flight international - tails of the unexpected (may 27, 2014)

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Total votes: 2,730

This week, we ask: Will KC-390 meet its 2014 first-flight target? ❑ Yes – Embraer has the experience to deliver ❑ Possibly – but it will be close ❑ No – programme already appears to be behind

Last week, we asked: What is the future of the 767? You said:

Freighter and military applications

Niche passenger aircraft

32% 68%

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

HIGH FLIERSThe top five stories for the week just gone:1 Re-launched Eastern Air Lines orders up to 20 737s

2 Falcon 7X sets transatlantic speed record

3 Saab responds to Swiss Gripen defeat

4 ILA: A380 remains a ‘customer magnet’ for Emirates

5 USAF reveals notional specifications for JSTARS replacement

Arie Egozi asks on his Ariel View blog why Israeli flag

carrier El Al continues to sidestep the real issues behind its

weak financial performance. The airline attributes its poor

results to rising competition

but, notes Egozi, “it has failed

to reduce its workforce and it

is still only flying five and a

half days a week in spite of

having been privatised.” El Al

is also influenced by the

country’s religious community

who it believes will take their custom elsewhere unless the

fleet is grounded on Friday afternoons, ahead of the Jewish

Sabbath. On the Airline Business blog, Edward Russell hails a new era of 75-seat regional jets for United Airlines.

The US carrier’s first Embraer 175 took to the skies for the

first time on 17 May on the Chicago O’Hare, Washington

National route. United will add two to four E175s to its fleet

per month for a total of 70 by the end of 2015.

We dispatched a couple of crack

teams this week to cover two of

Europe’s leading aviation shows.

Our Flight Daily News troop (top)

travelled to Berlin to report from

the biennial ILA airshow. Over at

EBACE in Geneva, our Flight Evening News gang covered all

the latest developments in the

business aviation world (p.24)

IN THIS ISSUECompanies listedADAT ............................................................15Aerion ..........................................................26AgustaWestland ...........................................21Air Bridge Cargo ...........................................32Airbus ................. 9, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 28, 32Airbus Defence & Space ..... 10, 17, 18, 19, 21Airbus Helicopters ..................................11, 18Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo ....................32Alenia Aermacchi .........................................19Alpha Star Aviation Services ........................28Amedeo .......................................................13Angara Airlines .............................................12Austrian Airlines Group .................................15Avic Aircraft ..................................................12BAE Systems ...............................................12Bell Helicopter ...............................................8Boeing .........................8, 9, 16, 21, 26, 27, 32Bombardier .............. 8, 12, 15, 16, 21, 24, 27Cessna ..................................................15, 29CFM International ..........................................9CHC Helicopter ............................................11Comac .........................................................12Coyne Airways ..............................................32Dassault Aviation .............................18, 19, 24Diamond Aircraft ..........................................15Diehl ............................................................10Elbit Systems ...........................................8, 10Elta Systems ................................................10Embraer .......................................................17Emirates ......................................................13ESG .............................................................10Etihad ..........................................................15FedEx...........................................................13Finnair ...........................................................8Fokker....................................................15, 27Gama Aviation .............................................29Garmin ........................................................27GE Aviation ..................................................27General Electric .................................8, 26, 27Gulfstream ...................................8, 16, 24, 26Heli-Union ...................................................11HondaJet .....................................................27Horizon International Flight Academy ...........15IABG ............................................................20ILFC .............................................................13Israel Aerospace Industries ..........................10IrAero...........................................................12Jade Cargo International ..............................32Japan Airlines ..............................................32LCF Conversions ...........................................13Liebherr .......................................................20Lockheed Martin ....................8, 17, 18, 21, 26Lufthansa Cargo ...........................................32Lufthansa Technik ........................................19MTU Aero Engines ........................................20Nextant Aerospace .................................27, 28NH Industries ...............................................18Nok Air ...........................................................9Noordzee Helikopters ...................................11Northrop Grumman ............................8, 10, 16Northwest Airlines ........................................32Piaggio Aero ...........................................24, 29Pilatus ...................................................16, 28Pratt & Whitney ................................25, 27, 29Raytheon .....................................................27Rockwell Collins ...........................................25Roketsan .....................................................21Saab ...........................................................16Shenzhen Airlines ........................................32Strategic Aviation Solutions..........................32Textron Aviation ......................................24, 25Turkish Aerospace Industries ........................20Walter Aircraft Engines .................................27Williams ......................................................25Xian Aircraft ...................................................8

4 | Flight International | 27 May-2 June 2014

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27 May-2 June 2014 | Flight International | 7flightglobal.com

See Show Report P24

The skies over Geneva were clear and bright for EBACE, reflecting the mood of an industry

emerging from its recent turbulent past.Although Textron’s acquisition of Beechcraft earlier

this year meant there was one less paying exhibitor in the halls, it is already clear the formation of Textron Aviation is the best possible outcome for three of Wichita’s most famous corporate residents.

The outlook in the light jet market is improving, but sales must still improve if EBACE is not to lose more exhibitor income.

But if “cautiously” always precedes “optimistic” among makers of light and midsize business aircraft, the mood among large-cabin players is pure jubilation.

Even after a few years of steady growth, supply of ever wider, longer, faster and longer-range jets appears unequal to demand for a long time to come.

So we witnessed the unveiling of the stretched Dassault Falcon 8X, an even longer-range Gulfstream G650 and the cabin mock-up of Bombardier’s largest business jet to date.

Although the skies were mostly blue, there were still traces of cloud. Europe has yet to recover from the 2008 recession and unrest in Ukraine is unhelpful.

Overall, however, EBACE saw an industry again under sunny skies, and looking at an even warmer fore-cast for the NBAA show in October. ■

A brighter tomorrow

Read our archive of Flight International comments on editor Murdo Morrison’s blog at flightglobal.com/comment

See Air Transport P15R

ex

Featu

res

A sign of things to come?

A few airlines are having to cut back schedules and even routes because they cannot get enough pilots. Is this a local problem or is it a sign of an approaching crisis?

Filling front seats

Japanese airlines are having to cancel schedules because they have too few flightcrew. American

carriers, especially regionals, have the same problem. Ryanair is having to migrate crew around its network to patch up holes in local rosters.

Gulf carrier Etihad, meanwhile, plans to acquire a local training academy, thus guaranteeing a steady flow of recruits for its own operation.

The question arises whether the shortages are local issues caused by bad planning or something more general. A pilot shortage has been predicted for nearly 15 years but never seemed to arrive. There is now, how-ever, a growing nervousness about whether it is finally happening, because all the reasons why the previously predicted shortages failed to materialise since about 2000 are no longer applicable. The successive reprieves were the result of the travel slump after 9/11, the extension of the pilot working age from 60 to 65 in 2006, the 2008 banking crash, and the general move by all airlines to squeeze more flying hours out of pilots by

tighter rostering and faster turnarounds. Now all that has happened there is no more juice in the lemon.

Meanwhile the world’s economy looks set to return to steady growth, and airlines appear on a more robust financial footing too. So pilots are needed, not just for the status quo, but for growth in a marketplace where no more flightcrew time savings can be made.

The Japan example is difficult to judge. Is it a demo-

The pilot shortage is here, butas with climate change thereare still unhelpful deniers

graphic product of Japan’s ageing population, quiescent economy and falling birth rate? It is too early to judge. The American example is easier to understand, being a self-inflicted condition resulting from the law passed by Congress after the 2009 Colgan Air crash at Buffalo. It required that FAR Part 121 airline pilots must have 1,500h experience before hiring. Congress not only failed to question whether hours alone produced quality, but also how enough pilots would get the hours if no-one was allowed to hire them.

Pilot unions say there are plenty of unemployed qualified pilots out there, arguing this means there is no panic. But just because a pilot has a licence it does not mean they are good, so a fair proportion of those remaining will not pass muster.

The next test for the industry is finding the instruc-tors the training sector will need to meet the growing demand for well-trained fresh pilots.

The pilot shortage is here and but, as with climate change, there are still unhelpful deniers. ■

THIS WEEK

flightglobal.com8 | Flight International | 27 May-2 June 2014

Keep up to date with the latest news and opinion from the world of military aviation flightglobal.com/DEWline

Gulfstream will offer the G650 to the US Air Force as a

replacement for the service’s ageing fleet of air-to-ground surveillance and targeting air-craft, chief executive Larry Flynn confirms.

The 30m (110ft)-long G650 can be adapted to meet the USAF’s still-emerging requirements for an aircraft to replace the Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS fleet, which are based on used Boeing 707s acquired in the late 1980s.

“We think we have [the right aircraft] and the government can save a lot of money,” Flynn says. Boeing and Bombardier also attended an April “industry day” hosted by the USAF.

It believes that acquiring a new platform avoids a $10.5 billion bill required to upgrade and sustain the E-8C. The replacement plan was unveiled earlier this year, but the service is still working to de-fine exactly what it wants and to obtain funding approval.

Documents released by the USAF in early May indicate the replacement aircraft must accommodate a crew of between 10-13 and a belly-mounted radar between 3.9-6m long. That com-pares with the E-8C’s 7.3m-long APY-7 radar and 18-strong crew.

Boeing is expected to offer a ground surveillance version of

REQUIREMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE GENEVA

G650 pitched for surveillance roleGulfstream to offer its flagship ultra-long-range business jet to meet US Air Force need to replace elderly JSTARS aircraft

US

AF

The Northrop Grumman E-8C is based on the Boeing 707

FOURTH FLIGHT-TEST CSERIES MAKES DEBUTTWINJET Bombardier flew the performance-focused fourth CSeries

flight-test vehicle (FTV-4) for the first time on 18 May. The arrival of

FTV-4 allows Bombardier to begin the process of confirming

promises made on fuel economy. The first three aircraft inducted in

the flight-test programme are aimed at opening the flight envelope

and validating the functions of the systems, avionics and interiors.

FTV-4’s role in the test campaign is dedicated to evaluating the air-

craft’s performance. Bombardier launched the CSeries in 2008 by

promising to deliver a 15% reduction in seat-mile costs for aircraft in

the 110-150-seat market segment.

ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR ORION SERVICE MODULESPACEFLIGHT The European Space Agency has approved a design

for the service module it will supply for NASA’s Lockheed Martin-led

Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, which will take astronauts to deep

space from the early 2020s. Airbus Defence & Space is adapting its

Automated Transfer Vehicle robotic supply ship for the project: ESA’s

first significant foray into hardware for manned missions.

BOLIVIA TO TAKE MORE XIAN MA60SORDER Bolivian authorities have signed an order with AVIC

International for four Xian Aircraft MA60 turboprops, marking the first

international sale for the type this year. It is unclear whether the

aircraft will be used for military or civil operations in Bolivia. The

country already has two MA60s, which it received in 2007. Sale of

the twin-engined aircraft is a lift for the type, following a series of

incidents as well as a grounding in China earlier this year.

