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Monday, September 17th, 2018
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LATEST NEWS
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At a time when Boeing is predicting the need for 127,000 new commercial pilots n North America over the next 20 years, the acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Dan Elwell is quoted as saying at a recent forum on the aviation workforce that: "We have a diminishing supply of qualified pilots, mechanics, and technicians." Current figures show that over the last ten years, the number of U.S. private pilots with active certificates decreased by 27% and the number of commercial pilots fell by 21%. Boeing has also identified a need for a further 754,000 new aircraft over the next two decades.
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According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, worldwide, air passengers are expected to nearly double from 4 billion in 2017 to 7.8 billion by 2036. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at the forum that beyond industry demand for pilots, the military also needs more pilots. She said the Air Force was 2,000 pilots short of staffing needs, including 1,300 fighter pilots, "We have to be in it together because if we continue to try to cannibalize off each other we will never solve the core problem, which is a national shortage of aviation professionals."
American Airlines President Robert Isom said at the forum that 75% of its pilots will retire over the next 15 years, including 8,000 over the next decade.
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There has been mention of speeding up pilots’ training through the inclusion of simulator training counting towards pilot hours, though this idea has not been welcomed by a number of safety advocates.
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The Airport Coordination (ACL) Board has appointed Edmond Rose as the company’s new CEO, effective immediately.
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Rose, a former Board member of ACL, brings 20 years’ aviation industry experience to the role, including expertise in airline regulatory affairs for Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. A former British diplomat for 11 years with postings in India and China, Edmond more recently served on Virgin Atlantic’s leadership team as Commercial Director, responsible among other things for network and schedule planning
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In his new role he will also call on his varied consultancy work advising airlines, airports and aircraft manufacturers on network, strategy and regulatory topics. He has led studies on how to maximise airport efficiency and on slot allocation methods.
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Ryanair has confirmed that it met with the 3 main cabin crew unions FIT CISL, ANPAC, and ANPAV and a set of agreed principles were signed, which will form the basis of a comprehensive Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) to cover Ryanair’s Italian based cabin crew from 1 Oct 2018.
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The parties agreed that they are “now in the final stages of concluding final terms and conditions of a CLA”, which will run for 3 years from Fri 1 Oct 2018 to 31 Dec 2021, be governed by Italian law and the Italian courts, allow Italian cabin crew transition to local contracts over an agreed period, deliver increased pay under a new pay structure, which will see crews benefit from increased tax free allowances (similar to other Italian airlines) and introduce an Italian Pension Scheme as part of the overall package.
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Anne-Marie Couderc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air France-KLM, has announced to the group's staff that Benjamin Smith will take up his official duties today, Monday September 17, 2018 as Chief Executive Officer of Air France-KLM.
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The Board had previously approved his appointment on August 16, 2018.
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Delta Air Lines` first Airbus A220-100 was introduced this week after rolling out of the painting hangar at the A220 final assembly line in Mirabel, Québec. Delta will be the first U.S. airline to take delivery of the A220, featuring a state-of-the art interior and delivering best-in-class fuel performance.
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Now that the aircraft is decked out in Delta’s livery, it will move to pre flight activities in the A220 flight line hangar in Mirabel before taking off for its first flight later this fall.
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Delta’s first A220 is scheduled to begin service in early 2019
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Bitrez, one of the UK’s leading manufacturer of specialist polymers and chemicals is showcasing its capabilities at Advanced Engineering 2018.
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Based in Wigan, Bitrez manufactures high performance synthetic resin, catalysts and curing agents for world-class companies across aerospace, automotive, defence, energy, oil and gas and general industrial.
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Bitrez also offers toll conversion as well as technical support. Its team of highly qualified and experienced chemists can produce materials from laboratory scale through a transient pilot stage to enable scale up and allow for small scale qualification work before moving to commercial manufacture.
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Bitrez’s manufacturing plant, which is COMAH and ISO 9001/14001/18001 compliant, comprises numerous reaction units from 3000 – 30,000 litre capacity, along with exceptional cooling facilities to accommodate high reactivity resins.
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Turkish Airlines has reported passenger and cargo traffic in August achieving a load factor of 85.6%. The passenger growth trend continued in August, the total number of passengers carried went up by 2.4% reaching 7.6 million passengers, and load factor increased to 86%.
