Satellite communications provider Globalstar and its partner ADS-B Technologies have successfully completed what Globalstar says is the most rigorous demonstration to date of dual-link, space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) services.
World airline fleet growth over the next 20 years will support record backlogs at Airbus and Boeing while parking 63% of today’s fleet, but at a rate that will keep average useful lives at historical norms, lessor Avolon projects in its latest forecast. Avolon’s forecast is based on average annual global economic growth, as measured by a gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.2% annually, a traffic increase of 5.2% per year and a capacity bump of 5.1%. It pegs cargo growth at 5.6%.
U.K. budget carrier EasyJet has firmed up purchase rights for 27 Airbus A320ceos, for delivery between 2015 and 2018, to tap into “disciplined growth” opportunities. All-Airbus operator EasyJet already flies a fleet of 225 A320s and is now expecting to grow to 304 aircraft by 2019, although this could be decreased to 204 or increased to 316 aircraft depending upon market conditions. This growth will be supported by the 27 newly ordered aircraft, along with the 35 A320ceos and 100 A320neos it ordered in June last year.
BRUSSELS-— Virgin Atlantic is reviewing its U.K. domestic airline Little Red, which launched 18 months ago to generate feed traffic from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester for Virgin Atlantic long-haul flights at London Heathrow.
Hawaiian Airlines is considering adding flights to Boston as it evaluates new destinations to add to its network, both in the inter-island market and on the U.S. mainland.
JetBlue Airways late on Sept. 18 made official what many Wall Street analysts had expected for months: Robin Hayes is taking over as CEO in February, when Dave Barger’s contract expires.
American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) reached a tentative agreement, ending three years of negotiations. Legacy American and legacy US Airways union leadership negotiated the deal, which must be ratified by members. Although terms of the deal were not released, APFA President Laura Glading suggested the contract is industry leading and “puts the entire industry on notice.”
LONDON—Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos is eyeing long-haul flights to Africa and Latin America in 2016-18, and is still optimistic of securing U.S. permits for Norwegian International. With the arrival of its eighth Boeing 787 next spring, Norwegian has already detailed plans to add a weekly, non-stop London Gatwick-Orlando and Copenhagen-Orlando service, and boost frequencies on its Gatwick-New York JFK, Gatwick-Los Angeles, Oslo-Los Angeles and Stockholm-San Francisco routes.
Bombardier has relocated a second CSeries test aircraft to Wichita, Kansas, from Montreal, to take advantage of better weather for flight testing as it recovers from a 100-day grounding after an engine failure during ground tests. Test aircraft FTV4 joined FTV3 at the Bombardier Flight Test Center (BFTC) in Wichita on September 18, after returning to flight on September 15, following the installation of Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofans with modified-lubrication systems.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) Sept. 23-24—Brazing Symposium, Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, Phoenix, Arizona Oct. 7-9—MRO Europe, Madrid Spain Nov. 4-6—MRO Asia, Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] . (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Oct. 4-7—ACI-NA 2015 Annual Conference & Exhibition, Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, Long Beach, California, www.aci-na.org/conferences Oct. 6-9—2014 ACI-NA Public Safety & Security Fall Conference, Arlington, Virginia, http://aci-na.org/event/4309
