Short Takes
November 1st 2013
CARGO: China Airlines, capitalizing on a new rule that allows cross straits carriers to fly into China via an intermediate stop, has launched a B747-400F once a week Taoyuan-Nanjing-Zhengzhou cargo service. Read More »
COMMUNICATIONS: Hong Kong International Airport has signed a second five-year contract, with an option for another five years, with ARINC for the company’s common use terminals and systems for check-in, departure and passenger baggage management.
LEASING: AWAS has delivered its second A320 to new Vietnamese low-cost carrier, Vietjet. Thai Airways International has received the last of its eight leased B777-300ERs from BOC Aviation. China’s Industrial Bank Financial Leasing Co. has leased 20 C919s from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). The COMAC jet has delayed its launched several times and is not scheduled to fly until late 2015. ST Aerospace Engines Pte Ltd has injected US$2.81 million into Total Asset Management Pte Ltd, which is a 50/50 venture between the Singapore lessor and the Marubeni Corporation. SriLankan Airlines, which is working towards joining the oneworld alliance, has signed a 13-year agreement to lease three A350-900s from International Lease Finance Corp.
FLEETS: Qantas Airways took delivery last month of the first of 14 B787s destined for its low-cost carrier, Jetstar. The Dreamliners are configured with 314 economy seats and a premium cabin that accommodates 21 passengers. Destinations planned for the airplanes include Melbourne, Cairns and the Gold Coast in Queensland, Phuket, Bali, Japan and Hawaii.
MRO: Hong Kong Aircraft Engine Company (HAECO) has bought American MRO, Timco Aviation Services, which has 2,718 employees spread across 20 facilities in the U.S.
OEMs: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, which is developing the MRJ jet aircraft, has established a quality assurance division in Bavaria, Germany. Operating since last month, and 100%-owned by Dutch-based Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation Europe B. V., the German facility will oversee the integration and strengthening of the relationships between Mitsubishi and its European partners.
PEOPLE: Airport Authority Hong Kong has begun a worldwide search for a successor to Stanley Hui, who will step down in July next year.
ROUTES: Cathay Pacific Airways will add a fourth daily direct flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles next June and will launch three additional flights from its home base to Chicago two months later. THAI Smile have started flying three times a week from Bangkok to two Chinese cities, Chongqing and Changsha.
TRAINING: Global simulator manufacturer and training company, CAE, have signed a long-term contract with Japan Airlines to qualify the airline’s cadet pilots with a Multi-Crew Pilot Licence.
