Daily2018-02-20

LATEST NEWS

Tuesday, July 16th, 2019

Pegasus Universal Aerospace names Robbie Irons as CEO

South Africa’s Pegasus Universal Aerospace, pioneer of the Vertical Business Jet (VBJ®) Pegasus One, has named Robbie Irons as its Chief Executive Officer. In this new role, he will help lead product development and lend strategic support to Founder and Chairman Dr Reza Mia as the business seeks to secure investment.

Robbie Irons brings decades of solid international aviation experience to the Johannesburg, SA-based start-up, spanning senior roles previously with ExecuJet in Lanseria in both business development and aircraft sales. He took responsibility for the firm’s aircraft sales activity in Africa in 2009.

“As general aviation evolves, I am excited to become actively involved with the innovative Pegasus
One,” said Robbie, who was with Dr Reza in EBACE in Geneva for the programme’s international debut. The two have been friends for many years. “I am delighted Robbie has agreed to come on board. Having him as a partner is a major asset,” he commented.

Work has started to build a full-scale VTOL demonstrator to show in Europe in 2020.

The all-composite airframe Pegasus One is being targeted for completion within 18 to 24 months of FAA certification from its Johannesburg, SA facility. Options to establish alternate full production facilities are also being explored in the USA and / or Europe.

Pegasus One is designed to deliver speed, comfort and style to travellers looking for transportation
between busy urban airports, small and unpaved landing areas, yachts and regular helipads, amongst others. Other applications include serving the oil and gas industry and medevac.

Pegasus is targeting a 4,400 km range from runway take-off or 2,124 km in VTOL with a planned cruise speed of 796 km per hour. The aircraft will feature six to eight seats with power provided by two 2,300 shp turboshaft engines.

AerFin

Willis Lease signs ConstantAccess™ agreement with major European Airline

Willis Lease Finance has entered into an agreement to provide ConstantAccess™ Platinum to a major European operator for a fleet consisting of 40 engines. The agreement will provide guaranteed availability of spare engines for both planned, and unplanned removals.

“We are finding a greater number of airlines, both legacy operators as well as low cost carriers, are opting to contract with us to provide them with spare engine coverage on a ‘just in time basis’ rather than maintaining a portfolio of underutilized assets” - commented Austin C. Willis, SVP of Corporate Development of Willis Lease.

Willis Lease Finance leases large and regional spare commercial aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and aircraft to airlines, aircraft engine manufacturers and maintenance, repair and overhaul providers in 120 countries

Fly Leasing to sell 12 aircraft

Fly Leasing has contracted to sell a portfolio of 12 aircraft, comprised of Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s with an average age of eight years.

“These sales are at an aggregate gain to book value, build free cash, reduce leverage, manage lessee concentration and lower the average age of FLY’s fleet,” said Colm Barrington, CEO of FLY. “FLY has a committed pipeline of 21 new A320neo family aircraft that begin delivering later this year and has the capacity to add over US$2 billion of assets to its fleet.”

FLY anticipates the sales will generate in excess of US$125 million of cash after repaying debt related to the aircraft and satisfying other transaction expenses. The sales are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019. Following the sales, FLY’s fleet will comprise 86 aircraft with a weighted average age of approximately seven years and on lease to 39 airlines in 21 countries.

ePlane

Seabury Solutions signs new African airline for Alkym solution

Seabury Solutions, a subsidiary of New York-based Seabury Capital Group LLC, providing Information Technology solutions for the aviation industry, has added a new airline customer in Africa, Precision Air, for its solution to enhance the maintenance management of the carrier’s expanding fleet.

The Tanzania-based airline, operating scheduled flights out of its main hub in Dar es Salaam, is the latest customer to join the ever-growing base of the company’s airline customers based on the African continent. Opting to deploy Seabury Solutions’ comprehensive maintenance solution, the carrier deemed Alkym as best suited to meet the requirements for managing the maintenance of its fleet.

Precision Air opted for 17 out of 18 of the modules contained within Alkym, along with 20
concurrent users. The project is set to commence the second week of July, beginning with a two-week workshop to understand the entire requirements of the airline and map out the process.

Lufthansa Consulting and German Aerospace Center agree strategic innovation partnership

Lufthansa Consulting (LCG) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have agreed to work more closely together in the future and have formed a strategic partnership. The aim of the cooperation is to translate new technologies and promising innovations developed by DLR into marketable and
practical solutions, products and services, and to make them available to LCG clients in joint projects.

The collaboration with DLR Technology Marketing will focus primarily on the airline, airport and transport infrastructure sectors, but also in other areas in which technologies and services from these sectors can be applied.

One potential area of collaboration, for example, is the development of a laser system for non-contact detection of explosives by DLR. The use of such a system at airports not only has very important security aspects but also affects the throughput speed of passengers during check-in
processes, a current cause of bottlenecks at all airports.

