Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Jakarta, October 20-26, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers: Jakarta, October 20-26, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures
The European Defense Agency (EDA) is preparing for a second series of manned test flights of a sense-and-avoid (S&A) system under development to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in unrestricted airspace. The system is being developed under the four-year Mid-air Collision Avoidance System (MidCAS) program, which ends in 2014, by a consortium of 13 companies from five European nations, including Saab, Alenia Aermacchi, EADS Cassidian, Indra, Selex and Thales.
Avianca Brasil has selected Byogy to supply renewable biofuel and signed an offtake agreement for alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel. U.S. firm Byogy already has an agreement in place in Brazil to convert ethanol produced from sugar cane into jet fuel. In March 2012, the company announced a feedstock agreement with Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol producer Itapecuru Bioenergia. ATJ is expected to approved for use in aircraft during 2014, and Byogy CEO Kevin Weiss says commercial production is expected to begin in Brazil between late 2015 and mid-2016.
Australia’s new government has delivered on the first of its pre-election promises relating to aviation by implementing a freeze on a controversial departure tax known as the passenger movement charge (PMC). Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb has confirmed that the PMC will remain at A$55 ($52.11) per passenger for the full term of the current parliament. Robb is one of the new ministers appointed after last month's Liberal-National Coalition election victory.
German company GroupEAD, which operates Europe’s primary aeronautical database, is expanding its presence into the Asia-Pacific region in cooperation with Airways New Zealand. The two companies have reached an agreement to form a joint venture, to be called GroupEAD Asia-Pacific Ltd. The joint venture will be headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, and will include Airways NZ’s aeronautical information management (AIM) staff. The two stakeholders expect the new company to launch operations in early 2014.
The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) strongly objects an extension of an intra-European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) until a global market-based measures (MBM) scheme comes into force in 2020.
Brisbane International Airport has launched a key stage in its controversial new runway project, even though it has still not reached a funding deal with its largest operator, Qantas Airways. The airport has been attempting to gain support from tenant airlines for its A$1.35 billion ($1.3 billion) second parallel runway, since the carriers will be helping pay for it through ticket taxes. An airport spokeswoman says of all the airlines using Brisbane only Qantas is not onboard.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (Hactl), the largest air freight handling company at the world’s busiest freight airport, is determined not to start a price war in response to a huge rise in capacity. Instead, the company is aiming at differentiating itself by service standards, though that may not be easy.
The U.K.’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says passengers attempting to recover items from overhead bins as well as confusion about over-wing escape routes delayed a pre-dawn evacuation of a Jet2.com Boeing 737 after a rejected takeoff from Glasgow Airport on Oct. 19, 2012. The confusion, combined with rain greasing the evacuation slides, resulted in one elderly passenger fracturing bones in her neck and 15 other passengers receiving minor injuries during the evacuation on the runway, according to a new AAIB field investigation report.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of October 9, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Air freight traffic will grow at an average of 4.8% a year over the coming 20 years, says Airbus, forecasting that 80% of the market will involve emerging markets by 2032. Airlines will need to introduce 2,730 freighters into service in that time, of which 870 will be new aircraft, the manufacturer predicts. Among the new aircraft, 45% will have payloads of 30-80 metric tons, the market that interests Airbus, since its A330F carries up to 70 metric tons.
Transport Canada has ordered Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000 operators to modify slat components to prevent failure of a pin that could cause the related slat to break away. The directive (CF-2013-31), which is effective Oct. 22, gives operators 6,000 flight hours or 30 months, whichever comes first, to replace locking plates with “an anti-migration assembly” on both the left-and right-wing No. 3 slats.
Struggling Swiss regional carrier SkyWork Airlines will be able to continue operations after it concluded a strategic partnership with Germany’s MHS Aviation. Under the agreement, CEO Tomislav Lang has stepped down with immediate effect and sold his 40% shareholding in SkyWork. Chief Operating Officer Rolf Hartleb has been elevated to CEO.
EVA Airways and Garuda Indonesia Airlines will use General Electric’s (GE’s) fuel management service to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions for their entire fleets. GE Aviation is collecting the data this month from the airlines so it can “analyze behavior patterns and drive specific things in their operations to reduce fuel burn,” Giovanni Spitale, general manager of GE Aviation’s Flight Efficiency Services, told Aviation Week on the sidelines of GE’s Minds+Machines 2013 event in Chicago.
Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot yesterday unveiled a new low-cost subsidiary, Dobrolet. Named after the first Soviet commercial air transport organization that later served as the foundation for Aeroflot, the new carrier is expected to start operations in the second quarter of 2014. Aeroflot says the new airline initially will serve “the most popular destinations in the European part of Russia,” and that foreign destinations will be added in 2016.
DuPont is shipping a new lightweight flame barrier material to providers of thermal and acoustic insulation for aircraft cabins. The Nomex XF film meets FAA insulation “resistance to burn-through” rules that airframers are required to use on the lower half of the fuselage for new aircraft.
First Israel Mezzanine Investors Fund (FIMI) has cancelled its planned $75 million investment in El Al after the airline’s management failed to reach a new labor agreement. In April, FIMI, the country’s largest investment fund, agreed to invest in El Al in return for up to 47% of the carrier. El Alshareholders and regulatory bodies approved the bid, however, the accord was subject to the successful negotiation of a new labor contract that was acceptable to FIMI. The deal was scheduled to close on July 31 and FIMI has extended the deadline twice.
AirAsia’s Philippine affiliate is pressing for the group’s long-haul carrier AirAsia X to open a new hub near Manila, but it appears that no such move is on the horizon. While discussing plans for Zest AirAsia—a joint venture in the Philippines—Chairman Michael Romero said that Zest is trying to convince AirAsia X to establish an affiliate of its own at Clark International Airport. Clark is about 50 mi. from the more central, and crowded, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila.
EasyJet aims to increase its market share in Italy by opening a base next spring in Naples, the country’s third largest city. The U.K.-based low-cost carrier will base two Airbus narrowbodies at Naples Capodichino Airport and intends to serve 20 destinations, including new routes to Brussels; Corfu and Mykonos in Greece; Catania, Italy; and Hamburg.
