Category: Aircraft & Engines

Boeing and Etihad Airways have concluded testing on the aerospace company’s 2020 ecoDemonstrator program last week with a cross-country flight using a 50/50 blend of sustainable and traditional jet fuel. Flying from Seattle to Boeing’s manufacturing site in South Carolina, Etihad’s newest 787-10 Dreamliner used the maximum sustainable fuel blend permitted for commercial aviation. The transcontinental flight also demonstrated a new way for pilots, air traffic controllers and airline operations centers to communicate simultaneously and optimize routing. Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator program takes promising technologies out of the lab and tests them in the air to accelerate innovation. This year’s program evaluated Read more

Air New Zealand has grounded its Boeing 777 fleet until at least September 2021 due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19. In May the airline grounded the majority of its seven 777-300 aircraft until the end of the 2020 calendar year. At the same time the company also signalled it was unlikely to fly its eight 777-200 aircraft in the foreseeable future and began preparing to send these into long term storage overseas. Four of Air New Zealand’s 777-300 aircraft will be stored in Victorville in the Californian desert, while the remaining three will stay in Auckland where they are able to Read more

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has completed its test flights of the Boeing 737 MAX. These took place in Vancouver, Canada due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. As the next step in its evaluation of the aircraft for return to service, EASA is now analysing the data and other information gathered during the flights in preparation for the Joint Operations Evaluation Board (JOEB). The JOEB is scheduled to start this week in London, Gatwick in the United Kingdom. EASA has been working steadily, in close cooperation with the FAA and Boeing, to return the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Read more

Nakanihon Air, one of Japan’s largest helicopter operators, has ordered one H215 heavy helicopter to shore up its capabilities for utility and aerial work. Currently operating 45 Airbus helicopters, Nakanihon Air specializes in activities covering emergency medical services, electronic news gathering, as well as passenger and goods transportation in Japan. The air services company also runs an Airbus-approved maintenance centre for H135 helicopters, while major inspections of the operator’s existing Super Puma fleet are performed at the manufacturer’s Kobe maintenance facility.

TrueNoord, the specialist regional aircraft lessor, continues its growth path with the addition of two Embraer E195 aircraft on lease to Portugália. Both aircraft, MSN19000407 and MSN19000429, were purchased with leases attached from Brazilian operator Azul. The project was financed by TrueNoord’s revolving warehouse facility underwritten by Citibank, Société Générale and Royal Bank of Canada.  Legal counsel for TrueNoord on the acquisition was CMS, with Milbank advising on the financing. With this acquisition, TrueNoord completes another significant milestone and reaches a fleet of 50 modern regional aircraft. Portugália Airlines is a Portuguese regional airline. It is a subsidiary of TAP Read more

TrueAero has acquired, on behalf of its investors, 13 Airbus A320-200 aircraft from JetBlue on sale-and-leaseback. “We are delighted to establish this new partnership with JetBlue, demonstrating our ability to deliver adaptable solutions despite COVID-19’s disruption to the market.” said Stratton Borchers, President at TrueAero. TrueAero is a full-service aircraft asset manager and a materials and technical services provider.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has introduced MultiFlyer, a UAV squadron of small, unmanned helicopters that can fulfill a large range of non-military tasks. MultiFlyer provides advanced monitoring capabilities for large areas and is based on commercial, off-the-shelf helicopter UAVs from Alpha Unmanned Systems integrated with components from IAI and several Israeli startup companies. The command and control system was designed by Simplex and the area scanning technologies are powered by Sightec. Use cases include disaster area monitoring, guiding rescue units in lifesaving missions, traffic control in mass events, securing sensitive facilities, police enforcement, and surveys of large agricultural or marine Read more

Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has delivered one new Embraer E175, MSN 17000852, to Belavia-Belarusian Airlines on lease. This is the final aircraft to deliver as part of a five aircraft transaction which consisted of three E195’s and two E175’s. The placement of this aircraft will be the fifth Embraer E175 in Belavia-Belarusian Airlines aircraft fleet. Belavia is the largest air carrier of the Republic of Belarus. It is based at the National Airport in Minsk and carries out regular flights from Minsk to 56 airports in 30 countries in Europe and Asia.

Access to younger components that will align with commercial operators’ fleet requirements as air traffic restarts is the impetus behind APOC Aviation’s determined acquisition policy. To complement its recent purchases of other A320 family airframes for teardown, the company announced that it has closed a deal with leading lessor Aircastle for a 2008 vintage A319 (MSN 3450) that was returned from lease by Volaris in July. Access to flexible and immediate funding to take advantage of this prime asset purchase was swiftly secured through private placement. The aircraft is heading immediately for part-out at Marana in Arizona – the location Read more