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Friday, December 7th, 2018
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LATEST NEWS
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While confirming that neither Jet Airways nor SpiceJet have experienced any problems with their Boeing 737 MAX jets, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has recommended that Boeing pilots undergo additional training. The advice comes after the October 29 crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX which killed all 189 passengers and crew on board. While the official cause of the crash has yet to be published, the focus has been on a sensor related to the anti-stall system on the jet which is reputed to have provided inaccurate information. It is believed the pilots on board the ill-fated flight were ill equipped to deal with the behavior of the plane if it reacted to false data readings, their subsequent actions in this instance possibly exacerbating rather than solving the problem.
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The DGCA is keen to see Boeing pilots undergo further training in a flight simulator that will have the capability of replicating the conditions on the Lion Air jet prior to the crash, saying that: “Even though Indian operators have not experienced such major concern ... following decisions were taken as interim precautionary safety measures till such time Boeing issues more detailed information or clarification.”
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While the reasons for the crash are becoming clearer, attention has been diverted to the actions of Lion Air after it was revealed that pilots who had flown the 737 MAX the day before has reported similar behavioral problems with the jet on take-off. However, rather than turn back, they successfully dealt with the problem and continued on to the intended destination. It is understood that in the event a plane’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) detects any defect, the plane should be diverted and a verification flight (with no passengers) be performed prior to the jet re-entering into service. According to an Indonesian report on the accident, this did not take place.
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TUI Aviation has appointed Marco Ciomperlik to the position of Chief Operations Officer in charge of Engineering & Maintenance, Supplier Management & Procurement, Inflight Services and Aviation IT. Marco Ciomperlik is a known expert in the aviation industry with an impressive track-record of successful change management initiatives and corporate turn-arounds. Before joining the aviation industry he was partner at Germany based consulting firm Roland Berger. His aviation career started back in 2010.
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TUI Aviation also announced further management appointments. Jill Nye has been newly appointed as Director Inflight Services. She will be in charge of inflight services, product selection and logistics in close coordination with the source markets. Geert Somers has been newly appointed as Director Engineering & Maintenance in charge of all maintenance work for the airlines and for Supplier Management & Procurement. Isabelle Droll will be the responsible Director for Aviation IT.
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Dawn Wilson will take over the Northern Region Airlines as Managing Director from 1st January 2019. She will directly report to Kenton Jarvis. She has many years of experience at TUI in both aviation and operations and now heads the airlines in the UK and Scandinavia. Oliver Lackmann will become the sole Managing Director of TUI fly Germany, also reporting to Kenton. He was appointed Managing Director and Accountable Manager at TUI fly Germany in March 2018. Gunther Hofmann continues as Managing Director of TUI fly Belgium and TUI Netherlands airlines.
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The Managing Directors will also have lead responsibilities in the aviation platform functions which go across all TUI Group airlines. Dawn Wilson will be Director Airline Operations, in charge of Operations Control areas across the Group. Oliver Lackmann will assume the Group role of Director Flight Operations including Compliance & Safety Management. Gunther Hofmann will continue to be in charge of Ground Operations across the Group.
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Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) has delivered seven leased freighters by its Cargo Aircraft Management and ATSG West Leasing subsidiaries during the fourth quarter of 2018, pointing to continued strong demand for its converted Boeing 767 freighter aircraft.
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Amerijet International Airlines of Miami, Florida, took delivery of a Boeing 767-300 converted freighter. CAM now leases seven 767 freighters to Amerijet.
Cargojet Airways of Mississauga, Canada, took delivery of two more Boeing 767-300 converted freighters, bringing the total number of aircraft leased to CargoJet to four.
SkyTaxi of Wroclaw, Poland, took delivery of its first Boeing 767-200 converted freighter, with an option to lease a second freighter in 2019.
West Atlantic AB of Gothenburg, Sweden, took delivery of a Boeing 767-200 converted freighter. This is West Atlantic's sixth aircraft leased from ATSG.
Also, two Boeing 767-300 freighters were delivered internally to ATSG subsidiary airline Air Transport International, to be operated for external customers under ACMI agreements that extend well into 2019.
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Additionally, a DHL-leased 767-200 freighter was transferred to Bahrain from DHL’s US air cargo network. DHL now has six ATSG 767-200s in the Middle East.
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ATSG's in-service fleet now comprises ninety-one aircraft, including thirteen from its recent acquisition of Omni Air International. ATSG’s global expansion in 2018 has been significant, accomplishing eight 2018 deliveries outside of the United States to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Canada.
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Eirtech Aviation Services (EAS) has formally announced some significant changes in its Part 21J DOA Engineering Leadership team. Keith McKerchar (Director of Engineering) is joined by Trevor Jenkins (ex CDG Boeing) as Head of Design and Tom Malynn (ex B/E Aerospace) as Head of Airworthiness.
