Russia’s largest international airline, Aeroflot, plans to launch a low-fare unit in 2014, according to Russian media reports. The new carrier will eventually operate a fleet of up to 40 narrowbodies, initially Boeing 737s. Largely owing to strict regulation, Russia has not seen the successful establishment of low-cost carriers. The most high profile attempt, Sky Express, failed in 2011. However, Russia has been served by European budget carriers, including EasyJet, Air Berlin or Germanwings.
Lion Air says its proposed joint venture low-cost carrier in Thailand is making progress towards gaining government approval, although it is not yet providing a launch date. The Indonesian carrier is attempting to set up the joint venture with an unnamed Thai partner to meet that country’s requirement that any airline be at least 51% locally owned. A Lion Air spokesman tells Aviation Week that a launch date will not be announced until the air operator’s certificate (AOC) has been approved.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has given firm backing to Ryanair’s safety standards after a pilots group criticized the airline for trying to intimidate crews to accept potentially negative consequences on safety. According to a survey conducted by the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG)—an informal collection of pilots trying to become the labor group’s official representative—89% of the low-cost carrier’s pilots say that the airline does not have an open and transparent safety culture.
Commercial banks are expected to be the leading aircraft finance instrument in 2013, but the title will be short-lived as regulatory reforms and risk-aversion drive the traditional players away. Banks are projected to fund about $29 billion of the $104 billion in 2013 deliveries, a Boeing analysis shows. The 28% share gives banking a slim lead over cash, at 25% of the financing pie, and export credit agencies, at 23%.
U.S. cargo carrier Ameriflight is cautioning the FAA that a mandate to equip aircraft with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) “out” avionics by January 2020 may be too optimistic. The operator has filed a request for exemption from the FAA rule, noting that it anticipates “supply problems for some components” in the ADS-B installations “due to high demand upon manufacturers and vendors” that may be exacerbated by “a last-minute rush” as operators attempt to meet the deadline.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday filed a lawsuit that says the proposed merger between AMR Corp. and US Airways could be illegal on more than 1,000 domestic city pairs and must be dismantled to stop a clique of national carriers from manipulating services and ticket prices.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs, 12 Months Ended March 2013, Turboprops and Regional Jets (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Cost Per Block Hour
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, Los Angeles - Sydney Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, Los Angeles - Sydney Qantas United Others 2008Q1 605 304 -
While budget worries are clouding the future of the FAA’s NextGen program, the agency is making significant progress in deploying an automation system that will be a crucial foundation of the modernization effort.
A group of European researchers has started a five-week test phase of an ultraviolet lidar (light detection and ranging)-based instrument mounted on a Cessna Citation aircraft to detect clear air turbulence (CAT). The trials will involve 50 flight hours and are part of the European Union-funded program Delicat (Demonstration of lidar-based clear air turbulence detection).
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way: Hong Kong - San Francisco Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way: Hong Kong - San Francisco Cathay Pacific Singapore Airlines Others
Almost 20 years into the program, many Boeing 777 parts are still scarce and expensive in aftermarket trading. This may be what the future looks like for other new models that rely on OEMs and long-term agreements for future support. A majority of 777 parts are in short supply, according to Zilvinas Sadauskas, CEO of Locatory.com. “Only 20% of 777 inventories may be found on the open market,” Sadauskas notes. Airframe, component and engine OEMs have maintained tight control of the market. Some engine OEMs buy old engines to secure their position in spares.
Air Transportation Modernization Conference September 9-11, 2013 The Dupont Circle Hotel Washington, D.C. Re-Defining NextGen: -- Setting Priorities -- Implementing Capabilities -- Delivering Benefit
Rockwell Collins’ largest acquisition to date—purchasing communications and systems engineering provider, Arinc, for $1.39 billion from the Carlyle Group—will give the avionics maker its own end-to-end communications link between the ground and the flight deck, a connection that is fundamental to the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).
Despite load factor declines across AMR Corp.’s three international markets in July and only a 0.5 percentage point growth on domestic routes, the U.S. operator says the month’s passenger unit revenue improved 4% year-over-year to a record 14.61 cents. Domestic loads, which benefitted from a 0.2% dip in capacity and a 0.3% rise in demand, last month reached 88.7%, while international loads, at 86.4%, felt the effect of a 6.2% increase in supply on AMR’s Atlantic, Latin American and Pacific routes but a 5.4% rise in traffic.
European competition authorities have extended until Oct. 16 the review of a revised proposal from Aegean Airlines to acquire its smaller rival Olympic Air. Aegean has offered additional concessions to address the European Commission (EC)’s concerns that the merger will harm competition in the domestic airline market in Greece after an initial batch of proposed remedies—including an offer to cap fares on a number of domestic routes—was rejected by the EC. It is not clear what the additional concessions include.
Inexperience among suppliers and regulators, an engineering shortage and in some cases common cultural practices among Chinese bureaucracies all likely share some of the blame for the latest delay on the Comac C919. The director of an expert committee advising China’s cabinet on the program, Zhang Yanzhong, revealed recently that first flight of the C919, already delayed earlier this year by about nine months, now will not take place until the end of 2015 (Aviation Daily, Aug. 8).
Air Lease’s big bet on the Boeing 787-10 is rooted in the type’s versatility, which should allow it to serve almost every intercontinental route flown by widebodies tagged for replacement as the new aircraft enters service, says Air Lease Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy.
The in-limbo status of Boeing 747-400 freighters traded in to the manufacturer as part of deals to sell new 747-8s adds uncertainty to an already shaky large freighter aircraft market. Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s Fleets database shows seven 747-400BCFs going from 747-8 customers to Boeing Aircraft Holding Company since April 1. Air China Cargo, Cathay Pacific subsidiary Dragonair, and Korean Air each handed over two planes, while Cathay Pacific traded in one. Air China, Cathay and Korean all operate 747-8Fs.
Development of the massively delayed Comac ARJ21 is now looking stable and on track for its latest target for airworthiness certification, June 2014, say industry officials familiar with the program. Comac is aiming at completing flight-testing by the end of the year, leaving six months for further certification work. “There seem to be no major problems,” says one official. Another, agreeing, says the development schedule has been realistic since last year, when the 2014 target was set.
Montreal-based Air Transat is the first airline to complete the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) new safety audit after helping the association develop the soon-to-be-standard enhanced review process. IATA’s Enhanced Operational Safety Audit (E-IOSA) introduces internal auditing that airlines must follow to show compliance with more than 900 standards and recommended practices (Isarps).
