Leading Asian airlines are gaining a valuable competitive advantage from their proximity to China, as this market's enormous potential transforms into rapid growth. The big question now is how long it will take China's own carriers to exploit the boom and join the Asian giants in the industry's top echelon.
Michael J. Dyment Managing Director, Nexa Capital Partners George W. Hamlin President, Hamlin Transportation Consulting Craig Jenks President, New York-based Airline/ Aircraft Projects Inc. Raymond E. Neidl Senior Aerospace Specialist, Maxim Group Bryan Terry Director, PwC Transportation and Logistics
Comparing the operating performance of low-cost and mainline airlines highlights that while growth can be a good thing, sometimes restraint can pay off even more. The low-cost/niche carrier segment is generally weaker than the mainline category in the latest Top-Performing Airlines study, and the low-cost carriers (LCC) did not see the same sharp improvement through 2010 that their legacy counterparts enjoyed.
While Regional Express Holdings (REX) was the top performer in the regional category for the third year running, the performance of the category overall was lackluster. Only Australia's REX and U.S. carrier Republic Airways saw their scores increase, with the other carriers sliding. The TPA council of advisers sees a bleak future for U.S. regionals and believes more consolidation is likely.
This year's ranking of publicly traded airlines identifies those that have lifted their operating performance as they recover from the 2008 global recession and deal with new challenges such as oil price spikes. Scores represent the composite of five performance categories, with emphasis on financial fitness and earnings performance. The five categories (and their contributions to total score) include:
Notwithstanding significant consolidation in their ranks, the U.S. legacy carriers remain firmly ensconced in the mid-range of the mainline/network carrier category in this year's Top-Performing Airlines (TPA) rankings. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines ranks in the top five in the low-cost/niche category, and Alaska Airlines—which a number of observers would categorize as more of an LCC than a legacy—is in third place overall in the mainline/network category.
German airship manufacturer Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik says it has made a breakthrough as the leading company in its field, following a major order by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. However, it concedes that, overall, zeppelin use remains flat. Goodyear recently decided to replace its three U.S.-based aging blimps with three zeppelins. The airships, to be stationed in Akron, Ohio; Miami and Los Angeles, will take on the advertising roles performed by their predecessors.
A growing competition for rare-earth elements (REEs) could soon hamstring a wide swath of the aerospace industry, from companies that build precision guided-weapon systems to suppliers for commercial widebody jets.
Even though the longtime Airbus-Boeing duopoly is slowly coming to an end—courtesy of Russia's United Aircraft Corp. and China's Comac, among others—it will likely take a few years before the new entrants can capture a big enough market share to rattle their European and American rivals.
India's first home-built fighter for carrier operations is being readied for its first flight, following an extensive remake of the design. The naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is likely to complete its milestone flight in the next two months. But first the naval Tejas has to complete a month of ground runs, including high-speed taxi tests, to give several components a clean bill of health after technical problems slowed progress in 2009-10.
One of the most curious pairings in business aviation today is that of Lilliputian Eclipse Aerospace and Brobdingnagian Sikorsky Aircraft. Although the former manufactures nothing, the reconstituted firm inherited a short but storied legacy of failed promises regarding a new very light jet (VLJ) age, stilled production lines and breathtaking fiscal ruin. Meanwhile, the latter, a unit of the United Technologies conglomerate, is a maker of massive helicopters that the Pentagon buys by the thousands and for which it pays in the billions.
Rep. Chip Cravaack (R) had objected to the sale of Cirrus Aircraft, which was headquartered in his Duluth, Minn., district, to China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. on the grounds that the Chinese military would benefit from a transfer of technologies. Despite those objections, the U.S. government approved the merger, which was completed on June 28.
July 17-19—Aviation Suppliers Association's 2011 Annual Conference. Washington Marriott at Metro Center. Call +1 (202) 347-6899, fax +1 (202) 347-6894 or see www.aviationsuppliers.org July 21-22—Practical Aeronautics Short Courses: “Introduction to Jet Engines—A Practical Perspective.” Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland. Also, Sept. 12-15—“Introduction to Aeronautics: A Practical Perspective.” National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va. Call +1 (970) 887-3155 or see www.practicalaero.com
For a community that prizes its anonymity, business aviation is suddenly and uncomfortably in the public eye, courtesy of the Obama administration. And it was put there for all the wrong reasons. Again. As a result, business aircraft operators, owners, manufacturers and service providers are worried and mad as hell, and justifiably so.
Atlantis stands ready at Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39A for its last flight—set for liftoff on July 8—and the last flight of the shuttle era. The unique spacecraft has shaped human spaceflight for three decades, and will continue to do so for decades to come—starting with this upcoming last cargo delivery to the International Space Station. The valedictory STS-135 mission will buy another year for private companies to ready their commercial shuttle follow-ons, and enable a robotic refueling experiment that could create a new space industry.
Mark Cioffi's Viewpoint “Motion is Better? There's No Proof” (AW&ST June 13, p. 58) is laudable in calling for more research into flight simulation. However, he states that wide-field visual systems will allow the perception of motion. True, but since most simulator training is conducted “in the weather” with no visual reference, it is difficult to understand how such a system would be able to induce the brain into believing it was moving.
In “Cleaner Skies?” (AW&ST June 20, p. 70), arguably a central development weakness in the current pursuit of next-generation aircraft is their design optimization around fossil fuel consumption. To that extent, EADS's unducted rotor application, for example, would be the “Prius” of the civil airline fleet. But its airframe technology is centered on weight and drag reduction in service to the engine, when the fundamental focus might be on breakthrough propulsion powering high-speed aerodynamics.
