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Tuesday, June 19th, 2018
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LATEST NEWS
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The A330neo, Airbus’ newest widebody aircraft, has embarked on a worldwide tour to demonstrate its readiness for airline operations.
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As a final step in the aircraft certification phase, these function and reliability tests, also known as route proving, will include ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) missions, landing at diversion airports and testing airport handling services. After a fly-past over Airbus’ European sites, the A330neo will head for 15 major airports worldwide over five continents, aiming at achieving 150 flight test hours in three trips.
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The route proving tests are performed with the first A330-900 production aircraft, fully equipped with an Airspace by Airbus cabin and flying in launch operator Tap Air Portugal’s colours. The aircraft first flew on May 15, 2018, launching flight tests to check cabin systems such as air conditioning.
The route proving tests form part of the final trials required for aircraft Type Certification scheduled for summer 2018.
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Today, two A330-900 flight test aircraft and the TAP customer aircraft are involved in the intensive flight test programme, which will reach 1,000 flight hours during the tour of the Airbus plants.
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Reuters have reported that the founder of WestJet Airlines and jetBlue Airways, David Neeleman, is making plans to start a new budget airline, with a US$100m in startup capital.
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It is believed that the new carrier may be called Moxy and that it has already secured 60 Bombardier CS300 aircraft, though so far Bombardier have declined to comment on the matter. Robert Milton, Air Canada CEO and Henri Courpron, former CEO of Lease Finance Corp are understood to be early investors in the new venture.
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WestJet was founded in 1996 by David Neeleman along with Clive Beddoe, Mark Hill, Tom Morgan and Donald Bell and currently faces new competition in the form of Calgary-based low-cost carrier Flair. Having started as a low-cost carrier itself, WestJet moved its market position, and in a bid to regain its hold on low-cost flights, has just launched its subsidiary Swoop.
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jetBlue was founded under the name “NewAir” by Neeleman in February 1999 and launched in the U.S. in February 2000. It is now the sixth-largest airline in the country. In 2016 it lost out to Alaska Air Group when it was unsuccessful in acquiring Virgin America.
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Vancouver International Airport (YVR) broke ground on a number of capital construction projects to enhance the airport experience and improve YVR’s competitive position as a world-class connecting hub. The projects are part of YVR’s multi-year expansion plans that will see the airport complete 75 major projects, totaling CA$9.1 billion over the next 20 years.
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YVR is one of the fastest-growing airports in North America. It welcomed a record 24.2 million passengers in 2017 and is forecasting 32 million passengers by 2022. About 327,000 tonnes of cargo are expected to move through the airport by 2020. These newest construction projects will improve the speed with which people and goods move through YVR, and provide passengers with a wide range of compelling offerings and amenities.
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YVR plays a significant role in the local, provincial and national economy—creating jobs and driving business activity. The airport supports 24,000 jobs on Sea Island and more than 100,000 jobs across British Columbia. YVR’s operations—together with tourism and cargo—contribute more than CA$16 billion in total economic output, CA$8.4 billion in GDP and CA$1.4 billion in government revenue across British Columbia. Each new flight through YVR creates hundreds of jobs and contributes millions of dollars in economic benefit to the province.
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The expansion projects will have significant economic and employment benefits in the region. By the end of 2018, construction activities at YVR will create nearly 2,500 full-time construction jobs on Sea Island and hundreds more off-site. Much of the work will be done in the province, offering a significant number of jobs for British Columbians.
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In October, SAS will open a new route from Copenhagen to Hong Kong. This means that the route that currently flies from Stockholm, Arlanda, to Hong Kong, will be moved to Copenhagen, Kastrup, starting from the 2018 winter program.
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Since launching the route three years ago, SAS has faced challenges when it comes to profitability on the Stockholm-Hong Kong route. However, thanks to a new airport slot, SAS will now be able to offer a more attractive timetable with in demand night flights to and from Hong Kong.
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In order to be able to exploit the new airport slot and offer a night flight to Scandinavia from Hong Kong, the route needs to be flown from Copenhagen for operational reasons.
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Hong Kong based Government Flying Service (GFS) has received three H175s in public services configuration, becoming the first operator of this new variant which enlarges the H175 mission capacity to search and rescue (SAR), emergency medical services, law enforcement, firefighting as well as land and maritime border control operations.
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In 2015, GFS became the launch customer of the H175 in public services version with an order for seven helicopters. The four remaining helicopters will be delivered before the end of the year.
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GFS’s new H175 will progressively replace their current fleet of AS332 L2 and H155, which currently provide 24-hour emergency support services from their base at Chek Lap Kok Airport.
