Boeing officials say that they are not out of the precision timing and navigation business, despite having lost the $1.8 billion, winner-take-all development contract for the next generation of GPS satellites to Lockheed Martin five years ago.
African start-up Fastjet is planning to reduce its payroll in an effort to adjust staffing levels to demand. The budget carrier tells Aviation Week that “it is reducing its headcount in Tanzania,” and that it currently has a “small number of surplus staff” in certain core operational areas. Fastjet employs 166 people in Tanzania. The airline did not reveal how many of these positions will be eliminated, but local reports say the reduction will affect around 12% of its employees.
European Aerospace Raw Materials & Manufacturers Supply Chain Conference September 16, 2013 Hotel Palladia, Toulouse, France A half-day Conference to be held in conjunction with SpeedNews 14th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference in Toulouse SpeedNews 14th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference In Toulouse September 16-18, 2013 Hotel Palladia, Toulouse, France SpeedNews
The long-predicted consolidation of the aviation used-parts business appears to be finally happening, or at least accelerating significantly. The case for consolidating aircraft aftermarkets, both in repair work and in supply chain provision, always has been strong. The logic is that bigger, more diversified companies can provide more comprehensive services to airlines that want to outsource functions that others can expedite more efficiently. But several factors have slowed integration.
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Mexican carrier Interjet has formally unveiled its first Sukhoi Superjet 100, one of two Russian regional jets it plans to place into domestic service next month. The carrier during an unveiling ceremony late last week at its maintenance hangar in Toluca, Mexico, said the SSJ100 will allow it to greatly expand connectivity in the Mexican domestic market.
Mitsubishi Aircraft has again extended the development schedule for its MRJ regional jet, this time by about one-and-a-half years, with first delivery now due in the second quarter of 2017, nine years after the program was launched. First flight of the Pratt & Whitney PW1217G-powered aircraft, previously scheduled for the last quarter of this year, now will occur in the second quarter of 2015.
A 5% drop in fuel expenses enabled the U.S. airline industry to turn a modest profit in the first half of 2013, but a recent rise in jet fuel prices may not portend well for the coming months. The 10 largest publicly traded U.S. airlines posted a combined net profit of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2013 on revenue of $72.8 billion, up from a $1.2 billion profit during the first six months of 2012. Net margins were 2.1%, compared with 1.6% in the first half of last year.
Setting up a component repair facility halfway around the world is no small undertaking, but SR Technics is on track to open its new repair facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December. The new shop will complement the company’s existing repair network with locations in Switzerland, Spain and Abu Dhabi, as well as support the growth of its Integrated Component Services (ICS) business.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of August 21, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) later this year and early next year is expecting to roll out a series of safety enhancements targeting aircraft state awareness, runway excursions and performance-based navigation departures. Along with the new interventions, the government and industry safety group also has begun an initiative to review the status of 76 safety enhancements made over the past decade with airlines, manufacturers and the government.
EuroRaw 2013 -- New Event! SpeedNews European Aerospace Raw Materials & Manufacturers Supply Chain Conference September 16, 2013 Hôtel Palladia, Toulouse, France A half-day Conference to be held in conjunction with SpeedNews 14th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference in Toulouse SpeedNews 14th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference In Toulouse September 16-18, 2013
AMR Corp. and US Airways yesterday filed a motion to start the U.S. Justice Department’s trial against their proposed merger on Nov. 12. The airlines argue that the request is reasonable despite the Justice Department’s call to start the trial 180 days after it filed its lawsuit, which would delay the case until February 2014.
Boeing and General Electric are conducting flight tests of a 747-8 to study the buildup of ice crystals in the aircraft’s GEnx-2B engines as part of an investigation into an in-flight icing event on a Russian-operated freighter which damaged three engines.
Boeing this fall will launch a line maintenance applications suite for mobile devices with an unidentified customer, following a year of development. “Airlines are using more mobile technology every day, and the mobile platform is an ideal tool for mechanics to have the information when and where they need it, and to share that information with other experts or departments across the company,” says Elizabeth Holleman, a representative for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Digital Aviation Business, in Renton, Wash.
Initial tests of the fourth-generation composite fan blade for the GE9X engine destined for Boeing’s 777X have been “very positive,” says General Electric (GE), which is gearing up for a further set of fan module tests later this year. The GE9X was selected earlier this year by Boeing for the 777X derivative over a competing offer from Rolls-Royce, and is due for certification in 2018.
Russian carrier Transaero Airlines and Virgin America have started interlining on services through Los Angeles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport. Transaero’s U.S. network currently includes Kennedy, Los Angeles and Miami International Airport.
