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BOMBARDIER CONCLUDES COMMERCIAL AVIATION
DEVESTMENT
Bombardier will complete its move away
from commercial aircraft production with
the sale of its regional jet business to
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).Under
the sale agreement Mitsubishi will buy
Bombardier’s CRJ business for USD$550
million in cash and the assumption of
USD$200 million of liabilities. MHI will
acquire the maintenance, support,
refurbishment, marketing, and sales
activities for the CRJ Series located in
Montréal and Toronto, and service
facilities in West Virginia and Arizona.
Also included are type certificates. MHI
chief executive Seiji Izumisawa said the
transaction “represents one of the most
important steps in our strategic journey
to build a strong, global aviation
capability. “MHI has a decades-long
history in Canada, and I hope this
transaction will result in the expansion
of our presence in the country, and will
represent a significant step in our
growth strategy.”
Bombardier’s CEO Alain Bellemare said
the agreement “represents the completion
of Bombardier’s aerospace
transformation.” He said the company’s
focus will now be on its rail and
business jet franchises. Bombardier will
retain its Québec production facility,
with CRJ jet production finishing in the
second half of 2020 after the delivery
of the current order backlog. It will
also continue to supply components and
spare parts from Mirabel. The
transaction is expected to close during
the first half of 2020 and is subject to
regulatory approvals and closing
conditions.
Airbus regained its
Paris Air Show momentum on
Wednesday, with the newly launched
A321XLR extra long ranger attracting
more interest.Private equity firm
Indigo Partners announced a
memorandum of understanding to
acquire 32 A321XLRs and convert an
existing order of 18 from A320neo
family aircraft to A321XLRs.
Indigo Partners said the order will
be allocated to three of its low
cost carriers, 20 to Hungary-based
Wizz Air, 18 to Frontier Airlines in
the US, and 12 to Chile's JetSMART.
Another large A321XLR order came
from American Airlines, with an
agreement to purchase 20 of the type
and convert 30 of its existing
A321neo slots to A321XLRs.
Already the largest Airbus operator
in the world, American's latest
agreement takes its outstanding
order total to 115 A321neos and
A321XLRs. The Dallas-based airline
currently operates a fleet of 422
Airbus aircraft. Qantas also added
new orders and conversions for the
A321XLR. The Australian flag carrier
placed a firm order for 10 A321XLRs
and converted 26 of an existing
order for A320neo family jets to the
A321XLR. Most of the new aircraft
are expected to go to low-cost unit
Jetstar, but some may be used on
thinner routes operated by the
mainline carrier, and possibly to
replace some of the airline's older
Boeing 737s. China Airlines signed a
memorandum of agreement for 11
A321neo aircraft, and with another
14 to be leased, it will take the
Taiwan airline's total to 25.
Dublin-based leasing company
Accipiter Holdings revealed at the
air show that it is the undisclosed
purchaser of 20 A320neo aircraft
listed in the Airbus order book.
Dublin-based Accipiter agreed the
deal in March this year.
When it comes to
technological and business disruption,
the aerospace industry has had it
comparatively easy over the past couple
of decades. Aircraft got bigger and then
smaller and always more efficient, but
the way planes flew and the way they
were manufactured remained essentially
the same.
The economic
climate confronting aerospace
manufacturers was nothing like the
tumult that had rocked airlines since
the beginning of the millennium, after a
swarm of online travel agencies and
price-comparison websites brought
pricing transparency to the sector. That
upheaval, against the backdrop of the
global financial meltdown, chipped away
at carrier margins and customer
relationships and unleashed a
competitive onslaught that forced
consolidation. It even took down some
well-known players.
For aerospace, that
period of relative calm is about to end
as new technology and customer demands
begin to reshape the industry’s business
model over the next decade. As this wave
of mega-disruption sweeps the sector,
aerospace manufacturers should heed a
key lesson from the airlines: Incumbents
must quickly embrace the big, bold ideas
disruption brings — or else prepare to
face off against faster-moving players.
