Several airline maintenance and engineering organizations are shopping for new information technology (IT) systems, they said at Aviation Week's MRO Americas conference this week in Miami.
India’s leading private airline Jet Airways said it will purchase aircraft from Boeing and Airbus as part of its fleet expansion program. Yohan Paul, a senior official at Jet Airways, told Aviation Week the company has approved acquiring two additional Boeing 777–300ER aircraft. The delivery would take place between February and April 2013. “We are also planning to induct four A330-family aircraft over the next two years,” Paul said.
Hank Krakowski, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, has resigned following a series of embarrassing incidents involving controllers either asleep or unresponsive during late night shifts. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who announced the resignation April 14, has appointed the administration’s Chief Counsel David Grizzle as ATO’s acting COO while a permanent replacement is found.
The Obama administration is pledging to press its business case for air traffic modernization even harder in the wake of a budget deal in Congress reached during the weekend which slashed the FAA accounts that pay for NextGen programs. Although the cuts didn’t target NextGen specifically, they crimp the agency’s flexibility at a time when NextGen spending is expected to ramp up, and will likely force other Facilities & Equipment (F&E) efforts to be trimmed to keep higher-priority programs intact.
The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) is about to issue the tender for refurbishment and expansion of Brunei International Airport’s passenger terminal. The tender will go out next week, says Sheikh Rashid Salam, BEDB head of local business development, adding that 14 construction companies will compete. “We’re looking to make a decision in the fourth quarter and have construction start in the first quarter of 2012.”
Hundreds of commercial aircraft will be disassembled and parted out this year to feed airline demand for lower-cost parts and components. But unlike 10-15 years ago, when most were torn down because they had reached the end of their useful lives, these are much younger aircraft.
February traffic of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association’s (ALTA’s) members grew 1.2% year-on-year to 15.7 billion revenue passenger kilometers, and passenger numbers were up 0.1% to 10.3 million, but a 1.5% rise in capacity to 21.1 billion available seat kilometers depressed their combined load factor 0.2 percentage points to 74.3%.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is going ahead with plans to deploy Airbus A380s on the Singapore-Tokyo Narita-Los Angeles route, despite a drop in traffic. The carrier was originally planning to deploy the high-capacity aircraft on the route starting on March 27, but the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 led SIA to postpone the move.
A 10-year, comprehensive Airbus A320 component contract with Avianca-TACA prompted Sabena Technics subsidiary Barfield to open a repair shop in Bogota, Colombia. The shop, scheduled to open mid-year, initially will perform avionic testing and repair, though Barfield plans for it to add services for more components later on. It also aims to service other Latin American carriers from the hub, which is its fourth major shop alongside locations in Miami; Tempe, Ariz.; and Louisville, Ky.
The FAA says it won’t know the final cost of its system command center relocation until next year, but the agency says it will probably come in at—or slightly under—the $46 million it budgeted for the move in 2008. The new command center, which was officially opened this week, is expected to save the agency more than $2 million a year. Many costs will be shared with the terminal radar approach control for the Washington region, which is on the same site in Warrenton, Va.
The new Japanese low-cost carrier being established by All Nippon Airways has applied for its air operator’s certificate (AOC), and plans to announce a brand next month. The carrier, currently called A&F Aviation, is expected to begin operations from its base at Kansai International Airport in the second half of its 2011 fiscal year. It plans to begin flying to Sapporo Shin-Chitose Airport and to Fukuoka by no later than March 2012, and to Seoul in May 2012. It will operate Airbus A320 aircraft.
Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) will host a three-day static air show from April 28 in association with Titan Aviation. This will be the first time that an air show of this magnitude will be held outside Bengaluru. CIAL over the years has been positioning itself as gateway to South India with a series of aviation-linked activities.
Kenya Airways will take delivery of its first Boeing 787-8 in October 2013, according to Managing Director Titus Naikuni. That is three years later than originally planned when the airline placed the order in 2006. In spite of the late delivery, Kenya Airways plans to add seven new destinations to its network this year and seven more in 2012. Kenya Airways is competing with Ethiopian Airlines for intra-African and long-haul connecting traffic. Ethiopian has ordered 10 787-8s.
After years of development, the FAA has declared its new en route air traffic control system fully operational and ready to be introduced nationwide. The agency made the “in-service” decision on the en route automation modernization (ERAM) system based on its performance at the operational test sites in Seattle and Salt Lake City. ERAM, which will be the backbone ATC system at the 20 en route centers in the continental U.S., is regarded as a crucial precursor to the NextGen modernization effort.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul market projections announced at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas conference in Miami mark 2010 as the bottom of the recession's trough, though they note that many effects of the downturn have not been felt yet, and other influential factors, such as fuel costs, could throw any forecasts off. As AeroStrategy Partner Kevin Michaels puts it, "If oil hits $150-$200 per barrel, all bets are off."
Airbus is working on ways to distinguish the skill levels of the 16 members of its global maintenance, repair and overhaul network, Chris Reamy, director of services for Airbus Americas, told Aviation Week’s MRO Americas conference Wednesday in Miami. The intent is to differentiate between members of the network—from component specialists to large one-stop-shop providers—and other MRO businesses, he says. Airbus is treating the upgrade as a Phase 2 in the development of the network, which began five years ago. It is to be implemented by yearend.
Rockwell Collins has completed an inventory support beta test for All Nippon Airways as part of its Global Asset Management program for the Boeing 787. Rockwell Collins supplies more than 200 part numbers for the aircraft, the first of which launch customer ANA is scheduled to receive in the third quarter. Thanks to its contract with ANA, the manufacturer is stocking spares in Japan for the first time, says Scott Gunnufson, VP and general manager of Rockwell Collins Service Solutions.
Authorities at Worcester Regional Airport are considering changing the airport's name to Worcester International Airport now that Direct Air is planning regular air service to Nassau, Bahamas, this fall.
Republic Airways Holdings promoted Tim Dooley to the CFO position vacated with the recent retirement of Hal Cooper. Dooley, who was VP of financial planning and analysis, now assumes responsibility of financial accounting and treasury, financial planning and analysis and human resources, as well as investor relations and risk management and insurance.
Embraer and Avic have reached a compromise to avert the shutdown of a Chinese production line that has been assembling Embraer jets since 2003. The preliminary deal calls for output at the joint venture to shift from 50-seat ERJ-145 regional jets to Legacy 600/650 business jets, which are derived from the ERJ-135/145 family. The Brazilian aircraft company has discontinued production of those aircraft as regional jets, and the last of 41 assembled at the Harbin plant in northeastern China is scheduled for delivery this month.