ELBIT TO SUPPORT USMC COBRA UPGRADEAWARDS Elbit Systems of America has been awarded contracts

worth a combined $20.1 million to support the upgrade of the US

Marine Corps’ Bell AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters. To be completed

within two years, the deals cover the provision of helmet display

tracker system kits and a tactical video data link capability.

FINNAIR A330 SUFFERS HARD LANDING AT JFKSAFETY One of Finnair’s Airbus A330-300s sustained a heavy

landing at New York JFK on 20 May, putting the aircraft out of service

for a number of days. The twinjet (OH-LTS) had been arriving from

Halifax where it had been grounded for two days over a technical

issue in one of its General Electric CF6 engines. Finnair says this

engine issue was “unrelated” to the subsequent hard landing which,

the carrier adds, took place in “very strong winds”. Meteorological

data from JFK indicates gusts of up to 26kt (48km/h) at the time of

the aircraft’s approach. The airline has not indicated the touchdown

impact or the extent of any damage.

E2 WINDTUNNEL TESTS SATISFY EMBRAERPROGRAMME Windtunnel tests on Embraer’s new E-Jet E2 line

were on target with expectations, says Embraer commercial

aviation’s executive vice-president Paulo Cesar Silva. “The tests

showed that our numbers, our forecasts are in good shape,” he

stated during the Regional Airline Association’s convention in St

Louis. Embraer is still in the “preliminary development” phase of the

E2 but is on track for entry into service in the first half of 2018, he

adds. The E190 E2 will be the first variant to enter service, followed

by the E195 E2 about a year later and the E175 E2 in 2020.

Embraer has firm orders and commitments for 465 E2s.

BRIEFING

the next-generation 737, which is already adapted for maritime surveillance as the P-8A for the US and Indian navies.

Although shorter and narrower than the 737, the G650 is still large enough to accommodate the air force’s requirement, Flynn says. “The stuff they want to put in it will fit in a 650,” he says.

Gulfstream has supplied several versions of the G550 to US and foreign militaries. But the JSTARS replacement is the first known attempt by Gulfstream to offer a militarised variant of the new G650. Gulfstream’s bidding strategy is to team with a defence contractor to serve as the integrator, Flynn says.

The future JSTARS is expected to benefit from a decade of research on radars with moving target indication capability. The air force has fielded a miniature version of the Northrop Grumman/Raytheon multi- platform radar technology inser-tion sensor, originally developed for the cancelled Northrop E-10A.

Meanwhile, the US Navy has developed the Raytheon littoral surveillance radar system for the Lockheed P-3C Orion. A more advanced radar – the active array sensor – is now in testing on the Boeing P-8A Poseidon. ■

THIS WEEK


Flagship Berlin airport too small to handle city’s trafficTHIS WEEK P10

Boeing has added 37 new orders for the 737 Max from

customers in the past week, pushing the re-engined and updated narrowbody’s order backlog beyond the 2,000 mark.

As of 22 May the total 737 Max backlog stood at 2,017 orders from 40 customers, with a total value of $209 billion.

Although the latest tranche of commitments include several from undisclosed customers, one carrier to place an order was Thailand’s Nok Air, which final-ised a deal first announced at the Singapore air show in February.

It plans to take seven CFM In-ternational Leap-1B-powered 737 Max 8s, alongside seven current generation models.

Boeing launched the 737 Max in August 2011, at a time when Airbus had already amassed more than 800 orders for the re-engined A320neo family un-veiled nine months earlier.

Airbus has maintained a strong lead in the orders race with a cur-rent backlog of 2,645 for the Neo, but Boeing has now whittled its rival’s advantage to fewer than 650 aircraft. Boeing is scheduled to deliver the 737 Max 8 in the third quarter of 2017.

Nonetheless, Airbus still main-tains a market share of nearly 57% in the segment despite Boeing’s ef-forts. Flightglobal’s Ascend On-line database suggests that Airbus reached the 2,000 sales mark for the Neo in a little over 28 months following the programme’s

Boeing’s long-term strategy to

address a potential market for

4,000-5,000nm (7,410-9,260km)

range aircraft with 200-250 seats

is to leverage existing products

rather than launch a clean-sheet

programme, says chief executive

James McNerney.

The most attractive options in-

clude a shortened version of the

787-8 or a stretched variant of the

737 Max, McNerney says. An all-new

aircraft is also an option, but Boeing

is less inclined to take on the risk of

integrating a clean-sheet product.

“The [strategy] will be to avoid the

moonshot unless we have to,”

McNerney says, addressing a Boeing

investor conference in Seattle. “The

[strategy] will be to mature technolo-

gies – we’ve got to address it.”

The need for a new aircraft in the

4,000-5,000nm range is emerging

as a replacement for the long-range

757. Neither the 737 Max or the

Airbus A320neo come within

400nm of the low end of the long-

range narrowbody market.

At the same time, addressing that

market is not a near-term priority.

Boeing already has eight major

variants of commercial aircraft in

development over the next eight

years, leaving little room for taking

on new products.

“We don’t see a need for it

immediately as compared to some

other opportunities we’ve got,”

McNerney says. ■

The first set of “production-rep-resentative” Trent XWB en-

gines for the Airbus A350 is being prepared for installation onto the final test aircraft in Toulouse, while the first full production specification engine has been shipped to Airbus for installation on the initial customer airframe.

Airbus says the production-representative Trents will power MSN5, the last of its five flight-test A350-900s – currently in the paint shop and due to join the certifica-tion campaign in June to verify the type’s delivery specification.

This aircraft is the first batch 2 airframe built to full production

specification and is the second A350 to be equipped with a furnished cabin.

Airbus says that while MSN5’s Trents are not the first production-standard engines built, they are “production representative, as the aircraft will test the standard that will be delivered to customers”.

It adds: “They have been deliv-ered to the podding facility in Toulouse and will be installed after MSN5 leaves the paint shop.”

The aircraft will participate in the A350’s route-proving programme, which is due to be flown in conjunction with Qatar Airways in Doha. ■

STRATEGY

Boeing steers away from clean-sheet 757 replacement

DEVELOPMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Max narrows Neo’s order advantageRe-engined Boeing single-aisle passes 2,000 commitments as it claws back lost ground against rival Airbus twinjet

Production-representative XWBs readied for A350PROPULSION MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON

December 2010 launch. The 737 Max, meanwhile, reached the target in around 33 months.

Chris Seymour, senior aviation analyst at Flightglobal’s Ascend consultancy arm, believes that market share will eventually

level out at around 50% each – but there will be differences be-tween the competing variants. “At the top end the A320neo seems to have an advantage,” he says, “but overall it will be close in delivery terms.”

There is speculation that the huge backlog for narrowbodies is part of an order bubble, but Seymour says this is not the case. “If there’s no shock to the system, the industry is capable of absorb-ing these aircraft,” he says. ■

Thailand’s Nok Air has ordered

both current and re-engined 737s

Boein

g

THIS WEEK


Germany’s ESG has revealed its proposal for a replacement

for the nation’s ill-fated Euro Hawk signals intelligence pro-gramme, which was cancelled last year.

It will co-operate with Israel Aerospace Industries’ Elta Sys-tems subsidiary to fit the latter’s AISIS suite into a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet.

A model on ESG’s stand showed the type with a large “canoe” fairing under the for-ward fuselage, along with a satel-lite communications radome atop the structure, an aerial farm on the lower rear and two ventral fins under the tail.

The interior featured a six-workstation layout, but Ingo Eick-mann, head of aircraft and un-manned air vehicle systems at ESG’s aerosystems division, says

AISIS is scalable from just two or three to seven or eight operators.

Germany walked away from Euro Hawk, a modified version of Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk UAV, almost exactly a year ago. It cancelled its planned €1 billion ($1.3 billion) procurement of five aircraft, citing significant barriers to certificating the type for flights in civil airspace.

Currently there is no formal request for proposals for a re-placement for Euro Hawk, with Germany in the midst of assess-ing its possible options.

Eickmann says his company’s proposal holds several possible attractions to the German air force including its maturity and the impending civil certification for the same airframe for an un-disclosed customer. ■

See our full coverage of the ILA air show at: flightglobal.com/ila

SURVEILLANCE

ESG senses an appetite to plug Euro Hawk hole

Airbus Defence & Space is pitch-ing its A400M as a disaster-re-

lief platform and believes civilian organisations could eventually purchase the military transport.

Speaking at the ILA Berlin air show, Norbert Kolvenbach, vice-president public affairs Germany for Airbus, said the aircraft’s abil-ity to deliver a 20-25t payload to unprepared or semi-prepared air strips was invaluable.

Aid organisations that had looked at the A400M had been very impressed, he adds.

Kolvenbach says the aircraft will be certificated to civil standards by EASA, and that a civilian purchase

Even as the date for Berlin Brandenburg airport’s open-

ing remains unclear – two years after its planned inauguration – it has emerged that the flagship hub will be too small when op-erations move to the new site.

The greenfield complex has been designed to handle 27 mil-lion passengers a year. But cur-rent airport Schönefeld’s traffic, combined with that of Berlin Tegel, will surpass that total this year. Forecasts predict traffic to the German capital will rise to 35 million a year by 2020.

“Based on current calcula-tions, Berlin Brandenburg airport will open with more than 30 mil-lion passengers and would thus be too small already at its inaugu-ration,” says operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg.

Bottlenecks are expected, espe-cially in the check-in, security and baggage reclaim areas. As soon as the airport opens, work will begin to add two more baggage reclaim belts to the eight already installed in the main terminal, but that is a

stop-gap measure.More capacity is required even

before the inauguration, if airlines aiming to fly to the city are not to be declined access, says FBB. “If no expansion takes place in the near term, traffic would need to be rejected to ensure stable opera-tions without disruption.”

This would jeopardise its aim of creating a long-haul hub, and create “significant damage” for

the region and the airport’s busi-ness plan, says FBB.

Even if the operator proceeds immediately to construct a satel-lite terminal, that would not be completed before 2022. As a re-sult, FBB wants to keep Schöne-feld in operation under a plan dubbed “Double-Roof”. It is pres-ently due to be closed, along with Tegel, once Brandenburg opens. ■See Show Report P18

Flugh

afe

n B

erlin

Bra

ndenburg

The greenfield complex already requires further expansion

A400M pitched for disaster-relief roleTRANSPORTS CRAIG HOYLE BERLIN

is possible. However, no requests from non-military organisations have yet been received, he says.

