Embraer lands in Silicon Valley

April 1st 2017

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Brazilian-headquartered commercial and business aviation manufacturer, Embraer, is to establish innovation teams in Silicon Valley and Boston to explore opportunities in air transportation. Read More » The group, which began operations last month, plans to collaborate with startups, investors, academics and corporations and seek partnerships that enable new technologies and business models.

The innovations teams will be led by a Global Business Centre based in Melbourne Florida, where Embraer has an industrial, engineering and services facility, and will work with Embraer’s engineers at the company’s home base in Sao Jose dos Campos.

“A major transformation is unfolding worldwide and it has been accelerated by the evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality and autonomous vehicles. This is another step that Embraer takes as a key player in transforming global air transportation,” said the leader of the innovation program, Antonio Campello.

“We want to integrate with the Silicon Valley and Boston communities and create value for transporting people and cargo through the world’s largest innovation ecosystems,” said Embraer president and CEO, Paulo Cesar Silva. Embraer invests 10% of revenue in R&D and improved industrial operations each year. Almost half of the company’s income comes from innovation and improvements implemented in the last five years.

Boeing shakes up industry with car interiors partnership

Detroit’s Adient, a global leader in automative seating, is to collaborate with Boeing in the design of more functional and comfortable aircraft seating. The 75,000 employee company will offer Boeing its expertise in design, craftsmanship, operational excellence and supply chain management.

“In our discussions with Boeing, we believe there is an opportunity for Adient to raise the bar on the aviation passenger experience, building on our leadership in the automobile seat market,” Adient chairman and CEO, Bruce MacDonald said.

“Boeing is building commercial airplanes at record rates to deliver on an order backlog of more than US$400 billion,” said Boeing vice president and general manager, supplier management, Kent Fisher. “We continually look for opportunities to offer more value to our customers and believe they would benefit from a wider range of options with more reliable, on-time performance in the airplane interiors and seating category.”

The aircraft interiors market has an estimated value of US$21.7 billion by 2025. It is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 4.3% for the same period. Adient outfits the interiors of 25 million cars a year.

Accelya and Mercator complete merger

Airline financial solutions provider, Accelya, and air transport software company, Mercator, last month completed their merger into a single entity and announced its new majority shareholder, private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

The combined group, which has 250 airline customers, offers complementary products and analysis to all sectors of the travel and transport industries. Its portfolio of products includes revenue accounting, management and assurance, cargo and shipping management, payment solutions, data analytics, commercial solutions and cost management.

John Johnston, the CEO of Accelya, is the CEO of the new company. Jose Maria Hurtado is the combined group’s Chief Financial Officer. Warburg Pincus held majority control of Mercator before the merger.

China recycler buys aged B737-700s

Aircraft Recyling Internatonal Ltd (ARI), majority owned (48%) by China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings (CALC), received six aged B737-700s from Xiamen Airlines last month; the company’s first old aircraft acquisitions. The Boeing airliners, which are between 16 and 18 years old, will be disassembled by the two-year-old company at a new build plant in northern China.

ARI, which was established by CALC along with linked companies China Everbright Ltd (14%), Friedmann Pacific Asset Management (18%) and Sky Cheer International (20%), has commenced construction of an aircraft disassembly centre recycling plant in northern China’s Harbin, with part one of the facility to begin operating this year. It will have a hangar that can accommodate a B747 and the capacity to disassemble up to 20 aircraft a year.

ARI’s old aircraft solutions include leasing, sale and leaseback, trading of aircraft components, teardown and disassembly MRO and aircraft conversions.

All Nippon Airways Trading partners with CPaT

All Nippon Airways (ANA) Trading has established a marketing partnership in the Asia-Pacific with U.S. training academy, CPaT Global. ANA Trading will market CPaT’s distance learning solutions to airlines, flight training centres, universities and governments across the region. ANA Trading, set up in 1970, operates flight training and flight crew products, including simulator training academies, in Asia.

CPaT Global president, Brian Bergeron, said the Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing and least served market in the world. The combination of its products and ANA Trading’s experience, relationships and distribution would introduce customers to improved training and safety and cost savings.

GE Aviation buys cloud based digital records company

GE Aviation has bought cloud-based digital records management company, AirVault, an acquisition that will provide web-based fleet maintenance records management in conjunction with GE’s Configuration Data Exchange. The expanded capability will allow the collection of records and data across aviation companies and the IT systems they use to manage their fleets. AirVault has more than 40 major airline customers with data centre operations in Dallas and Oklahoma City.

It manages the maintenance records of 50% of the North American airline fleet and 20% of the global aircraft fleet. GE is organized around a global knowledge exchange, the GE Store, where each business shares and accesses the same technology, knowledge, market, structure and intellect.

Cebu Pacific signs on AFI/KLM E&M for A320 support

Cebu Pacific, the largest carrier in the Philippines, has contracted Air France Industries/KLM E&M, to provide component support for its A320 family fleet of 40 airplanes. Cebu expects to take delivery of 45 new aircraft from this year to 2021, which will increase the LCC’s fleet to 85. The contract covers full component support and solutions and includes repairs and local pool access to maximize aircraft utilization for the carrier’s A320ceos and future A320neos.

“We are extremely proud to number Cebu Pacific among our clients, and support the development of one of the most successful low-cost carriers in this fast growing market,” said AFI KLM E&M. “This is our first agreement with Cebu Pacific and also our first component support contract in the strategic Phillipines market”, said executive vice president, Air France Industries, Gery Mortreux.

Also in March, the European joint venture company signed a long-term support agreement with Vietnamese LCC, Jetstar Pacific, for its fleet of 14 A320s and secured a contract with Cambodia’s Angkor Air for component support, MRO and pool access. The 10 airliner carrier, a Vietnam Airlines and Cambodian government joint venture, flies seven ATRs and three A320s.