Daily2018-02-20

Wednesday, March 14th, 2018

royal

LATEST NEWS

Melrose’s New £8bn Hostile Bid for GKN Rejected as Merger Deal with Dana Continues

Melrose has declared a “final” offer of £8.1 billion for UK engineering giant GKN as a culmination of its efforts to acquire the company which started back in January. GKN has strongly urged its shareholders to reject the offer from Melrose, with the backing of Unite, Britain’s largest trade union. Melrose is seen by its critics as an asset-stripper.
The new bid from Melrose is an increase from its initial offer of £7.4bn, worth 442p and 424p per share respectively. The new bid, in actual terms for current investors, means they will receive 81p in cash for every share held, plus 1.69 new Melrose shares.
Melrose’s interest in GKN peaked after GKN issued profit warnings in October and November last year, created by problems in its aerospace division.
GKN’s aerospace interests include supplying parts for the F-35 fighter jet, the Airbus A400M military turboprop plane, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Black Hawk military helicopter.
According to Steve Turner, the assistant general secretary of Unite, which has been campaigning against Melrose: “Melrose’s self-professed short-term approach of breaking companies up and selling parts quickly on, raises major concerns for UK defence interests and works against the long-term projects that GKN Aerospace is involved in.”
In an attempt to strengthen the company, GKN announced last Friday that it had agreed a US$6.1bn merger of its automotive Driveline division with the American, Ohio-based Dana, which produces axels and driveshafts. In addition, the intention would be to sell off GKN’s powder metallurgy business so that it could concentrate on aerospace.
If the deal is successful, Dana would become a UK public limited company, but remain headquartered in Ohio with its shares traded on the New York stock exchange.
WernerAero2018-02-13

Boeing's 10,000th 737 comes off the production line

Boeing employees gathered at the company's Renton, Wash. factory to celebrate the 10,000th 737 to come off the production line.

With this airplane, a 737 MAX 8 for Southwest Airlines, the 737 has broken the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the most produced commercial jet aircraft model. The 737 previously held this GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title in 2006 for the 5,000th airplane to come out of the Renton factory, a mark that took almost four decades to reach. Due to growing market demand and higher production rates, the 737 program reached the 10,000th airplane milestone only 12 years later.

Boeing will increase 737 production from the current rate of 47 airplanes per month to 52 airplanes per month later this year. The 737 program has more than 4,600 airplanes still on order fueled by sales of the newest version of the 737, the 737 MAX.

ComponentControl2018-03-14

Honeywell provides airlines with powerful connected aircraft analytics package

Honeywell is bringing a deeper level of visibility into airlines' operating environments with its newest integrated service, GoDirect Flight Efficiency.

The offering — part of an extensive family of GoDirect flight-related services — allows airlines to make strategic decisions on flight operations and planning by amassing all flight variables into one place, including flight plans, weather, navigation charts, aircraft performance, optimized fuel usage and more. This powerful new tool from Honeywell provides up-to-date information to airlines and pilots for informed decision-making during all phases of flight. For airlines and passengers, the result is fewer turbulent flights that more often arrive on time and use less fuel.

GoDirect Flight Efficiency features a suite of integrated offerings that includes Honeywell's flight data analytics platform and trajectory optimization tools. Together these tools provide a one-stop shop for operators to make strategic decisions on what to adjust during day-to-day operations.

Suitable for all airlines, the solution can scale from the smallest regional carriers to the largest global fleets. Airlines using the service have experienced fuel savings up to 5% and have been able to reduce short-haul flights by an average of 1.1 nautical miles and long-haul flights by an average of 3.5 nautical miles.
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AEI receives order for two MD-83SF conversions from Everts Air Cargo

Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI) has signed a contract to provide Fairbanks, Alaska-based Everts Air Cargo with two MD-83SF series freighter conversions.

The first MD-83 (MSN 53471) will commence modification on April 4th, 2018 and will be re-delivered in the beginning of August 2018. Immediately following, the second MD-83 (MSN TBD) modification will commence, and is scheduled for re-delivery to Everts in December 2018. Both modifications will be performed by Commercial Jet’s Dothan, Alabama facility.

Everts will use the AEI MD-83SF freighters to replace and augment their existing fleet of DC-9 aircraft.
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HAECO Group reports 2017 final results

The HAECO Group has reported an attributable loss of HK$541m in 2017. This loss included an impairment charge of HK$625m in respect of the goodwill attributable to HAECO USA Holdings, Inc. (HAECO Americas) and a write off of HK$249m in respect of HAECO Americas’ net deferred tax assets.

