Mark King, president of Rolls-Royce’s Aerospace division, is leaving the company just four months after assuming the role. King, who has been with the company since 1986, reportedly has cited personal reasons for his departure. Rolls-Royce in a May 2 statement says King “has decided to resign.” King will be replaced by Tony Wood, who currently is president of the Marine Engines division.
Lufthansa no longer plans to divest its catering business LSG SkyChefs, as the unit shows signs of positive financial performance. “LSG is, and will remain, an important part of Lufthansa,” CFO Simone Menne said during the company’s May 2 first quarter earnings call. “It’s positive development is encouraging and [LSG] will continue to work without a partner.”
South Korea and Bombardier have failed to come to an agreement on joint development of a 90-seat regional turboprop, leaving the country without a current manufacturer as a potential partner, since talks with ATR shareholder EADS also produced no deal.
In response to industry criticism of its “sequencing” process, the FAA today will roll out a proposal aimed at providing better servicing for a wide range of certification applications.
Lufthansa is expected to add new members to its executive board soon in an effort widely interpreted as a move by CEO Christoph Franz to strengthen his control over the airline and address staff disputes more effectively.
Airlines in India, including flag carrier Air India, are eager to begin charging extra fees on a range of passenger services following regulators’ move to permit the country’s struggling airlines to “unbundle” charges like most carriers in other parts of the world. The Ministry of Civil Aviation will now let airlines charge separate fees for things like seat selection, checked baggage, use of airport lounges and transporting “valuable” baggage such as sports equipment and musical instruments.
As plans for larger, next-generation turboprop airliners gather pace, Safran group engine makers Snecma and Turbomeca have revealed ambitious studies of a potential new turboprop to compete for the market against General Electric and Pratt & Whitney Canada.
AJW Technique plans to have component repair and overhaul capability for at least 550 part numbers by June, with nearly 400 more targeted for October. Capabilities will cover avionics and instruments, fuel, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical and generator components for Airbus and Boeing aircraft. With this number of SKUs, the company that just officially opened in early April plans to process more than 25,000 repair units covering 80% of component and powerplant ATA chapters per year.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Guayaquil - Quito, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Guayaquil - Quito, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
China is developing four high-bypass turbofans, only two of which were previously known. All four have potential military and civil applications. Work at Shenyang on a high-bypass turbofan in the 30,000 lb. class and suitable for large transport aircraft was already known, along with development of the similarly sized CJ-1000 engine for the C919 commercial aircraft.
The FAA says it is “well underway” in responding to recommendations from a government and industry aviation rulemaking committee called together over the past year to evaluate how the agency’s certification and approval processes might be streamlined and improved. The work was mandated under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which called on FAA to consider reforms aimed at reviewing and approving certification applications “in a fair and timely fashion.”
Although it has yet to return its Boeing 787s to scheduled service, JAL is already revealing plans to deploy the aircraft to a handful of additional international routes later this year. Beyond the flights JAL had operated with the 787 before the fleet was grounded in January, the carrier says the aircraft will debut on three more routes. These include Tokyo Haneda-San Francisco from Sept. 1, Tokyo Narita-Sydney from Dec. 1, and Narita-Bangkok from Dec. 2. All are currently operated by other aircraft, primarily Boeing 777s.
Spirit Airlines’ continued growth will focus on adding flights that connect cities already in its route network, CEO Ben Baldanza says, citing the new service the carrier will begin between Latrobe, Pa., and Dallas this June as an example. Based in south Florida, the rapidly growing, low-cost carrier still is estimating capacity growth of 21% for this year, when it is taking delivery of two Airbus A319 and seven Airbus A320 aircraft.
Air New Zealand is calling for a regulatory change to tamp down charges at Auckland International Airport, disputing a recent assessment by New Zealand’s competition watchdog that contends the “light-handed” regulatory process appears effective.
United Airlines’ order for Embraer 175 jets will let the Brazilian airframer maintain its current production levels, and winning a few more orders would allow it to boost production by 10-15%, President and CEO Frederico Curado says. In an April 30 conference call on Embraer’s first-quarter earnings Curado says the United agreement in late April and a Republic Airways order finalized in late March means Embraer is “pretty much done” filling its slots for 2014 and is about two-thirds full for 2015.
Two more relatively young Boeing 737NGs arrived at a Wales-based part-out shop during the past weekend, evidently at the end of their service life, Aviation Week’s Fleets analysts report. The aircraft, each just a shade under 15 years old, are among only 30 NG-model 737s to have retired so far. Many of those retired aircraft left the fleet when Malev of Hungary folded in February of 2012 and its fleet was liquidated.
SriLankan Airlines, which hopes to buy Airbus A330-300s and A350-900s to replace a mix of older A330s and A340s, just got the go-ahead from the Sri Lankan government to place a multibillion dollar aircraft order and now plans to begin talks to finalize the deal. The fleet renewal program is part of a $2.5 billion capital injection that the government has committed to the carrier over a seven-year period, says an airline spokesman.
It will be “very difficult” for Republic Airways Holdings to compete for new business with mainline carriers on regional flying before it reaches agreements with its labor unions, and there still is no clear end in sight to the years-long negotiations with regional pilots, CEO Bryan Bedford says. “Until we have greater clarity on our labor costs, it is going to be very difficult for Republic to compete effectively for new business,” Bedford said during the airline holding company’s first-quarter earnings call today.
Innovative Solutions and Support is targeting a four-day turnaround on a cockpit refresh for 182 Delta Airlines MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft under a $62 million contract issued to the Pennsylvania-based avionics company in early April.
A team of consultants thinks perennially crowded Heathrow Airport could solve its capacity problem for a longer time and for less money by simply extending its existing runways, rather than building a proposed third runway.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Guadalajara - Mexico City, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Guadalajara - Mexico City, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats /D
