As expected, Boeing launched the long-range 777X family in grand style at the recent Dubai air show. But behind the scenes, the company says engineering work to ready the new derivative for launch has gone better than ever, proving that the Airplane Development organization created in last year’s radical shake-up, is working.
Drag-reduction technology that has been under research for decades is moving toward reality as commercial aircraft developers search for ever-higher fuel efficiency. Aircraft vertical tails are the first target because of the payoff if their size and drag can be reduced, but the techniques being developed could find their way onto other aircraft surfaces.
Weather Services International (WSI) says about 500 U.S.-based aircraft are now flying with the company’s turbulence reporting system, generating 10,000 automated ride reports per day to help airlines avoid turbulence, or if not, to objectively determine the severity for maintenance purposes.
Low-cost carrier Tigerair Australia is significantly boosting its operations at Brisbane Airport, in the latest indication of what form its expansion will take after being taken over by Virgin Australia. Tigerair is establishing Brisbane as its third base, and will launch three new routes from the city. It will add two Airbus A320s to its fleet in March and April, which will both be based in Brisbane. This will increase its total fleet from 11 to 13.
William Franke’s Indigo Partners has purchased Frontier Airlines from Republic Airways more than two months after the deal was first publicly announced. The sale, which has been valued at $177 million, transfers Denver-based Frontier’s stock, debt and rights to a 2011 order for Airbus A320neos to the investment firm once closely associated with Spirit Airlines.
China is working on a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) but lacks practical applications of such material, says a leading Chinese researcher in the field. More than 4,000 CMC articles have been made for 360 types of parts in China, the researcher told a conference in Beijing. Apart from work on parts for turbine engines, Chinese engineers have been applying CMC to ramjets and telemetry systems. CMC is a key technology, because the material remains stable amid temperatures that defeat even the best metals used in aircraft engines.
Japan’s two major airlines say they continue to see no disruptions to their flights as a result of not complying with China’s rules for an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) it has declared over the East China Sea. China has unilaterally established the ADIZ as a result of an ongoing diplomatic tussle over the Senkaku Islands. It has announced that all aircraft entering this zone must first file a flight plan and also maintain two-way radio communications.
A war of words has erupted between Air Lituanica and Estonia Air, with both sides accusing the other of breaching contractual obligations. The Estonian carrier initiated the public spat by issuing a release stating it was “forced to terminate” a route sharing deal “due to repeated breaches by Air Lituanica,” although it would not specify the problem. Vilnius-based Air Lituanica, in response, claimed the unilateral revocation stemmed from failure to agree contractual terms, and that Estonia owes it LTL5.7 million ($2.2 million).
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China, now making a limited volume of high-grade carbon fiber that it cannot buy from Western countries or Japan, plans to build a plant with 20 times as much capacity. The cost of the fiber, of T800 grade, will be 1,600 yuan ($262) per kg, compared with the 4,200 yuan per kg cost of the established Chinese product, T300, the new plant operator told a conference in Beijing, although it was unclear whether the operator was referring to output from its present facilities.
As Boeing begins work on preliminary design drawings for the 737 MAX ahead of starting detailed design in early 2014, project leaders hint that the recently announced fuel performance improvement over the current 737 variants could be extended further.
Tanzania-based low-cost carrier Fastjet on Feb. 1 is scheduled to launch its second international route, with the inauguration of a twice-weekly Airbus A319 service between its base at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam and Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka. “Building on the successes of the past year, the launch of our second international route to Lusaka moves Fastjet further along the path to becoming a truly pan-African carrier,” says Fastjet’s interim chairman and CEO Ed Winter.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - Los Angeles, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - Los Angeles, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures Airport Share ASMs (mil) Airport Share Seats/Dept.
CRJ deliveries are poised to increase, but the aircraft will not recapture the share of the regional jet market it once held, says Bombardier Aerospace President Guy Hachey. “We feel there is still a market long term for the CRJ. We’ll just compete in a different way. We will be the low-cost guy,” he tells Aviation Week in an interview at the Aero Montreal forum.
After several months of delay, the FAA has told Hawaiian Airlines that it will be able to begin the certification work required for the airline to launch its new turboprop subsidiary, Ohana The certification process has been a victim of the federal budget battles in Washington. Hawaiian planned to begin operations with Ohana in the summer, but was unable to do so because sequestration funding cuts meant the FAA did not have the resources to conduct the necessary certification.
Three of the European Union’s largest member states—France, Germany and the U.K.—have objections to the European Commission’s proposed new legislation to adopt a European regional airspace-based Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for aviation.