Birgitte Stalder-Olsen, head of logistics for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red

Crescent Societies, says: “We could see a pooling [of organisa-tions] and have one or two of these aircraft operating in the humanitarian community.” Many of the aircraft operating such missions are elderly, ex-Soviet military types, she adds.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Bun-deswehr has selected Elbit Sys-tems’ J-MUSIC countermeasures equipment to protect its on-or-der fleet of A400Ms.

Contractor Diehl will install three of the multi-spectral infrared coun-termeasures systems on each air-craft. The first system for Germany’s fleet is to be delivered in 2015. ■

Bill

yPix

The type impressed aid groups

INFRASTRUCTURE MICHAEL GUBISCH BERLIN

Berlin Brandenburg lurches towards fresh controversyOperator warns that serially delayed facility will lack sufficient capacity for capital’s traffic

Eickmann says hiscompany’s proposalholds several possibleattractions…including its maturity

THIS WEEK


Russia, China advance widebody planAIR TRANSPORT P12

A irbus Helicopters may produce two versions of its

new super-medium EC175, depending on the results of a planned flight-test campaign for a new higher-weight variant.

The Marignane-based manu-facturer will next year begin evaluating the new model, which gains an additional 300kg (660lb) over the baseline helicopter, ahead of planned 2016 certifica-tion. This can be used to increase payload or range by around 40nm (74km), it says.

Although it believes the higher maximum take-off weight of 7.8t can be achieved without modifi-cations to the airframe or engines, the test programme will assess any potential impact on mainte-nance costs, says Mickael Melaye, head of worldwide oil and gas sales at Airbus Helicopters.

“We know that we had mar-gins on pretty much every part of the aircraft; now we are asking for additional payload,” he says.

If the assessments reveal a negative effect on overhaul intervals or on the helicopter’s empty equipped weight, it may from 2016 offer a customers a choice of variants to “maximise flexibility”, says Melaye.

However, if the reverse is true, it will likely only produce the heavier model. “We still have to discuss this with our customers,” says Melaye. Any modifications required will also be “retrofitta-ble” to the previously delivered 7.5t examples, he says.

Just five orders for the EC175 were added to the backlog in 2013, with certification only achieved on 30 January this year.

Although he declines to be drawn on how many additional commitments it hopes to amass in 2014, Melaye remains confident on the type’s sales prospects.

“The oil and gas market is a very careful environment, they don’t get too excited about things – they prefer they are real and proven, then they are capable of making a big noise,” he says.

ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY ABERDEEN

EC175 to get 300kg payload boostFlight testing of higher maximum take-off weight variant to begin in 2015 as Airbus Helicopters eyes additional sales

Deliveries of the 7.5t helicopter to three launch customers are due to begin later this year

Airbus H

elic

opte

rs

Melaye was speaking in Aberdeen on 20 May during the second day of a demonstration tour covering North Sea bases in the UK and Norway.

Among those due to see the aircraft during the tour was Bill Amelio, chief executive of

Canada’s CHC Helicopter, one of the three big Aberdeen operators. CHC has yet to commit to the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-powered helicopter, however.

Deliveries to launch customers Noordzee Helikopters, Vlaan-deren, Héli-Union and UTair will

begin in the second half of 2014, with operators having previously indicated this will slip into the fourth quarter. In all, Airbus Helicopters plans to deliver “three to four” EC175s this year, before ramping up to 18 in 2015 and 30 in 2016, says Melaye. ■

DEVELOPMENT

Dauphin replacement set to surface at Heli-ExpoNext year’s Heli-Expo show in

Orlando, Florida will see the

unveiling of the shape of Airbus

Helicopters’ new X4 rotorcraft family,

which is envisioned as sitting in the

4-6t weight class.

Development work on the new

helicopter is already underway, but

the Marignane-based airframer has

been coy on releasing details.

Speaking at the ILA Berlin air

show, chief executive Guillaume

Faury said that 2015 will be a key

year for the programme.

“We will show the X4 at Heli-Expo

next year,” he says. “We will freeze

the major elements. We will reveal

the X4 mock-up and start discussing

with customers about placing this

helicopter.”

Asked whether the new aircraft

would be a direct replacement for

the 4.5t AS365 or the newer 4.9t

EC155, Faury says the X4 will slot

into the segment, “but this segment

has moved a bit”.

The X4 will have “much more ca-

pability”, he adds.

The all-composite X4 family will

have a choice of powerplants –

Turbomeca’s new 1,100shp Arrano

1A turboshaft and Pratt & Whitney

Canada’s PW210.

Faury also confirms that from

July all new-build EC225s and

EC725s will be delivered with the

redesigned bevel gear vertical

shaft in the main gearbox. Failure

of this component was pinpointed

as the cause of two 2012 ditch-

ings in the North Sea, incidents

that led to a ban on overwater

flights and most of the 11t type’s

global fleet being grounded for

around 10 months.

All existing EC225s and EC725s

are being retrofitted with the new

vertical shaft. ■

AIR TRANSPORT


Check out our unique collection of technical cutaway drawings flightglobal.com/cutaways

Russian investigators have highlighted several recent in-

cidents at Irkutsk airport in which aircraft descended prema-turely during their approach.

Federal air transport authority Rosaviatsia, in a safety bulletin, has detailed six occurrences – with causes including distraction and pressure-setting errors – over the past six months.

On the night of 9 December 2013, an Aurora Airbus A319, conducting the USONA 1B arriv-al procedure to runway 30, de-scended to 330-490ft above ter-rain, while 5.4nm (10km) from the threshold.

The crew had correctly con-firmed the air pressure setting but set the descent height to

INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Irkutsk errors prompt call for better training

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CRJ200 crew “forgot” to change pressure setting before descent

800ft, instead of the 800m in-tended by air traffic control. It continued to descend to 920ft while 5.9nm out and was cleared to land, says Rosaviatsia, without air traffic control notic-ing the “significant” deviation from the glideslope. Its descent was eventually halted at 4.9nm.

Russian carrier IrAero was in-volved in the latest incident, on 15 May, while on approach to the same runway. Rosaviatsia says the Bombardier CRJ200 crew “forgot” to change the pressure setting below the transition alti-tude, and descending below 2,950ft to a height of 1,380ft be-fore executing a go-around.

Between these events, there were four other instances of pre-

mature descent. Rosaviatsia says a calculation error resulted in a Ural Airbus A320 flying at 1,210m while 8.6nm from run-way 12, while temporary distrac-tion by an Angara Airlines An-tonov An-148 crew – carrying out the same NH1C approach pattern – resulted in the aircraft

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Russia’s United Aircraft and China’s Comac are to submit

a feasibility study on a jointly de-veloped long-haul passenger air-craft to their respective govern-ments this summer.

The schedule follows the sign-ing of a memorandum of under-standing by senior officials from both sides.

United Aircraft and Comac sealed the agreement in the pres-

ence of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese gen-eral secretary Xi Jinping.

The pact is the result of a two-year collaborative effort between the two countries, says United Aircraft. President Mikhail Pogo-syan says this work has exam-ined the joint development of a family of widebody transports and illustrates a “new level” of engineering co-operation.

drifting below the required ap-proach height.

Rosaviatsia is directing the state air traffic management or-ganisation’s and airlines’ atten-tion to the incidents in an effort to improve training in proce-dures including barometric pres-sure-setting. ■

NARROWBODY MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

First C919 forward fuselage completed

The first forward fuselage for China’s

Comac C919 narrowbody has rolled

off the production line at manufacturer

Jiangxi Hongdu Aviation Industry.

Made of aluminium-lithium alloy,

the structure will now undergo a test

and evaluation process before deliv-

ery to Comac.

In March, AVIC Aircraft completed

the first wing to mid-fuselage join for

the developmental C919. The section

is currently undergoing various struc-

tural tests, ahead of the launch of se-

ries production.

AVIC Aircraft is responsible for man-

ufacturing the narrowbody’s outer

wingbox, mid-fuselage and their as-

sembly. Jiangxi Hongdu, meanwhile, is

supplying the forward and aft fuselage

sections of the aircraft. Comac is

working towards a maiden flight of the

C919 at the end of 2015. ■

DEVELOPMENT DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Russia, China advance widebody planUnited Aircraft and Comac will submit feasibility study for long-haul passenger jet to respective governments this summer

Development of the aircraft will be one of the largest interna-tional joint programmes under-taken by the countries in the aer-ospace and technology field.

“In the near future, the parties will begin implementing the next phase of work on the project,” says United Aircraft, adding that this will involve examining de-velopment of the aircraft systems and finding the most effective

participation mechanism.It believes the long-haul air-

craft will take a “substantial share” of the market in Russia and China, as well as finding cus-tomers in third countries.

Russia has not developed an in-digenous widebody passenger air-craft since the Ilyushin Il-96 which entered service with Aeroflot in 1992. However, fewer than 30 of the four-engined type were built. ■

Russia has not built a widebody passenger jet since the Il-96

AIR TRANSPORT

flightglobal.com

Etihad grows with training acquisitionAIR TRANSPORT P15

27 May-2 June 2014 | Flight International | 13

A380 leasing specialist Amed-eo believes an A380 passen-

ger-to-freighter (PTF) conversion could be developed a decade from now, and it may use an in-ternal lift system for loading con-tainers to each deck rather than conventional maindeck doors.

The London-based lessor has 20 A380s on order and has also built a portfolio of in-service air-craft through sale/leaseback deals. Chief executive Mark Lapidus says Amedeo “definite-ly sees a possibility” for the de-velopment of a PTF conversion programme for the superjumbo which, as a cargo aircraft, would have three decks.

“We’ve looked at putting in two cargo doors. However, there are some new ideas about having internal lift systems,” he says.

“If there was ever an aircraft where that could work, that would be the A380. That would be more efficient in the A380 than other systems.”

LCF Conversions, which is headed by former BAE Systems executive Cliff Duke, has pro-posed a freight conversion for the Airbus A340 that uses the stand-ard belly hold freight doors and incorporates a pair of internal

cargo lifts forward and aft to trans-fer payload between the lower and main decks. If such a modifi-cation was adopted for the A380, it would eliminate the need for bespoke ground-handling equip-ment to service the upper deck.

“We haven’t seriously looked at it yet because it would be in the 2025 timeframe, but we’re looking

LEASING MAX KINGSLEY-JONES LONDON

Lessor sees A380 as future freighterAmedeo envisages cargo conversions beyond 2025 and that modification could incorporate novel internal lift system

Airbus

Airbus dropped the A380F (above), but a cargo variant may become a reality through conversions

ACQUISITIONS

Market maker spies early opportunityAmedeo expects to establish itself

as the primary leasing specialist for

Airbus A380s and will look to ex-

pand its portfolio through the acqui-

sition of second-hand aircraft as

their initial lease terms expire.

