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Commercial

Airbus launches the A330neo
Following a decision by the Board of Directors of the Group, Airbus has launched the A330-800neo and A330-900neo, two new members of its Widebody Family, which will incorporate latest generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, aerodynamic enhancements and new cabin features. Benefitting from the unbeatable economics, versatility and high reliability of the A330, the A330neo reduces fuel consumption by 14% per seat, making it the most cost efficient, medium range Widebody aircraft on the market. In addition to greater fuel savings, A330neo operators will benefit from a range increase of up to 400 nautical miles and all the operational commonality advantages of the Airbus Family. Deliveries of the A330neo will start in Q4 2017.
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Discussion

Airline demand, outlook are positive
Analysts say airline demand is holding steady as carriers continue a path to growth.
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Boeing courts low-costs with 200-seat Max 8
Boeing is to target its new 200-seat “minor model” of the 737 Max at the fast-growing low-cost carrier market. “We’re trying to get the best operating economics for the low-cost guys by providing the most amount of seats in an airplane,” says Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Ray Conner. The budget airline segment has already attracted a high-density, 189-seat version of the Airbus A320neo aimed at putting the European narrowbody on a par with the current layout of the 737-800 or 737 Max 8.
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CFM Eyes Record Orders In 2014
CFM International expects another record year for engine orders, its chief executive said, adding the company had bid for an engine deal with easyJet. "When we see the number of orders already achieved at this time of year and when we compare this figure with the previous year... then we are about to achieve another record year in 2014," Jean-Paul Ebanga told journalists at an event ahead of the Farnborough air show, which runs from July 14-20. CFM, a joint venture between Safran and GE, has orders for 2,071 engines so far in 2014 to the end of June, driven by its new Leap engine for the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 MAX. It last year pulled in orders for 2,723 engines.
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Fix for CSeries engine flaw still being validated
Bombardier is continuing to validate a proposed fix for the engine malfunction that has grounded the CSeries test fleet since 29 May. Flights for the CS100 should resume in the "coming weeks" as the fix to an unspecified oil system problem is validated, Bombardier CSeries program manager Rob Dewar says in a video update posted on 12 July. The fleet has been grounded since the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G "No 1" engine on FTV-1 was damaged on 29 May during ground testing. Bombardier and P&W parent United Technologies have described the problem only as failure of the oil system in the low-pressure turbine.
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Designers show off innovative airplane seats
As airlines look to safely carry more people in less space, seat designers are taking up the challenge to keep tightly packed passengers comfortable. This article looks at some of their proposed innovations.
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Embraer unveils E2 cabin mock-up
Embraer has debuted its re-engined E2 cabin mock-up at the Farnborough air show, boasting a sleeker and more modern interior over the incumbent E-Jet. The airframer is showing off the mock-up to existing and potential customers as it enters the critical design review process for the E2, which Embraer hopes to complete by end-2014. “The first iron bird will be ready next year,” says Embraer senior vice president, operations and chief operating officer commercial aviation Luis Carlos Affonso. Embraer aims for first metal cut in the second half of this year, he adds.
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Pilots union calls for reforms to Ex-Im Bank
The head of the airline pilots union has sent letters to both chambers of Congress urging members to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a setback for conservative Republicans who have led efforts to let the bank die this fall after 80 years. The support, however, comes with a demand: End the bank’s subsidies on sales of Boeing wide-body jets to state-owned foreign airlines. The letters are explicit reminders that airline industry opposition to the bank, touted as key voices in the bank’s opponents campaign to end it, is aimed at specific programs within the bank’s portfolio and not to the bank as an institution.
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Pratt Offers Improved A320neo Engine
Pratt & Whitney has unveiled an enhancement to its engine for the Airbus A320neo that it says will improve fuel burn efficiency by a further 2 percent, stepping up the battle with rival CFM. Pratt said the new PW1100G-JM engine, dubbed the Advantage, would be released in 2019 and that it was already offering it to airline customers. CFM on Sunday announced an order worth USD$2.6 billion at list prices to provide engines for 100 Airbus A320neos that American Airlines has on order.
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Superjet International targets Latin America with Russian regional jet
Superjet International has a message for rival Embraer – watch out, we are coming after you in your own back yard. The Italian company responsible for marketing the Russian-built Superjet 100 in Western countries sees Brazil and the rest of Latin America as one of its key markets. And it believes the positive experience of the aircraft by its sole customer – Mexico’s Interjet – will help it win further business in the region. At a joint press conference today, Interjet’s chief executive Jose Luis Garza Alvarez will report that the carrier has been getting better than expected fuel economy and dispatch reliability from the 93-seat type. “Other Latin American airlines are watching Interjet with a lot of interest,” says Nazario Cauceglia, chief executive of Superjet International. “We are certainly not discouraged about competing in the home of our competitor.”
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Airlines

