Short Takes
September 1st 2013
CARGO: Cathay Pacific Airways will start its first Latin American route by year end, with a twice weekly B747-8F cargo service to Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city.Read More »
CODE-SHARES: Hawaiian Airlines will operate two code-share services a week between Taipei and Honolulu with China Airlines (CAL), from next month, bringing the number of Taipei-Hawaii flights to 11. CAL also flies directly between the Taiwanese capital and the U.S. island state as well as seven flights via Tokyo to Honolulu. Korean Air (KAL) and Etihad Airways have commenced a daily code-share between Seoul, South Korea and Abu Dhabi.
COMMUNICATIONS: SITA and Biman Bangladesh Airlines have signed a 10-year agreement to upgrade and manage its communications infrastructure as the airline prepares to double passengers carried by December 2015.
COMPONENTS: Aviation component supplier, Avtrade, has expanded its Singapore office with the appointment of former Sabena Technic executive, Fred Hervot, as sales director for the region and Avtrade veteran, Toby Smith, as sales manager.
INFLIGHT: Singapore Airline’s low-cost offshoot, Scoot, has joined AirAsia X and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in banning children from sections of its planes. Scoot announced last month that children under 12 will be banned from rows 21-25 of its aircraft and that passengers could upgrade to the 41 seat Scootsilence zone for US$14. AirAsia X does not allow children aged 12 and under to sit in the first seven rows of economy and MAS has banned infants from its first class cabins because the airline received many complaints about “noisy infants.”
LEASING: New Chinese aircraft lessor, Minsheng Commercial Aviation Limited, and airberlin have signed a Letter of Intent for 11 new and used narrowbody airliners, equipped with CFM engines.
MROs: Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Finance have added six A330s leased by AirAsia X to its MRO contract with the Malaysia-headquartered long-haul low-cost carrier.
OEMS: Global aviation conglomerate, Rockwell Collins, has bought communications specialists, ARINC, from the Carlyle Group for US$1.39 billion, subject to regulatory approval. ARINC is a leader in ground-based and cabin communications, engineering and integration. Core competencies at Rockwell Collins, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are the manufacture of communication systems, cabin electronics, avionics, simulations and training.
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| Lion Air: seeking a global training partner |
ROUTES: All Nippon Airways (ANA) will upgrade its service between Tokyo-Narita and Yangon, capital of Myanmar, to daily flights at the end of this month. Cathay Pacific will add a fifth daily service to New York City with the introduction of Hong Kong-Newark (New Jersey) daily flights from March 1. The Hong Kong-based carrier flies four times daily to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Cathay Pacific subsidiary, regional airline, Dragonair, has announced it will fly a three times a week seasonal service between Hong Kong and Siem Reap, Cambodia, from October 29. Singapore Airlines (SIA) will add a third daily flight from Singapore to New Delhi between October and March next year. SIA and its subsidiary, SilkAir, operate services to 11 Indian cities. Malindo Air commenced its first international service, from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 28, with plans to add Bali, Jakarta, Medan and Batan to its network. Malindo Air, which is controlled by Indonesia’s Lion Air and Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defense Industries, was launched last March and initially contracted ATR72-600s to establish a domestic network. Privately controlled Spring Airlines, Mainland China’s largest low-cost carrier (LCC), will commence flying between its home base of Shanghai to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, before year end, with the intention of adding Shanghai-Taipei to its scheduled services within three months.
SAFETY: Air Transat, Canada’s leading leisure airline, has become the first international airline to renew its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration under the new Enhanced IOSA audit system. IATA’s board approved implementation of Enhanced IOSA for all IOSA renewal audits from September 2015.
TRAINING: Etihad Airways and China Eastern Airlines have collectively ordered nine full flight simulators and nine flight training devices from CAE worth C$230 million (US$231 million). Indonesian low-cost carrier, Lion Air, is seeking a global training partner, certified by the European Safety Agency and/or the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration, to develop a crew training centre for its expanding fleet as well as training for third party carriers. Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest airline, has two airline subsidiaries, Wings Air and Batik Air, and holds 49% of new Malaysian low-cost carrier, Malindo Air. Lion Air’s training facility is in the airline’s Lion Village, adjacent to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Hong Kong–based airline training provider, MPL Simulator Solutions, is offering the COMPASS Aptitude test for pilot selection and screening, a 90-120 minutes pay per test system covering the skills required to be a commercial airline pilot. Singapore headquartered tigerair and CAE Oxford Aviation Academy have signed a contract that will provide the low-cost carrier with a Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) for its new first officers operating the carrier’s A320s. The training will be done in Singapore and Melbourne, Australia.
