Tyler also urged policymakers to work with industry on win-win solutions. “There are numerous areas of common interest between what is good for the industry and what is good for Europe,” said Tyler. He noted that such an approach could help avoid “unintended consequences” of regulation. “At present, the general direction is on ‘restricting and taxing’ aviation. Instead of ‘enabling’ policies, they seem focused on ‘disabling’—an unintended consequence that imposes a big cost on European airlines’ competitiveness,” said Tyler.

Tyler’s remarks came in a speech to the European Aviation Club. Key points include the following policy priorities:

Capacity: While IATA welcomed many aspects of the recent Airports Package, Tyler highlighted the industry’s concern for the intention to change the 80:20 use-it-or-lose-it rule to 85:15 for airport slot management. “The current 80:20 rule is based on IATA’s Worldwide Slot Guidelines which are used at 161 airports globally. Changing this to 85:15 incentivizes airlines to fly when demand is not there. Flying empty planes does not improve competitiveness or environmental performance, which is surely an unintended consequence. The focus should shift to building the airport capacity needed to fulfill economic growth,” said Tyler.

Single European Sky (SES): SES will improve Europe’s competitiveness by increasing airspace capacity, improving safety, cutting carbon emissions by some 16 million tonnes annually and halving air traffic management costs. The latest SES progress report notes that only five out of 27 states are on track to meet agreed upon targets to reduce delays and improve cost efficiency. And only one out of the nine Functional Airspace Blocks is expected to meet the year-end target deadline. “This is a make-or-break year for SES. Europe cannot afford to fail. I appreciate the urgent efforts of Vice President Siim Kallas. If states cannot deliver results, then it is time for the Commission to drive a top-down approach,” said Tyler.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS): IATA continued to call for a global solution through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as the key to breaking the impasse on Europe’s plans to unilaterally include international aviation in the EU ETS. “The unintended consequences of the unilateral and extra-territorial approach go beyond market distortions to states seeing this as an attack on their sovereignty. I am sensing a growing recognition in Brussels that a global scheme developed through ICAO would provide a superior solution both for managing aviation’s emissions and to resolving the political problems caused by extending the scheme beyond Europe’s borders. This is encouraging and we will do all that we can to promote a pragmatic solution. But time is not on our side. Airlines from Europe may face some retaliatory action. And some non-European airlines may have to choose whether to obey the law of their land or that of Europe—two more unintended consequences which should convince all states that ICAO is the way forward,” said Tyler.

Biofuel: Tyler noted that sustainable biofuels were a key component of the aviation industry’s commitments to cap net emissions from 2020 and cut them in half by 2050 compared to 2005 levels. “To move from demonstration flights to being a major component of the industry’s consumption, we need the price to drop and the supply to increase. The unintended consequence of current policy is driving biomass and investment towards road transportation which has alternative energy sources. This urgently needs to be redressed—not via blend mandates but by providing the right policy incentives to attract investment and de-risk the scaling up of commercial aviation biofuels projects,” said Tyler.

Benefits of Aviation

Tyler re-iterated the economic benefits of aviation. “With austerity budgets across Europe, export revenues from cargo and tourists are critical to support jobs and GDP growth. Over 35% of the value of goods traded internationally are transported by air. The 655 million people who flew in Europe last year facilitated business and tourism. And the aviation supply chain sustains millions of European jobs, which became visible when the 2010 volcanic ash crisis brought Europe and much of the world to a halt,” said Tyler.

IATA commissioned 54 studies from Oxford Economics to quantify the benefits of aviation at the national level. Highlights for major European economies include the UK where aviation supports 1.4 million jobs and 5% of GDP, France with one million jobs and 3.9% of GDP and Germany with 1.1 million jobs and 2.6% of GDP.

“These studies provide a factual platform to engage policy-makers to make aviation deliver even broader economic benefits. In Europe that means: (1) applying global standards to a global industry whenever possible, (2) ensuring sufficient capacity to grow, (3) delivering the Single European Sky, (4) taking a global approach to climate change and (5) ensuring that taxation policies and regulation enable safe, efficient and sustainable growth,” said Tyler.

Source: IATA

SAVANNAH, Ga., February 7, 2012 — Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. will display three business jets at this year’s Singapore Airshow, being held Feb. 14-19, at the Changi Exhibition Centre. They are the wide-cabin, high-speed Gulfstream G150; the large-cabin, long-range Gulfstream G450; and the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G550.

“Singapore is home to about 10 percent of our Asian-Pacific fleet, so this show is an excellent opportunity for us to meet face-to-face with existing and potential operators,” said Scott Neal, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Gulfstream . “It also serves as a centralized location for customers to learn about the reliability, availability, safety and technological advances of Gulfstream aircraft.”

