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LATEST NEWS
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Monday, January 16th, 2023
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In what appears to be Nepal’s third-most deadly airplane crash, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines has crashed in a gorge just outside the town of Pokhara in Central Nepal. Initial reports are that 68 bodies have been recovered, while four of the remaining 72 passengers and crew have yet to be found.
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Search efforts have been called off for the day and will resume at first light on Monday, January 16. According to reports, 37 men have died along with 25 women, three children and three infants. 53 of the passengers and all four crew members were Nepali. Fifteen foreign nationals were on the plane as well: five were Indian, four were Russian and two were Korean, with one citizen from Australia, Argentina, France and Ireland.
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Pokhara is a popular tourist destination and the flight from Kathmandu covers a distance of approximately 90 miles (140 km). Nepal has a poor safety record and aircraft operated by Nepalese carriers are banned from EU airspace. The two larger crashes occurred in July and September 1992, involving aircraft operated by Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines which left 113 and 167 people dead, respectively.
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One of the problems with flying in Nepal is that its weather can change suddenly, and airstrips are typically located in treacherous difficult-to-reach mountainous areas. Last May, a Tara Air flight carrying 22 people crashed into a Himalayan mountain at an altitude of about 14,500 feet. That was the Nepal’s 19th plane crash in ten years and its tenth fatal crash during the same period, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
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Nepal’s Yeti Airlines said it was cancelling all regular flights on Monday, January 16, in mourning for the victims of the crash.
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Irish company Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon (LTTS) is expanding its business and facility in response to growing market demand. With a new building in Shannon's Free Zone covering 2,000 m² and equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the company is increasing its capacity. It will offer new products for CFM56 and V2500 turbine engines powering Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft.
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Operations are set to commence in the new facility in the first quarter of 2023, offering new highly skilled jobs to the mid-west region of Ireland.
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After experiencing a sharp fall of activity during the COVID-19 crisis, LTTS has already created in excess of 100 jobs. The expansion will enable the company to grow in products for which there is strong demand in the foreseeable future.
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LTTS, a member of Lufthansa Technik's EPAR network (engine parts and accessories repair), specialises in the repair of components for both high-pressure and low-pressure turbines for CFMI, IAE, and GE aircraft engines. The company was originally founded in 1992, today employs a staff of more than 250 people and has some 8,000 m² of floor space available at its existing site in Shannon Smithtown.
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TrueNoord, the specialist regional aircraft lessor, has completed a sale agreement for eight Embraer E190s and two E175s with Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC). This significant transaction increases TrueNoord’s portfolio to 70 aircraft and brings new lessee airlines from North America, Canada and South Africa into the family, as well as increasing TrueNoord’s footprint with existing European airline customers in France and Portugal.
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The complete integration of all ten Embraers is targeted to be finalised in Q1 2023.
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The transaction will be financed by TrueNoord’s current warehouse facility provided by Citibank, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, Royal Bank of Canada, and NordLB. This funds new acquisitions and supports TrueNoord’s targeted growth strategy in the 50 to 150 seat market segment, which is endorsed by cornerstone investors: Freshstream, BlackRock, abrdn, and others. Legal advisers Pillsbury acted on behalf of TrueNoord.
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With this sizeable transaction, TrueNoord is demonstrating solid confidence in the value proposition that regional aircraft are offering and in a recovery of the market in the coming years. This is underscored by the relative ease of transitioning aircraft that come off-lease and according to Anne-Bart Tieleman, CEO-TrueNoord, it is a positive trend and the first portfolio deal in the market since COVID-19.
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Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 48.9 million passengers in 2022 – nearly doubling the figure for 2021 and resulting in an increase of 97.2%. At the start of last year, demand was still restrained over concerns about the spread of the omicron variant of the corona virus. But from March 2022 until the end of the year, passenger traffic saw very dynamic growth. Leisure travel benefited from a rebound in demand as anti-COVID measures and travel restrictions were gradually lifted. During the main vacation periods of 2022, monthly-traffic in Frankfurt saw strong triple-digit growth rates compared to 2021 – reaching a peak of over 300% in April. In the fourth quarter, passenger traffic continued thriving at a monthly rate of between 40 and 50%. Demand for business travel also recovered steadily towards the end of the year. Compared with the 2019 pre-crisis level, FRA’s passenger volume was still down by 30.7% in 2022.
