Daily2018-02-20

Wednesday, March 27th, 2019

LATEST NEWS

Germania shuts down for good, seven weeks after filing for bankruptcy

Having filed for bankruptcy on February 5, German leisure airline Germania has shut down permanently after it failed to find any investors. The closure of the carrier which operated a fleet of 37 aircraft will now see all 1,700 employees laid off. The news will not be welcomed at Airbus either as this will result in the permanent cancelation of an order for 25 A320 neo jets which Germania sought to acquire as it set a dramatic growth strategy in an attempt to capture a major portion of the leisure market share once held by the now defunct airberlin. 2018 saw the Germania expand capacity by around 40 percent.

According to its administrator Rüdiger Wienberg, “It was clear from the beginning given the circumstances that it would be extremely difficult to rescue . Germania was grounded, we had no owned aircraft and no money to pay for lease rates. We rolled out the red carpet for interested parties, but unfortunately no one could or wanted to walk across it.”

Germania had initially concentrated on niche markets both for leisure and ethnic travel, while also leasing out a major part of its fleet which generated substantial profits in the leasing arm. However, as leases expired Germania took on a growing number of aircraft into its own operation.

Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH, trading as Germania, began operations in 1978 and was headquartered in Berlin, eventually flying to 42 destinations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It is understood that subsidiaries Germania Flug, founded in 2014 in Switzerland to operate leisure flights under the newly established HolidayJet brand and Bulgarian Eagle, founded in 2016 in Bulgaria as an ACMI carrier with two aircraft based at London Gatwick will not be affected by Germania’s closure.

ePlane

Panasonic Avionics announces senior sales executive appointments

Panasonic Avionics has named Malcolm McKay Vice President of Sales. McKay will be responsible for accelerating and driving top-line annual growth for Panasonic Avionics and will develop and plan the company’s worldwide sales processes and methodologies. He will oversee Sales Leaders over each product line including Digital Solutions, Software as a Service (SaaS), Panasonic Technical Services and Connectivity, Sales Operations & Enablement.

In addition, Tom Eskola has been named Regional Vice President and General Manager for the Middle East, Central and Southern Asia and Africa (MECSAA) region, and Hernan Abbes has been named to the Regional Vice President and General Manager for the Americas and Oceania region.

Framework contract for valet parking robots signed by Gatwick Airport

Gatwick has signed a framework contract on March 26, 2019, with Stanley Robotics and it will be the first UK airport to trial robots that valet park passengers’ cars.

The trial will run from the second half of 2019 to early 2020 and passengers will simply leave their car in a well-lit, spacious ‘parking station’ close to the South Terminal entrance and – without handing over keys - the driverless robot will gently lift up the car and store it in a secure car park.

The system will also be connected to real-time flight information so the robot simply returns the vehicle to the parking station. The user then receives an SMS that the vehicle is ready and waiting for their arrival.

More details on Gatwick’s trial will be released prior to the trial launch in coming weeks.

Guy Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer, Gatwick Airport said:

“I’m delighted to have signed the contract for this new partnership with Stanley Robotics. The valet parking robots could revolutionise parking at Gatwick and may also become common-place at airports and other businesses across the world. The new service will be a convenient, personalised experience that will save passengers time, while also reducing vehicle emissions.

“With the potential to significantly increase car park capacity, this new automated system could also help the airport meet the increasing demand for air travel with only limited changes to our existing infrastructure.”

AFG

Southwest Airlines' Material Specialists approve new agreement

Southwest Airlines has reported that the Company's Material Specialists, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), have voted in favor of a new, five-year contract.

"With this new agreement, our Material Specialists will be rewarded with pay increases
throughout the next five years, while the Company gains efficiencies across our operation," said Vice President of Labor Relations Russell McCrady. "I appreciate our relationship with the IBT, and both parties worked hard to reach the best solution for both our Material Specialists and Southwest."

The more than 300 Material Specialists at Southwest oversee the Company's technical operation inventory management across the network. The newly-ratified contract is effective immediately and becomes amendable in April 2024.

Kazakhstan Border Service places order for Airbus C295

The Border Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan has signed a firm order for one C295 medium transport aircraft. Through this new agreement, which includes training, spares and ground support equipment, the overall C295 fleet operating in Kazakhstan will increase to nine aircraft.

The new C295, in transport configuration, will play a vital role in border control activities and homeland security operations due to its demonstrated reliability and cost efficiency in operation at low temperatures. With this new order, the Border Service of Kazakhstan becomes the 31stoperator of the C295 and brings the total number of orders up to 13 aircraft in the CIS.

