Daily2018-02-20
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LATEST NEWS

Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

Air Italy becomes latest carrier to cease operations

Air Italy, part owned by Gulf carrier Qatar Airways, has entered into ‘liquidazione in bonis’ – the Italian liquidation system where the company will cease operations but will pay off outstanding debt and salaries.

The move means all flights after February 11 up to February 25 will be carried out by other airlines without any change to schedules, while flights after February 25 will either be fully refunded or covered by other carriers.

It was nearly two years ago that Sardinian carrier Meridiana was rebranded as Air Italy and after Qatar Airways had taken a 49% stake in the holding company AQA Holding. Alisarda, part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development holds the remaining 51% stake. The revamped airline had hoped to be carrying up to 10 million passengers by 2022 and had hoped to cash in on problems facing ailing Italian flag-carrying airline Alitalia.

After making Milan Malpensa its home hub, Air Italy made major changes to its route network commencing a long-haul service to Bangkok, Mumbai and Miami, adding New York JFK from Milan Malpensa, while ending routes to the US city from Naples and Palermo. In the end, Air Italy chose to cancel all flights to Bangkok, Mumbai and Delhi just months after launching and flights to Chicago were canceled before they even began. Instead, Air Italy added seasonal service to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto to its network in 2019, announcing that there would be no new route launches to North America or Asia during summer 2020.

Air Italy operated a fleet of four Airbus A330-200s, one Boeing 737-700 and four 737-800s. It also had four grounded 737 MAX jets.

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BBAM orders three 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters

BBAM and Boeing have announced that the lessor has ordered three 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF), underscoring the growing e-commerce and express sector of the air cargo market. BBAM has one of the world’s biggest Next-Generation 737 fleets and has chosen the BCF program to convert three airplanes in its existing fleet.

The 737-800BCF is built on the Next-Generation 737 platform, well known for its reliability and efficiency. The airplane carries up to 52,800 pounds (23.9 metric tons) of payload with excellent operating economics to maximize operators’ profits. Since entering service in 2018, the 737-800BCF has won 130 orders and commitments.

Korean Air selects Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engines for up to 50 Airbus A321neo aircraft

Korean Air has selected the Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engine to power up to 50 Airbus A321neo aircraft.  The aircraft are expected to begin delivery in 2021.

Korean Air and Pratt & Whitney are also entering into discussions for the Korean Air Maintenance and Engineering Division to join Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G-JM GTF MRO network. 

Korean Air currently operates 10 Airbus A220-300 aircraft in service, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines.  In addition, Korean Air’s Pratt & Whitney powered fleet includes 18 777s, six 747s, and 29 A330s.  Korean Air also operates a fleet of 10 A380s powered by the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and General Electric.

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LHT and Vistara sign 12-year component support agreement

TATA SIA Airlines (Vistara) and Lufthansa Technik have signed a twelve-year component support agreement for the Boeing 787 fleet to be operated by Vistara. The Indian carrier has six firm orders and four options for this aircraft type.

The agreement covers a wide range of aircraft components for the Boeing 787. Service provision will start as early as the first quarter of 2020. 

Lufthansa Technik already supports the Indian airline with single component services, ad hoc composites repairs (Airframe Related Components, ARC®), consumables supply and AOG (Aircraft on Ground) support for the carrier's Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 fleets.

TrueNoord delivers second Dash 8-400 to Philippine Airlines

TrueNoord, the specialist regional aircraft lessor, has delivered the second of two new Dash 8-400 aircraft which it has placed on long term operating lease agreements with Philippine Airlines (PAL).

These aircraft (MSN 4610/4612) are the first Dash 8-400 aircraft manufactured by De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (“De Havilland Canada”) to enter service in TrueNoord’s portfolio.

Philippine Airlines selects Airinmar’s new aircraft warranty and value engineering services

AAR's subsidiary Airinmar, an independent global provider of component repair management and new aircraft warranty solutions, has signed a three-year support services agreement with flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Working in conjunction with PAL’s Aircraft Material Management team, Airinmar will provide a full suite of support services covering both new aircraft warranty and value engineering. The services will supplement PAL’s current activities and focus on maximizing the recovery of PAL’s new aircraft
warranty entitlements and reducing the cost of component repair.

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Japan Airlines signs GEnx service agreement

Japan Airlines (JAL) has signed a nine-year TrueChoiceTM flight hour agreement that covers the airline's GEnx-1B engines on its Boeing 787 international fleet. The agreement is valued at US$1.3 billion over the life of the contract.

