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LATEST NEWS
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Monday, December 19th, 2022
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Mesa Airlines, which operates regional flights on behalf of American Airlines’ offshoot American Eagle, has announced that it is to wind down its services in March next year, prior to halting all its American Eagle flights on April 3. In addition to this announcement, the carrier has also announced that it is finalising an agreement with United Airlines, which will involve transitioning its fleet of CRJ900 75-seat regional jets to United Express.
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Currently American Eagle is made up of three American Airlines’ subsidiaries and three contract carriers, one of which is Mesa, providing 3,400 daily flights under a codeshare agreement, usually operating flights to smaller American cities.
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According to Reuters news agency, American Airlines has confirmed that Mesa flights will be backfilled by other existing regional carriers and that "Air Wisconsin is preparing to join the American Eagle family earlier than planned."
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There are conflicting reports as to why the arrangement with American Airlines has come to such an abrupt halt. According to Mesa, a pilot shortage and certain American Airways’ actions in relation that had created a major problem. Mesa Air Group Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said American "significantly raised regional pilot wages for their wholly owned subsidiaries to deter pilots from going to national carriers and attract pilots from the ever-shrinking pool of qualified pilot applicants." But, Ornstein added in the Mesa memo, "American chose not to fund the higher pilot rates for their non-affiliated carriers. At the same time, we were being penalized for not producing the required block hours under our pre-COVID contract with American. These two actions were costing us approximately US$5 million in losses per month," adding that "As a result, we have concerns about American's ability to be a reliable partner going forward ... We just do not believe it is in Mesa's long-term interest to fund ongoing losses at American."
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American Airlines portrayed the decision differently in a memo, saying Mesa "has experienced various financial and operational difficulties this year. As a result, we have concerns about Mesa's ability to be a reliable partner for American going forward."
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Rolls-Royce has completed building and is preparing to test its UltraFan®, technology demonstrator. In a major milestone for the programme, the demonstrator engine was transported from the build workshop and into Testbed 80 in Derby, UK where it was mounted in preparation for testing.
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The first test of the demonstrator is expected to take place early next year and will be operated using 100% sustainable aviation fuel.
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Chris Cholerton, President of Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace, said: “Seeing the UltraFan demonstrator come together and getting ready for test in Testbed 80 is a great way to end the year. We have all been waiting for this moment, which is such an important milestone for the programme and for the team who have worked on it. The next stage will be to see UltraFan run for the first time on 100% sustainable aviation fuel in 2023, proving the technology is ready to support more sustainable flights in the future.”
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Combining a brand-new engine design with a suite of technologies to support sustainable air travel for decades to come, the UltraFan demonstrator has a fan diameter of 140 inches and offers a 25% fuel efficiency improvement compared with the first generation of Trent-engine.
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Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to ensure the continued operability of the JAS 39 Gripen C/D and also provide capability enhancements to the fighter aircraft. The order value is approximately SEK 3.5 billion and the contract period is 2023-2029. The contract also includes options that enable FMV to place additional orders for capability enhancements during 2023.
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The enhancements will provide Sweden with a more effective and powerful fighter capability. The aircraft will be equipped with a new engine version, which will enhance flight performance. Furthermore, a more effective electronic warfare system will also be introduced so the upgrade will create conditions for increased attack capability with a new payload.
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The order encompasses an upgrade to Saab’s latest fighter radar, which provides increased performance with emphasis on enhanced fighter capability and extended detection and tracking range. It also includes an upgraded and future-proof avionic system which, among other features, enables fast software updates of the sensor function.
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“This upgrade will provide the Swedish Air Force with a significantly stronger fighter capability. The contract is a big leap ahead in terms of radar performance and functionality, both for the hardware and software and will future-proof the operational capability of Gripen C/D,” says Jonas Hjelm, Head of Saab’s business area Aeronautics.
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Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) has reported that Singapore-based Transcend Aero Services (Transcend) has placed an order for two AEI B737-800SF freighter conversions. This agreement represents the first freighter conversion order Transcend has placed with AEI.
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The first 737-800 aircraft (MSN 35217) is commencing modification in December 2022. The authorised AEI Conversion Centre, Commercial Jet based in Dothan, Alabama will accomplish conversion related touch labour on the aircraft. The second 737-800 will commence modification in March 2023 and will be modified at Commercial Jet’s Miami, Florida facility.
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Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has invested in the Swiss-based Synhelion company in the ETH spinoff’s latest financing round. The investment further underlines SWISS’s firm commitment to sustainability and to help accelerate the process of bringing solar fuels to market.
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Switzerland’s biggest airline is putting a particular focus on such fuels in view of its strong scalability. Synhelion’s technology also offers sizeable development potential and holds many strategic advantages over other technological approaches. To take one example, the Synhelion plant’s inbuilt heat storage facility enables the plant to be operated 24/7 with no need to draw on further renewable energy from the existing electricity grid.
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“Synhelion, SWISS and the Lufthansa Group have been collaborating very constructively on bringing solar fuels to market for the aviation sector for more than two years now,” explains SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx. “And we are delighted that, with our new financial involvement, we can now make a further substantial contribution to helping Synhelion scale up and commercialise its innovative alternative fuel product.”
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Synhelion will use the funds generated by this latest financing round to expand its solar fuel production plant to industrial dimensions and operate it accordingly. The company has also set itself an ambitious timetable for the scale-up concerned.
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American Airlines Group has named Devon May as Chief Financial Officer following a long-planned succession process. May, who is currently the airline's Senior Vice-President of Finance and Investor Relations, will assume the CFO role effective January 1, 2023. He will report to American's CEO Robert Isom.
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American's current CFO Derek Kerr will remain at the airline as Vice Chair, President of American Eagle and Strategic Advisor. He will continue to lead American's Regional and Cargo teams and serve as a strategic advisor to the company.
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May, who joined America West in 2002, has more than 20 years of airline industry experience across finance, operations, network planning and alliances. In his current role, he leads the airline's financial planning and analysis, corporate development and investor relations work. He previously served as Senior Vice-President of Finance and American Eagle and Senior Vice-President of Network Strategy, where he led American's regional operations as well as its network planning and alliances work.
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Embraer Aircraft Maintenance Services (EAMS) in Macon, Georgia, has signed two heavy maintenance services agreements totalling US$72 million. The contracts have been signed with Envoy Air and JSX and will provide each company with airframe maintenance and repair services offered by Embraer’s portfolio of solutions.
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Envoy has been an EAMS customer since 2002 and has outsourced maintenance lines to EAMS periodically since 2011, though the new contract provides one nose-to-tail heavy maintenance line. With JSX, Embraer has signed a long-term agreement for two nose-to-tail heavy maintenance lines.
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