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MRO provider Monarch Aircraft Engineering (MAEL), has been awarded a new line maintenance contract with Canadian carrier, Air Transat.
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The new agreement covers full line maintenance support for Air Transat’s fleet of A310 and A330 aircraft at Glasgow airport.
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Air Transat, a MAEL customer since 2007, operates six weekly departures from Glasgow from May to October as part of their extended summer flight programme.
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Since becoming an independent MRO provider in October 2017, MAEL has announced a wide range of new agreements with airlines which, in addition to Air Transat, include Virgin Atlantic Airways, China Airlines, Wizz Air, Icelandair and La Compagnie.
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Hawaiian Airlines and Japan Airlines have filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) seeking immunity from antitrust laws to create a joint venture (JV) that promises significant advantages for consumers.
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If approved, this will be Hawaiian’s first JV, and the first JV in the United States that does not involve one of the three largest U.S. carriers.
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The antitrust immunized joint venture (ATI-JV) will build upon the codeshare partnership that the two carriers initiated in March, allowing them to coordinate marketing and sales efforts and share costs and revenue on their joint venture routes. In their application, Hawaiian and JAL demonstrate that the resulting efficiency will create a cascade of consumer benefits including lower fares, increased capacity and enhanced consumer choice.
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Hawaiian and JAL estimate that the JV will bring an additional 162,000 to 350,000 passengers to Hawai’i and contribute between US$184.5 million and US$402.3 million to the U.S. economy annually, while generating between 1,855 to 4,049 U.S. jobs.
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American Airlines Group (American), one of four U.S. carriers subject to an antitrust lawsuit over collusion to limit plane capacity and in so doing, driving up domestic airfares, has agreed to pay US$45 million to draw matters to a close.
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The carrier has admitted no wrongdoing and American’s spokesman Matt Miller advised that the carrier had “dramatically increased” domestic capacity over the investigated period. He made it clear that while capacity had grown, fares had fallen to a near all-time low, stating that: “Despite our firm conviction in the appropriateness of our actions, costs to defend against antitrust litigation often run into the tens of millions of dollars. So, while it is difficult to agree to a settlement when we believe we were right on the law and the facts, settling this case is a prudent decision for American.”
The other three airlines include Southwest Airlines Co. which has won preliminary court approval over a US$15 million settlement, while United Continental Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines are still in litigation.
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The lawsuit was first brought against the four airlines in 2015, claiming that in the period in question prices rose while capacity remained unchanged and fuel costs fell, and accusing the companies’ executives of adhering to “capacity discipline” and pursuing the scheme by limiting passengers’ ability to compare prices.
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Southwest has settled to avoid “considerable distraction and expense” of prolonged litigation despite being confident it could win and vehemently denying it had entered into any unlawful agreements with other carriers.
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A United Airlines spokesperson said in an email: “We will continue to defend ourselves against these claims which we have always maintained are without merit,"
In a statement on Friday, Delta advised that it had not engaged in any illegal behavior.
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Donaldson Aerospace & Defense, a division of Donaldson Company, has signed an agreement with Leonardo to develop two new Inlet Barrier Filters (IBF) for the AW169 helicopter.
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After development and testing, the dry and oiled media IBFs will be approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as an addition to the Type Certificate. Once certified, the IBFs will be available as a factory option for new Leonardo helicopters as well as retrofitted to in-service European AW169s as a customer option.
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The IBFs will keep contamination, including dirt, dust, salt, and foreign objects, from degrading the performance of the AW169’s twin 1,000 shaft horsepower Pratt & Whitney PW210A engines.
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“Providing world-class engine protection to our customers is an ongoing priority for Leonardo Helicopters,” said Fabio Nannoni, SVP Engineering of Leonardo Helicopters. “Donaldson is the right choice to provide a superior filtration solution for our new generation family of helicopters.”
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Donaldson IBFs are already EASA certified for installation on AW139 and, soon, on AW189 helicopters.
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Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has committed to lease four new Embraer E190’s to LOT Polish Airlines. The placement of the new aircraft are from NAC’s existing Embraer order book.
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As of January 2019, LOT will operate the E190’s on new routes direct to London (LCY). This will bring their network connection to 100 destinations worldwide.
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“We are extremely happy to announce this prestigious destination as our 100th connection in our network. LOT has a long lasting history of operations to London Heathrow, where we are flying three times a day. Now we are opening the new chapter by putting two daily flights to London City into our offer. London City is the most convenient airport for those passengers willing to get to the City of London in the shortest and most comfortable way. I am the most certain that this new connection will be appreciated by our passengers particularly from CEE region and is going to be one of the most successful routes in our constantly growing network” – says Adrian Kubicki, director corporate communications of LOT Polish Airlines.
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