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Aircraft seat manufacturer Recaro grew its revenues with 22% to almost €600 million in 2018. With this result, Recaro continues its more than 15 years of non-stop double-digit growth. The global passenger seat market grew approx. five percent per year in that same period.
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Recaro will invest ten percent of this positive revenue back into the company to fuel further growth. On the one hand this will be utilized to ignite expansion in Germany and globally. On the other, it enables extra investment in research and development. This will help Recaro achieve its goal of becoming the number one supplier in the business class seat market in the long run.
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WNG Capital, the global aviation investment manager and lessor of narrow body commercial aircraft, has announced the final closing of WNG Aircraft Opportunities Fund II, L.P. with US$438 million of capital commitments.
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WNG II is expected to acquire approximately 40 to 60 Boeing and Airbus narrow body aircraft with ages ranging from 15 to 20+ years and remaining lease terms of 12 to 48 months. As a result of WNG’s strong pipeline, the Fund has already closed on its first investment, signed a letter of intent for a second deal, and has several proposals outstanding for additional aircraft.
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Since the Firm’s inception in 2009, WNG has managed 60 aviation assets valued in excess of US$800 million. Continuing the value-creation strategy utilized in the management of these prior investments, WNG II is expected to primarily invest in mid-life and older narrow body commercial aircraft and aircraft-related assets manufactured by Boeing and Airbus.
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SafeDrone by Lufthansa Technik has signed comprehensive contracts with drone manufacturers Matternet and SwissDrones. Both companies will use SafeDrone Health to improve the efficiency of their maintenance programs.
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SafeDrone Health is a holistic and manufacturer-independent diagnostic solution especially for flight-critical components of drones. The cloud-based service allows manufacturers and operators to monitor the technical condition of their drones, making technical fleet management safer and more efficient. Based on detailed failure descriptions and maintenance recommendations, repairs can be carried out at the optimal time rather than too early or in reaction to a critical situation. SafeDrone Health makes a proven approach from manned aviation available to unmanned aerial vehicles. This can reduce maintenance costs by 50% and more.
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For U.S. drone manufacturer Matternet, SafeDrone Health is an important part of its safety-first philosophy and will support flight operations in Switzerland as well as those conducted under the Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program initiated by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
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Swiss drone manufacturer SwissDrones aims to become the global market leader for multi-purpose, long endurance heavy lift civil drones. "Due to the increased operational expectations towards our products in use around the world, the deployment of a professional fleet health and safety management platform has become a key initiative for SwissDrones. We are very pleased with the partnership with Lufthansa Technik," says Lukas Obrist, Board Member of SwissDrones.
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Universal Asset Management has acquired an Airbus 319 airframe, MSN 3043, formerly operated by Czech Airlines.
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Jeff Sabo, Senior Vice President of UAM commented “UAM is excited to have another A319 airframe
acquisition, this is the youngest airframe at only 12 years old. Previously powered by CFM56-5B engines, this airframe strengthens our inventory to support our 2019 expansion into Asia.”
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StandardAero, via its Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was recently awarded a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for 30 and 42 seat configurations for Embraer EMB 145. The company had previously received an STC for a 30-seat configuration for the Embraer EMB 135. Both 30-seat configurations allow companies to use these aircraft for Part 135 operations. In addition, the STC allows increased seat pitch which provides a more enjoyable travel experience.
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The 30-seat STC for EMB 145 aircraft was developed to meet the demands from many customer inquiries. The company has previously sold several STCs per year for the EMB 135 and expects the same for the EMB 145.
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Precision Aerospace, a leader in complex metal assemblies for aerospace and industrial applications, has completed a recapitalization transaction led by Willcrest Partners and Curran Companies, two operationally focused, long-term oriented family offices.
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Since its inception over 40 years ago, Precision Aerospace has been producing high quality prototypes and production run metal assemblies with unique hydroforming, fabrication, welding and machining capabilities all under one roof. The company has been asked by its customers to expand capacity to accommodate rapidly growing aerospace and industrial production requirements and is excited to announce this transaction to enable expansion.
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Marshall Hodge, President of Precision Aerospace, commented, “Since joining Precision in 2018, I have been refining processes, implementing software, and expanding the team to handle our growing backlog. I am excited to partner with Willcrest Partners and Curran Companies to continue growing the business and take Precision’s manufacturing excellence and engineering capabilities to the next level.”
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Omni Helicopters International S.A. has named Jeremy Akel as Group Chief Executive Officer. The announcement was supported by OHI shareholders Stirling Square Capital Partners and Omni Aviation.
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Akel has 30 years’ experience in the aviation industry, of which 15 spent in offshore helicopter services. He started his aviation career in safety as an Accident Investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board. After earning an MBA from Georgetown University, he became a trusted advisor to airline executives on issues such as business strategy, fleet planning and capital structure. Akel joined Bristow Group in 2004 as part of a turnaround team and concluded his tenure there in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer.
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Airstream International Group has provided advisory services relating to the acquisition of an A320-200 from Aercap for operation by Trade Air, Croatia. The aircraft, MSN 1454, formally in operation with Viva Colombia, will undergo maintenance before entering service with the airline in April 2019.
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Airstream provides aircraft sales, leasing and financing services for an international client base that has included airlines, government organisations, lessors, investors and financial institutions as well as part out organisations. Now in its 30th year of trading, Airstream has successfully completed transactions involving more than 625 aircraft.
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The last of the A320neo variants, an Airbus A319neo test aircraft has completed its maiden flight powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines for the first time. The A319neo took off from Toulouse at 12:30 and landed at 15:20.
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The aircraft, MSN 6464, will perform an extensive flight test campaign in order to achieve its certification with P&W GTF engines by Q4 2019. The same aircraft had originally been powered with CFM LEAP-1A engines for that variant’s full certification test campaign which began on March 31st, 2017 prior to FAA/EASA certification in December 2018.
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The A319neo is the smallest member of the A320neo family.
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