The London-based lessor has 20

A380s on order for delivery from late

2016 and is also involved in 12 air-

craft in the Emirates fleet that were

financed through the UK market be-

tween 2010 and 2013. “We’re either

asset manager or have oversight of

those 12 aircraft,” says Amedeo

chief executive Mark Lapidus.

As Amedeo looks to place the

new-build aircraft it has on order, it

is also evaluating ways to remarket

second-hand A380s. But Lapidus

says that this does not just apply to

the Emirates aircraft: “We have in

mind all of the A380s that may be

coming back [off lease] from any

operator, whether they are man-

aged by us currently or not, be-

cause we see ourselves as a

market maker with vast opportuni-

ties to deal with returning aircraft in

terms of knowing where they can be

deployed, having Airbus agree-

ments that allow us to reconfigure

aircraft inexpensively.”

Amedeo could acquire A380s as

their initial lease terms end. The

first batch of aircraft to become

available will be the early deliveries

to Singapore Airlines, due to return

in 2018. ■

with sufficient interest at the idea to create, in its ‘third life’, a volu-metric [conversion] which would be interesting to UPS and FedEx to carry large [amounts] of pack-ages,” says Lapidus.

By “third life”, Lapidus means that he envisages when early-build A380s return off lease to-wards the end of this decade, they would spend a second lease term in the passenger role before be-coming cargo conversion candi-dates around 10 years from now.

Lapidus is confident that a market for second-hand passen-ger A380s will emerge as the ear-ly-build aircraft return off lease: “When A380s start coming back from their initial lease periods, then the market where they could be operated [as passenger aircraft] will have grown by 50-100%,” he says. “The placement of A380s that will be coming back in five, seven, 10 or 12 years’ time will be very liquid and very attractive.”

Airbus originally offered a con-ventional new-build A380-800

Freighter for which it secured launch orders from FedEx, UPS, Emirates and ILFC for 27 air-craft. However, after running into production problems during

“The placement ofA380s that will becoming back in five,seven, 10 or 12 years’time will be very…attractive”MARK LAPIDUS Chief executive, Amedeo

the mid-2000s, Airbus aban-doned the freighter variant to concentrate its resources on re-solving the issues with the pas-senger model. ■

Innovata powers timetable and mapping services for some of the best knownnames in air travel and transportation, from the global airline alliances through to airports and a host of online travel sites.

To find out more visit www.innovata-llc.com

Innovata joins FlightglobalYou may have read that Flightglobal has acquired the schedules data servicescompany, Innovata. As a leading source of airline schedules data covering morethan 800 carriers worldwide, Innovata builds, hosts and maintains a wide rangeof electronic timetable and route network mapping solutions.

AIR TRANSPORT

flightglobal.com

Put it in the bellyFEATURE P32


Middle Eastern carrier Etihad Airways is planning to ac-

quire part of Horizon Interna-tional Flight Academy in order to set up a flight-training school in the United Arab Emirates.

The airline is taking over the fixed-wing arm of Horizon, which is part of investment group Mubadala.

Etihad is already using Al Ain-based Horizon to train its own commercial pilots. It has not made available the terms of the transaction.

Under the agreement, Etihad Flight College will acquire 13 Cessna 172s and three Diamond Aircraft DA42s. It will also take over two flight-training simula-tors as well as hangars.

The college will put in place a multi-crew pilot licence pro-gramme, says Etihad, which claims it will be the first to use multi-engined aircraft in the core of the training scheme.

“We are committed to devel-oping a world-class facility which combines new and best-practice training programmes with high-calibre instructors,” says Etihad chief executive James Hogan.

Japanese low-cost carrier Vanilla Air

will reduce its schedule on two

routes during June as a result of a

pilot shortage.

The airline will cancel some

flights between Tokyo and Okinawa

and Sapporo over the month, but

adds that the full schedule will re-

sume in July. None of its interna-

tional services will be affected,

Vanilla Air adds.

Vanilla is the second low-cost car-

Austrian Airlines Group is in-tending to order a replace-

ment for its regional Fokker fleet this year, a plan which depends on the adoption of a new employ-ee agreement.

The carrier has 15 Fokker 100s and seven Fokker 70s which are operated by its subsidiary, Tyro-lean Airways.

It has put forward a new col-lective agreement to cockpit and cabin crew which is intended to ease the path to merging Tyrolean and Austrian Airlines.

Austrian chief executive Jaan Albrecht says the company will “move ahead” with ordering a

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Fokker 70s and 100s will be withdrawn from service by 2018

FLEET DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Staff deal key to Austrian Fokker replacement plan

rier to have reduced its schedule due

to a shortage of pilots. In April, Peach

Aviation announced that it would re-

schedule and cancel a number of

flights between May and October be-

cause of a lack of flightcrew.

Peach blamed growth in the

Japanese low-cost segment, which

has made the market for hiring quali-

fied pilots much more competitive.

As a result, it has begun a more pro-

active hiring strategy. ■

“The training facility will en-hance the career opportunities in aviation, especially for UAE nationals,” he adds.

All of the Horizon fixed-wing instructors, as well as a number of support personnel, will trans-fer to the Etihad college. Horizon will retain its rotary-wing opera-tion.

Etihad is expanding its newly-established aviation group and recently agreed to acquire main-tenance operation ADAT from Mubadala. ■

successor to the Fokker fleet this year.

“However, such a significant investment decision cannot be made without a consensus being reached on a collective wage agreement,” he warns.

Austrian has indicated that it will phase out the fleet by 2018, initially withdrawing the smaller Fokker 70s.

While Tyrolean has Bombar-dier Q400s, the company has not yet indicated whether it would want to maintain a typical re-gional jet operation or move to a larger type, such as the Bombar-dier CSeries. ■

ACQUISITION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Etihad grows with training acquisitionGulf carrier’s new flight academy will provide tuition for multi-crew pilot licence to create “world-class facility” in region

WORKFORCE ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE

Pilot shortage hampers low-cost Vanilla

Etihad already uses Al Ain-based Horizon for its training requirement

DEFENCE


To get more defence sector coverage, subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter: flightglobal.com/defencenewsletter

Indian companies seeking to an-swer a request for information

(RFI) for the procurement of an additional 106 Pilatus PC-7 Mk II basic trainers for the nation’s air force have requested a further ex-tension to the date by which re-sponses need to be submitted. A final date for responses to be sub-mitted had already been extend-ed until 21 April.

The RFI released by India’s de-fence ministry falls under the “Buy & Make (Indian)” category, which limits respondents to Indi-an-registered companies only. This means Pilatus will have to form a joint venture, or establish a production arrangement with an Indian company to success-fully execute the contract.

The RFI calls for 38 aircraft previously listed as options as part of an earlier buy to be pro-cured in a “flyaway” condition by 2015-2016, with the remain-ing 68 to be license-produced in India ending in 2020-2021.

As of April, the Indian air force had taken delivery of 35 PC-7 Mk IIs from the earlier direct buy with Pilatus. The Swiss airframer says it is due to complete delivery of the remaining 40 by August 2015. ■

TRAINERS ATUL CHANDRA BENGALURU

Indian PC-7 bidders seek extra time

Saab’s Gripen E sales plans have suffered a setback, with

the Swiss government having narrowly lost out in a public ref-erendum on whether to fund a planned 22-aircraft acquisition.Held on 18 May, the nation’s vote on whether to advance with the Gripen Fund Law was defeated by a “no” vote representing just over 52% of respondents.

Responding to the outcome, Swiss federal councilor Ueli Maurer warns: “This decision will cause a security gap. We will do everything we can to fill this gap in these difficult circum-stances as quickly as is possible. Different options on how best to ensure the armed force’s opera-tional readiness must be consid-ered in the next few months.”

Maurer adds that “it will be some time before new proposals are submitted on how to protect Swiss airspace after the anticipat-ed decommissioning of the [Boe-ing] F/A-18s in 2025. The federal council and parliament will then be required to decide on filling the security gap.” The Gripens were to replace the Swiss air force’s re-maining Northrop F-5 fighters, from later this decade.

Despite the disappointment, the Swedish airframer comments: “For Saab, the Gripen E pro-gramme continues according to plan, with development and pro-duction of 60 Gripen E for Swe-den ongoing and deliveries sched-uled for 2018.” And it adds: “The negotiations regarding 36 Gripen NG to Brazil are ongoing, and ac-

cording to plan with the ambition from both parties, an agreement should be signed in 2014.”

Saab adds that of the more than 500 supply deals arranged with 125 Swiss businesses in support of the planned deal, “contracts placed will be hon-oured, subject to their terms and conditions.” However, the deci-sion could threaten some pro-posed collaborative measures, such as a pact to offer the Pilatus PC-21 turboprop as a possible so-lution for Sweden’s future pilot training requirements.

Meanwhile, the governments of the Czech Republic and Sweden have signed a new agreement to extend the NATO nation’s lease deal for 14 Gripen C/Ds by a fur-ther 12 years, until at least 2027. ■

FIGHTERS CRAIG HOYLE BERLIN

Swiss voters shoot down Gripen E acquisition planNarrow referendum defeat kills 22-aircraft purchase, but Saab programme unaffected

Better news came with a Czech lease extension

Replacing the Northrop Grum-man E-8C JSTARS fleet could

require an aircraft with 10-13 crew and a 4.0m-6.1m-long (13-20ft) radar array, according to US Air Force briefing documents.

The USAF earlier this year an-nounced plans to acquire an E-8C replacement in the business jet class that could achieve initial op-erational capability in 2022. A host of potential bidders, includ-ing Boeing, Bombardier and Gulf-stream, attended an industry day hosted by the service on 8 April. Crew levels could drop to 10

USAF thinks big business for JSTARS successorSURVEILLANCE STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

While the contents of the brief-ings were initially withheld from public view, the service on 13 May posted the presentations on a federal acquisition web site, with each slide stamped “notional”.

Although a 13-strong crew with a 6.1m radar array would be a reduction from the 18-member team and 7.3m array on the Boe-ing 707-based E-8C, the staffing and sensor requirements for the new system could make it chal-lenging to accommodate in a typ-ical business jet.

The capabilities sought by the USAF compare more closely to the cancelled Northrop E-10A multisensor command and con-trol aircraft, which was the origi-nal planned replacement for the E-8C and based on the Boeing 767-400ER. This included a 16-mem-ber aircrew and a 6.1m sensor for wide area surveillance.

Despite still lacking a validated requirement, the briefing docu-ments show that the USAF plans to make a contract award at the end of fiscal year 2016. ■

US

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DEFENCE


Eurofighter targets sales as partners agree roadmapSHOW REPORT P18

During a public unveiling of Embraer’s KC-390 final assem-

bly site in Gavião Peixoto, Sao Paulo, company president Freder-ico Curado signed a firm order with the Brazilian air force for the supply of 28 production examples of the tactical transport and tanker.

