Short Takes
May 1st 2013
AIRPORTS: Asian airports scored four out of the five top places in the annual World Airports Awards. Singapore won the top spot followed by Seoul (2), Amsterdam (3), Hong Kong (4) and Beijing (5). The remaining airports in the top 10 were Munich (6), Zurich (7), Vancouver (8), Tokyo Haneda (9) and London Heathrow (10). Read More »
FLEETS: Japan Airlines (JAL) has ordered six Blended Winglet Systems, with options, for its B767-300ERs from Aviation Partners Boeing, a decision estimated to reduce JAL’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5,000 tons annually.
CODE-SHARES: China Airlines and Transaero Airlines have commenced code-sharing between Taoyuan airport and Moscow via Bangkok. Japan Airlines and Lan Peru have launched code-shares with the Central American carrier to Lima from Los Angeles and New York.
ENGINES: Pratt & Whitney completed more than 120 hours of ground testing on its first PW1100G geared turbofan test engines for the A320NEO in April.
ENVIRONMENT: A China Eastern Airlines (CEA) A320 completed its first test flight with biofuel produced by Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner, in April. After the successful flight, from Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport, CEA announced it would use the biofuel for commercial flights. Sinopec said the production of biofuel, which was produced from recycled cooking oil and palm oil, will be accelerated to achieve commercial application.
INFLIGHT: Philippine Airlines (PAL) and OnAir have signed a contract for the company to equip the airline’s fleet with connectivity that will allow passengers across the PAL fleet to call, text, tweet, email and use the Internet inflight. Honeywell Aerospace and Boeing have signed a technical services agreement to develop the technologies for the next generation of high-speed, inflight passenger wireless connectivity for Boeing platforms, including the B787, B777, B737NG and the B747-8.
LEASING: Air Lease Corporation has leased a new A330-300 aircraft to China’s Sichuan Airlines for 12 years. Singapore-based BOC Aviation, which will be 20 years old in November, has reported a net profit of US$225 million for the 12 months to December 31, 2012, a 12% improvement over its 2011 profit of US$201 million.
ORDERS: China Aviation Supplies Holding Co. (CAS) and Airbus have signed a General Terms Agreement for 60 Airbus airplanes, including 42 A320 family aircraft and 18 A330s.
OEMs: Airbus marked out new territory in the U.S. last month when construction commenced on its A320 Family Assembly Line in Mobile, Alabama. When the assembly line is completed Airbus will be the only aircraft manufacturer to assemble aircraft in Asia, the Americas and Europe, said Airbus CEO,Fabrice Bregier, at the groundbreaking ceremony. Separately, Airbus has installed two flight ready Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines on its first flight test A350 XWB aircraft. It also has put the new Honeywell HGT1700 APU into the Airbus production facilities in Toulouse for testing on the new aircraft.
ROUTES: Etihad Airways would like to introduce direct flights between its home base in Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong in the next three years, the airline said in Hong Kong last month. Etihad operates cargo services on the Hong Kong-Abu Dhabi route. Mainland China LCC, Spring Airlines, has applied for a Shanghai-Seoul service as it shifts its growth from Japan following the escalation of the Diaoyu Islands China-Japan dispute that has produced a dramatic decline in passenger traffic between the two countries.