The company will conduct an on-site Operators Forum from 1 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Function Room 3 to provide updates and technical presentations on maintenance and operational subjects relevant to Gulfstream operators in Asia.

Source and photo: Gulfstream

EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Korean Air today celebrated delivery of the airline’s first 747-8 and 777 Freighters. With the milestone delivery, Korean Air becomes the first airline in the world to operate both the 747-8 and 777 Freighters.

“We are very proud to become the first airline in the world to have the combined strengths of these two freighters in its fleet,” said Yang Ho Cho, chairman of Korean Air. “Our cargo fleet is being improved by these fuel-saving planes. They can help reduce carbon emissions by 17 percent and this supports our goal to be a responsible citizen of the world.”

Korea’s flagship carrier is the first Boeing customer to order both variations of the new 747-8 airplane and is also a key supplier partner on this new airplane program.

“Boeing is honored to celebrate this historic delivery with YH Cho and the Korean Air family,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “It is hard to imagine reaching this day without the leadership of YH and his vision to transform Korean Air into one of the best global airlines in the world.”

The 747-8 Freighter offers a range of 4,390 nautical miles (8,130 km) and a maximum structural payload capacity of 148 tons (134 tonnes), while offering an additional 4,221 cubic feet (120 m3) and 16 percent more revenue cargo volume than the 747-400 Freighter.

The twin-engine Boeing 777 Freighter is the most fuel-efficient airplane with leading economic and environmental performance in its category. It has a cargo capacity of 103 metric tons (113 tons) with a range of 9,038 kilometers (4,880 nautical miles).

Korean Air plans to operate the 747-8 Freighter on its transpacific route, with stops in Osaka and Narita, Japan, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 777 Freighter is Korean Air’s first twin-engine freighter and will allow the airline to open into new markets in Europe, including Vienna, Frankfurt and London.

Source and photo: Boeing

Fokker Services in Woensdrecht, The Netherlands offers a full range of maintenance, repair and overhaul services on the Goodrich landing gears, as well as the largest amount of exchange gear sets available in the world.

“We are very pleased that one year after signing our FLY Fokker Abacus agreement, we signed this agreement with OceanAir, a long-time and highly regarded customer in Brazil”, says Leon Kouters, VP Marketing & Sales Fokker Services, Inc.

“We signed this agreement with Fokker Services since they provided the right mix of quality, cost and availability for the overhaul of all of our Fokker 100 gears for the upcoming three years ”, says Santiago Diago of OceanAir/Avianca Brazil.

Fokker Services press release

Boeing identified a production problem in the rear section of some of its 787 Dreamliner jets but that the issue posed no short-term safety concern. After Boeing discovered the problem of its 787 Dreamliner, the company ordered to inspect its Dreamliner.

Separation of a jet’s composite skin is a risk unique to the Dreamliner because commercial jets have traditionally been built from aluminum. While the new materials are intended to save weight and boost fuel efficiency, they also contributed to manufacturing difficulties that slowed the 787’s debut.

The Dreamliner’s two deliveries in January were half a plane less than the current monthly production rate, which is due to reach 10 by the end of 2013. Boeing has completed assembling of nearly 50 Dreamliners to date and has delivered five to All Nippon Airways of Japan.

All Nippon Airways Co., the only operator of the 787, said it will continue flying the aircraft.

Photo: Rob Vogelaar, Z.A.P.P.

Embraer’s advanced midsize jet completes successful power test.

São José dos Campos, Brazil, February 6, 2012 – Embraer performed the Legacy 500 first engine run on January 17, at the Company’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil. This was the second major milestone in the development of the midsize executive jet program, following the aircraft’s roll out, on December 23, 2011.

A series of preparatory evaluations – such as APU tests and first refueling – were held the day prior to the engine run. Engine tests are essential to properly evaluate all dependent systems: bleed air, electrical, environmental (air conditioning), hydraulic, and FADEC logics, as well as the integration of the engine with avionics.

“Being successful on our first engine run reflects the robustness of the concept conceived by our engineers,” said Luciano Castro, Legacy 500 Program Vice President – Embraer Executive Jets. “This was possible thanks to the extensive use of RIGs to test the systems prior to aircraft prototype availability. It makes us confident that we will have a smooth flight test and certification campaign.”

The entire process is recorded, and data obtained are compared to engineering projections. Once engines reach full thrust and systems integration is confirmed, low-speed taxi tests will commence.

The first flight of the Legacy 500 is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year.

Bombardier Aerospace and Air Nostrum of Valencia, Spain on Friday celebrated the delivery of the airline’s 75^th Bombardier commercial aircraft at Bombardier’s Mirabel facility in Québec, where the CRJ aircraft are manufactured. The aircraft, a CRJ1000 NextGen regional jet, was accepted by Miguel Ángel Falcón, General Manager, Air Nostrum.

