Short Takes
June 22nd 2015
CABIN INNOVATION: Japan’s JAMCO, now a tier one cabin supplier and risk-sharing partner with Airbus, has agreed to develop, manufacture, supply and support a new aft galley and additional cabin equipment for the A350 XWB aircraft family. Read More »
ENGINES: MTU Aero Engines announced orders of more than 800 million Euros (US$910.6 million) at the Paris Air Show including deals signed with Japan’s SMBC Aviation Capital, Korean Air and the China Aircraft Leasing Company for 170 PurePower PW1100G engines.
MANUFACTURERS: Airbus subsidiary, the Satair Group, has merged with Singapore-based Eltra Aeronautics, with the intention to build the aircraft aftermarket business across the Asia-Pacific. Integration of the two companies commenced in June and is expected to take two to three months. Airbus also has signed an agreement with Singapore’s ST Aerospace to offer passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions for A320/A321 aircraft. The P2F program will be managed by Dresden-based Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW). As part of the program, ST Aerospace will increase its equity in EFW from 20% to 55%. Airbus will own 45% of EFW.
MRO: AFI/KLM Engineering and Maintenance took orders for 800 million Euros at the Paris Air Show, including its 10th 787 equipment support contract with Vietnam Airlines and engine support for joint venture cargo carrier, Air China Cargo, on its B777 engine support, Hawaiiian Airlines will fit its B767 fleet with Cobham’s SwiftBroadband solution. Sriwijaya Air has signed a five-year contract to use Commsoft’s OASES for maintenance of its 38 B737s. The contract also covers Sriwijaya Air’s offshoot, Nam Air, operator of five B737-500s. Taikoo Engine Services (Xiamen) Co., a member of HAECO Group, recently completed work on its 200th General Electric GE90 engine and is on track to complete another 50 by year-end. China’s Zhejiang Loong Airlines has signed a 12-year agreement with CFM to support its fleet of CFM56-5B engines, as well as a 15-year Rate per Flight Hour agreement for its 20 LEAP-1A engines. From 2018, Lufthansa Technik AG and GE Aviation will jointly open a new engine overhaul facility for GEnx-2B and GE9X engines.
ROUTES: Azerbaijan Airlines will replace the B767 with the B787-8 on its thrice-weekly Baku-Beijing service starting July 12. China Airlines will increase capacity on the Taipei-Manila route from March 27, replacing the B737/A330 with the B747-400. China Southern Airlines will add a fifth weekly frequency on the Guangzhou-Perth B787 route beginning October 25. Emirates will replace the A330-200 with the B777-200LR on the Dubai-Entebbe route starting October 1. flydubai will add a daily Dubai-Faisalabad B737-800 service from July 10. HK Express will add a daily Hong Kong-Bangkok A320 service commencing July 20. Qatar Airways will up frequency on the Doha-Manila B777-300ER route from eight to 14-weekly from October 25. Rotana Jet will launch a thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Chittagong A319 service starting July 2. Singapore Airlines will add a fourth-weekly Singapore-Dubai-Jeddah A330-300 frequency from December 6. THAI will replace the B777-200ER with the A380 on one of its five daily Bangkok-Hong Kong departures beginning July 1. Budget carrier tigerair Taiwan will launch a daily Kaohsiung-Osaka A320 service from July 3.
TECHNOLOGY: AirAsia Group has become the launch customer for Airbus’ latest Smarter Fleet electronic flight folder. Singapore Airlines, Royal Brunei and Norwegian Air Shuttle have signed up for SITA OnAir’s flight tracking system - AIRCOM FlightTracker - thereby joining Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air and 10 other unspecified carriers already using the system.