JetBlue trialing Collins Aerospace biometric self-boarding gates at JFK

JetBlue is advancing the boarding process at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) with SelfPass™ — a biometric facial scanning process implemented by Collins Aerospace, in cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Passengers using SelfPass, with fully integrated self-boarding gates, may board international flights through one gate in Terminal 5 and experience a more streamlined process. Boarding is performed in a matter of seconds and eliminates the need to present traditional boarding and identification
documents.

With SelfPass, there is no pre-registration required. Air travelers simply step up to the camera for a facial match against their travel document — such as CBP photos previously loaded in the system — then proceed to board the aircraft.

Biometric solutions are the future when it comes to improving the passenger experience at the airport, and JetBlue is playing a crucial role to make this transformation a reality,” said Christopher Forrest, vice president of Global Airport Systems for Collins Aerospace. “Not only are we reducing the amount of time it takes a passenger to move through the airport, but we’re also adding a
heightened level of security.”

ELFC

GA Telesis appoints Priscilla Ang Director of Business Development Asia–Pacific Region

GA Telesis has appointed Priscilla Ang as Director of Business Development for the Asia-Pacific Region.

Priscilla brings over 20 years of experience in the aviation sector to the GA Telesis Asset Transaction Group. Ang was most recently a member of the Titan Singapore Aircraft Leasing team, where she served from 2014 through 2018 as Manager, Marketing & Lease Administration, her responsibilities included marketing, lease placement, and managing customer relationships for Titan Aviation Leasing. Ang’s prior experience includes positions with Aircastle, Boullioun Aviation Services, and The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.

Joining the GA Telesis Asset Transaction Group, Ang will be responsible for developing new relationships and maintaining existing relationships with airlines, financial institutions, and MRO’s in the Asia-Pacific region from her base in Singapore.

Embraer delivers 500th Phenom 300 series aircraft

Embraer has delivered the 500th Phenom 300 series business jet. According to General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reports, the Phenom 300 is the only business jet model to reach this milestone in the last 10 years.

The milestone aircraft delivered March 25, is the Phenom 300E (E for Enhanced), the newest edition of the popular light jet. Mr. Freeman Pickett III received his aircraft at Embraer’s Customer Center in Melbourne, Florida and said: “The Phenom 100 served us very well for our trips throughout the Midwest, but as we began to fly more, with more passengers and to destinations farther away, we began to use a Phenom 300 to which we had access. The Phenom 300E has the speed, range and capabilities that we now need, including single-pilot operation—a very important feature for us—with all the cabin space and comfort for everybody onboard, not to mention all the baggage space. The cabin technology is unrivaled and elegant, and the connectivity is quite convenient.”

AerSale to build another firefighting air tanker

AerSale® has signed a contract with AeroAir/Erickson Aero Tanker to build another firefighting air tanker for the company’s fleet at AerSale’s MRO facility in Goodyear, Arizona.

Conversion of the 6th MD-87 aircraft, formally begins on April 1 and will mark the sixth such aircraft modification AerSale has completed at Goodyear.

Once the modification is complete, the new Erickson Aero Tanker will cruise at 450 knots, carry 3,000 gallons of fire retardant in all environments up to 40 degrees Celsius, boast a 900-mile loaded
strike range, require only a 5,200-foot runway loaded, and both take off and land fully loaded.

In addition to converting the air tankers’ original MD-87 aircraft, AerSale also performs all heavy maintenance on the Erickson Aero Tanker fleet.

Bombardier

Airways NZ and Leidos to collaborate on air traffic management opportunities

Air navigation services provider Airways New Zealand and global science and technology provider Leidos have agreed to work closely together on future air traffic management (ATM) opportunities under an agreement recently signed in Washington.

The two organisations have already been working together on the design and build of the SkyLine-X air traffic management system, a US$58 million system that will replace Airways’ two existing ATM platforms. Given the success evident in the SkyLine-X programme, the organisations have been exploring other commercial opportunities, where customers can derive the benefits that each organisation provides.

This latest agreement, signed by Airways International CEO Sharon Cooke and Leidos Vice President Fran Hill, lays the foundation for Airways and Leidos to cooperate on several customer opportunities spanning the air traffic management sector, including a joint flow management solution anticipated in the near term.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

AIR Convention Asia
May 1 - 3, 2019 – InterContinental Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand


Aviation Festival Americas 2019
May 13 - 15, 2019 – JW Marriott Marquis, Miami, FL, USA


Managing Technical Aspects of a Leased Asset & Maintenance Reserves Seminar Training Seminar
June 11 - 12, 2019 – Novotel Barcelona City Hotel, Barcelona, Spain


Paris Air Show 2019
June 17 - 23, 2019 – Le Bourget, Paris, France
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