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LATEST NEWS
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Friday, May 24th, 2019
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Following Brazil’s lower chamber approval, the Senate has passed legislation which will allow foreign-controlled airlines to operate domestic flights within the country, which is Latin America’s largest sir-travel market. However, as Congress has added a codicil whereby airlines are now banned from charging passengers for their first checked bag, this now means that President Jair Bolsonaro’s signature will be required before the legislation becomes law.
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The checked-bag restriction has not been welcomed by airlines or the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association transport group as this may restrict opportunities for low-cost
airlines and may ultimately see higher fares being charged.
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According to Reuters, Brazil’s air travel regulator ANAC has already granted its first preliminary permit to a foreign airline, Spain’s Air Europa, to explore setting up a domestic subsidiary. The
carrier’s interest was announced last Saturday by Brazil’s infrastructure minister.
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Previously, any stake by a foreign owner in a Brazilian airline had been capped at 20%. This new legislation will now see that ceiling totally removed. Certainly there will now be a shake-up of the previously dominated domestic market where the top-three Brazilian carriers, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, LATAM Airlines Group and Azul SA, hold a 92% share and all of which have minority investments from foreign carriers: Delta Air Lines Inc owns 9.4% of Gol, the leader in domestic flights in Brazil and United Airlines owns 8% of third-place Azul. Qatar Airways owns 10% of LATAM, Brazil’s No. 2 domestic airline.
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Currently, Brazil’s fourth largest carrier, Avianca Brasil, is going through a bankruptcy reorganization, whereby it is now selling off its most profitable domestic routes. This could be extremely beneficial to any foreign investor looking to get a head start in the domestic
Brazilian market.
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Finnair and the artificial intelligence company Silo.AI built a machine learning artificial intelligence
tool that enables the airline to predict possible disruptions to air traffic more accurately. In Finland, this unprecedented solution can for example be used to assess the impact of weather on the punctuality of flights, so that preparations for irregularities can be done in advance.
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Flight punctuality is one of the biggest factors that affect customer satisfaction, and weather is one of the biggest factors affecting the punctuality of air travel globally. With Silo.AI's artificial intelligence solution, Finnair will be able to better prepare for exceptional circumstances caused by weather and plan actions to minimize the impact on customers well in advance.
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“We tested the artificial intelligence solution in the pilot phase last winter and the results were encouraging,” says Juha Karstunen, digital transformation lead at Finnair. “The goal is to implement the solution as part of a broader technical reform later this year. We are also developing other intelligent solutions to support decision-making. Exceptional weather conditions are common in air travel, and our goal is always to minimize their impact on our customers' travel plans.”
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Silo.AI is the largest private artificial intelligence laboratory in the Nordics that builds artificial intelligence solutions as a consultancy service for various industries. In the pilot phase of the project, the company utilized Finnair's historical punctuality data, total runway capacity forecasts, actual weather forecasts as well as past weather forecasts. There was also a warning mechanism
built into the artificial intelligence solution that alerts if a certain number of flights are expected to be delayed.
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MTU Maintenance has signed an exclusive four-year CFM56-5B contract with GoAir, a low-fare carrier based in Mumbai, India. The contract covers the maintenance, repair and overhaul as well as spare engine support and on-site services for the CFM56-5B engines powering the airline’s 17 A320 aircraft.
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Launched in 2005, GoAir is an aviation foray of the Wadia group, one of the largest conglomerates in India. The carrier operates 230 flights per day across the Indian subcontinent and international flights to Phuket, Male, Muscat and Abu Dhabi. With 144 A320neo aircraft on order, the airline is poised for further growth.
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Héroux-Devtek, a leading international manufacturer of aerospace products, has reported strong results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2019.
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For fiscal 2019, consolidated sales reached CA$483.9 million, up 25.2% from CA$386.6 million in fiscal 2018. Commercial sales were at CA$236.3 million, up from CA$195.1 million a year ago, while defence sales stood at CA$247.6 million, up from CA$191.5 million last year. Sales growth was mainly driven by CESA and Beaver, followed by increased deliveries for the Boeing 777 and 777X programs, higher sales in the business jet market from the ramp-up of deliveries for the Embraer 450/500 program and higher sales of spares to the U.S. Government. Year-over-year fluctuations in the value of the Canadian currency versus foreign currencies had a positive net impact on sales of US$4.3 million.