First delivery is expected at the end of 2016, with production under the contract to run for 10 years. In addition to the aircraft, the deal also includes a compre-hensive logistics support package covering spare parts and mainte-nance services.

Valued at R7.2 billion ($3.25 billion), the contract is dependent on additional documentation that is expected to be completed in about 90 days.

Curado says the Brazilian air force’s KC-390 is a state-of-the-art aircraft and the largest ever de-signed and developed in the southern hemisphere. He adds that he expects the model also will be popular on the export mar-

Mexico has conducted an evaluation of the Airbus De-

fence & Space A400M, following the arrival of an example of the tactical transport in the country for the first time on 15 May.

The European airframer says one of its “Grizzly” development aircraft was due to “show its per-formance in a series of demon-stration flights” after arriving at Mexico City’s international air-port, where it was scheduled to remain until 23 May.

PRODUCTION FELIPE SALLES GAVIÃO PEIXOTO

Brazilian contract launches KC-390Air force seals order for 28 tanker/transports, as Embraer opens doors at its final assembly line for versatile airlifter

ket. However, he notes that the KC-390’s multi-mission capability represents a challenge, as it has been designed for cargo and troop transport, cargo air drops, inflight refuelling, search and rescue and firefighting missions.

“Brazil has had previous experi-ence in multinational [aerospace] development programmes, but this time around Brazil leads in the key engineering and in the project management areas,” Curado says.

“This is a fundamental partner-ship for Brazil,” said the nation’s president Dilma Rousseff, who also attended the event. Her mes-sage focused on the importance of

the benefits to Brazil of exportable technology development pro-grammes like the KC-390.

Celso Amorim, Brazilian de-fence minister, said: “This is the first firm order of the type and it paves the way for the conclusion of further firm sales for the pro-gramme’s current industrial part-ners Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Portugal and the Czech Republic.” He adds: “These countries have signed memoranda of under-standing comprising potential de-mand for a further 32 KC-390s.”

Paulo Gastão Silva, Embraer vice-president for the programme, declines to say when the first pro-

totype aircraft will be rolled out, noting that the timing will be “technically driven”. But its presi-dent of Defence and Security, Jackson Schneider, says first flight will happen “late this year”.

Brig Gen Crepaldi Affonso, chief of air force programmes, says two prototypes might be slightly different from the full production aircraft, “due to the continuing fine tuning of the specifications”.

Operational assessments will be conducted by air force trans-port unit pilots using actual pro-duction aircraft, not prototypes, Affonso adds, as the latter are not set to be converted to full opera-tional standard. Cold weather tests to support certification for Antarctic operations are to be held elsewhere, possibly in Canada.

Final assembly is to begin in June, with more than 1,500 Em-braer employees working on the project. Over 50 Brazilian compa-nies are currently contributing to the KC-390’s development. ■

Mexico’s air force is an existing user of the Airbus C295 medium transport, along with the Alenia Aermacchi C-27J Spartan. Flight-global’s Ascend Online database records its current tactical airlift inventory as including a mix of five Lockheed Martin C-130E/K Hercules built between 1964 and 1968 and one civilian-standard L-100. The service has previously shown interest in possibly ac-quiring a pair of new-generation C-130Js from the USA. ■

Airbus D

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& S

pace

The visiting “Grizzly” touched down in the nation on 15 May

A400M completes Mexican air force evaluationCAMPAIGN

Em

bra

er

Six nations could field the type

Embraer expects its first prototype to get airborne late this year

“This paves the wayfor the conclusion offurther firm sales withindustrial partners”CELSO AMORIM Brazilian defence minister

Em

bra

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SHOW REPORT


For all the latest news and images from the show, go online at flightglobal.com/ila

Held every two years, the ILA Berlin air show provides the best forum for Germany’s aerospace industry to display its capabilities and technologi-cal innovation. While the event lacked the usual rush of commercial aircraft sales announce-ments, it provided military and civil programme updates, with Airbus at centre stage. Alan Dron, Michael Gubisch, Craig Hoyle, Mark Pilling and Dan Thisdell report. Photography by BillyPix

ILA 2014

It tasted disappointment at the end of last year when the Unit-

ed Arab Emirates walked away from a possible Typhoon pur-chase, but the head of the four-nation Eurofighter consortium says it is moving into a new posi-tion to secure further sales, thanks to a coming “paradigm shift” in combat capability.

Speaking exclusively to Flight Daily News, Eurofighter chief ex-ecutive Alberto Gutierrez said the UAE decision has been followed by a fresh drive across Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK to intro-duce key new systems widely re-quested by international buyers. This includes an agreed roadmap to add an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and fully integrate weapons like the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise mis-sile and air-to-surface Brimstone.

“We are working to see how we can make this fantastic machine fully optimised,” he adds.

Gutierrez says the new AESA sensor should be flown in the UK soon. “We are progressing quite well with the nations: they all want the e-scan. We are pretty op-timistic to go through the specific nations’ approval processes, but this will be done at their own in-dividual pace.”

Sales campaigns are currently being staged for Bahrain, Kuwait,

Malaysia and Qatar, with Den-mark having sought information too. Company officials will also visit Canada in late May, having previously answered a capability questionnaire for Ottawa.

“We want a competition [with the Lockheed Martin F-35],” he says of the Canadian require-ment. “We think we can prove not only our capabilities, but also are confident that we can offer in-dustrial opportunities that no others can match.”

Eurofighter is also watching to see how India’s newly-elected government will choose to pro-ceed in the medium multi-role combat aircraft process, with a planned Dassault Rafale buy not yet done. “We are just ready,” says Gutierrez. “If they call, we will be there.” Likewise, it will evaluate Switzerland’s future in-tentions, following a public refer-endum which derailed a planned buy of 22 Saab Gripen Es.

Also speaking at the show, Air-bus Defence & Space head of mil-itary aircraft Domingo Ureña said the company is “looking at a range of improvements” to better postion the Eurofighter in inter-national competitions, including by encouraging its partner na-tions to work together more closely. Opportunities remain for the aircraft, he says, and the con-sortium will aim to offer better value to customers. ■

The German navy’s Sea Lion version of the NH Industries

(NHI) NH90 will not incur the same level of development risk as earlier variants of the rotorcraft, says Airbus Helicopters chief ex-ecutive Guillaume Faury.

Berlin wants 18 of the NFH-derivative aircraft to replace its aged Westland Lynx, but with multiple national variants of the NH90 already in service, con-cerns had been raised that the Sea Lion would add yet another level of complexity.

Faury says the new model will be “very similar to other NH90s”, although there will be some cus-tomer-specific equipment, such as the communications fit.

“It’s fair to say the level of devel-opment and risk in Sea Lion is much lower than the first [pro-gramme examples]. It will benefit from the lessons learned from those that are already being operated.”

The NH90 programme has so far delivered 195 aircraft, with a back-log of around 300 remaining. Flight hours are starting to ramp up sharp-ly, says Faury, and Airbus Helicop-ters is receiving “interesting” feed-back from customers, who regard it as an “outstanding product”.

“We now need to focus on in-service support, which is okay but needs improvement,” says NHI president Vincent Dubrule. Areas being looked at include ways to reduce the scheduled mainte-nance plan, while continuing to solve teething problems. ■

ROTORCRAFT

Safe passage for Sea Lion version of NH90

PROGRAMME

Eurofighter targets sales as partners agree roadmapCollapse of potential deal with UAE has driven four-nation organisation on, says CEO

The Typhoon is being aimed at multiple export customers

“We are working to see how we can make this fantastic machine fully optimised”ALBERTO GUTIERREZEurofighter chief executive


ILA 2014SHOW REPORT

Airbus’s A350 test aircraft MSN4

made a flying visit to Berlin from 19-

20 May to provide the backdrop for

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opening

of the ILA show, as the programme

remains “on track” for certification

and entry into service in the third and

fourth quarters of 2014, respectively.

Günter Butschek, chief operating

officer and head of the company’s

German operations, says evacuation

tests have just been conducted for

the widebody in Toulouse, although

these have so far been done only

with a partial passenger load. Airbus

says the activity focused exclusively

on using the aircraft’s doors 1 and 3,

as these are equipped with new-

style “single slides”, while all other

doors are equipped with escape

chute types that are already in use

on other aircraft.

Airbus will reach a production rate

of two A350s per month by year-end

and increase that to 10 per month

by 2018, says Butschek. The manu-

facturer has 812 orders for the long-

haul twin. ■

Airbus Defence & Space, Alenia Aermacchi and Dassault Avia-

tion have delivered a proposal to the defence ministries of France, Germany and Italy to further define a joint European medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) un-manned air system.

The development follows the companies’ call at last year’s Paris

air show for the development of the new aircraft.

Also backed by an industrial agreement on work share, their proposal for a definition phase calls on the three countries’ gov-ernments, armed forces and in-dustry to define their require-ments for a MALE system. They also should minimise financial

and development risks, for exam-ple by leveraging past investment by Airbus in the shelved Talarion concept. A commitment to pro-ceed should result in there being “an affordable and certifiable so-lution ready by 2020”.

“We have reached an important milestone for the development of a European MALE drone. The need

for our armed forces is indisputa-ble,” says Airbus Defence & Space chief executive Bernhard Gerwert.

Airbus Defence & Space head of military aircraft Domingo Ureña says the MALE 2020 pro-posal is “not a closed club”, but that the three nations have formed a good starting point that could be joined later by others. ■

Despite sluggish sales for its flagship model, Airbus is in-

sisting the market for the A380 will grow as the number of inter-national hub airports increases.

Chief operating officer for cus-tomers John Leahy says the number of A380s “serving the German market” will grow near-ly five-fold over the next two decades. While 21 of the super-jumbos were employed for flights to and from the country last year, he expects that number to rise to 97 aircraft by 2032.

This will be due to the in-creasing number of international hub airports as airline traffic ex-pands, says Airbus, pointing particularly to the emerging mar-kets in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. While there are about 40 aviation “mega-cities” today – such as Dubai, London and Singapore – the company estimates that this number will

GROWTH

Leahy confident on flagship salesAirbus says rising demand for air travel makes it ‘physically impossible’ to serve market without aircraft like A380

DLR puts forward-swept wing research on displaySHOW REPORT P20

European trio reveal 2020 vision for MALE projectUNMANNED SYSTEMS

DEVELOPMENT

A350 takes time out from testing

reach nearly 90 within the next two decades.

As airport infrastructure ex-pansion is outpaced by air traffic growth, Leahy argues that it will be “physically impossible” to transport more passengers with-out an increasing number of very large aircraft, such as the A380.

