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LATEST NEWS
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Monday, January 21st, 2023
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It is anticipated that on January 27 a resurgent Air India will be announcing combined major orders for over 500 commercial jets from Airbus and Boeing. According to unnamed sources, the order will include 235 Airbus A321-family aircraft together with 190 Boeing 737 MAX jets as previously reported by Reuters news agency. It is also expected that the order will also be for 70 wide-body jets including 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777Xs. According to industry sources, finalising the deal and organising the delivery schedule for the aircraft will be dependent on negotiations with engine suppliers.
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This is the largest commercial order for aircraft since American Airlines ordered a combination of 460 Airbus and Boeing jets over ten years ago. One of the reasons for the delay in the official announcement is that next Friday will be the exact date when, a year ago, the Tata Group regained control of the flag-carrying airline that was originally founded in 1932 by JRD Tata. The current airline struggled financially during the mid-2000s and the Tata Group plans to significantly transform the carrier to create a world-class operation within the next five years.
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The order from Airbus helps to consolidate the European planemaker’s position as the leading supplier of narrow-body jets in India with the country’s largest carrier, IndiGo being the biggest operator of the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft. The order is also a boost for Boeing which has fallen behind Airbus for orders in what is seen as a fast-growing market. Boeing recently also secured orders from start-up Alaska Air as well as SpiceJet.
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CAE Defense & Security has been awarded the competitive, re-compete contract for the Fixed-Wing Flight Training Service programme by the United States Army. The contract provides comprehensive initial and recurrent training for more than 600 U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force fixed-wing pilots annually.
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The firm-fixed-price award has an approximate total value of US$250 million through 2032 distributed from an initial base period and seven single-year options.
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CAE Defense & Security has provided army fixed-wing training at the company-owned company-operated Dothan Training Center in Alabama since the initial contract award in 2016. The state-of-the-art facility, near the U.S. Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) at Fort Rucker supports initial and recurrent training for transitioning Army rotary-wing aviators and army initial-entry fixed-wing students.
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“CAE provides a world-class training programme that balances academics, simulation, and aircraft flight training,” said Merrill Stoddard, Vice President and General Manager, CAE Defense & Security Readiness Solutions. “We leverage modern training solutions to deliver scenario-based training specific to the army’s fixed-wing requirements.”
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The Fixed-Wing Flight Training Service programme features academic, simulation and aircraft flight training, including the CAE Trax Academy which augments the current ground-based training assets with self-paced virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) training in both the C-12 and Grob G-120TP. CAE also provides Grob G120 TP flight training devices and a suite of desktop trainers and courseware in addition to a fleet of C-12U King Air aircraft owned and maintained by the U.S. Army and operated by CAE instructors to deliver C-12 King Air aircraft flight training.
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Since January 1, 2023, Fraport has assumed responsibility for the organisation, management and performance of the security checkpoints at Frankfurt Airport (FRA). The German Federal Police, which were previously tasked with these responsibilities, will continue to hold statutory oversight and supervision roles, as well as overall responsibility for aviation security. They will also continue to provide armed protection at checkpoints, certification and approval of new checkpoint infrastructure and handle the certification and recertification process for aviation security personnel.
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Three service providers have been commissioned to conduct passenger screenings on behalf of Fraport AG from January 1, 2023: FraSec Aviation Security GmbH (FraSec), I-SEC Deutsche Luftsicherheit SE & Co. KG (I-Sec), and Securitas Aviation Service GmbH & Co. KG (Securitas). In addition, state-of-the-art CT scanners from Smiths Detection have been deployed at six selected aviation security lanes since the start of the year. The German Federal Police tested the reliability of the CT technology during a trial run in September 2022.
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Also helping to make the security checks run conveniently and efficiently is the “MX2” lane design from Dutch company Vanderlande. The innovative concept, which uses a CT scanner from Leidos, is being implemented for the first time worldwide. Passengers can place their hand luggage on both sides of the CT/checking equipment and retrieve it in the same way. The trial operation got underway in Terminal 1’s Concourse A in January 2023.
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Joramco, the Amman, Jordan-based aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility as well as the engineering arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has announced that Patrick Armstrong has been appointed as Vice President, Commercial, as a consequence of increased business demands.
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Predominantly based in the Middle East and primarily in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an aviation professional, Armstrong has over ten years of experience in areas including customer support, marketing, sales and business development. His role at Joramco will see him take over responsibility for all commercial activities while continuing to build on the growth plan designed to deliver a streamlined customer experience.