Aeroflot Sees LCC Obstacles Lifted Soon
Laws preventing airlines from charging for food and baggage - the last obstacles standing in the way of significantly cheaper airfares in Russia - will be lifted soon, the country's largest carrier Aeroflot predicted. The Russian government has already revoked laws prohibiting the sale of non-refundable tickets and employment of foreign pilots since the state-carrier announced plans to launch low-cost airline Dobrolet last year, chief executive Vitaly Saveliev told Reuters news agency. But allowing Russia's new budget airline to charge for food and baggage would result in ticket prices up to 40 percent cheaper than Aeroflot's economy class service. "These are the laws that will allow Russia to have low-cost airlines which will operate under the same rules as those in Europe and America,” said Saveliev. "Low-cost, it is a very simple service – no food and no free-of-charge luggage."
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American Picks CFM In USD$2.6 Bln Engine Deal
CFM International said on Sunday that it had been selected by American Airlines to provide engines for 100 Airbus A320neos the airline has on order.
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BA converts 20 A320neo options
British Airways is exercising options on 20 Airbus A320neos originally placed by its parent company International Airlines Group. The UK flag-carrier already operates 120 single-aisle Airbus jets. IAG placed a large order for up to 120 A320-family aircraft last year including a batch for budget operator Vueling. That agreement included 100 options.
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Nok Air receives 737-800 in 10th anniversary livery
Thai low-cost carrier Nok Air has received a Boeing 737-800 aircraft painted in its tenth anniversary livery. The airline’s 737-800 is registered HS-DBQ and on lease from Avolon, featuring the traditional bird-themed livery with the addition of stars, streamers and its 10th anniversary slogan painted on the aircraft, says Boeing.
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Southwest goes "above and beyond" to honor veterans
Southwest Airlines stepped in to transport World War II and Korean War veterans home to St. Louis after their Honor Flight was diverted to another airport. Southwest dispatched another aircraft and called in a crew to fly the veterans home from Washington, D.C., on the same day instead of making them wait for a flight on the following day.
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United Airlines, union reach deal over Hawaii jobs
United Airlines and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers came to an agreement to keep jobs at Hawaii airports. The deal will allow more than 200 ground workers to keep their positions. United spokeswoman Christen David also said the carrier plans to add 36 positions to the airport in Honolulu.
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United shares rise as PRASM soars 3.5%
Their stocks are performing, is their passenger service keeping pace?
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Airports

Dallas airport expands automated passport control
Officials at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport say 70% of international travelers arriving at the facility use automated kiosks to scan their passports and fill out customs declarations. Airlines are installing the kiosks at U.S. gateways across the country to expedite the customs process by reducing wait times for travelers.
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Dallas officials hold open house for Love Field plans
City officials held an open house Thursday featuring their evolving plan for development of Dallas Love Field. City officials are weighing alternatives to accommodate the growth that’s expected to come after flight restrictions are lifted at Love Field in October. Dallas Aviation Director Mark Duebner says parking and traffic are the main focus. “With the Wright amendment going away, we’ll see an increase in passengers,” Duebner said. “That’s going to mean more cars trying to get in and out of the airport and more cars needing to park,” he said. Southwest Airlines has announced plans to add several dozen nonstop flights to 15 cities after Oct. 13. Between October and February, Virgin America will begin 18 daily flights from the airport. United Airlines, which controls two of Love’s 20 gates, has yet to lay out its post-Wright plans.
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Amenities enhance the travel experience for customers
Snacks, drinks and comfortable seating are just some of the advantages of airport lounges that make them worth an annual fee, writes Mitch Lipka in this column. He notes that travelers can access the airline lounges through memberships with airlines, day passes, and membership through credit cards. Amenities vary between airports, with lounges at small airports typically offering light snacks. Meanwhile, large lounges offer features such as high-end hot food and private shower rooms.
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More tourists visited the U.S. in Feb.
Tourism to the United States is on track to reach another record year in 2014 with February marking the seventh consecutive month of visitation increases. International visitors to the U.S. reached 4.5 million in February, a 3 percent increase over the same monty in the previous year, according to the most recent data published by the National Travel and Tourism Office. In February specifically, visits from Mexico jumped 19 percent, from France 14 percent and from Argentina 9 percent. In the first two months of 2014, the greatest tourism growth has come from the Chinese market whose visitation numbers jumped 17 percent — driven largely by a spike in January.
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Military Fixed Wing

