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Thursday, December 20th, 2018
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LATEST NEWS
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Spirit AeroSystems (Spirit), which designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers, released this Wednesday December 19, that a further 1,400 employees will be taken on over the next few years. This is in addition to the 1,000 new jobs it announced in 2017 for expansion of the site of its Witchita, Kansas headquarters. The new positions will be supporting roles for its commercial and defense programs and, according to Spirit, the majority of open positions will continue to be in the hourly ranks, including skilled sheet-metal assembly mechanics, composite mechanics and CNC machine operators.
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"The aerospace market is growing as never before, and for us that means we continue to need even more highly skilled people," said Spirit President and CEO Tom Gentile. "Spirit's ongoing collaboration with regional technical training institutions, along with public investments in those programs, help ensure we can fill our talent pipeline. We appreciate Gov. Jeff Colyer's leadership supporting this latest expansion, and we look forward to working with state and local leaders to build on the success of these programs."
"Once again Spirit AeroSystems has shown why they are vitally important to the Air Capital of the World, and we are pleased to be a full partner in support of their ongoing growth," said Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, M.D. "The aerospace industry is a key driver of our state's economy. We remain committed to our unique and robust partnerships which set us apart from the global competition and help ensure the industry's continued success in Kansas."
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Spirit's 2017 announcement also included a pledge to increase capital investment. The most visible example is the company's new 150,000 square-foot Global Digital Logistics Center, which is on schedule to open in early 2019 at Wichita. Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia, with core products including fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components.
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Emirates and South African Airways (SAA) are expanding their strategic cooperation with enhancements to its codeshare agreement, opening up new destinations for both Emirates and SAA customers.
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Pending governmental approval, SAA and Emirates have signed an enhanced commercial partnership which will see the relationship between the two carriers grow and strengthen their already successful codeshare agreement signed in 1997, across a wide spectrum of commercial and customer touch points.
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In 2017/18, the codeshare agreement between Emirates and SAA saw approximately 90,000 passengers benefit from seamless travel and greater connectivity, in this year alone. Emirates launched operations to South Africa in 1995 with flights between Dubai and Johannesburg. The relationship between SAA and Emirates spans over 20 years dating back to June 1997 with the signing of Emirates’ first ever codeshare agreement, whereby the SAA code started to appear on flights operated by Emirates to Dubai.
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SAA is able to offer its customers seats on the eight daily flights operated by Emirates between South Africa and Dubai (four daily flights from Johannesburg including its iconic A380 aircraft, three daily flights from Cape Town and one daily flight from Durban).
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The enhanced agreement means the codeshare will be expanded across both carriers’ networks.
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Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A. and Embraer have signed a contract for a firm order for a previously announced 21 E195-E2 jets. This agreement was revealed as a Letter of Intent (LoI) at the Farnborough Airshow, in July. This contract has a value of US$ 1.4 billion, based on current list prices, and will be included in Embraer’s 2018 fourth-quarter backlog.
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This contract is in addition to the 30 E195-E2 jets ordered by the airline in 2015, raising Azul's total order to 51 Embraer E2 aircraft. Azul is the launch operator of the E195-E2 and will receive the first aircraft in 2019.
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Rolls-Royce is celebrating another milestone in the Trent family success story with the delivery of the 2,000th Trent 700.
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The Trent 700, the original member of the now seven-strong Trent engine family, has become the clear market leader and engine of customer choice for the Airbus A330.
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Earlier this year Rolls-Royce celebrated the Trent 700 completing its 50 millionth flying hour, the equivalent to flying around the world more than one million times.
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The Trent 700 was the first member of the Trent engine family and has played a significant role in transforming Rolls-Royce into a truly global company. The Trent 700 has been Rolls-Royce’s best-selling engine, helping to increase its widebody market share from 13% in 1995 – when the engine was first introduced – to more than 50% by the early 2020s.
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The milestone comes as the Trent family story continues with the recent entry into service of the Airbus A330neo, powered by the seventh and most recent Trent family member, the Trent 7000.
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Boeing has raised its long-term forecast for commercial airplanes in India as unprecedented domestic passenger traffic and rapidly expanding low-cost carriers (LCCs) drive the need for 2,300 new jets – valued at US$320 billion – over the next 20 years.
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This year alone, more than 10 million passengers, on average, traveled within India each month.
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"To meet this increased domestic air traffic growth, we see the vast majority of available airplane seats coming from LCCs," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Sales for Asia Pacific and India, Boeing Commericial Airplanes. "The success of this market segment will mean more than 80 percent of all new airplane deliveries in India will be single-aisles. And the superior economics and fuel efficiency of the new 737 MAX airplane will be the perfect choice for Indian carriers."
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According to Boeing's Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), India's commercial aviation industry has achieved 51 consecutive months of double-digit growth. This growth is matched in other sectors of the country's economy.