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Commenting on Armstrong’s appointment, Chief Executive Officer, Fraser Currie said, “Joramco is committed to providing a superior customer experience in its global footprint, and Partick’s appointment is a testament to the actions we take to guarantee it happens. I am confident that his experience will support Joramco’s growth plans”.
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Wizz Air (WIZZ), the Hungarian low-cost airline, has started its direct flights to Istanbul, Antalya and Dalaman. The routes will commence as of March 2023 connecting Türkiye with Hungary, Romania, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
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Wizz Air returns to Istanbul after seven years and adds four point-to-point services to Budapest, London Gatwick, London Luton and Iasi, the earliest flight departing in March already. With these services the airline will be the first ultra-low-cost carrier flying from Istanbul airport, providing over 400,000 high-quality seats to cities around Europe.
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Besides the new all-year round routes to Istanbul, WIZZ launches seasonal point-to-point services to the Turkish seaside, Dalaman and Antalya, supporting the ramp up of local tourism.
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Avion Systems of Ft. Lauderdale, FL has announced the acquisition of four Airbus A330-300s previously operated by American Airlines. The aircraft formally equipped with PW4168A powerplants have now been sent for teardown in Roswell, NM. This acquisition together with recent teardowns of two additional A330-200s, meets Avion Systems’ strategy to position itself as one of the leading suppliers of A330 parts. This will enable Avion to increase parts distribution to both its domestic and international client base of MROs, Airlines and trading partners.
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Ron Sever, CEO of Avion Systems commented: “Our access to inventory for twin-isle aircraft allows us to penetrate new market segments of Tier 1 and Tier 2 operators and MROs who are traditionally serviced by OEMs. This is one of many acquisitions ensuring expansion of our offering to these market segments”.
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Avion Systems Group is a global aerospace spare parts supplier and FAA/EASA approved MRO with multiple distribution centres worldwide, operating on a 24/7 basis for urgent and AOG requirements.
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Clyde Buntrock Chief Executive Officer at AJW Aviation speaks to the AviTrader editor about the current status of the MRO and aftermarket and how the economic climate might influence the industry going forward.
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OEMs are set to increase production rates of new aircraft especially narrowbodies in response to meeting demands for years’ long backlogs. Clyde Buntrock, CEO at A JW says this has led to uncertainty about whether vendors will be able to maintain the component supply chain to the OEMs. “While the shortage of raw materials is a factor, another concern is the lack of skilled personnel on the production lines, and this is placing businesses under immense pressure to produce enough products to service an increasing number of aircraft,” he highlights.
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In a narrowbody aircraft webinar in November, experts at aviation consultancy firm IBA outlined that global capacity recovery towards 2019 has slowed in the second half of 2022 but is continuing into 2023 and the Airbus A320neo family and Boeing 737 MAX will be the most predominant narrowbody aircraft by 2032.
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With airlines retiring some older widebodies in favour of newer narrowbodies, Buntrock feels this will ultimately impact the MRO and aftermarket sectors. “The newer generation narrowbody aircraft are predominantly electronic systems and have fewer parts, but while this means they have lower margins and are more reliable, which is of benefit to the airline, it could affect the MRO and aftermarket services somewhat.” This said, Buntrock sees an increase in aftermarket sales in the aviation industry and stresses that there are still maintenance schedules to be maintained for existing fleets, so it is business as usual for companies like AJW who offer MRO services.
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"The newer generation narrowbody aircraft are predominantly electronic systems and have fewer parts, but while this means they have lower margins and are more reliable, which is of benefit to
the airline, it could affect the MRO and aftermarket services somewhat. Clyde Buntrock, AJW Aviation“
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It is worth noting that several airlines are still not at pre-Covid flying capacity and still have aircraft on the ground, however there is optimism in the industry as tourism makes a steady recovery. “As passenger numbers continue to increase over the coming months, airlines will have to mobilise their grounded aircraft and see to maintenance to meet the needs of their global and local travellers. Stakeholders in the MRO and aftermarket sector, such as AJW Group, are ready for this upturn in business and remain positive about business growth going forward,” he states. Industry experts are suggesting the strength of the U.S dollar will create additional cost challenges for global aviation, for instance, engine and component cost per flight hour agreements sold in $USD will equate to higher maintenance costs.
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