Low-cost VietJetAir is acquiring up to 100 Airbus A320s, placing a firm order for 63 aircraft along with 30 purchase rights and leases for a further seven. The deal, the first and only commitment Airbus announced on the opening day of the Singapore airshow, reflects a broader market trend in the region—massive growth of low-cost carriers, partly at the expense of legacy carriers and partly complementing the traditional carriers.
Regulators should be assessing costs and benefits before imposing security regulations on the aviation industry, says the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. With great success, regulators have improved passenger safety over many decades while weighing potential gains against the disadvantages of new rules, says Andrew Herdman, director general of the association. The calculation is not easy, especially since it implies putting a value on life, but it can be done and is done. According to Herdman, the same approach should apply to security, too.
Europe’s defense and space agencies are to expand their cooperation on integrating unmanned aircraft systems into civil airspace for commercial and government missions with a second phase of a project to demonstrate that UAS can be controlled via satellite communications.
Merging commercial human spaceflight missions into the air traffic control (ATC) system is a growing concern within the nascent industry and the government bureaucracies that ultimately will be responsible for regulating it, particularly as the industry approaches sending its first passengers to space.
FAA has finalized a rule codifying that its long-standing “sterile cockpit” mandate applies to pilots using personal electronic devices (PEDs) for anything not directly related to operating aircraft—at least for Part 121 operators. The rule, set for publication Wednesday and effective in 60 days, leans heavily on the agency’s 1981 sterile cockpit rule. The changes add a paragraph to Part 121 specifying that PEDs are not permitted and defining the term “PED.”
Etihad Airways is setting up a new group structure to better reflect the range of businesses its now running beyond the core airline. According to CEO James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group is being created later this year using the airline as the biggest of several pillars. Other units will include the loyalty program and the travel agency business. Etihad’s various airline participations will be held by the group, too.
Despite continuing political uncertainty in Thailand, Thai low-cost carrier Nok Air is reportedly due to confirm an order for “several” Boeing 737 aircraft at the Singapore Airshow. NOK’s successful IPO last June raised almost $120 million, giving it money to spend on new hardware. Nok CEO Patee Sarasin said at the time he was “excited to expand overseas more,” and the airline indicated it was already looking at acquiring at least four more 737-800s in 2014. Nok has said it was aiming for 20 737 aircraft by the end of this year.
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Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs, 12 Months Ended September 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Cost Per Block Hour
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Statistics, 12 Months Ended September 2013, Narrowbody Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Aircraft Stage Seats/ Aircraft Carrier In Fleet
Hawaiian Airlines set March 11 as the launch date for its new Ohana turboprop subsidiary, as regulators have finally completed the approval process that delayed its introduction. FAA-required proving flights are finished, and the appropriate certification has been granted, a Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. Two ATR-42s bearing the Ohana livery and configured for 48 passengers have arrived in Honolulu, and a third is due “in the next couple of months.”
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Ankara - Istanbul, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Ankara - Istanbul, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, are aiming to strengthen their cooperation on civil aviation, with both sides affirming an interest to create an open skies between the regional blocks and ultimately seek convergence of the regulatory frameworks.
ExpressJet has upgraded four Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets with WAAS-equipped GPS units as part of an FAA pilot program to fly localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) instrument approaches on routes between the U.S. and Mexico.
The Airbus A350 flight test program is going much better than expected, according to the company’s Senior Vice President Flight and Integration Tests Fernando Alonso, with the two test aircraft flying around 100 hours per month—nearly twice as many as in previous programs.
Bombardier has delivered a third CSeries airliner to the flight-test program as firm orders pass the 200 mark with the purchase of an additional three CS300s by an unidentified existing customer. With the total now standing at 201 aircraft, the company has targeted 300 firm orders by entry into service, planned for the second half of 2015 for the initial 110-seat CS100, and six months later for the 135-seat CS300.
LAM Mozambique is to take four Boeing 737-700s, which could ultimately be used to create LAM International, and is planning to acquire its first dedicated freighter for the launch of joint venture company LAM Logistics. Maputo-based LAM has ordered three Boeing 737-700s and taken purchase rights on a further three, in a deal valued at $228 million at list prices. The order, which was announced on Feb. 5, was signed in November 2013 and allocated to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s order book.
Rockwell Collins wants to reproduce its joint-venture strategy in new business opportunities with Chinese industry, and views its new Tianjin flight-simulator partnership as a prototype. Opportunities should be created by new and upgraded Chinese civil aircraft, resulting in local development and production before turning to the international market, says Colin Mahoney, senior vice president of Rockwell Collins’s international business.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs 12 Months Ended September 2013, Turboprops and Regional Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Cost Per Block Hour Crew Fuel/Oil Aircraft Cost
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Dubai - Kuwait, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Dubai - Kuwait, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
FRANKFURT – Lufthansa has named Carsten Spohr as the new group CEO. Spohr, 47, will replace Christoph Franz who is becoming chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche.
GIL SPEED REMEMBERED: A memorial service for Gilbert W. Speed will be held March 13 at 2 p.m. Pacific at the Westwood United Methodist Church (not to be confused with the Wilshire Methodist Church), at 10497 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, Calif. A reception, at a location to be announced, will immediately follow the service. Speed, the founder of Aviation Week affiliate SpeedNews, passed away on Jan. 22 at age 81.
American Airlines Group (AAG) is sticking with first quarter guidance that has it boosting passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) 2% to 4% in the period after boosting revenue passenger miles (RPMs) 3.8% in January on a 2.3% increase in available seat miles (ASMs). Reporting the combined American Airlines and US Airways operational results, the carrier saw a 2.9% boost in domestic RPMs and a 6.7% increase in international RPMs. The mainline network flew 4.2% more RPMs, while the regionals combined to drop 0.1%.
