Just days after being unveiled as a launch customer for Boeing’s 787-10 widebody, United Airlines has placed an order for Airbus’s A350-1000. As with its Boeing deal, United has converted some current orders to the larger airframe while adding 10 more firm orders for a total of 35 aircraft, with deliveries starting 2018. The 787-10 deal totaled 20 aircraft.
Austrian Airlines plans to phase out its Fokker fleet within the next six years. CEO Jaan Albrecht says the carrier has nine Fokker 70s and 14 Fokker 100s, and plans to replace the aircraft over a three-year period beginning in 2017. At an event this week in Taipei to mark EVA Air’s formal membership in Star Alliance, Albrecht told Aviation Week the aircraft will be phased out when they come due for heavy maintenance checks. The phase-out will not hurt Austrian’s balance sheet, because the airline has already fully depreciated the fleet’s value.
Boeing and Korean Air have unveiled an agreement for five 747-8s and six 777-300ERs. The agreement is not a firm order and Korean Air and Boeing will now work to finalize the order, valued at approximately $3.6 billion at current list prices. Korean Air Executive Vice President Corporate Strategy and Planning Walter Cho says the “airplanes’ economics and reliability together with passenger experience” played a big part the airline’s decision to buy the aircraft.
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The European Union’s competition authority has approved the proposed equity investment of Delta Air Lines in U.K. operator Virgin Atlantic Airways and a transatlantic joint venture between the two carriers. The regulatory approval, which was expected, does not imposed any conditions, leaving the airlines with all their slots at London Heathrow Airport.
SkyWest Inc. which placed a firm order for 100 Embraer E-175-E2 aircraft and options for 100 more, will not be able to operate them for most U.S. mainline carriers unless Embraer substantially reduces their certificated maximum takeoff weight or pilots’ unions agree to relax restrictions in their collective bargaining agreements.
Piloting errors and inadequate drainage on Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International Airport Runway 07 were major contributors to a June 16, 2010 overrun that damaged a Trans States Airlines Embraer ERJ-145LR, according to a final report on the accident by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board.
Although not a new concept, the idea of rebranding Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G geared turbofan for the Airbus A320NEO as an International Aero Engine (IAE) product is gaining momentum. The possible move was discussed at a meeting of the joint venture’s board at the Paris air show, although no decision was taken, says IAE President Jon Beatty.
Pratt & Whitney will add another 1,000 engines to its geared-turbofan backlog this week at the Paris air show—adding to its existing orderbook of more than 4,000. “That’s a certainty,” says President David Hess as the company begins looking towards a next-generation “Geared Turbofan Advanced.” PW1500G and PW1700G engines for the 365 orders and other commitments announced yesterday by Embraer at the launch of its E-Jet E2 family will make up a large part of the show total, he says.
Rolls-Royce is testing a second performance-enhancement package (EP2) for the Trent 900 turbofan powering the Airbus A380, as it continues its strategy of rolling technology from its new engines back into the fleet. The EP2 upgrade, which entered testing about a month ago and is scheduled to enter service with Singapore Airlines in mid-2014, is expected to reduce fuel burn by up to 0.8%.
General Electric is emphasizing the maturity of the advanced technology to be introduced in the GE9X engine for Boeing’s 777X, designed to provide a 10% lower fuel burn than the GE90 powering today’s 777-300ER. “We will run the high-pressure compressor five years before certification,” says Bill Fitzgerald, GE Aviation vice president and general manager of the commercial engines operation.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary hopes to finalize a deal for more than 200 Boeing 737 MAX before the end of the year, he said on the sidelines of the Paris air show. While he would not specify the size of the order, he said that “if it is not 200-plus, then it is not worth doing.” Ryanair expects talks on specifics of a potential deal to stretch out until the end of September before final negotiations are started.
Diversification into business aviation and defense will let Embraer grow without forcing the company into direct competition with Airbus and Boeing, says President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado. “The fact that defense can grow to be a solid business . . . and business aviation to be another important pillar is embedded in our decision not to try to engage in larger commercial aircraft,” he told Aviation Week in an interview after the company launched its next-generation E-Jet E2.
CIT Aerospace is “seriously looking” at placing an order for the Boeing 787-10, Jeff Knittel, President of CIT Transportation Finance, said on the sidelines of the Paris air show. He considers the aircraft to be a “natural extension of the family.” Boeing launched the aircraft with orders for 102 from five customers on Tuesday. All of these except one—GE Capital Aviation Services—have also ordered the Airbus A350. “That is a comment about that market segment,” Knittel argued. “It is growing faster than short-haul.”
Aerolineas Argentinas will lease four Airbus A330-200s from International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), with the aircraft to be operated on new and existing routes in the Americas. The airline will use the aircraft to increase frequencies on routes to destinations like Cancun, Caracas and Bogota, said Sergio Garcia Gomez, vice president for fleet planning and financial restructuring. New markets will also be explored for the A330s, Gomez told Aviation Week at the Paris air show.
Safran is preparing to begin key wind-tunnel tests of a fuel-saving geared open-rotor engine being developed under Europe’s Clean Sky government-industry research program. Under Clean Sky’s Sustained and Green Engines (SAGE) program, the tests of a 1/5th-scale powered model at French aerospace research organization Onera in Modane will measure performance and acoustics.
Boeing is accelerating introduction of all three versions of the 737 MAX by six months. The first 737-8 is now due for first delivery toward the beginning of the third quarter of 2017, rather than in the fourth quarter. The 737-9 will follow 18 months later and that will be followed by the -7 another 18 months later. “Things are going so well,” Boeing Vice President and General Manager-Airplane Development Scott Fancher said yesterday at the Paris air show. “We anticipated the opportunity to accelerate MAX from day 1.”
CSeries customers assembled by Bombardier to talk up the aircraft say they are comfortable with the program’s progress so far, as the company aims for a first flight by the end of this month. “On performance and timing, we are very confident we will get what we contracted for when it is wanted,” said Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa’s executive vice president for group fleet management, at the Paris air show. Lufthansa has 30 110-seat CS100s on firm order for its subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines.
One of Saudi Arabia’s largest industrial conglomerates is planning to launch an airline to compete with the country’s flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines and budget airline National Air Services (NAS). The Al-Qahtani Group has contracted former Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali as senior adviser to help set up the new carrier, Aviation Week has learned. The new airline, to be called SaudiGulf, aims to start operating in the second or third quarter of 2014 on domestic and regional international routes.
Boeing is “rapidly moving towards the launch” of the 777X, Vice President and General Manager, Airplane Development Scott Fancher said on the sidelines of the Paris air show. The two versions of the aircraft are far advanced in the development process and Boeing is promising its customers an improvement in fuel efficiency of at least 20% compared to current models.
