Mubadala Aerospace has formed a new senior leadership team to manage its MRO companies, Zurich-based SR Technics and Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT). The United Arab Emirates-based company says it will use the new executive team to create synergies between the two MRO companies, with the goal of growing global business. However, both SR Technics and ADAT will remain separate legal entities.
A blue ribbon panel found areas of concern in a review of public safety and counter-terrorism activities at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and proposed a lengthy list of recommendations calling for additional manpower, oversight and more sharply focused programs.
Emirates saw its net profit drop sharply in the six months ended Sept. 30, the first half of the airline’s 2011-12 fiscal year. The airline posted a $225 million profit, down from $925 million a year earlier, and pointed at “unstable global economic, geopolitical and environmental conditions.”
Chicago’s Department of Aviation, host of the 2011 Airports Going Green conference, is leading by example. The city says it will take steps shortly to develop a package of sustainability initiatives, including a 60-acre, ground-mounted solar panel field near Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Lufthansa and International Airlines Group (IAG) are entering exclusive negotiations over the possible sale of BMI, industry sources told Aviation Week yesterday. The step is to be announced as part of IAG’s third-quarter earnings release today, the sources said. The companies did not comment officially. IAG-unit British Airways has shown interest in Lufthansa-owned BMI many times, and so has its local rival, Virgin Atlantic. Sources say that Virgin Atlantic did not make a competitive offer.
The Airports Council International (ACI), concerned that a trade war could break out if the European Union continues down the path of extending its emissions trading system (ETS) to aviation on Jan. 1., this week said that the issues of aircraft emissions should be addressed globally by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has converted five of the 15 Boeing 747-8 freighters it has on order for five 777Fs, which will be operated by Emirates. Boeing also has added two more 777 orders from an unidentified customer to its order list, as of Nov. 1. DAE now holds 20 unfilled Boeing orders, 10 each for 747-8Fs and 777s. The orders raise Boeing’s total for the year to 428 net orders, including 132 777s. It has taken seven 747-8 orders this year but lost eight.
Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest privately owned carrier and one of the world’s largest Boeing 737-900ER customers, has issued a request for proposals for additional narrowbody aircraft, according to industry sources. The size of the potential Lion Air order is unclear, but one industry executive says the number is 200 aircraft. Lion Air’s founder and president director, Rusdi Kirana, was unavailable for comment.
Boeing has finalized the all-important fan diameter for the 737 MAX derivative program at 68 in., answering a growing number of questions from would-be operators and bolstering the twin jet’s credibility in continuing campaigns against Airbus’s successful A320NEO.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s third round of airline passenger rights rules will be much larger than previously indicated, at least as proposed, with the department (DOT) now considering eight new requirements that would affect major airlines, regional carriers and travel agencies.
The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee solicited ways to streamline screening procedures in airports without compromising the security of the aviation system in a hearing Nov. 2. “Our system is not as finely calibrated as it needs to be,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the panel’s ranking member. “A layered security system is important when we face a determined, innovative foe.”
New medium-long-haul, low-cost carrier Scoot is an offshoot of Singapore Airlines. Through an editorial error, the wrong parent company was assigned to the airline, which plans to compete head to head with Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Asia (Aviation Daily, Nov. 2).
Lawmakers and industry groups are seeking to block progress on LightSquared’s proposed ground-based broadband network until testing demonstrates that the network will not interfere with any type of GPS device. Their efforts come as the government begins additional testing of GPS receivers for interference from LightSquared’s broadband-wireless network.
Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) next year expects to receive supplemental type certificates (STCs) to retrofit its blended winglets on Boeing 767 and 757-200 converted freighters, a spokesman says. “For the 767, we expect to have an amended Federal Aviation Administration STC showing compatibility between our 767-300ER blended winglets STC and Boeing’s converted freighter by the end of the first quarter of next year,” he adds.
SkyWest’s acquisition of ExpressJet in November 2010 will continue to depress the Utah-based regional operator’s earnings for at least another year, but management believes a strategy combining cost control and “a more disciplined” approach to contract bids eventually will return the operation to sustained profitability.
Supply issues hampered Hawker Beechcraft’s production of its Hawker 4000, King Air and piston lines, contributing to a nearly 23% drop in third-quarter deliveries, the company reports. Deliveries fell from 49 in the third quarter of 2010 to 38 in the most recent quarter. As a result, revenues for the company’s Business and General Aviation segment dropped 15.9% for the period, but operating losses improved 39.4%, the company says.
Air India management has deferred by a month a Boeing 787 training program for a section of its pilots after the carrier’s plans prompted protests from one of the airline’s two pilots unions.
Indo-American relations were strengthen yesterday with the launch of a frequent flyer agreement between Oneworld’s American Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines, which is expected to join the alliance next year, and yet another international interline accord for JetBlue Airways, this time with Jet Airways, which operates into New York from India through its hub in Brussels.
Economists are split on whether a tax on carbon dioxide emissions or a cap-and-trade system, such as the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS), is the most effective in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and which system is best suited to aviation remains the subject of considerable debate.