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In August 2018, total load factor improved by 1.3 points, with an increase of 0.5% in capacity (Available Seat Kilometer), while international load factor increased by 1.1 points to 85.3%, domestic load factor increased by 2.4 points to 87.6%. Excluding international-to-international transfer passengers (transit passengers), the number of international passengers went up by 3.4%.
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In August, cargo/mail volume continued its double digit growth trend and increase by 21%, compared to the same period of 2017. Main contributors to the growth in cargo/mail volume, are North America with a 32% increase, Europe with a 24% increase, Far East with a 22% increase and Middle East with a 18% increase.
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In August, Africa, Far East, Domestic Lines and North America showed load factor growth of 3.1 points, 2.3 points, 2.2 points and 2.1 points, respectively.
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Commencing October 29,2018 South Korean carrier Korean Air will use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in a three-class configuration for 269 passengers to service direct connection from Seoul to Prague.
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Flights stay scheduled at three times a week during the winter schedule.
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“Using Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the Prague – Seoul route will provide passengers to Asia more comfort in travelling in one of the most modern and more importantly, the quietest aircraft of today. Thus, presence of Dreamliner in Prague is in line with our responsible approach to sustainable development and primarily, pursued aviation noise abatement measures,”said Václav Řehoř, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors, adding:“It is also a great example of the development of a route launched in 2004 which continues to grow exponentially, offering passengers more and better in-flight services.”
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Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), has announced that its Group’s U.S. subsidiary Vision Technologies Aerospace Incorporated (VT Aerospace) has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire a 100% ownership in MRA Systems, (MRAS) from General Electric Company. The purchase is based on a 100% aggregate purchase consideration of US$630 million which will be on a cash-free and debt-free basis, and subject to closing adjustments for underfunded pension obligations, other debt-like items, transaction expenses, net working capital and other contingent adjustments.
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Based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA with approximately 800 employees, and a 90-year history in the aviation industry, MRAS is an established Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of engine nacelle systems for both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. It currently concentrates on the design, development, production and sale of nacelles, thrust reversers and aerostructures, along with the sale of spare parts.
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MRAS has a good combination of mature and next-generation nacelle programs including the A320neo powered by CFM International’s LEAP-1A engine, which is Airbus’ new-engine option for its A320 aircraft family, COMAC’s C919 powered by CFM International’s LEAP-1C turbofan engine and COMAC’s ARJ21 powered by General Electric’s CF34 engine. Similar to the A320neo LEAP-1A nacelle programme, the C919 and Global 7000/8000 are nacelle programmes that MRAS carries out in collaboration with Safran Nacelles.
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“ST Engineering keeps a constant lookout to acquire companies in our core business areas or adjacencies that will contribute profitable revenue streams and sharpen our competitive edge. We are excited by the prospects of our investment in MRAS, which is a high-value and complementary business that will enhance our scale, global reach and capture synergies for the Group,” said Vincent Chong, President & CEO of ST Engineering.
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More than 10,000 drone pilots are now registered with Airshare to fly in New Zealand airspace. The online hub for drone pilots operated by Airways has released that its database of registered pilots has topped the milestone mark.
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Drone pilots have enthusiastically adopted Airshare since its launch in December 2014 to access flight information and log flights directly with air traffic control. However registrations have soared over the last year, with close to 1000 in the last three months alone.
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Recreational pilots account for 80% of registrations and those flying for commercial purposes make up the remainder. Registered pilots are logging around 600 drone flights through the system every week across New Zealand.
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Airshare’s registration provides a way to identify drones and their owners and also to reach and educate drone pilots who may be new to aviation.
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“Hitting the 10,000 mark is excellent news as it reflects drone pilots’ growing awareness of their safety responsibilities,” Airways CEO Graeme Sumner says. “It’s extremely encouraging to see so many recreational pilots signing up as they are the group that we are finding it more difficult to reach.”
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There is currently no legal requirement for drone pilots to be registered to fly and the Airshare system is voluntary.
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“We would like to see mandatory registration and training requirements for drone pilots implemented to make sure all airspace users are able to continue to fly safely,” Mr Sumner says.
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In May Airways surveyed 1460 drone pilots for the inaugural Drone Tracker report. Sixty per cent of respondents to the survey supported mandatory registration and 59% said they support mandatory training.
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Airways is progressing with the development of a future drone traffic management system to safely integrate drones into New Zealand’s wider airspace network. Trials are underway to test technologies that will allow drones to be accurately tracked once they are beyond the pilot’s line of site, and provide detect and avoidance capability to keep them safely separated from other aircraft.
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