Short Takes
December 1st 2012
AIRPORTS: Hong Kong’s Airport Authority reported a 13.1% (US$355.99 million) increase in interim profit, to September 30, over the same six months in 2011. The authority predicted moderate passenger and air traffic growth and said it was encouraged at recent improvements in air cargo movements. Read More »
AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT: The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to identify areas of common interest for overall improvements in air traffic management.
ALLIANCES: Malaysia Airlines has delayed its entry into full membership of the oneworld alliance until February next year “to avoid the end-of-year holiday season and for other administrative reasons”. The newest member of the SkyTeam alliance is Xiamen Airlines, China’s sixth largest carrier and one of the region’s most profitable airlines.
CARGO: Qatar Airways, which had planned to increase its holding in Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines, is selling its 35% equity in the carrier following staff protests about possible job losses if Qatar increased its shareholding at the struggling cargo carrier.
CODE-SHARES: Air Seychelles and Etihad Airways will start a three-times-a week code-share from Hong Kong to the Seychelles via Abu Dhabi next February. Etihad owns 40% of Air Seychelles. Japan Airlines (JAL) and Bangkok Airways have commenced a code-share on selected JAL to Bangkok routes from Narita, Haneda and Osaka. JAL passengers will be able to connect with flights on Bangkok Airways to Mumbai, Koh Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
ENGINES: CFM International continued filling its healthy order book in November when it announced the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), the manufacturer of the new C919 mid-sized jet, had ordered 50 LEAP-1C engines to power the airliner. The 150-seat plus C919 is scheduled to enter service in 2016. CFMI orders and commitments for its LEAP engines reached US$52 billion following confirmation of the COMAC purchase agreement. Hainan Airlines, the fourth largest Mainland Chinese airline group, has chosen GEnx-18 engines to power the two latest B787s it has ordered, bringing the airline’s fleet to 10 B787s when all the aircraft are delivered. Airline customers worldwide have ordered 1,300 GEnx engines, which has been designed to produce 15% less CO2 than its big selling precursor, the CF6. Mitsui & Co. Ltd and GE Aviation have formed a strategic partnership to develop technologies for GE’s next generation large commercial engines.
LEASING: BOC Aviation has signed agreements to lease six B737-800s and three B737-800ERs to Indonesian airline, Lion Air. The Singapore-based lessor also will lease two new A321s to Etihad Airways and one A320, manufactured in 2005, to Bangkok Airways. Chinese lessor, ICBC, has taken delivery of an A320, the first of 92 A320s and A320neos it has ordered. Thai AirAsia will operate the aircraft.
MRO: Lufthansa Technik and CFM International have signed a cooperation agreement to support CFM56 engines to jointly develop component repairs, overhaul technology and technology support for their MRO operations.
OEM: The manufacturer of China’s regional ARJ21 jet, which had its maiden flight four years ago, will delay its first delivery to customers by up to two years because of “inexperience in certification in terms of methods and infrastructure”. Luo Ronghuai, a vice president of the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), said six of the ARJs have accumulated 2,800 flight hours of ground and flight tests, but delivery to launch customer, Chengdu Airlines, had been delayed “due to the inability of some key parts to pass flight tests”. COMAC has 252 orders for the ARJ.
ROUTES: All Nippon Airways (ANA) will launch its Tokyo Narita-San Jose service on January 13, using the newest addition to its fleet, the B787 Dreamliner, initially offering five flights a week on the route. ANA has also launched a new service between Tokyo and Delhi. It commenced flying to Mumbai from Tokyo in 2007.
TRAINING: The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has announced that ATR’s new flight training centre at the Seletar Aerospace Park in Singapore has full accreditation to instruct trainees in a range of programmes from flight crew type-rating to recurrent training. ATR has more than 250 of its aircraft flying with Asia-Pacific airlines. Hong Kong Poly University has received an in-principal commitment of HK$160 million (US$20.65 million) to establish a research centre for aviation maintenance at the university.
