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Friday, August 10th, 2018
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LATEST NEWS
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Airbus Defence and Space has announced the successful landing of its first production aircraft of the Zephyr programme, the new Zephyr S HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite).
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After taking off on July 11, in Arizona, USA, Zephyr S logged a maiden flight of over 25 days, the longest duration flight ever made. An application has been made to establish this as a new world record. This maiden flight of the solar powered Zephyr S proves the system capabilities and achieved all the flight’s engineering objectives.
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The previous longest flight duration record was also logged by a Zephyr prototype aircraft a few years ago, achieving then more than 14 days continuous flight, which already was ten times longer than any other aircraft in the world.
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This new record flight was supported by the UK government and reflects the UK Ministry of Defence’s position as the first customer for this innovative and potentially game changing capability.
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Zephyr is the world’s leading, solar–electric, stratospheric Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). It harnesses the sun’s rays, running exclusively on solar power, above the weather and conventional air traffic; filling a capability gap complimentary to satellites, UAVs and manned aircraft to provide persistent local satellite-like services.
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It has been a tough time for Touristik Union International (TUI), the world’s largest leisure, travel and tourism company in the world, the result of which has seen the Group’s underlying earnings fall 18% to €193 million for the previous three months up to the end of June, net profit falling 31% to €110.5 million for the same period.
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Despite TUI’s turnover for the third quarter rising 5% to €5 billion and the Group remaining confident of achieving double-digit earnings growth this year, for the fourth year in a row, shares fell more than 9% to €15.96 in early trading on Thursday, August 9.
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The group has been hit by a weakened pound, while it also expects to take a €35 million full-year hit from the devaluation of the Turkish lira after local loans were translated back into euros. It is estimated that flight disruption, caused predominantly by French air traffic controller strikes, cost the Group €13 million, while the recent heatwave has seen an increase in ‘staycation’ holidays, even though summer bookings were up 4%.
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The Group’s Chief Executive, Fritz Joussen, commented: “We have delivered a profitable operating result already after nine months for the second year in a row. For the full year, we expect to deliver double-digit earnings growth for the fourth consecutive time.
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“We have considerably reduced our seasonality and thus our susceptibility to external challenges through the Group’s transformation focusing on hotels and cruises.
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“TUI is in good health, we are flexible, deliver a strong operational performance and invest in our growth segments while maintaining our cost discipline.” (€1.00 = US$1.17 at time of publication.)
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), rose 2.7% in June 2018, compared to the same period the year before. This continues the slowdown in air cargo growth that began earlier in 2018. Growth for the first half of 2018 stands at 4.7%, less than half the growth rate in 2017.
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Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), rose by 4.1% in June 2018. Capacity growth has now outstripped demand growth in every month since March.
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There are three main factors driving the slowdown:
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- The restocking cycle, during which businesses rapidly built up inventories to meet demand, ended in early 2018. There was a marked fall in air cargo volumes from March.
- We are now seeing a structural slowdown in global trading conditions as indicated by the fall in the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) to its lowest level since 2016. Factory export order books have turned negative in China, Japan and the US.
- The temporary grounding of the Nippon Cargo Airlines fleet in the second half of June exaggerated the slow-down by shaving up to 0.5 points off June growth.
All regions except Africa reported a year-on-year increase in freight volumes in June 2018, but the slow growth in Asia-Pacific, which accounts for nearly 37% of the entire air cargo market, dragged the global growth rate down.
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In July 2018, the Lufthansa Group airlines welcomed around 14.2 million passengers. This shows an increase of 8.2% compared to the previous year’s month. Capacity was up 7.0% over the previous year, at the same time, sales increased by 7.0%. As compared to June 2017, the seat load factor decreased slightly by 0.1 points to 86.3%.
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Cargo capacity increased 1.8 % year-on-year, while cargo sales decreased by 2.9% in revenue tonne-kilometer terms. As a result, the Cargo load factor showed a corresponding reduction, decreasing by 3.1 points to 64.1%.
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The Network Airlines Lufthansa German Airlines, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 10.2 million passengers in July - 5.2% more than in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous year, capacity increased by 4.1% and the sales volume was up 3.7% over the same period. The load factor decreasing by 0.3 points to 86.3%.
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In July, the strongest passenger growth of the network airlines was recorded at the Munich hub, where the number of passengers increased by 9.0 percent compared to the same month last year. The number of passengers increased by 4.5% in Zurich, 4.0% in Vienna and 3.8% in Frankfurt. The underlying offer also increased to varying degrees: in Munich by 11.7%, in Zurich by 7.3%, and in Vienna by 4.3%. The number of seat kilometres available in Frankfurt fell slightly by 0.3%.