Airbus has delivered 128 of the type since 2007, and has a backlog of 196. Emirates dis-played its 48th of an eventual 120 examples, with this then flown on to Dubai, to enter ser-vice “this summer”.

Emirates serves 10 destina-tions in Europe with A380s with 95 weekly flights. “The load fac-tor for the A380 fleet is above av-erage, and for us it is a profitable aircraft. It is a customer magnet,” says Hubert Frach, the Emirates executive responsible for sales in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Russian federation. ■

MSN4 was in Berlin for the opening ceremony at ILA


ILA 2014SHOW REPORT

For all the latest news and images from the show, go online at flightglobal.com/ila

Reducing airframe drag and gaining thrust is the aim of a

“fuselage fan” being explored by Munich-based aerospace research institute Bauhaus Luftfahrt.

Engineers and scientists at the

A t German aerospace research agency DLR, modern com-

posite technology is finally catch-ing up with a 1970s fast jet vision of the future – to slash airliner fuel burn by up to 13% by using forward-swept wings.

Displayed in model form, the Airbus A320-sized concept used in the agency’s Laminar Aircraft Research (LamAiR) project is de-signed to cruise at the same Mach 0.78 speed as a current air-liner, but with 18% less aerody-namic drag owing to the natural laminar flow over its forward-sweeping wings.

DLR aerodynamics researcher Martin Kruse says that drag re-duction would translate into a 9% fuel burn improvement with the rear-mounted engine configu-ration studied in detail to-date. While some fuel economy bene-fits are lost due to the extra struc-tural mass needed for the T-tail, and to strengthen the fuselage for engine mounting and bending around the wings, he says further

Lufthansa Technik is aiming to trial the use of a robot it has

developed for composite repairs on secondary structure compo-nents at its Hamburg base by year-end, and to start testing it as a mobile unit from 2015.

The demonstrator was jointly developed with Airbus’s defence and helicopter divisions, German aerospace research centre DLR and Hamburg’s technical univer-sity. The Composite Adaptable Inspection and Repair, or CAIRE, project ends in March 2015.

While components such as flight control surfaces can easily be detached from an aircraft for workshop repair, the CAIRE robot is to be used for airframe damage, automatically cutting out affected areas and delivering the data needed to produce pur-pose-made repair patches. Equipped with suction pads, it can be attached anywhere on the fuselage and wings.

The new robot cuts repair times by at least 60% versus a manual procedure, says project manager Jan Popp. ■

aerodynamic work could move the engines to the standard un-der-wing position, improving the centre of gravity and taking some bending load off the fuselage. This would cut mass enough to bump fuel savings up to 13%.

The key to LamAiR lies in modern carbon composite con-struction to overcome the inher-ent structural shortcoming of for-ward-swept wings: aerodynamic

lift forces on the wing tips are ex-cessive and self-reinforcing, pos-sibly leading to stall or even breakage.

Kruse acknowledges that the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 Max programmes are pushing back the timetable for any true next-generation airliner, but says DLR is ready to take the next step and turn LamAiR into a produc-tion-ready design. ■

DESIGN

DLR puts forward-swept wing research on displayInnovative design concept has potential to cut aerodynamic drag and fuel burn

The LamAiR idea is related to an A320-sized airliner

Fuselage fan concept powered up by BauhausPROPULSION

centre are evaluating the installa-tion of a turbofan engine in the tail section of an aircraft, under-neath the vertical stabiliser, which would ingest air from the boundary layer around the fuse-

lage to produce thrust in addition to conventional wing-mounted powerplants and, as an overall ef-fect, reduce drag. The fan is to be centrally installed inside the tail section, with a narrow air intake gap to run around the fuselage circumference. Airflow would be used for for thrust generation, re-ducing the demand from the main engines.

A 1:30 scale model of the novel architecture was on show at the exhibit of MTU Aero Engines, which funds the research institute along with Airbus, IABG, Liebherr and the state of Bavaria. The EU-backed, two-year research project will finish in January 2015, but Arne Seitz, who leads Advanced

Motive Power activities at Bau-haus Luftfahrt, is optimistic that the work will be continued in a follow-up initiative, such as wind-tunnel tests, he says.

Also dubbed the “propulsive fuselage”, the concept could slash fuel burn on a future aircraft by 10%, says Seitz. This would be in addition to an expected 30% efficiency gain on next-gen-eration aircraft by 2035 through innovations such as slender, low-drag wings, lightweight airframes and ultra-high by-pass engines.

The “fuselage fan” design has been made for a potential future medium-range widebody capable of carrying around 340 passen-gers, he says. ■

MRO

Repair robot to give due CAIRE and attention

An engine would be installed inside the tail section


ILA 2014SHOW REPORTSunshine and style

SHOW REPORT P22

European Space Agency direc-tor general Jean-Jacques Dor-

dain underscored the agency’s confidence that it can meet the ambitious cost and performance targets set for its all-new Ariane 6 heavy launcher, which must re-place the hugely successful Ari-ane 5 at less than half the cost.

Dordain’s “duty” is to go to the Luxembourg meeting of ESA member state science and indus-try ministers in December with a

SHOW COVERAGEON THE SCENEThree issues of Flight Daily News

were published during the ILA

Berlin air show. For free on-line

access to the trio of titles, find

them on our dedicated landing

page. Plus, see more news and

images from Germany’s most

important aerospace industry

gathering:

flightglobal.com/ila

JUST THE JOB FOR THE A380

D espite sluggish sales for its flagship model, Air-bus is insisting the mar-ket for the A380 will grow as the number of interna-tional hub airports increases.Speaking as the show opened yesterday, Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy said that the number of A380s “serving the German market” would grow nearly fivefold over the next two decades. While 21 of the superjumbos were employed for flights to and from the country last year, he says that number is ex-pected to rise to 97 aircraft by 2032.This will be due to the increas-ing number of international hub airports as airline traffic ex-pands, says Airbus, pointing par-ticularly to the emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and

Latin America. While there are about 40 aviation “mega-cities” today – such as Dubai, London and Singapore – the company es-timates that this number will more than double, to nearly 90 over the next two decades.In Germany, Dusseldorf would become a major international hub were it not for the country’s two existing main gateways in Frank-furt and Munich, says Leahy. But as airport infrastructure expan-

sion is outpaced by air traffic growth, he argues that it will be “physically impossible” to trans-port more passengers without an increasing number of very large aircraft, such as the A380.Airbus has delivered 128 A380s since the type entered ser-vice in 2007, and has a backlog of 196. Its largest single customer for the type, Emirates, is showing one of its eventual 120 examples at the show.

ISSUE 2 WEDNESDAY 21 MAY 2014

COMPLETE COVERAGE IN PRINT AND WEB

HUB MASTER: A380 arrivals in Germany are set to increase

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German services ‘to grow fivefold’

The 2014 ILA Berlin air show received top-level political support yesterday, when German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel officially opened the event.Mrs Merkel, pictured touring the Airbus De-fence & Space exhibit with the company’s chief executive, Bernhard Gerwert (shown on her left), cut a ribbon with a pair of giant scissors to open the show, then toured various aircraft, including the fourth prototype Airbus A350, which provid-ed one of the centrepieces of the static park in its joint Airbus/Qatar Airways colour scheme.Continuing with the Middle East theme, she also visited an Emirates A380 at the site, before departing by helicopter.

Show gets VIP launch

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ISSUE 3 THURSDAY 22 MAY 2014


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The next edition of ILA will take place from 31

May to 5 June 2016, show organiser Messe Ber-

lin has announced. The slightly later dates, compared to this

year, means that the event will not clash with

the annual EBACE business aviation show,

which is taking place this week in Geneva.

Flightglobal looks forward to returning to ILA

in 2016 with this very newspaper, the famous

Flight Daily News.For more action from Flightglobal and Flight

Daily News, be sure to follow flightglobal.com as

we gear up for the next show, Farnborough,

which begins on 14 July.


I t tasted disappointment at the end of last year

when the United Arab Emirates walked away

from a possible Typhoon purchase, but the

-its combat capability.

Flight Daily News exclusively yes--

rez said the UAE decision has been followed by a UK to introduce key new systems widely requested

roadmap to add an active electronically scanned like the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile and

air-to-surface Brimstone.The new AESA is now installed in instrumented -

-

proval processes, but this will be done at their own

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worked tirelessly to determine how its processes nations and three industries, and always on some-

-for Ottawa.

---

in the medium multi-role combat aircraft process,

with a planned Dassault Rafale buy not yet done.

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ON THE RISENew capabilities, new ambitions for Eurofighter

TOOLED UP: New weapons, and AESA radar SALES POWER: Alberto Gutierrez

ILA be back: 2016 dates announced

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NIFTY A350

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hall 2, stand 2323 14/05/2014 14:04

One of the main stars of the show

touched down in the late afternoon

sunshine as many visitors were drift-

ing home yesterday, ahead of perform-

ing the type’s first dynamic display here at ILA.

The Airbus A350, MSN4, is taking time out of

the company’s busy development schedule to par-

ticipate in the flying display, as the design edges

towards certification and a scheduled service

entry before the end of this year.

By earlier this month, the company’s current

four flying prototypes had clocked up more than a

combined 350 flights and 1,600h since June 2013,

including performing high-altitude testing in Bo-

livia, hot-weather actitivies in the United Arab

Emirates and cold-weather work in Canada. The

airframer’s fifth and final test aircraft is expected

to make its flight debut in the “coming weeks”.

Sporting a joint livery of Airbus and launch

A350 operator Qatar Airways, MSN4 recently

completed water ingestion certification trials at

Istres air base in France. Intended to prove the

Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered type’s ability to

operate on wet runways, these involved the air-

craft performing several runs through troughs

filled with water to a depth of 22mm, at speeds of

up to 140kt (259km/h).

The aircraft also performed a first flight over Ge-

neva, where the clashing EBACE show is taking

place, before arriving here.

R-R has meanwhile dispatched the first produc-

tion Trent XWB that will be fitted to the A350 to

Toulouse, where the first two production aircraft

are on the final assembly line.

Qatar has 80 of the twinjets on order – 43 of the

-900 model, plus 37 -1000s – and is to receive the

first, a -900, in the fourth quarter.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database shows a

current total of 812 A350s on order: 34 -800s, 589

-900s and 189 -1000s.

Meanwhile, Airbus says that “progress is being

made” towards its target of achieving a production

break-even on the A380. It adds that it is “acting

on” lessons from testing and in-service experience,

as six-year maintenance checks begin on the global

fleet. Emirates’ 48th example of the superjumbo

also touched down at the show, from the compa-

ny’s Finkenwerder interior completions site.

