Eirtech Aviation’s time-saving fix for a global Boeing 737 mandate is winning the Shannon, Ireland-based maintenance provider a who’s who of 737 operators as clients, led by two of North America’s most visible Boeing narrowbody airline customers.
The EU by Nov. 3 will decide if it will submit formal reservations about the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) resolution on a global market-based mechanism (MBM) to reduce aviation emissions, Aviation Week has learned. Technically, the EU cannot submit reservations directly, as it has only observer status at ICAO. Any reservations would have to be submitted by the bloc’s member states.
Commercial aftermarket growth continues to bolster United Technologies Corp.’s (UTC) business units, boosting the company’s overall commercial results and helping offset its struggling military business across the board, executives say. Pratt & Whitney’s large commercial spares revenues increased 22% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the second straight increase after five quarters of decline. Legacy Pratt engine spares “are recovering” and the V2500 market is growing, helping offset weaker demand for PW2000 parts, says UTC CFO Greg Hayes.
Air France-KLM has injected €180 million ($248 million) into its loss-making Irish subsidiary CityJet as it continues talks with potential investors to sell the regional airline. CityJet was left out of last year’s restructuring of Air France’s domestic regional airlines into HOP!, and instead was offered for sale. In June, the Franco-Dutch group reached a preliminary agreement to divest the Irish carrier to German company Intro Aviation, but talks apparently have stalled.
The backlog for the Airbus A350-800 is shrinking further, now that Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot has opted to convert 10 of its 18 orders for the model into commitments for the larger -900 version.
Click here to view the pdf A4A Monthly Passenger Yield, September 2013 A4A Monthly Passenger Yield, September 2013 Domestic International System September 2013 16.4 14.5 15.8
Aerolineas Argentinas intends to add 20 Boeing 737-800s to a fleet that already includes 26 737NGs. Airline President Mariano Recalde says the fleet addition “is a key part of a greater plan to renew our fleet and prepare our operations to accommodate growing demand.” The agreement with Boeing still has to be firmed.
Embraer is hoping to capture market share in the VVIP category from Boeing and Airbus with the rollout of the Lineage 1000E. The new aircraft is 500 lb. lighter thanks to the removal of a dozen windows and the forward service door, and it sports a redesigned five-zone interior. The new version of Embraer’s top-of-the-line Lineage business jet has an extended range, a redesigned interior, new equipment and other changes.
A bullish Delta Air Lines management team expects to post a record profit this year and an even better unit revenue performance next year, after generating a $1.4 billion net profit in a seasonally strong third quarter. The optimism of CEO Richard Anderson and his team is based on many factors, most notably a continued growth in corporate bookings, improved revenues in most market sectors (particularly within the U.S.) and the performance of current and pending joint ventures and partnerships.
Lufthansa is reporting positive financial effects from its €1.5 billion ($2 billion) Score restructuring program for the first nine months of the year, with non-fuel unit costs down 2.6%. The airline posted a €660 million operating profit for the period, but that was 27% less than the €907 million achieved last year. However, the airline benefited from €325 million in one-off items last year and says it recorded one-time negative impacts of around €200 million this year, most of them related to Score. Revenues remained stable at €22.8 billion.
Bigger is better in the booming large-cabin business aircraft segment, and the debut of Dassault’s $45 million Falcon 5X is the biggest news at this year’s National Business Aviation Association Convention. Formerly known as the Falcon SMS, this newest member of the family will have a cabin cross section that is slightly larger than that of Gulfstream’s G650, but it is considerably shorter, in keeping with its 5,200-nm. maximum range at Mach 0.80.
Mexican low-cost carrier (LCC) VivaAerobus has decided on its fleet renewal plan, signing a purchase agreement with Airbus for 52 A320-family aircraft, including 40 A320neos and 12 A320ceos. The Airbus narrowbodies will replace the operator’s entire fleet of Boeing 737-300s, as well as support future growth. According to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network Fleets database, VivaAerobus currently operates a single-type fleet of 22 737-300s with an average age of 22 years.
A softening of purchase expectations in several regions led Honeywell Aerospace to scale back its 10-year forecast for new aircraft deliveries, but the increasing preference for large-cabin, long-range aircraft is keeping the anticipated dollar value of those deliveries at the same level as previous forecasts.
Airbus is targeting early September 2014 as the entry into service date for the A350-900. A350 program chief Didier Evrard says that the company has set that goal on the assumption that the flight-test program and production ramp-up proceed without serious unforeseen events.
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) board of directors has named Todd Hauptli as the association's next president and CEO, effective Dec. 1. Hauptli, who heads up AAAE's legislative affairs group and has been with AAAE since 1991, succeeds Chip Barclay, who is retiring after leading the association for 30 years.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia have formally protested the hefty fines proposed by Malaysian authorities over alleged violations of the country’s competition law, and at least one carrier also has asked for a hearing so it can argue its case.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Buenos Aires - Madrid, November 20-26, 2011, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Buenos Aires - Madrid, November 20-26, 2011, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
The FAA has given Applied Research Associates Inc.’s (ARA’s) Nighthawk IV micro-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) a special airworthiness certificate, which will allow potential customers to apply for agency approval to operate the 2-lb. aircraft in the national airspace. “This special airworthiness certificate is supported by extensive safety, manufacturing, inspection, maintenance and crew training procedures that were reviewed and accepted by the FAA as part of a recent visit to witness post-certification maiden flights,” ARA says in an announcement.