JAL and GE have a long-standing relationship that began with the CF6 engine. Today, JAL operates an extensive fleet of aircraft powered by GE's CF6, CF34, GE90, GEnx and CFM International's CFM56 engines.

Airbus reveals "blended wing body" plane design

Airbus has revealed MAVERIC (Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls) its “blended wing body” scale model technological demonstrator.

At 2 metres long and 3.2 metres wide, with a surface area of about 2.25m², MAVERIC features a disruptive aircraft design, that has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% compared to current single-aisle aircraft. The “blended wing body” configuration also opens up new possibilities for propulsion systems type and integration, as well as a versatile cabin for a totally new on-board passenger experience.

Launched in 2017, MAVERIC first took to the skies in June 2019. Since then the flight-test campaign has been on-going and will continue until the end of the second-quarter of 2020.

“Airbus is leveraging emerging technologies to pioneer the future of flight. By testing disruptive aircraft configurations, Airbus is able to evaluate their potential as viable future products,” said Jean-Brice Dumont, EVP Engineering Airbus. “Although there is no specific time line for entry-into-service, this technological demonstrator could be instrumental in bringing about change in commercial aircraft architectures for an environmentally sustainable future for the aviation industry.”

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PNG Air purchases three ATR 42-600S aircraft

Regional aviation manufacturer ATR has received an order of three ATR 42-600S aircraft from PNG Air. The deal also means that PNG Air will be a launch customer for the STOL version. The ATR 42-600S will be capable of taking-off from and landing on runways that are as short as 800 m in length, with 40 passengers on board in standard flight conditions.

Currently operating seven ATR 72-600, the airline has captured over 40% of domestic market share since introducing its ATR -600 fleet in 2015. These three new STOL aircraft will replace PNG Air’s current fleet of ageing STOL turboprops. With many current generation 30-seat STOL aircraft coming to the end of their life-cycles, airlines worldwide must replace these aircraft or the communities that they serve risk losing vital connectivity.

ST Engineering's Aerospace arm secures five-year nacelle maintenance contract from Qantas

ST Engineering and Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) will be collaborating to develop and test solutions to enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations for shore-to-ship parcel deliveries in Singapore.

As part of this collaboration, ST Engineering will provide a suite of flight tests and technology development services for system integration and solution prototyping. Key enabling technologies to be developed include precision landing on-board a vessel’s metallic platform, non-line-of-sight datalink and parcel delivery authentication and release system. At the same time, WSS will help to strengthen the commercialization and operational aspects of the solution development.

This collaboration will receive funding as part of the Call-For-Proposal by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Singapore Ministry of Transport, which aims to support the development of systems and technologies to enable innovations within the wide-ranging use of UAS. One of the leading participants in the UAS industry and in close collaboration with regulators and industry partners, ST Engineering has been developing solutions that make use of the latest smart and unmanned technologies for military and commercial applications.

The Group signed an MOU with CAAS in early 2018 to facilitate the development of BVLOS UAS operations in Singapore’s urban environment, including within and near an aerodrome. In January 2019, ST Engineering’s DroNet, an end-to-end solution that applies advanced unmanned technologies such as drones through a network system to carry out specific tasks or services, was granted the very first BVLOS permit for trial operations in Singapore.

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CDB Aviation promotes Sign Kadouh to Head of Asia Pacific

CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., (CDB Leasing), has announced, on the sidelines of Singapore Air Show, the promotion of Sign Kadouh to Head of Asia Pacific.

Kadouh is being promoted to the new role from his previous position of Head of Commercial, Asia Pacific. In addition to continuing to lead the Asia Pacific commercial team and driving commercial and strategic activity within the region, including Greater China, South Asia, Southeast Asia, North Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands, Kadouh also will be the operational leader for Asia Pacific, managing the day-to-day activities of the company’s Hong Kong office.

TAG Aviation Asia becomes Authorized Service Facility for Bombardier Business aircraft in Hong Kong

TAG Aviation Asia has been appointed as an Authorized Service Facility for Bombardier Aviation in Hong Kong.

This approval includes the Bombardier Global 5000 GVFD, Global 6000 GVFD, Global 7500, and the Challenger 605, for line maintenance services in the region.

TAG Aviation Asia has maintenance centres in Hong Kong and Macau. The company provides world class maintenance and cleaning services include internal and external aircraft cleaning services, and Permaguard paint protection at either Hong Kong / Macau permanent stations or across APAC region with Mobile Repair Party teams.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Manufacturing World
February 26 - 18, 2020 – Makuhari Messe, Chiba-city, Japan


Operating Lease & Aviation Finance Seminar
March 24 - 26, 2020 - London, UK

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