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Bringing over thirty years of aircraft structures, cabin interiors and advanced materials engineering experience, Trevor Jenkins is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Chartered Engineer. In addition to several Head of Design and Office of Airworthiness roles in Part 21 Subpart J approved organisations, he previously held roles as Technical Director with B/E Aerospace, Engineering Director with PremiAir and more recently Integration Engineering Manager for CDG Boeing.
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Tom Malynn joins Eirtech with over 30 year’s aerospace experience. Previous roles have included research and development on navigation systems before entering the Cabin Interiors Sector where he worked on a variety of products/projects including aircraft STC programmes. In the last 18 years Malynn has been in senior technical positions encompassing stress, cabin systems and airworthiness.
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In addition, John Mulvaney has recently joined Eirtech Aviation Services having spent over 19 years with SR Technics, he brings a wealth of experience in both design and embodiment of aircraft changes to the Eirtech engineering team.
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Furthermore, the Singapore office has also expanded with the addition of Valerie Lin and Pallaniyappan Soma Arunachalam with more engineers joining in 2019.
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Eamonn McAuley is moving on from Eirtech Aviation Services to pursue other interests.
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The growing Eirtech engineering team now totals 27 design engineers including 7 CVE’s and we expect to add to our CVE team in 2019, covering all engineering disciplines; cabin safety, structures and avionics. The team coverage now extends to Shannon, Dublin, Belfast and Singapore offices.
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AAR Mobility Systems has been awarded a task order valued at US$27.5 million from the U.S. Air Force for production of 463L cargo pallets.
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The cargo pallets will be manufactured in Cadillac, Michigan and are expected to be completed by December 30, 2020. This task order is tied to a previously awarded contract, which brings the total cumulative face value to US$170.6 million.
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AAR has been providing 463L systems cargo pallets to the U.S. Armed Forces since the early 1960s and continues to be the world leader in design and production. The 463L USAF design uses a lightweight balsa wood core that continues to provide unparalleled strength-to-weight performance and reliability compared to alternative commercial pallet designs.
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CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., (CDB Leasing), has begun delivery of a fleet of six Airbus aircraft to Portugal’s leading airline, TAP Air Portugal (TAP).
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The first aircraft delivered to the carrier in November is a new Airbus A321neo, which is part of a lease agreement for a total of four aircraft of the type. The second A321neo is expected to deliver by year-end, with the remaining two aircraft slated for arrival in 2019.
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In addition, in April 2018, CDB Aviation and TAP entered into a purchase and leaseback agreement for two Airbus A330-900neo aircraft. The two widebodies are expected to deliver in the second quarter of 2019.
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HAECO Group’s cabin completion specialist, HAECO Private Jet Solutions (HAECO PJS), has obtained EASA Part 21 Subpart J Design Organisation Approval (DOA). The approval enables HAECO PJS to approve minor changes and repairs for parts and appliances covering cabin, structures, and electrical systems on private jets and commercial aircraft.
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HAECO PJS is one of Asia Pacific’s leading private jet cabin completion centres. With the EASA DOA, HAECO PJS broadens its turnkey cabin design, certification, and completion solutions, delivering more robust assurance to customers on schedule integrity for modifications such as connectivity upgrade, flight deck and cabin interior refurbishment, and livery change. These modifications can be certified in-house by a dedicated team of compliance verification engineers (“CVEs”) and performed on aircraft registered in multiple jurisdictions.
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Kalmar Öland Airport and Kalmar Municipality, together with airlines SAS and BRA and fuel supplier Air BP, have cooperated to meet a 5% biofuel target on all flights from Kalmar to Stockholm.
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Kalmar Öland Airport has, together with its owner Kalmar Municipality, been working actively for many years to create the conditions to secure funding for the additional cost of aviation biofuel, with a long-term goal of having fossil-free aviation from Kalmar. As a first step towards fossil-free fuel locally, domestic flights between Kalmar and Stockholm flew on biofuel during the Kalmarsundsveckan 2017 sustainability week.
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The next step in the process was to establish the conditions for funding the aviation biofuel more broadly. During this process, both Kalmar Municipality and the airport, and many of the municipal companies, took the decision that all their own business travel on flights from Kalmar should be powered by biofuel. The procurement of aviation biofuel, equivalent to three years’ supply, for Kalmar Municipality took place this autumn.
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As part of the project, airlines SAS and BRA are coming on board too and joining forces with Kalmar Municipality and Kalmar Öland Airport, which represents a unique investment in aviation biofuel for the industry and the region.
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The approximate 80 tonnes of biofuel required for flight services from Kalmar to Stockholm in 2019 will be supplied by Air BP to Kalmar Öland Airport for SAS and BRA to refuel their aircraft. Together, the airlines will finance 50% of the additional cost of the biofuel, whilst Kalmar Öland Airport, as the representative for the region, will secure financing for the remaining 50%.
