Full Content Option introduced in 2005. Similar to the DCA-3 agreements introduced by GDS companies in the U.S. in 2003, the new Amadeus deal provides airlines with lower distribution costs in exchange for the full range of their fares.
When an aircraft gets a major engine overhaul, the disassembly, inspection, testing and other manufacturer-approved services and regulatory mandates typically result in invoices topping seven figures. Engines drive more than 50% of maintenance material spending for aircraft and about 60% of the cost to revamp them is for parts. Given the financial pressures airlines face today, the cost of those parts is becoming a huge issue, pushing many toward sources other than the original equipment manufacturers. Thus we have the PMA proposition.
China Eastern Airlines signed an aircraft purchase agreement with Boeing for 30 737NGs yesterday in Shanghai, according to a statement released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Boeing did not acknowledge the specifics of the order, saying only that CEA "announced the selection of additional" aircraft and that it will issue a statement "when the order process is completed." The deal is worth CNY13.98 billion ($1.94 billion) at list prices, but CEA said it will pay less.
The Alitalia board met this week to approve its 2008 budget and said it would look to raise about €750 million ($1.1 billion) over the next five months in order to maintain its cash in hand "at adequate operating levels" as speculation swirled in Italy about the effect that the fall of Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government will have on AZ's merger with Air France KLM.
Scotland's City Star Airlines announced Wednesday that it has ceased operations until further notice. The airline said in a statement that it was forced to ground one of its four Dornier 328s following a November collision with mobile passenger steps. According to press reports, a second aircraft was impounded at Aberdeen Airport Wednesday. "Unfortunately, the [November] incident has had a major knock-on effect and we have simply not been able to recover from this," MD Runar Fossadal Arnason said. City Star served three Norwegian destinations and operated charter services.
Kolej TAFE Seremban signed an MOA with AirAsia to support maintenance engineering training at AirAsia Academy. Program includes EASA Part 66 module 1-17 training for DCA certification. Agreement offers TAFE's workshop facilities for modules 6 and 7.
ANA Group net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, climbed 33.9% to ¥12.4 billion ($115.9 million) from ¥9.3 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 0.9% to ¥378.2 billion against a 2% decline in costs to ¥351.3 billion, resulting in a 17.2% lift in operating profit to ¥26.8 billion from ¥22.9 billion. In the quarter, the air transport segment reported a ¥24.5 billion operating profit, up 28.9% from the year-ago period's ¥19 billion.
Malaysia Airlines unveiled a five-year growth plan dubbed BTP2 (Business Transformation Plan 2) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, targeting a minimum full-year net profit of MYR1.5 billion ($463.6 million) by 2012.
VLM Airlines carried 745,781 passengers last year, up 9% over 2006. Scheduled passengers rose 6% to 697,781 while the number flying on charter or ACMI flights climbed 62% year-over-year.
Indian government relaxed certain industrial foreign investment rules and now will allow foreign investors to hold 100% of MRO and training organizations dedicated to civil aviation activities. Foreign direct investment in commercial airlines will continue to be capped at 49%, with nonresident Indians allowed to hold 100% as long as no foreign airlines are participating. FDI in ground handling enterprises will be capped at 74%.
ASIG won a seven-year deal to provide full ground handling services to the 16 airlines operating at New York JFK's Terminal 1, where more than 10,000 flights and 4 million passengers are expected each year. Services include ramp handling, tower coordination, bag room staffing, lavatory and water service, cargo and mail handling and aircraft deicing. Operations are scheduled to begin Feb. 1.
Alaska Air Group is not interested in participating in the consolidation rumored to be facing the US commercial aviation industry. "For us, the best future appears to be to remain independent," AAG Chairman Bill Ayer told The News Tribune.
Norwegian took delivery of the first of 50 737-800s. Aircraft is on lease from Babcock & Brown. Norwegian will lease seven more along with its order for 42 directly from Boeing ( ATWOnline, Aug. 31, 2007). Norwegian flew 430 million RPKs in December, a 45% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 32% to 559 million ASKs and load factor rose 7 points to 77%. Yield fell 15% to NOK0.60 ($0.11).
China Southern Airlines deepened its cooperation with Air France by signing a memorandum yesterday to sell a 20% stake in its Nanlian Air Catering Co. to AF subsidiary Servair for €7.3 million ($10.8 million). Launched in 1989, Nanlian has registered capital of CNY120 million ($16.7 million) and previously was held by CZ (75%) and Hong Kong Ruilian Investment (25%).