HAL seeks help to cut IJT weight
HAL’s HJT-36 Sitara Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) has run into a further round of trouble with the company declaring it officially overweight. The Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC), which handles design and development of fixed wing platforms at HAL, has released a request for information (RFI) calling for a “Partnership / technical assistance / consultancy from a well experienced airframe design house.” The firm HAL appoints will assist in a comprehensive weight reduction/optimisation study encompassing structure, mechanical systems and electrical avionics systems for the HJT-36.
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No F-35 appearance for opening day
A Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not be making an appearance during the opening day of the aerospace industry's signature gathering for 2014, the event's organiser has confirmed. "Unfortunately the F-35B Lightning II will not be displaying at the Farnborough International Airshow tomorrow, Monday 14 July," their statement says. "The aircraft is still awaiting US DoD [Department of Defense] clearance but we are hopeful that it will fly at the airshow by the end of the week." Four US Marine Corps aircraft are currently at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland, having been prepared to make the type's first transatlantic crossing; originally scheduled for early this month. All F-35s remain grounded, under an order imposed following a fire in a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine late last month.
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Scorpion to make show debut
The Textron AirLand Scorpion strike and surveillance aircraft is making its debut Farnborough appearance, having made the transatlantic trip from the USA at the beginning of July. Sporting a new two-tone grey colour scheme, the aircraft is a clean sheet design, developed to offer a low cost alternative to other strike/intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that are in the market. It left Wichita in Kansas on 1 July and touched down in the UK four days later, in order to participate at two UK air shows. Scorpion landed at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, before a scheduled 2.5h flight to conclude with landing at Farnborough.
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Typhoon brews up radar storm
Eurofighter is wheeling out some heavy artillery for Farnborough, with the world premier on Tuesday of the new Captor-E active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar which it believes will power up its export sales campaign. The AESA-equipped aircraft on display is a UK Royal Air Force Tranche 1 single-seater. IPA5 has been extensively modified at BAE Systems' site at Warton in Lancashire to carry Captor-E and performed its first "shakedown" flight last week. The AESA system generates more heat and uses more power than the mechanically-scanned Euroradar Captor-M which has been standard fit on Eurofighters up to now.
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UK test pilot school extends Gripen arrangement
Saab has signed a contract extension with the UK’s Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS), covering the latter’s continued use of a Gripen trainer for another four years. Announced on 12 July, the deal will support Qinetiq-managed ETPS’s delivery of fixed-wing test pilot and flight test engineer courses, and builds on a relationship which has existed for 15 years. “The original agreement has been in place since 1999 and, under the terms of the new framework, Saab will support ETPS from 2015 until 2018,” the company says.
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USAF launches competition for new bomber
The US Air Force has launched the competitive phase of the classified long range strike bomber by issuing a request for proposals, with Northrop Grumman and a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team poised to compete for a contract to develop and build 80-100 aircraft over the next two decades. Details of the air force’s requirements for the new bomber are classified, and service officials are unlikely to provide more updates until a scheduled contract award in the second quarter of 2015. “It will be an adaptable and highly capable system based upon mature technology,” says secretary of the air force Deborah Lee James. Air force officials also have said the new bomber, also called the LRS-B, will enter service as a manned aircraft with a target unit price of $550 million. As the first new US bomber launched since the Northrop Grumman B-2A, the LRS-B is expected to replace a fleet of 76 Boeing B-52H and possibly a portion of the supersonic Rockwell B-1B fleets. A fleet of 20 B-2As will remain in service and complement the LRS-B.
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Military Rotary Wing

Airbus Helicopters eyes UK MoD training requirement
Airbus Helicopters hopes to use its presence at Farnborough to advance its bid to replace the UK armed forces' fleet of 34 AS350 B3 Squirrel HT1 training helicopters. Presently operated by Cobham-owned FB Heliservices on behalf of the Defence Helicopter Flying School, the new aircraft are likely to be required from around 2018, says the Ministry of Defence. “A competition will be launched shortly to gradually upgrade our existing fleet of Squirrel HT1 training helicopters. Training will begin on the upgraded aircraft in 2018.”
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Unmanned K-Max to undergo further testing
Lockheed Martin is preparing a series of demonstration flights to prove the capability of its K-Max unmanned air vehicle to transport and deploy an autonomous ground vehicle. In an effort to prove the potential of “robots moving robots”, the VTOL UAV – derived from the manned Kaman helicopter – will next month take part in the US Army-led trials which will see it carry a Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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Corporate Aviation