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FL Technics, a global provider of integrated aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, has announced further expansion to the Asia region by opening a new warehouse in Singapore. The operations started at the beginning of November 2018.
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"The decision to add a warehouse location in Asia enables the company to scale up with customers who are facing increasing time pressure for parts and material delivery fueled by the booming aviation industry and fierce competition in the region," said Zilvinas Lapinskas, CEO FL Technics.
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Just recently, FL Technics together with CALC (China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited) and ARI (Aircraft Recycling International Limited) has launched a Joint Venture with focus on aircraft base maintenance in Harbin, China, to provide MRO services for aircraft targeting Asia and Europe regions.
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Earlier this year, FL Technics Indonesia, based in Jakarta, has received the FAA Repair station 145 certificate, which allows providing MRO services to aircraft registered in the United States.
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Royal Air Maroc is to join oneworld®, adding one of Africa’s leading and fastest growing airlines to the world’s premier airline alliance.
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Royal Air Maroc is expected to be implemented into oneworld in mid-2020, when it will start flying alongside some of the biggest and best brands in the airline business. Its regional subsidiary Royal Air Maroc Express will join as a oneworld affiliate member at the same time.
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Royal Air Maroc is today the largest unaligned carrier in Africa – with a transformational strategy well underway to develop it quickly into a truly global airline and the continent’s leader in terms of both size and quality. Its schedule today will add 34 new destinations and 21 countries to the oneworld map, taking the alliance’s network to 1,069 airports in 178 countries and territories.
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It will also be the alliance’s first new full member airline signed since 2012. Fiji Airways was also linked to the alliance from December 5 as its first oneworld connect partner, the first new membership platform since the alliance was established.
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oneworld CEO Rob Gurney noted: “When we unveiled our new membership platform oneworld connect in June, we said that in the future oneworld would target as full members large airlines that have a significant presence in the alliance’s prime target market, providing connections between the world’s leading business centres. Royal Air Maroc is growing into a truly global airline, with its home base Casablanca to be developed into Africa’s leading aviation gateway while also consolidating its place as Africa’s number one financial centre.”
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Royal Air Maroc carried 7.3 million passengers last year on a fleet of 55 aircraft, with a network that currently connects its Casablanca base with 94 destinations in 49 countries across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America, including oneworld hubs Doha, London Heathrow, Madrid, Moscow Domodedovo, New York JFK and Sao Paulo.
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With the recent induction of the first CFM56-5B engine from its Tulsa, Oklahoma facility, American Airlines Group (American) has successfully transitioned, in house, maintenance work previously carried out by the engine’s manufacturer, General Electric Co. The move to bring this work in-house was announced a year ago. In a statement, American said: "Bringing this work to Tulsa is a testament to the hard work and talent of the mechanics and support personnel in the engine shop and their goal to be the very best in the industry."
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This means American insources more work than any other airline as it also works on the CFM56-7B variant model in Tulsa. 85 additional employees have been taken on at Tulsa to deal with the increased workload as the CMF56-5B powers 151 of the American’s Airbus A320 aircraft, while the -7B variant powers over 300 Boeing aircraft for the carrier.
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American will induct three more -5Bs this year, with 30 more engine visits planned for 2019. The process of getting the shop ready for the -5B variant of the engine in addition to the -7B work has been a massive undertaking. "You don’t realize what a big project it is to get ready for something like this, especially with things like tooling," said Jim Blesi, an aviation maintenance technician, in a prepared statement.
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American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas is the world’s largest airline measured by fleet size operating across a wide international and domestic network, averaging approximately 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in over 50 countries. As at July this year, American had a fleet of 956 aircraft, the majority of which being Airbus and Boeing jets, but which also includes Embraer and McDonnell Douglas aircraft.
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Jetaire has reported that it is nearing completion of the work for the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) of its Invicta™ Reticulated Foam Ignition Mitigation system for the Boeing 777.
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Jetaire’s Invicta system is a center tank flammability reduction and ignition mitigation method solution, currently FAA-certified for the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, the B737, 737NG, B757 and B767 aircraft. The system meets FAA requirements for 14CFR 25.981 and 121.117 compliance.
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Jetaire is the original developer of the Invicta reticulated foam technology as a means of compliance with FAR 25.981 and received a patent on the system in December 2017 (U.S. Patent 9,849,998).
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The Invicta technology offers a number of benefits that address FAA compliance demands. In addition, installation of the Invicta system is fast and simple, thus minimizing disruption of customers’ schedules. Once installed, the Invicta system is essentially maintenance-free and completely passive. Approximately 50+ aircraft are currently flying with the Invicta system onboard.
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February 19 - 20, 2019 – Palma de Majorca, Spain
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