DEBUT:

The A350 is

to perform its

first display

sequence

SUNNY ARRIVAL: MSN4

joins the Airbus A400M

as an ILA attraction

Twinjet’s ILA debut comes

at key moment, as Airbus

pushes for certification

2014-05-19 18:20

Dortkasli: ready to sell ‘ATAK’ helicopterTurkish Aerospace Industries

made its first appearance at a major European show with its own systems on display, with its presence headlining Turkey’s sta-tus as official partner nation.

Speaking beside the T129 at-tack helicopter which his com-pany has developed from an AgustaWestland airframe, TAI president and chief executive Muharrem Dortkasli highlighted the great strides made in a short time since it began attending such events in a bid to get in-volved in major aerospace pro-grammes as a supplier to original

Ariane 6 to hit ambitious cost target, says DordainSPACEFLIGHT

DEBUT

TAI flies the flag for Turkey, nears first T129 exportChief executive Muharrem Dortkasli hails company’s move from equipment supplier to indigenous platform developer

equipment manufacturers like Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier.

“We have looked at product development for the last 10 years: now we can show the fruits of our efforts,” Dortkasli says.

The first T129 from a nine-unit batch produced in an ‘early deliv-ery helicopter’ standard has al-ready been accepted by the Turk-ish army, with the next three examples also likely to be ap-proved by mid-June. TAI is now looking to export the T129 “ATAK” system, having also taken it to the Bahrain air show earlier this year.

“There is great interest from several governments. We are working with them and negotiat-ing, and I think we will have a first sale shortly,” Dortkasli says. “We have a cutting-edge design, and think we are competitive.”

Also on show was the compa-ny’s indigenous Anka unmanned air vehicle, which is in produc-tion for the Turkish armed forces and the subject of talks with other potential future operators.

TAI’s stand also included a full-scale mock-up of the cockpit for its Hurkus trainer, which is in ground testing in Turkey, and a model of a new satellite assem-bly, inspection and test facility.

“Ten years ago we were in small booths: now we are becom-ing an OEM, with something complete on the table,” Dortkasli says. “We are going to increase the coverage at shows like ILA, Farnborough and Paris.” ■

COLLABORATION

Roketsan, Airbus pact agreed for TFX

Airbus Defence & Space and Turkish

company Roketsan have linked up to

investigate collaboration on several

projects, including Ankara’s planned

TFX indigenous fighter. Under the

terms of their new memorandum of

understanding, the companies will

initially exchange technical and busi-

ness information to define possible

areas of co-operation.

Roketsan president and chief

executive Selcuk Yasar says the pair

could explore the integration of

weapons systems such as Turkey’s

Stand-Off Missile on Airbus military

aircraft and future combat systems.

For Airbus, the big prize would be

a role in Turkey’s fifth-generation TFX

project, to replace its air force’s

Lockheed Martin F-16s. ■

firm plan that will convince them to continue funding the project, which seeks a launcher that could fly nine times a year and cost €70 million ($95 million) per launch, from 2021. This com-pares with as much as €200 mil-lion per launch currently.

Ariane 6 will have to be built through no more than three “inte-gration sites”: one each in France, Germany and Italy, says Dordain. Failure, he adds, would be “dra-

matic” for the entire European space industry.

Dordain expects further design discussion to end by July, when he will make what amounts to a progress report at a “mini-minis-terial” meeting of ESA’s largest members. The project will have to be run in a flat 2015-2024 “budget corridor” of about €850 million per year. This is the same as has been spent during the last couple of years. ■On course for 2021 service

ES

A

flightglobal.com

ILA 2014SHOW REPORT

SUNSHINE AND STYLEAs the temperature soared in Berlin, ILA’s daily flying display

and static park provided plenty of attractions for show visitors


ILA 2014SHOW REPORT

(Clockwise from main): A400M; Solo Turk F-16; DC-3 makes classic viewing point; US Air

Force C-17; Extra 300s of Eichhorn Air Adventure; Belgian

air force EMB-145 gives welcome shade; Patrouille Suisse F-5s in formation; flying the flag; Polish MiG-29; Do-24 seaplane; more

flare from Solo Turk

Bill

yPix

SHOW REPORT


For all the news and images from the show flightglobal.com/ebace

The 14th edition of EBACE, held from 20-22 May at Geneva’s Palexpo, played host to a European business aviation community still in the economic trough, but, after five years of difficult trading, looking forward to a sustained upturn. The large-business jet brands – Bombardier’s Global series, Dassault’s Falcon and Gulfstream – were making the running. Less affected by the downturn, they are pushing ahead with bigger and longer-range models. There was activity, however, at the smaller end of the market, with a new variant from Piaggio Aero and a successful start for the Pilatus PC-24 orderbook, while Textron Aviation – parent to the Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker brands – rolled out its new identity. Murdo Morrison, Liz Moscrop, Alan Peaford, Kate Sarsfield and Stephen Trimble report. Photography by BillyPix

EBACE 2014

Airframers push the limits in ultra-long range arena

Competition in the ultra-long range business jet market in-

tensified at EBACE as the sector’s leading airframers revealed a trio of long-legged large cabin prod-ucts each designed to secure a larger share of this lucrative niche.

Dassault dominated headlines with the launch of the Falcon 8X – its longest range, longest cabin business jet to date. The unveil-ing of the flagship trijet comes just seven months after the French airframer took the wraps off its all-new and widest cabin Falcon, the 5X.

The 8X is a stretched version of the 7X which entered service seven years ago with the 250th example in completion.

With a range of 6,450nm (11,950 km) – 500nm more than the 7X – the 8X will offer a more extensive list of one-leg missions than its stablemate. These in-clude the Hong Kong to London route – a vital city pair within the lucrative Chinese market.

Gulfstream shot back by an-nouncing a second range exten-sion for the G650. The Savannah-based manufacturer originally

unveiled the G650 with 6,000nm range, but raised the figure to 7,000nm upon certification in 2012. Gulfstrean now has launched the G650ER with a plan to be ready to deliver the first air-craft in quarter one next year. The G650ER will be able to fly 7,500nm at Mach 0.9, or 25% higher than the original specifica-tion for the baseline model.

For the moment, the G650ER boasts more range than the Bom-bardier Global 7000, which is ad-vertised with 7,300nm range at Mach 0.9. Gulfstream senior vice-president of sales and marketing Scott Neal emphasised that point as the G650ER was announced, saying it will be “the only busi-ness aircraft in the world capable of travelling 7,500nm”.

As the Global 7000 gets closer to first delivery in 2016, Bombar-dier Business Aircraft president Éric Martel declines to comment on whether Gulfstream’s move could motivate a range extension for the Canadian-built competi-tor, but he also leaves the door open to future upgrades.

“I don’t think we can comment on that now,” Martel says, but

adds: “There’s always potential to do more.”

By unveiling the cabin mock-up during EBACE, Bombardier made clear the Global 7000 will have no deficiency to its peers in terms of cabin length. The interi-or mockup of the 33.7m (110ft)-long cabin revealed four true cabin zones – not counting space for galleys, lavatories, crew rest and storage – featuring a lounge, working area, living room and bedroom.

“Everything that you see in the cabin is designed for comfort for long flight, flexibility and reliabil-ity,” says Bassam Sabbagh, vice-president and general man-ager of the Global 7000 and 8000 programme.

The size of the cabin windows – 80% larger than on previous Global jets – means the Global 7000 will enter the market pro-viding the most natural light in-side the cabin of any business jet, Sabbagh says.

Although shorter by a lengthy 3.3m, the G650 shares a common philosophy with the Global 7000/8000 series with a similar emphasis on cabin volume, range

ULTRA-LONG RANGE

Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream all reveal offerings in top-selling market segment

Bombardier unveiled a full-scale mock-up of Global 7000

and speed. By contrast, the Falcon 8X makes no attempt to match the range and speed of its competitors.

Dassault has introduced a number of refinements and en-hancements to the aircraft’s de-sign including an extra fuel tank within the centre fuselage sec-tion, which enables the 8X to carry up to 15,800kg (34,900lb) fuel – compared with 14,500kg carried by the 7X. It will also fea-ture a redesigned ultra-efficient wing derived from the Falcon 7X and three Pratt & Whitney


EBACE 2014SHOW REPORT

Aerion revamps AS2 concept as trijetSHOW REPORT P26

Canada PW307D engines, each delivering 6,720lb (30kN) of thrust – 5% more than the 7X’s PW307As. The 8X cabin is 1.1m longer than the 7X bringing the total cabin length to 13m. Dassault says this extra space has enabled it to offer “the most diverse selection of cabin layouts on the market”. Priced at around $57 million, first flight is expect-ed in early 2015 with certification in the middle of 2016 and initial deliveries before the end of the year.

Dassault is evaluating the mar-

ket for an ultra-long-range deriva-tive of the 5X to compete against the G650ER, Global 7000 and 8000, but says it has yet to find a business case for an aircraft of this size.

It argues while the 8X range is shorter than these competitors, its flagship can operate to and from many of the world’s most challenging airports – including La-Mole St Tropez, and London City – which these other types cannot. ■Turn to P38 for a cutaway drawing and feature on the 8X

Bill

yPix

RESTRUCTURING

Textron Aviation vows all three brands will surviveAll three brands – Cessna,

Beechcraft and Hawker – and all active production lines of the newly-formed Textron Aviation division are safe, but priorities for new product development and deeper integration is still in de-bate, say company executives.

The closing of Textron’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Beechcraft two months ago – uniting two, 80-year-old neighbours in Wichi-ta, Kansas – created a “very com-plimentary” line-up of products stretching from pistons to turbo-props to jets, says chief executive Scott Ernest.

“We see them all fitting togeth-er within the family,” Ernest says.

Despite preserving the Hawker brand, Textron Aviation has no plans to re-launch jet production lines shut down during the bank-ruptcy of Beechcraft in 2012.

“At this point of time we don’t have any plans to restart that from a standpoint of trying to get that product back into the mar-ket,” Ernest says.

In the near-term, Textron Avia-tion plans to complete a long-de-layed certification programme for the Hawker 400XPR, which modi-fies the light jet with Williams FJ44 turbofans, Rockwell Collins ProLine 21 avionics and winglets.

Supplemental type certificates for the latter two have already been received, and engine certification is now expected by the end of the year, says Brad Thress, vice- president of customer service. Textron is also focused on bring-ing Cessna’s superlight Citation Latitude and top-of-the-range super midsize Longitude business jets to market in 2015 and 2017 re-spectively. Its revamped Citation X, meanwhile, is earmarked for approval this quarter, says Cessna.

Less clear is the fate of the Beechcraft single-engine turbo-prop (SETP), a concept intro-duced by the company before it was acquired as a lead-in to the King Air.