A perfect storm
Perhaps
mega-disruption may seem a bit dramatic,
but the forces bringing change to
aerospace over the next decade are all
hitting simultaneously, compelling
aircraft and component makers to
overhaul their manufacturing and repair
practices as well as their product
lines. The three major categories of
disruptors are digitalization, customer
demand, and the
need to achieve sustainable growth.
By itself,
digitalization would be disruptive
enough, involving the incorporation of
technologies from predictive maintenance
to autonomy. But sweeping the industry
at the same time as other innovations
such as 3-D printing and modular design
means aerospace will not just be
disrupted. It will be transformed.
Obviously, customer
demand and achieving sustainable growth are
perennials for aerospace — as for most
industries. But over the next decade,
customer demand will focus on reducing
emissions and “green” operation, flexibility
and innovation in cabin design, and
development of technology that reduces
travel time. Sustainable growth, on the
other hand, will be concentrated in
production line efficiency and agility,
expansion into maintenance and other
services, and innovative financing.
Ultimately, all three disruptor categories
will lead to a new era of safer, more
customized, fuel-efficient, and digitally
optimized aircraft.
The impact of
digitalization
As it has in most
industries, digitalization is reshaping
aerospace — from the plethora of sensors
constantly collecting data on board aircraft
to eventually autonomous flight. Already,
there is an uninterrupted flow of real-time
information coming from aircraft updating
ground operations and the pilots on the
status of systems, equipment, and current
and impending weather conditions. For
instance, in the near future, these smart
and connected planes will
be able to adjust flight routes using
real-time data to maximize fuel
efficiency, minimize turbulence, and even
eliminate the wait for the gate after
landing.
One of the biggest
challenges has been to gather and analyze
the terabytes of data produced. Yet, the
pressure is on for aircraft and engine
makers to add more sensors to further
enhance the real-time picture of what’s
happening with planes in flight — and on the
ground, where
artificial intelligence is also starting to
effect change.
In the maintenance end
of the aerospace value chain, predictive
maintenance — the process of using analytics
to determine as precisely as possible when
an aircraft’s part should be replaced – is
increasingly demonstrating its ability to
improve efficiency. While this approach to
servicing planes has been available for
several years, airlines and maintenance,
repair and overhaul operations are only just
now embracing it to help ensure the full
lifespan of parts is utilized, minimize the
number of equipment checks, and maximize the
safety of aircraft.
More information:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwyman/2018/09/04/how-customer-demands-and-digitalization-will-transform-aerospace-over-the-decade/#74c917d92fdb
Members of the United Nations' aviation arm,
the International Civil Aviation
Organization, meeting in Montreal this week,
have endorsed a new standard that will
require commercial aircraft to report their
position every 15 minutes, a response to the
disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight
MH370.
The guideline, which
ICAO is aiming to bring into force in
November 2016,
is the first stage of a proposal to ensure
planes can be tracked and that accident
sites can be located quickly, called the
Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety
System.
1.
ROUTINE FLIGHT TRACKING
This is the 15-minute standard, which ICAO
has said could be met without retrofitting
any planes. In emergencies or potential
emergencies, aircraft would be required to
check in more frequently, at least once
every minute.
Any plane flying within radar coverage would
easily meet this standard. On some
trans-oceanic flights, airlines would need
to activate satellite tracking systems that
in many cases are already installed on their
planes, or report in by radio at regular
intervals.
The agency is not a regulator, but its
standards typically become regulatory
requirements in its 191 member states. ICAO
sees this standard going into effect in
November 2016. Member states would have to
put the tracking rules into effect or notify
the agency that they are not meeting the
standard.
2.
DISTRESS
TRACKING
If this second proposal from ICAO's
Secretariat is adopted, new aircraft built
2021 or later would have systems that make
it possible to locate an accident site
within six nautical miles, which is roughly
equivalent to one minute of flying time.
The system would kick in after a signal from
the ground, direction from the flight crew,
or automatically based on the plane's
behavior.
Views are split on whether current satellite
tracking systems could meet this standard,
because they can be shut off by the pilot,
making activation from the ground
impossible.
3.