The 75^th aircraft follows nine CRJ1000 NextGen, 11 CRJ900, and 35 CRJ200 regional jets, as well as 19 Q300 turboprops that have previously been delivered to Air Nostrum.

“Bombardier’s CRJ and Q-Series aircraft have served Air Nostrum’s operations exceedingly well and I’m delighted to be here today to accept our latest CRJ1000 NextGen regional jet for our fleet,” said Mr. Falcón. “Since their entry-into-service in 2010, we have deployed our CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft on high-frequency routes to feed the hubs of our oneworld® alliance partner, Iberia. The CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft are performing beyond our expectations, delivering reduced costs per seat, increasing efficiencies, reducing environmental emissions and providing an enhanced passenger experience.”

“As a launch customer for the CRJ1000 NextGen regional jet, Air Nostrum has been a steadfast champion in the aircraft’s entry-into-service, and we are delighted to hand over the airline’s 10^th model of the type,” said Sylvain Leclerc, Vice President & General manager, CRJ Programs, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, during the delivery event. “We wish Air Nostrum much continued success as one of Europe’s leading regional airlines,” added Mr Leclerc.

Air Nostrum is one of the largest regional airlines in Europe and a member of oneworld airline alliance. With some 2,000 employees, the airline operates more than 150,000 annual flights on more than 120 routes, and carries over 5 million passengers per year.

Air Nostrum is the only regional airline in Europe that has been chosen as “Airline of the Year” (Golden Category), by the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) on five occasions. The airline has also been awarded with the “Palme D’Or,” by the same association. In 2011, Air Transport World named Air Nostrum as its “Regional Airline of the Year.”

In total, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for 1,709 CRJ Series regional jets and 1,084 Q-Series turboprops.

Source and image: Bombardier Aerospace

Highlighting civil and military products / ACJ318 on static display

6 February 2012

Hungary’s national carrier ceased operations, grounded all its flights and stranded more than 7,000 passengers. After its financial situation became unsustainable. Malev, the Hungarian flag carrier with a fleet of 22 aircraft, is in bankruptcy protection and desperately drawing up a restructuring plan in the hope of attracting an investor.

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) is to fly back nine aircraft (737) leased by the collapsed Hungarian airline Malév to its base in Ireland.

Wizz Air plans a substantial 66% capacity boost in Hungary in 2012 as a response to the collapse of the country’s flag carrier Malév. Wizz Air offered discount fares for Malév passengers impacted by the suspension of Malév’s operations, offering re-routing alternatives to/from Budapest (17 routes in total).

EasyJet has joined Wizz Air by stepping with a rescue package for passengers affected by Malev suspending its flights. The UK budget carrier will offer passengers stranded at their destinations a special rescue fee of 60 euros to return home. The offer available to any Malev passenger due to travel inbound until midnight on February 9. EasyJet operates on three former Malev routes – London-Budapest, Paris-Budapest and Berlin-Budapest.

Ryanair has announced on Friday that it will base four new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft at Budapest Airport commencing in just two weeks time on 17 February where it will open 31 new routes.

Photo: Rob Vogelaar, Z.A.P.P.

February 3, 2012, Moscow – The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued today its Type Certificate A-176 for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (model RRJ-95B). This certificate recognizes that the SSJ100 aircraft demonstrated compliance with the EASA airworthiness and environmental requirements. The recognition allows the European airlines, as well as those airlines operating in countries which use EASA regulations as a reference standard, to accept and operate the SSJ100 (RRJ-95B) aircraft. This result represents a key milestone in support of the brand credibility of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 which is the first ever Russian passenger “Large Airplane” to achieve the EASA CS-25 Certification. The EASA Type Certificate will be officially handed over to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft on February 24, 2012 at IAC Headquarters in Moscow.

The EASA certificate, which is a validation of the certificate issued by the Interstate Aviation Committee Aviation Register (IAC AR), is the result of the vast certification campaign performed by EASA, IAC AR and SCAC in association with Certification centers, Alenia Aermacchi (former Alenia Aeronautica) and key aircraft systems suppliers.

The European validation started after IAC AR certification application in 2004 and went through the four different phases, in parallel with the Russia Certification process: Familiarization, Agreement of Certification Programs, Compliance Determination and Final Project Report. The European Authority first familiarized with the aircraft, then deeply examined the aircraft technical characteristics and, in the last period, got proof of its performances and safety. The overall process allowed to assess the compliance with the strict European Airworthiness Code, resulting in the issue of the Type Certificate.