Kellstrom

Munich Airport International expands activities in the USA

In a major step forward in the development of a new world-class airport, the Port Authority has reached an agreement with EWR Terminal One LLC, a 100% subsidiary of Munich Airport International GmbH (MAI), to operate and maintain the US$2.7 billion Terminal One now under construction at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

MAI will operate as EWR Terminal One LLC and oversee operations, maintenance and concession functions once the terminal is completed. Terminal One is replacing the outmoded Terminal
A and is scheduled to be fully operational by 2022. The new operating company EWR Terminal One LLC also will be making short-term customer enhancements in Terminal A until that terminal is closed.

Munich Airport, operated by MAI’s parent company Flughafen München GmbH (FMG), has been awarded the title “Europe’s Best Airport” by Skytrax for the 12th time over the past 14 years. In
addition to the Newark project, MAI is involved locally with a joint venture (Reach Airports) that will manage the new Terminal One project at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

StandardAero and Sierra Nevada Corporation extend relationship

StandardAero has extended its long-running relationship with aerospace and defense company Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) with the signing of a five-year agreement covering maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) support for the Pratt & Whitney PT6A and PW100 turboprop engines. StandardAero will support SNC from its Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) in Summerside, PE, Canada, and its other global locations.

SNC is a world leader in command, control, computers, communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions, with experience on over 200 different types
of manned and unmanned platforms including the Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Caravan. SNC has also partnered with Embraer to offer the A-29 Super Tucano for U.S. Department of Defense and international requirements. In addition, SNC provides aircraft design, modification and support services for a range of platforms, including the Dornier 328, supported via its subsidiary 328
Support Services GmbH.

VAS

Leonardo and Northrop Grumman to update ENAV equipment to manage Italian airspace

Leonardo, through its subsidiary Vitrociset, has been awarded a radio replacement contract by ENAV, the Italian air navigation services provider. The agreement is a 5-year contract to replace ground-to-air communications equipment for airports and the supporting en-route infrastructure. Vitrociset has chosen the products of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) U.K.-based air traffic communications subsidiary, Park Air Systems Limited.

The provision will update existing products to meet the 8.33 kHz channel spacing using the market
leading Park Air T6 radio and other products from the Sapphire portfolio. The modernisation will incorporate the requirement to move to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Equipment comprising of T6 radios, antennas and remote control monitoring systems alongside customer acceptance testing and product training will all be provided by Park Air.

Vitrociset and Park Air will be responsible for the in territory services and ongoing maintenance support. The contract was awarded thanks to the hard work and partnership of both Vitrociset and
Park Air with feedback highlighting the technical expertise and provision for through-life support.

American Airlines follows United’s lead - 737 MAX flights now axed from both schedules through to November

Having previously cut the Boeing 737 MAX from its schedule until September 3, United Airlines (United) announced on Friday it has now removed the grounded jet from its operational schedule up until November 3, a month longer than several other North American carriers whose fleets include the troubled jet.

"United has gone to great lengths to minimize the impact on our customers’ travel plans," the airline commented. "We’ve used spare aircraft and other creative solutions to help our customers, who had been scheduled to travel on one of our MAX aircraft, get where they are going." When the grounding first took effect back in March, United canceled approximately 2,120 flights up until June. It has anticipated the cancelation of 1,290 flights this month, 1,900 flights in August, 2,100 flights in September and 2,900 in October. While United has a current fleet of 14 737 MAX planes, it had expected to have a fleet of 30 737 MAXs by the end of the year, which explains the greater number of now canceled flights as the year has progressed.

Following United’s lead, American Airlines (American) announced Sunday it has canceled all 737 MAX flights through to November 2. With 24 737 MAX jets in its fleet, and a further 76 on order from Boeing, American is having to cancel 115 flights per day and has confirmed that the grounding of the jet in March cost the company US$185 million in pre-tax income during the second quarter of 2019. Even when Boeing gets the all-clear for the 737 MAX to return to the skies, American estimates it will still take a further 30 to 45 days to provide its over 4,000 pilots with the necessary training Boeing’s updates to the aircraft’s operating system will necessitate.

MTU

Qatar Airways orders 18 Gulfstream aircraft worth US$1 billion

Qatar Airways announced a significant order for 18 Gulfstream aircraft during a ceremony at the White House on July 9, 2019.

The order worth over US$1 billion is for 14 Gulfstream G650ER and four Gulfstream G500 and will add to Qatar Executive’s growing fleet that currently includes six G650ER and four G500 aircraft.

Qatar Executive has been a Gulfstream customer since October 2014, when the charter service was announced as the international launch customer for the all-new G500 as part of a large fleet agreement that included the G650ER. Since that time, Qatar Executive has progressively increased their Gulfstream orders. This latest one, for a mixed fleet of large-cabin aircraft valued at over $1 billion, further builds on the airline’s efforts to expand the Gulfstream cabin experience around the world.

To date, Gulfstream has delivered six G650ER and four G500 aircraft to Qatar Executive, including the first two international deliveries of the G500 in December 2018.

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