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In 2022, FRA’s aircraft movements increased by 45.9% year-on-year to 382,211 take-offs and landings (2019 comparison: down 25.6%). Accumulated maximum take-off weights (MTOWs) grew by 37.1% year-on-year to about 24.2 million metric tonnes (2019 comparison: down 23.9%).
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Cargo volumes in Frankfurt (comprising airfreight and airmail) noticeably decreased by 13.3% year-on-year to around 2.0 million metric tonnes in 2022 (2019 comparison: down 5.6%). The main factors contributing to this decline included the airspace restrictions related to the war in Ukraine, the zero-COVID strategy pursued by China throughout almost the entire year and the overall economic slowdown.
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All airports actively managed by the Fraport Group around the globe reported strong growth during 2022, with Fraport’s Greek airports in the lead. Combined 2022 traffic figures for the Greek gateways even exceeded the 2019 pre-crisis levels for the first time since the pandemic.
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Slovenia’s Ljubljana Airport (LJU) saw traffic rise by over 100% year-on-year to 970,152 passengers during the full year of 2022 (2019 comparison: down 43.6%).
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Fraport’s two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA), combined, recorded some 12.4 million passengers in 2022 – a 41.0% gain compared to 2021 (2019 comparison: down 19.9%). At Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM), traffic soared by 72.0% to about 18.6 million passengers in 2022 (2019 comparison: down 21.2%).
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Fraport’s 14 Greek regional airports served some 31.2 million passengers overall in 2022, an increase of 79.0% compared to 2021 (2019 comparison: up 3.5%).
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The Bulgarian coastal airports of Burgas (BOJ) and Varna (VAR) saw combined traffic in 2022 advance by 59.2% year-on-year to around 3.1 million passengers (2019 comparison: down 37.1%).
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Traffic at Antalya Airport (AYT) on the Turkish Riviera jumped by 41.8% year-on year to about 31.1 million passengers in 2022 (2019 comparison: down 12.4%).
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Textron Aviation has delivered a Cessna Grand Caravan EX to Brazilian aviation company Azul Conecta, a subsidiary of Azul Airlines based at the airport of Jundiai in São Paulo. This aircraft represents the 3,000th Cessna Caravan-family turboprop delivered worldwide. Azul Conecta transports travellers from smaller cities and remote locations throughout Brazil.
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Conceived as a rugged utility aircraft with low operating costs, the Caravan was designed for use in remote areas with extreme weather changes, mountainous terrain and rough landing conditions. The aircraft’s versatility became renowned in all corners of the world and the Caravan continues to see wide use in global markets by a variety of customers, including government agencies, law enforcement and militaries, air ambulance operators, freight haulers, corporations and humanitarian organisations.
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ORIX Aviation has appointed Dean N. Gerber as Advisor to the Board of Directors of ORIX Aviation. Primarily based in the U.S., Gerber will work with the senior management team at ORIX Aviation across a broad range of commercial activities.
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Gerber previously served as General Counsel to ORIX Aviation from 2019 to 2021. Prior to that, he was the Chair of the Global Transportation Finance team at Vedder Price. He currently serves as Board President of the International Society for Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT).
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Seal Dynamics, a subsidiary of HEICO, has partnered with Crane Aerospace & Electronics to exclusively distribute Crane’s PL Porter brand mechanical seat actuation products to the commercial aerospace aftermarket.
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Crane products, particularly the PL Porter brand name, are well recognised and respected by airlines around the world. Seal Dynamics’ ability to understand the complexities of the passenger seat aftermarket together with its technical sales capabilities is a powerful combination. This partnership will advance a new strategy to expand market share and raise customer satisfaction to bring exponential value to the airlines and MROs utilising and supporting a wide variety of seat programmes.
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Seal Dynamics, founded in 1976, with its corporate headquarters based in Hauppauge, NY, and with offices in the UK, Singapore, Dubai and Florida, is one of the world’s largest technical sales distributors of aerospace components.
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