This compares with a profit of HK$975m in 2016, which included a gain of HK$805m on disposal of the interest of Hong Kong Aero Engine Services (HAESL) in Singapore Aero Engine Services (SAESL) and an impairment charge of HK$285m in respect of the goodwill attributable to HAECO Americas.

Disregarding the impairment charges in both years, the net deferred tax asset write off in 2017 and the gain on disposal in 2016, the HAECO Group made an attributable profit of HK$340m in 2017, compared with an attributable profit of HK$516m in 2016.

Airways New Zealand welcomes Zephyr flying taxi to New Zealand airspace

Airways New Zealand has announced it is piloting future technologies needed to support the arrival of autonomous flying vehicles in New Zealand airspace. This follows confirmation by Zephyr Airworks that it will develop and test its air taxi, called Cora, in New Zealand.
The air navigation services provider will develop a nationwide unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) traffic management system, known as UTM, to enable drone activity across New Zealand airspace as well as integrate these vehicles safely into the national air traffic network.

Airways CEO Graeme Sumner says, “There is no doubt that technology is evolving and Airways’ role is to enable safe and flexible access to our airspace to allow these new industries to thrive.

“New Zealand’s regulatory environment and relatively uncongested airspace make us an attractive option for new operators. We are looking for ways to safely support more complex operations and facilitate new entrants, including the Zephyr Airworks’ autonomous aircraft, into our skies.”

The trial of the AirMap drone traffic management platform currently underway in Canterbury and Queenstown is the first step in this development. AirMap allows drone pilots to plan their flights, seek authorisations and get information about the areas they’re operating in.

The next phase Airways is planning is to develop tracking tools that allow UAVs to be accurately monitored once they are beyond the pilot’s line of site and detect and avoidance capability to keep them safely separated from other aircraft.

Airways also intends to test the capabilty of New Zealand’s existing telecommunications network to track the likes of Zephyr Airworks’ autonomous vehicle Cora and UAVs in uncontrolled airspace and enable better telemetry for drone pilots.

Airways has had significant experience working with new entrants to New Zealand’s airspace. Over the past four years the air traffic controller has developed an advanced launch services programme, enabling more than 120 stratospheric balloon launches for organisations including NASA and Google and has facilitated RocketLab’s ambitious rocket launch programme.
RoyalAero_2017

SR Technics nominates Frank Walschot as new Chief Executive Officer

SR Technics has nominated Frank Walschot as Chief Executive Officer as of April 1, 2018, replacing Jeremy Remacha, who is leaving the company at the end of the scheduled transition period to the new shareholders.

With more than 30 years’ aviation industry experience in leading operational, commercial and financial functions around the world, Frank Walschot is a recognized and respected senior executive, well trusted with SR Technics’ business and challenges for many years.

Frank Walschot has joined SR Technics in 2008 as Vice President Engine Maintenance and was appointed shortly thereafter Head of Engine Services where he played a key role in developing the engine business further. In January 2015, Frank Walschot was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, focusing on the performance and efficiency of SR Technics’ global operations, ensuring the highest safety and quality standards at all our locations based on the principles of Lean and Continuous Improvement.

Frank Walschot returns to SR Technics after a one-year assignment in Haikou, China as Chief Investment Officer of HNA Technic where he successfully supported the development of HNA Group’s MRO strategy and business.

GATelesis2018-03-12

Rolls-Royce wins Trent order from Turkish Airlines

Rolls-Royce has won an order from Turkish Airlines for Trent XWB engines to power 25 Airbus A350-900 aircraft, all of which will be covered by its flagship TotalCare® service support. The airline also has options for a further five aircraft.

The Trent XWB is both the most efficient large civil aero engine flying today and the fastest selling wide body jet engine ever, with over 1,700 ordered by 45 customers worldwide.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, said: “Turkish Airlines has enjoyed impressive growth over recent years and we are really proud to be playing our part in the next chapter of their story. The Trent XWB delivers excellent performance and this order underlines the confidence our customers have that our products are the right choice in terms of economics and services.”

The Trent XWB first entered service in January 2015. Turkish Airlines currently operates 27 Trent 700 powered A330 aircraft and one Trent 500 powered A340.

FPG Amentum arranges sale of one 747-400ERF

FPG Amentum, the Dublin-based aircraft leasing/management company, has announced the sale of one Boeing 747-400ERF (MSN 37303).

The aircraft was on an operating lease to Cargolux Airlines International S.A. from one of FPG Amentum’s investor customers and has now been sold to the airline.

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Operating Lease Seminar 2018
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