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"The Indian economy is projected to grow by nearly 350 percent over the next two decades to become the third largest economy in the world," said Keskar. "This will continue to drive the growth of India's middle class and its propensity to travel both domestically and internationally, resulting in the need for more new fuel-efficient short- and long-haul airplanes."
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With more than five percent of the world's fleet expected to operate in India by 2037, services will continue to be a major driver of growth in the region's commercial aviation industry. Commercial services such as flight training, engineering and maintenance, digital analytics among others will provide airlines with optimal operational efficiencies as they continue to expand to meet growth in the marketplace. In the South Asian market, including India, Boeing forecasts a commercial services market valued at US$430 billion over the next 20 years.
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FL Technics, a global provider of integrated aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, has signed a contract with Go2Sky for the line maintenance services in Vilnius airport for their Boeing 737NG.
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Go2Sky will fly on behalf of GetJet who took over Small Planet Airlines contracts. Based at Milan Rastislav Stefanik airport in Bratislava (Slovakia), Go2Sky airline provides a non-scheduled transportation of passengers, cargo and mail as well as offers lease ACMI of their aircraft.
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Semcon will be developing new autonomous solutions to help airports reduce their costs and make them safer. This time, the company will be devising smart ways to clear snow from landing lights using autonomous vehicles. This is a time-consuming job at present that has to be carried out manually. The aim is to allow more airports to stay open.
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“It may seem like a little thing, but runways are shut down if 15% of their lights are disabled – and that results in significant delays and costs money. There are major benefits to be gained by using autonomous solutions here, not least when it comes to enhancing the safety of both aircraft and personnel,” says Anne Piegsa, technical project manager at Semcon.
This project is being implemented by Semcon in partnership with Lundberg Hymas – their tractor will be made autonomous. It will be possible to steer these vehicles remotely from a traffic management centre developed by Yeti Snow Technology, and it will be possible to interrupt the clearing of snow to allow an aircraft to land, for example.
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Extreme vehicle precision is required, and the vehicle has to be able to operate in all weathers – these factors present a challenge. Semcon has previous experience of projects involving similar situations, working with Yeti Snow Technology, a company co-owned with Øveraasen. A successful solution for keeping entire runways clear of snow using autonomous snowploughs was demonstrated in Norway last spring.
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“Smart automation of airports will make it possible to keep more of the smaller, less busy airports open and retain staff thanks to reduced costs and increased safety,” says Anne Piegsa.
The technology is being developed by Semcon for LFV (the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration) as part of its AVAP project, Autonomous Vehicles for AirPorts. Husqvarna, RISE, FlyPulse, Swedavia and Combitech are also working on various subprojects as part of this initiative. This project will be demonstrated at Örnsköldsvik Airport in a year’s time.
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Airbus has delivered Canada’s first H145 helicopter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The versatile twin-engine Airbus H145 is the latest variant of the H145 family of aircraft. RCMP’s Air Support Unit will utilize the H145 for a variety of missions including surveillance and pursuit, fast roping, hoisting, Emergency Response Team operations, harbour surveillance and ship landings, and mountain search and rescue.
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The aircraft will be based in Langley, B.C., and will operate mainly in the Vancouver Lower Mainland region, with the ability to deploy elsewhere as required.
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Embraer has announced the signing of a contract with the Government of Kiribati, in partnership with their national airline, Air Kiribati, for two firm orders for the E190-E2 E-Jets and two purchase rights for the same model. With all purchase rights being exercised, the contract has a value of US$243 million, based on current list prices. The order will be included in Embraer’s 2018 fourth-quarter backlog.
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Scheduled for a 2019 delivery, the E190-E2 will enable the flag carrier for the Republic of Kiribati, located in the central Pacific, to fly longer domestic and international routes than it currently does with its turboprop fleet. Air Kiribati will be the launch operator for the E190-E2 in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China).
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This order comes after a three-week Asia Pacific tour of the ‘Shark’ livery E190-E2 in October, which included a stop in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati. Spanning four time zones and comprised of more than 30 islands, Kiribati is the only country in the world to be in all four hemispheres.
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Airbus has delivered the 400th A320 Family aircraft from its Final Assembly Line Asia (FALA) in Tianjin, China. The A320neo was delivered to national flag carrier Air China, based in Beijing. Powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF latest generation engines, the aircraft features a comfortable two-class cabin layout with 158 seats: 8 business and 150 economy.
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The milestone is a tribute to the excellent industrial cooperation and partnership between Airbus and the Chinese aviation industry.
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The Airbus A320 Family Final Assembly Line Asia (FALA) is a joint venture between Airbus and a Chinese consortium comprising Tianjin Airport Economic Area Zone & Tianjin Port Free Trade Administrative Committee and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). Airbus and the Chinese consortium hold 51% and 49% of the shares of the joint venture respectively. Airbus has four A320 Family production facilities around the world: Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; Tianjin, China; and Mobile, United States.
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