Thanks to the experience and dedication of the fully integrated multicultural SSJ100 Team, the EASA Certificate has been granted only one year after the achievement of the IAC AR Type Certificate.

The European validation program included several dedicated flight and ground tests. In particular the EASA pilots went through many sessions on the “electronics bird” (SCAC integrated simulator and RIG for the SSJ100) and participated in 45 certification flights (total duration about 70 flight hours) in order to prove the safety and in-flight performance of the SSJ100 aircraft in any situation. The ground tests covered, among others, the ultimate pressure load of the fuselage, the bird strike of the front upper cockpit panel, the broken-tire strike of the lower hatch cover of the wing fuel tank and the fire-resistance of the composite flap. In the frame of ten working groups (“Panels”) 84 Certification Review Items and 60 Certification Action Items were analyzed, substantiated and agreed while more than 500 actions and questions received from the Authorities were timely and satisfactory closed.

“The job we have done together is really great. We sincerely thank our colleagues from the EASA and IAC AR for their big support. The European certification is a key milestone in getting worldwide recognition of our aircraft which will open up new perspectives for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in the international markets,” – said Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk, President of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft.

This great moment gains even more meaning, considering the strong international nature of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 project that comes from a new Russian growing reality, along with the Alenia Aermacchi strategic partnership, the reliable Customer Services provided by SuperJet International and Snecma capability as one of the key figures for the Powerjet SaM146 engine.

The list of the international and Russian suppliers to be mentioned would be endless, all the involved ones provided SCAC with really advanced products. Nevertheless it should be specially noted a great contribution of the main suppliers Thales, Liebherr, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, Hamilton-Sundstrand and B/E Aerospace that enriched our product with their superb technology.

Surely, this wide integration of parts, processes and cultures created challenges, but has also been the trademark of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 since the beginning of the program and it is now a reason to be proud of, allowing SCAC and SJI to deliver their worldwide customers an extremely advanced and performing aircraft.

Source: Sukhoi
Photo: Marcel van Leeuwen, Z.A.P.P.

São José dos Campos, Brazil, February 3, 2012 – Embraer delivers a Legacy 650 to world-renowned celebrity Jackie Chan for the Chinese market today in São José dos Campos, Brazil. Liveried with his iconic dragon logo, the aircraft provided an auspicious beginning to the Year of the Dragon in his home country.

Jackie Chan, Embraer’s Brand Ambassador, will assist the Company in promoting its entire line of executive aircraft, not only in the rapidly growing greater China market, but globally. “This delivery is a moment of historical importance to Embraer because it solidifies an already long and successful relationship between China and Embraer,” said Ernest Edwards, President, Embraer Executive Jets. “To have the first Embraer Legacy 650 in China go to Jackie Chan, a world-renowned movie star, business man and philanthropist, illustrates how the cutting-edge technology, comfort and productivity of this aircraft allow operators in China to travel throughout the world with more efficiency and ease.”

“I chose the Legacy 650 because its large three zone cabin, offering incredibly quiet performance and luxury,” said Jackie Chan. “I am honored to join the Embraer Legacy 650 family of users. I believe that Embraer is poised to become a major player in the Chinese executive jet market and thrilled to fulfill my role as brand ambassador for this great Company.”

The Legacy 650 range is 3,900 nautical miles (7,223 kilometers) affording such nonstop distances as Beijing to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Hong Kong to Adelaide (Australia), carrying four passengers under NBAA IFR conditions. Its state-of-the-art cockpit includes the Honeywell Primus Elite™ avionics suite, greatly reducing the pilot workload and enhancing safety. With three distinct cabin zones, the Legacy 650 is the only jet in its class with this level of comfort. Advanced Wi-Fi technology and significantly reduced cabin noise means the Legacy 650 ensures an environment in which passengers can work or rest. It includes a fully equipped wet galley and the largest in-flight accessible baggage compartment, something Embraer is known for.

Advanced technology, outstanding performance and intelligent design and luxury have made the Legacy 650 an award winning aircraft, having received the “Best of the Best” in the large executive jet category from the Robb Report in 2011. This was followed in 2012 by the “Best of the Best” from the Hurun report, one of the most widely recognized authorities in tracking the rapid growth of China’s high-net-worth individuals.

In addition to Jackie Chan’s delivery, Embraer received orders for 13 Legacy 650s from China’s Minsheng Financial Leasing Co, Ltd, one of the country’s leading executive jet leasing companies. Embraer Executive Jets is now recognized as one of the top brands in the world’s business aviation market, after a decade of relentless efforts, when the Company entered this market segment in 2001. Embraer is the world’s only manufacturer offering a full line of executive jets, from entry level to ultra-large aircraft, which are well-received by customers, worldwide.

Source and photo: Embraer