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Gross profit for fiscal 2019 increased to CA$83.2 million, or 17.2% of sales, from CA$61.3 million, or 15.9% of sales last year. Operating income was CA$37.2 million, or 7.7% of sales, from CA$23.4 million, or 6.0% of sales a year ago. Adjusted operating income grew to CA$41.6 million, or 8.6% of sales, up from CA$30.3 million last year, or 7.8% of sales. Adjusted EBITDA reached ca$74.2 million, or 15.3% of sales, up from ca$56.9 million, or 14.7% of sales last year.
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Net income stood at CA$26.2 million an increase from CA$13.7 million in fiscal 2018. Adjusted net income stood at CA$30.4 million an increase from CA$24.2 million last year.
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The first sets of Pearl® 15 production standard engines were delivered to Bombardier and have been fitted to the first Global 6500 aircraft that is now in completions in readiness to power its latest business jet, into service.
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While Bombardier has started interior completion work on the first customer aircraft, the Rolls-Royce site in Dahlewitz, Germany, is ramping up the Pearl 15 production. Flight testing is on track to support the aircraft certification and a smooth entry into service later this year.
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The Pearl 15 is the newest addition to Rolls-Royce’s business aviation engine portfolio, exclusively powering Bombardier’s Global® 5500 and 6500 aircraft. The engine was carefully designed and optimized in partnership with Bombardier to complement the Global 5500 and Global 6500 aircraft. Both, aircraft and engines, were unveiled to the public at the 2018 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva.
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GE Aviation has strengthened its service and support network in critical regions where the Passport-powered Bombardier Global 7500 and CF34-powered Challenger series aircraft and customers are based.
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GE Aviation named Bombardier’s Tianjin Service Centre in China as an Authorized Service Center for GE’s Passport and CF34-3 engines in April. With the announcement, GE has combined Passport and CF34-3 Authorized Service Centre agreements in place at eight Bombardier Service Centre facilities around the world. These include Tianjin in China, Biggin Hill in England, Singapore, and Hartford, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Wichita and Tucson in the United States. GE also has services agreements in place with Bombardier’s European line station network, and the fleet of US-based mobile repair trucks.
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GE has a maintenance support agreement with Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey GmbH (LTAA) for dispatching mobile repair teams to locations outside the United States. LTAA’s mobile repair teams will have 10 dedicated technicians to support GE Passport operations. LTAA has been a member of GE’s Authorized Service Center network for CF34-series engines since October 2014.
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The GE Strother mobile repair team is providing support in the Americas. Both the Strother and LTAA mobile repair teams supported the Global 7500 aircraft flight test program for Passport to gain operational experience with the engine and ensure concierge-style service in parallel with entry into service. Both GE and LTAA have received 145 certification for the Passport engine.
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Hong Kong aircraft management company HK Bellawings Jet Limited has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for five new Global 7500 business jets and has also exercised options for two Global 7500 business jets, as part of the initial agreement signed in May last year. The Global 7500 aircraft was showcased for the first time at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva.
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Established in 2014, HK Bellawings Jet Limited is a distinguished business jet management company dedicated to providing a diverse array of professional, highly efficient and comprehensive business aviation services and solutions, which include business jet management, aircraft maintenance, travel concierge service, aircraft acquisition service, and business aviation consultancy. They operate a fleet of Challenger and Global business aircraft.
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WestJet Encore flight dispatchers, represented by the Canadian Airline Dispatchers Association (CALDA), have successfully ratified a three-year agreement. This ratified agreement starts May 22, 2019 and expires on May 22, 2022.
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"We are pleased with today's outcome and believe that this agreement recognizes the hard work and valuable contributions of our WestJet Encore dispatchers," said John Aaron, WestJet Vice-President and General Manager, Encore.
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Norwegian helicopter operator Helitrans has taken delivery of two Airbus H125 helicopters with digital logcards, becoming the first H125 operator able to manage the maintenance history of its aircraft components digitally, resulting in better data quality, time savings, and simpler processes, thereby reinforcing flight safety.
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These helicopters are the first two in a series of seven H125s ordered by Helitrans to be delivered with fully digital logcards. They will be used for a wide range of missions that cover powerline
construction and firefighting, as well as sightseeing trips, passenger transport, photography and telecom network development.
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Air Lease Corporation has delivered one new Airbus A350-900 aircraft on long-term lease to Sichuan Airlines. Featuring Trent XWB-84 engines, this A350-900 is the first ALC A350-900 to deliver to an airline in China.
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The aircraft is from ALC’s order book with Airbus and joins eight Airbus aircraft currently on lease from ALC to Sichuan Airlines for a total of nine aircraft.
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