FLIGHT RECORDER DATA RETRIEVAL
The third proposal is for the installation
in new aircraft of "automatic deployable
flight recorders", 'black box' flight
recorders that eject from a plane during a
crash. ICAO sees it going into effect by
2021. Planemakers
could use alternative technology, skipping
the ejectable recorders, as long as it is
possible to retrieve the same data in
another way. For example, a recorder that
transmits its data using satellites during a
crash instead of physically ejecting might
meet the standard. — Reuters
Dr Harold Demuren receives African Aviation Award -
2014 The World
Airline Directory provides a comprehensive
listing of more than 2,000 international, regional and
domestic airlines throughout the world. Airlines are
grouped by country, and then alphabetically by airport
name. This section lists Airlines in Africa.
Telephone: +44 1269 871 806
Director: Paul Ellis
Turkish Airlines starts new Cameroon flights
Turkish Airlines, the
country’s flagship airline, has added started services
to Yaounde and Douala,
two cities in the west Central African
country of Cameroon.
This brings the total number of
cities served to 216, further expanding Turkish
Airlines’ extensive global network. With the addition of
Yaounde and Douala, it now flies to 33 destinations in Africa alone,
a statement from the company said.
Introductory round trip fares are available from
Istanbul to Yaounde and Douala alone, a statement from
the company said. News
Releases Send
to: airhwy@dowco.com fax 604 681 0718 New
Africa Travel Magazine Edition Covers Several
Bases. Open
Skies to USA, Asia Pacific and
beyond Fly the Air Highways to
Africa and the World on Ethiopian Airlines and
Boeing In order to
modernize its fleet and cater for its growth
requirements, Ethiopian Airlines has decided to
acquire a total of twelve Boeing airplanes over the
coming four years, with purchase rights for
additional five B737 New Generation aircraft &
three B777 aircraft. The Airline plans to introduce
six New Generation B737-700s and six B767-300ERs
into its fleet, to replace its older B737-200s and
B767-200s. Phase-in of the airplanes will start
within six to nine months from now. Both Airbus and
Boeing have been campaigning hard over the last few
years for this deal, with Airbus proposing its
A319-100 and A330-200 airplanes. Although the
Airline's decision to acquire the Boeing airplanes
was made based on integrated and rigorous
assessment of technical, performance, economic and
financial parameters, the main factors that
influenced the final decision are operational,
commercial and financing considerations. Six airplanes will
be acquired through export credit guaranteed
finance lease arrangement and the remaining six
will be on operating lease. All the airplanes will
be configured into two classes and will be equipped
with state of the art interior and passenger
friendly in-flight entertainment
systems. The new B767 offers
the ultra modern B777 interior, which includes a
passenger cabin with contoured walls and ceilings,
creating spaciousness and increased stowage
capacity. There are more than 800 B767 airplanes in
service with 80 operators around the world. The
B767 has accumulated more than nine million flights
and has carried millions of passengers. All new models of
the B737 family feature exceptional flexibility in
size and mission, as well as high reliability and
maintability. The Next-Generation models provide
passengers with all-new, more spacious interiors
and more accessible overhead luggage bins. The
airplanes are one of the most technologically
advanced family in the single-aisle market. They
are designed to fly higher, faster, farther,
quieter and with greater fuel efficiency than
previous B737 models. In addition, flight deck
displays and the spacious new interiors are also
patterned after the Boeing 777. While it is obvious
that the B737-700s will be powered with CFM56
engines, the Airline plans to announce its engine
selection on the B767-300ERs shortly. In related
developments the airline has finalized preparations
to commence construction of a state of the art
cargo terminal and maintenance hangar, at its hub
in Addis Ababa, within this fiscal year. Implementation of
the fleet renewal program and the above facility
development projects, coupled with the opening of
the new passenger terminal at the Addis Ababa Bole
International Airport, will greatly enhance
Ethiopian Airlines' services to/from Ethiopia,
Africa and key regions of the rest of the
world. For further
information, please contact Peter Tse at
(212) 867-0120, If you are
interested in similar advertising, contact us at
airhwy@dowco.com
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