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LATEST NEWS
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Tuesday, January 25th, 2022
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Wisk Aero (Wisk), a California-based Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) company responsible for producing the first all-electric, self-flying air taxi in the US has successfully secured an investment of US$450 million (£333 million) from Boeing.
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This makes Wisk one of the best-funded AAMs and strengthens the already existing relationship between the two companies. Wisk will use the funds to advance its current 6th-generation electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which is also the first all-electric autonomous passenger-carrying aircraft in the US to be a candidate for certification. The funding provided by Boeing will be used to support Wisk as it ramps up its growth phase ready to launch full-scale manufacturing of the aircraft. In the five years subsequent to obtaining certification, Wisk anticipates operating one of the largest fleets of AAM eVTOL aircraft.
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Within that same timeframe Wisk believes it will fly over 40 million people across 20 cities, operating at zero CO2 emission levels. Gary Gysin, CEO of Wisk said: “Wisk is extremely well-positioned to deliver on our long-term strategy and commitment to safe, everyday flight for everyone. We are incredibly fortunate to have Boeing as not only an investor but a strategic partner, which provides us with access to a breadth of resources, industry-leading expertise, a global reach, extensive certification experience, and more.”
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Marc Allen, Chief Strategy Officer of Boeing said: “With this investment, we are reconfirming our belief in Wisk’s business and the importance of their work in pioneering all-electric, AI-driven, autonomous capability for the aerospace industry. Autonomy is the key to unlocking scale across all AAM applications, from passenger to cargo and beyond.”
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C&L Aerospace has signed a five-year agreement with ExpressJet, operating as aha! to provide full supply chain support for its fleet of ERJ 145 aircraft. The contract includes parts procurement, managed repairs, inventory management, shipping and logistics, on-site staff support and a sizeable consignment inventory.
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C&L offers a wide variety of aircraft parts support programmes all customisable to meet the needs of the individual operator. Programmes range in size from initial provisioning and rotable repair management, to hourly-support and exclusive supply chain management programmes like this one.
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IBC Advanced Alloys, one of the leading beryllium and copper advanced alloys companies, has announced that it has completed payments on its US$1.7 million mortgage term-loan on its copper alloys manufacturing facility in Franklin, Ind. Paying off this mortgage is part of IBC’s primary corporate strategy of reducing its debt burden.
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“I am very pleased to announce that we have been able to pay-off our sole mortgage as part of our ongoing effort to reduce corporate debt,” said Mark A. Smith, CEO and Director of IBC. “It is especially exciting that continuing strong sales across both of our operating divisions are strengthening IBC’s ability to generate cash-flow and strengthen our balance sheet organically.”
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Azorra has signed an agreement with Embraer to acquire 20 new E2 family aircraft, plus a further 30 purchase rights. This flexible deal enables Azorra to acquire E190-E2 or E195-E2 aircraft.
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At list prices, the order is valued at US$3.9 billion. Azorra is a Florida-based aircraft leasing company specialising in executive-, regional- and crossover-aircraft. Deliveries will begin in 2023, adding a further 20 Embraer aircraft to the 21 already in Azorra’s existing and committed portfolio.
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HAECO Xiamen has signed an agreement with 321 Precision Conversions to provide passenger-to-freighter conversion for its A321-200PCF programme.
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Since 2009, HAECO Xiamen has partnered with Precision on Boeing 757-200 passenger-to-freighter conversions, having completed 26 such converted freighters. The A321 aircraft passenger-to-freighter conversion work will be performed at HAECO Xiamen’s facility, beginning in February 2022.
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Meanwhile, HAECO Americas commences provision of conversion service to 321 Precision Conversions at HAECO’s Lake City, Florida facility starting from January 2022. The two geographical locations will bring benefits and flexibility to A321-200PCF programme while more choices are available for airline customers.
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California-based JetPack Aviation (JPA) has signed an agreement to provide JetPack pilot and maintainer training to a military customer in Southeast-Asia. This is the first time that professional JetPack training has been delivered to a team of serving military personnel and represents a critical advancement in the use of personal aerial vehicles for government use.
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Following the signing of a US$800,000 order for two JB12 JetPacks, the customer has contracted JetPack Aviation to train two pilots and two maintenance technicians at its California facility, with future options to teach additional personnel, including an instructor.
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The student pilots, already experienced military personnel but without flying experience, will initially receive on-tether instruction, subsequently moving off-tether for advanced training, following an FAA-approved syllabus created by JPA and the US Navy. Training, which will be undertaken close to JetPack Aviation’s Ventura, CA. headquarters, will be delivered on the customer’s own JB12 aircraft during summer 2022. Conducted over two weeks, the course will require a minimum of 50 six-minute on-tether flights before the trainees' progress to free flight.
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Once off-tether training is completed, the programme will conclude with advanced mission-specific maneuvers, including operating in tightly confined spaces and landing on moving ‘targets’. Future developments may include in-country arrangements for initial and currency training, using purpose-built facilities. It is anticipated the Southeast-Asian customer will use the JetPacks to support complicated special missions.
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Acumen Aviation, a leading Aircraft Asset Management Services company has eleased its 2021 Operational Review.
Throughout a challenging year Acumen managed to find flexible and innovative ways to support its clients. Its global reach helped provide localised support where needed, proactively responding to fluid and diverse market requirements. Acumen continued to develop its capability as an asset management company providing services including aircraft sourcing through to trading and remarketing, whilst at the same time maximising the use of its state-of-the -art in-house asset management system “SPARTA”.
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Acumen continued to advance in the areas of lease management, trading and remarketing with 17 aircraft now under management, two aircraft being traded and proposals under final consideration for aircraft remarketing. Acumen also developed its mandates with partners for aircraft acquisition, a key element of which was the development of its human resources with particular emphasis on aircraft valuation, considered to be an integral part of the acquisition process.
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Acumen’s digital business has continued to be rewarded through the sustained and increased growth of its popular asset management platform, SPARTA, growing its services with existing clients including Regional One, to support its entire fleet, comprising of more than 170 aircraft, engines and other major assemblies and new clients including Capgemini Engineering, who chose Acumen’s SPARTA Enterprise Asset Management software solution to support its aeronautics division. In December a revamped version of SPARTA was released, adding new online applications including the Valuation app, fin-S together with a new CommVerge app, giving clients the ability to compute financial exposure and simulate complex scenarios in a fraction of the time.
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Acumen’s Technical Asset Management (TAM) undertook a major fleet review comprising both the Air India and Air India Express aircraft, totalling 150 commercial aircraft, which formed part of the sale process of the airline during the year. Acumen’s footprint in the Indian market continues to grow with the establishment of its office in GIFT City, Gujarat and domain expertise with the launch of ‘Knowledge Report on Leasing and Financing Aircraft in India’. The new entity will provide aircraft financing activities to airlines in India and abroad, thus spreading its wings further into total aircraft asset management.
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Canada Jetlines Operations has reported that the new all-Canadian carrier has received conditional approval for flight crew (pilot) training from Transport Canada effective immediately. Final approval of Canada Jetlines’ pilot training programme will be granted once Transport Canada has reviewed the training conducted under the programme and it proves to be satisfactory.
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“This is an important milestone in the air operator certificate process with Transport Canada. Our first crew will start their pilot training programme this month and are scheduled to have completed simulator training in the later part of February,” shared Eddy Doyle, CEO of Canada Jetlines. “The Airbus A320 is a great aircraft and a pleasure to fly. I haven’t flown a commercial aircraft in the last four years and I am a little envious of our pilots going on course.”
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