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Lufthansa German Airlines transported 6.8 million passengers in July, a 5.8% increase compared to the same month last year. A 3.1% increase in capacity in July corresponds to a 2.2% increase in sales. Furthermore, the seat load factor was 86.0%, therefore 0.8 points below last year’s level.
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Eurowings (including Brussels Airlines) carried around 3.9 million passengers in July. Among this total, 3.6 million passengers were on short-haul flights and 225,000 flew long-haul. This amounts to an increase of 16.9% in comparison to the previous year. July capacity was 21.4% above its prior-year level, while its sales volume was up 23.3%, resulting in an increase of seat load factor by 1.3 points to 86.0%.
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Willis Lease Finance Corporation has reported a pre-tax profitv of US$11.6 million in the second quarter of 2018, driven by strong sales in each of its leasing, spare parts and asset management businesses. The Company achieved record quarterly lease rent revenue of US$43.1 million in the period driven by continued high utilization and 14.9% growth of its portfolio to US$1.542 billion at quarter-end compared to US$1.343 billion at December 31, 2017.
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Aggregate lease rent and maintenance reserve revenues were $65.1 million for the second quarter 2018, up 37.5% and 85.5% respectively.
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As of June 30, 2018, the Company had a total lease portfolio consisting of 246 engines and related equipment, 15 aircraft and 10 other leased parts and equipment with a net book value of US$1.542 billion. As of December 31, 2017, the Company had a total lease portfolio consisting of 225 engines and related equipment, 16 aircraft and 7 other leased parts and equipment, with a net book value of US$1.343 billion.
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C&L Aerospace, A C&L Aviation Group company, has purchased an ERJ145 aircraft to be parted out. All parts from the aircraft will be stocked in C&L’s warehouses in the US and around the globe.
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Parts from the ERJ will supplement existing inventory and be used to support PBH and rotable parts contracts, as C&L currently has with operators. It will also be utilized on aircraft in heavy maintenance at their Bangor, Maine Part 145 maintenance facility where C&L performs heavy maintenance on a variety of regional aircraft, including the ERJ.
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“Our ability to finalize the deal and close quickly was the main reason we won this deal, unlike other potential buyers that would need approval at various levels before being able to make a commitment" said Jameel Wazir, Executive Vice President of C&L Aerospace.
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The parts, along with their corresponding documentation, are photographed, barcoded and scanned into an electronic location system. The photographs are provided with all customer quotes.
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Werner Aero Services has acquired an Embraer E-190, MSN233. This jet will be used to support Werner Aero Services continued expansion of its E-Jets asset management programs. Werner Aero Services E-Jets business includes pooling access, repair management, engine leasing, as well as nacelle and spare support.
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“We are excited to add this E-Jet to our asset management program. We made a commitment to continually invest in the E-Jet market and are proud to have kept our promise. Werner Aero Services' goal is to become the biggest independent Embraer supplier in the world.” said Mike Cazaz, CEO of Werner Aero Services.
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Another 250 flights have been added to the list of Ryanair cancelations as the German Pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) confirms that pilots will be taking strike action this Friday after a 96 percent majority of Ryanair pilots employed in Germany voted in favor of a walk out.
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They now join the ranks of striking pilots in Ireland, Belgium and Sweden, with over 150 flights already canceled ahead of further action. In all, approximately 45,000 Ryanair passengers will be given up to 48 hours’ notice if their flights have been canceled. Although the Irish low-cost carrier has not confirmed which flights will be canceled, it is understood that links from East Midlands, Glasgow, Manchester and Stansted to and from Berlin Schonefeld will be grounded on Friday, along with Manchester and Stansted services to Frankfurt.
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The strike by German pilots was announced on July 30 after VC confirmed that no improved offer had been received from Ryanair, Martin Locher, the union’s President commenting that: “Improvements are inconceivable without staff cost increases in the cockpit. Ryanair categorically ruled out any increase in staff costs in the negotiations. Ryanair alone is responsible for the escalation that has now occurred. VC regrets the impact on affected passengers, cabin crew and ground crew.”
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Friday is due to be one of the busiest days of the summer for carriers, with Ryanair originally intending to operate 2,400 flights. That number has now dwindled by around 400 due to strike cancellations in Ireland, Belgium, Sweden and Germany, representing one-sixth of Ryanair’s schedule.
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Southwest Airlines has reported that traffic in July 2018 increased 2.1% comapared to July 2017, while capacity increased 3.2%. The July 2018 load factor was 86.3%, compared with 87.3% the previous year.
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Hawaiian Airlines has reported its system-wide traffic statistics for the month ended July 31, 2018.
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Hawaiian welcomed nearly 1.1 million guests in July 2018, a record for the month of July and an increase of 3.2% over the same period last year. Total traffic increased 5.1% on an increase of 5.0% in capacity. Load factor increased 0.1 points to 87.4%.
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