Vueling has taken delivery of its first sharklet equipped Airbus A320. The Spanish low-cost carrier has 61 A320 family aircraft in its fleet. US Export-Import Bank authorized over $190 million in financing for the export of Boeing 737-900ER aircraft to El Al Israel Airlines.
Turkish Airlines has signed a contract for up to 117 A320 family aircraft, including 25 A321ceos, four A320neo, 53 A321neos and options for 35 additional A321neos.
What started as one of Boeing’s most difficult weeks—beginning with a fire and ending with a full-scale safety review of the 787’s design and production—rapidly turned into a public relations nightmare the following week when two airlines grounded their 787 fleets and images of a Dreamliner with emergency chutes deployed streamed over television and computer screens worldwide.
It was the aviation news of 2012 that received far too little attention. Airbus’s top brass acknowledged publicly, to a room full of reporters at the Farnborough Airshow no less, that there will be no all-new narrowbody commercial aircraft entering the market for at least another 18 years.
ATR’s planned 90-seat Next Generation Turboprop (NGTP) will maintain the same design philosophy behind today’s models—“Simple, simple, simple”—said ATR CEO Filippo Bagnato.
Embraer reported a 2012 net profit of $348.6 million, significantly widened over $120.4 million in net income in 2011, on a 6.5% rise in revenue to $6.18 billion.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which has made strong progress toward the airline’s 4 Excellence NG turnaround plan, is moving forward with plans to harmonize its fleet.
If the global economy is still in the doldrums, someone forgot to tell attendees at the 2012 Farnborough Airshow in July. Airbus alone logged sales at the show valued at a list-price total of $16.5 billion and which included 26 A350-1000s for Cathay Pacific, 20 A321s for Russia’s UTair and a commitment by Irish lessor Avolon for 15 A320neos.
Delta Air Lines’s plan to remove 66 SkyWest Bombardier CRJ200s from service and close its Comair subsidiary has renewed speculation about the fate of smaller and older jets in an age of high fuel prices that favors larger and newer aircraft.
The Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Joint Undertaking (SJU) has extended the deadline for submission of proposals for Remotely Piloted Air Systems demonstrations.
Increased new aircraft production, the emergence of aircraft age restrictions in many countries, engine OEM support, and limited financing are major barriers to remarketing used aircraft according to an expert panel speaking at the ISTAT Americas 2013 conference in Orlando.