Citation X+ makes European debut
Farnborough saw a first on 13 July as the world’s fastest commercial aircraft touched down after completing its first ever transatlantic flight. The newly certificated Citation X+ - which entered service last month with a verified maximum speed of Mach 0.935 – flew from Cessna’s factory in Wichita, Kansas to Presque Isle, Maine then made the 2,790nm (5,160km) non-stop leg to Cessna’s facility at Paris Le Bourget airport.
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Space

UK spaceport "by 2018"
Hot on the heels of a triumphant week for home-grown satellite technology, the UK government is set to announce on Tuesday a plan to host the first-ever launches from UK soil – with the establishment of a spaceport by 2018. Eight possible locations for the site, capable of handling runway take-off and landing operations like those being readied by Virgin Galactic in New Mexico, have been identified. UK minister for universities and science David Willetts – an enthusiastic champion of space investment and thought to be a possible successor to European Space Agency chief Jean-Jacques Dordain – is headlining a Tuesday conference at Farnborough on the future of UK spaceflight. "There are eight locations that meet the proposed criteria for a spaceport. These will be announced on Tuesday at the Farnborough Space Day conference, along with the economic and technical context," says the UK Space Agency.
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General Aviation

FAA considers replacements for avgas
In an announcement on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it is considering nine fuels as possible replacements to 100LL avgas. Five companies submitted unleaded fuel proposals as part of the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative. The fuels will evaluated by their impact on the existing fleet, production and distribution infrastructure, cost and environmental effects.
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Aviation Quote

And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight.

— E. B. Jeppesen

On This Date

---In 1914... Dr. Robert H. Goddard is granted a patent for his liquid fuel rocket engine.

---In 1922… Robin Olds is born in Honalulu, HI. He would rise to the rank of Brigardier General, a fighter pilot in three wars.

---In 1934... Flamboyant flying tycoon Howard Hughes lands in New York after a record-breaking flight around the Northern Hemisphere.

---In 1937... A Soviet crew breaks the world distance flying record by staying airborne for over two days while flying from Moscow over the North Pole.

---In 1948... Six Royal Air Force (RAF) Vampires land after completing the first transatlantic flight made by jet aircraft.

---In 1955…First flight of the Martin XP6M-1 Seamaster, BuNo 138821.

---In 1959…First flight of the Sukhoi T-431, prototype of the Sukhoi Su-9.

---In 1971…First flight of the VFW-614 D-BABA.

---In 1978…After receiving orders from United Airlines, Boeing begins full-scale development of the Boeing 767.

---In 2009…Air Cargo Germany receives its operating certificate.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

German Aviation Terms

AIRCRAFT---Der Fliegenwagen

JET TRANSPORT---Der Muchen Overgrossen Biggenmother Das Ist Fliegen
Highenfaster Mit All Der Mach Und Flightenlevels. (Built by Boeing)

PROPELLER---Der Airfloggen Pushenthruster

ENGINE---Der Noisenmaken Pistonpusher Das Turnens Der Airfloggenfan
Pushenthruster

JET ENGINE---Der Schreemen Skullschplitten Firespitten Smokenmaken
Airpushenbacken Thrustermaker Mit Compressorsqueezen Und Turbinespinnen
Bladenrotors. (Made by Pratt & Whitney)

CONTROL COLUMN---Der Pushenpullen Bankenyanken Schtick

RUDDER PEDALS---Der Tailschwingen Yawmaken Werks

PILOT---Der Pushenpullen Bankenyanken Tailschwingen Werker

PASSENGER---Der Dumbkopf Das Est Strappened En Der Baacken Mit Der Other
Dumbkopfs Das Est Expecten To Leave Undgo On Scheduledtimen Und Arriven mit
Der Luggagebags Somplaceneisen

STUDENT PILOT---Der Dumbkopf Das Learnen Fliegen Un Hopen To Jobenfinden Mit
Der Airlinens

FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR---Der Timenbuilder Mit Less Den 1000 Hrs
Multienginefliegen. Teachen Dumbkopfs To Fliegen Vile Waitenwatchen Fer Der
Letter Mit Der Joboffering Frum United

AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT---Das Grosse Overpaiden Und Under Werken
Whinencomplainer Biggen Schmuck Dat Fliegen Mit Das Big Airlinen

PARACHUTE---Der Stringencotten Das Est Usen To Floaten Der Tailschwingen
Pushenpullen Bankenyanken Werker Down To Earthen Ven Der Fliegenwagen Est
Kaputen

FAA---Der Friggenfliegen Dumbkopf Schmucks Das Maken Alder Rulens Und
Regulations

Helicopter --- Der Flingen Wingen Maschinen mit der Floppen Bladens dot ist
Fliegen by der Dumbkopfs vas iss too Stupiden for Knowen dees Maschinens ees
not Safen ver Fliegen.

Trivia

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