Ernest says discussions about the fate of the SETP have an en-tered a “focused” stage, but so far no decisions have been made. If the SETP is approved for launch, programme supports must come with a compelling business strat-egy and a plan to take market share from competitors.

Moving technology between the two companies is also being discussed. The wings of the Cess-na Scorpion light attack and trainer aircraft could be built in-side the Beechcraft autoclave, Ernest says. ■




Aerion revamps AS2 concept as trijet

Aerion unveiled a redesigned supersonic business jet with

three engines, trans-Pacific range and a new industrial strategy aimed at completing certification of the renamed AS2 aircraft in 2021.

Nearly a decade after launching development of the twinjet, Pratt & Whitney JT8D-powered SBJ, the start-up company founded by bil-lionaire Robert Bass was forced to go back to the drawing boards a year ago when new noise regula-tions ruled out the 1980s-vintage, low-bypass ratio engines.

At the same time, Aerion also reconsidered the SBJ’s trans-At-lantic range profile, as well as its plan to partner with an OEM to take-over the project for certifica-tion and production.

The result of the year-long re-view was unveiled at EBACE as the AS2.

The new design preserves the SBJ’s natural laminar flow airfoil – a technological leap in super-sonic aircraft design – with its distinctive recurve on the in-board section of the wing leading edge, but lengthens the cabin to the size of a Gulfstream G450.

To meet ICAO Chapter 5 noise regulations, Aerion has added a third, tail-mounted engine, with each engine notionally requiring about 16,000lb-thrust.

The engine selection process remains ongoing, including con-firmed interest from General Electric as it develops the 16,000lb-thrust Passport engine for the subsonic Bombardier Global 7000/8000.

Aerion plans to select an engine supplier within a few months and complete the conceptual design phase a year later, says chief exec-utive Doug Nichols.

Aerion originally launched the SBJ in 2005 with a six-year time-line for certification, but those plans were disrupted by the glob-al financial crisis.

The plan now is to complete development in seven years and begin deliveries of the AS2

after 2021, but Aerion officials acknowledge this schedule is challenging.

“We know it’s ambitious but stretch goals get performance,” Nichols says.

The accelerated timing is also driven by Aerion’s plan to claim a first-mover advantage in the market.

NASA and several large OEMs, including Gulfstream, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, have been working for more than a decade to develop an airframe design that is shaped specifically to muffle the loud clap of a supersonic boom. But the technology remains years away from being validated in flight on a business-jet sized air-craft, and regulators are unlikely to change a global ban on super-sonic flight over populated areas until they receive hard data.

Aerion, however, is not using “quiet boom” airframe technolo-

gy, and so does not have to wait for regulators to drop the ban. At-mospheric defraction may allow the AS2 to fly at supersonic speeds without creating an audi-ble boom on the ground, but Aer-ion’s plan does not rely upon reg-ulators accepting this claim.

Instead, the AS2 is designed to enter service to fly at high sub-sonic speed over populated areas, then accelerate to Mach 1.4 for long-range cruise or Mach 1.6 for maximum speed.

The natural laminar flow wing is designed to prevent the airflow from transitioning to turbulent conditions beyond Mach 0.90, allowing the AS2 to avoid a sig-nificant rise in wave drag at cruise speeds from Mach 0.95 to Mach 0.99.

Flight tests of a sub-scale wing section on a NASA Boeing F-15 flying testbed have shown that the wing design can prevent the transition from laminar to turbu-lent airflow at subsonic and su-personic speeds, according to Aerion. But Aerion has not yet tested the wing on a demonstra-tor aircraft.

The AS2 will feature a compos-ite wing and a titanium leading edge, but the material of the fuse-lage structure is still undecided be-

tween composite and aluminium, Nichols says. The composite mate-rial is preferred, if it is possible to produce the heavily-tapered fuse-lage structure efficiently, he says.

Aerion has also tweaked how it intends to manage the develop-ment programme. Rather than turning the project over to a sin-gle OEM after completing the desgin, Aerion now plans to lead the certification and production project itself, Nichols says.

Multiple OEM partners will be selected to play a supporting role with detailed design, supply chain management and compo-nent certification, Nichols says.

“It’s not the monolithic OEM that was sort of part of the con-versations a few years ago,” he says. “We think there’s room for a number of participants in this programme.”

Aerion is also taking on the financial burden during the early conceptual phase of the pro-gramme, relieving OEM partners of the need to make a commit-ment before the conceptual de-sign is complete.

“When we are not asking a par-ticipant to lend us their balance sheet then the conversation can get redirected to more important pro-grammatic issues,” Nichols says. ■

DEVELOPMENT

US firm returns from the drawing board with aim to complete certification of supersonic project by start of next decade

Aerion

AS2 is designed to fly at high subsonic speed over populated areas before accelerating to M1.6

“We think there’s room for a number of participants in this programme”DOUG NICHOLS Chief executive, Aerion



Nextant banks on finance to avoid losing customersSHOW REPORT P28

GE to take on PT6A market

GE Aviation plans to take on rival Pratt & Whitney’s mar-

ket-leading PT6A with new en-gines in the 1,100-1,200 shaft horsepower and 1,800-2,000shp class, by developing a turboprop “centre of excellence” in Prague – the former Walter Aircraft Engines business it acquired in 2008.

The new family of “advanced turboprop” engines will be based on the architecture of its H80 family, itself developed from Walter’s M601. The H80 will power the Nextant King Air G90XT, a re-engined version of the King Air C90 with a Garmin flight-deck, which enters service later this year, and is already installed in the Thrush 510G crop-spraying aircraft. The slightly lower-thrust H75 derivative is available as a ret-rofit in the Aircraft Industries Let L410 utility transport.

The US Federal Aviation Ad-ministration certificated the H75 and uprated H85 variants in April, GE announced yesterday.

GE has already made huge changes to the Walter business, which it relocated to new premis-es in Letnany, outside Prague, driving revenues from around $38 million at the time of acquisition to a forecast of $78 million in 2014. The company expects revenues to more than quadruple over the next six years to $300 million annually.

“When we acquired the com-pany, most of the production was for MRO, with only 10 or 12 new engines a year. This year, we will do 80 to 90 engines,” says Milan Slapak, commercial director of GE’s Czech business. But GE has further ambitions. “We would like to grow in this segment,” he says. “We got into this to start

competition with the PT6A.”The three-member H80 family

– comprising the 800shp H80 and two derivatives, the H75 and H85 – is based on the M601, but with significant changes, includ-ing the use of a corrosion- resistant titanium alloy compres-sor, and replacing bladed discs with blisks. There are some 700 M601s in service, the majority of them in the former Soviet Union, Africa and Latin America.

The H80 was the first GE en-gine to be developed outside the USA, and the first one to be certifi-cated, in 2011, by the European Aviation Safety Agency, before the Federal Aviation Administration.

GE has put no timescale on when it expects to launch its new engines, but it is hoping to establish an engineering depart-ment near its Prague facility. ■

Passport flight tests to begin in a few months

General Electric is on track to begin flights tests of the Pass-

port jet engine this summer, as it continues to carve out a growing share of business and general aviation markets, a top executive said at EBACE.

The Passport – selected to power the Bombardier Global 7000, which enters service in 2016 – has been making steady progress in ground tests.

Four engines have completed seven testing programmes so far, accumulating 450h on 150 take-off and landing cycles, says Brad Mottier, vice-president and gen-eral manager of business and gen-eral aviation.

Another engine is being instru-mented to be installed on the GE-owned Boeing 747 flying testbed. Delivering the Passport engine on time – along with the HondaJet’s GE Honda Aero Engines HF120 – is a key element of GE’s strategy to build a $1 billion annual business supporting business and general aviation by 2020, Mottier says.

Aerion’s plan – announced on 19 May – to develop a supersonic version of a current engine also has gained GE’s interest. “Abso-lutely,” Mottier says, when asked if GE would offer an engine to Aerion. However, Mottier says it is premature to determine which en-gine should be proposed.

GE has no other plans to ex-pand in the business and general aviation sector, where it has no presence in the crowded thrust range between 3,500lb-thrust and about 9,000lb-thrust. ■

Fokker works with Boeing on panoramic windowVIP completions and refur-

bishment provider Fokker Services has teamed up with Boeing Business Jets to propose the SkyView panoramic window which is larger than three win-dows on a Boeing 737. “We did a feasibility study and told Boeing

it was very do-able. BBJ president Steve Taylor was very excited by the whole idea and it took off from there,” says James Aspell, Fokker Services vice president technical services.

Boeing engineers tested the concept and while Fokker owns

the STC, Boeing will do the vali-dation. By working together As-pell says certification could be complete as early as the third quarter 2015. “Since we unveiled the new window here we have had incredible reaction. Especial-ly from designers,” Aspell says. ■

ENGINES

Propulsion giant will vie with rival’s family from turboprop centre of excellence in Prague

GE A

viation

GE launched the H80 after acquiring Walter

ENGINES

INNOVATION

Bill

yPix

Aspell: Incredible reaction




Nextant Aerospace launched a finance offering at the

show aimed at buyers of its 400XTi and G90XT remanufac-tured business aircraft. The Cleveland, Ohio-based firm says the $2 million to $10 million light sector of the market – where its product offering is placed – is “underserved” by the finance industry and it has lost sales due a customer’s inability to secure funding for the purchase.

“Over the past five years, se-curing aircraft financing has be-come complicated and uncer-tain,” says Nextant president Sean McGeough.

“There has been a general lack of available financing for deals under $10 million,” he contin-ues. “Many banks turn away small aircraft financing in favour of larger types which take just as much effort, but the rewards are far greater.”

Barry Woods, chairman of the new Nextant Finance agrees: “Since the start of the recession, it has been very difficult for own-ers and operators of light jets and

Pilatus Aircraft has secured over 80 orders for its PC-24

and has named its five launch customers which between them have acquired 18 of the super-light twin jets.

This line-up includes: Luxem-bourg fractional ownership com-pany JetFly, which has an order for six of the $9 million aircraft, Abu Dhabi charter and management company Falcon Aviation Services with four aircraft, US fractional provider PlaneSense, with six and

Saudi Arabian private jet op-erator and management

company Alpha Star Aviation Services has become the first Airbus ACJ320 customer for an in-service retrofit of Sharklets.

The Sharklets are upswept fins attached to the wingtips that save about 4% in fuel consump-tion while also enhancing per-formance and appearance.

The Sharklets will be fitted to the ACJ320 – which is already in service with the Riyadh-based operator – in 2016. The retrofit has local structural reinforcement of the outer wing, a software up-grade to several flight-control computers, and replacement of the existing winglets.

“We pride ourselves on having a modern and efficient fleet, and adding Sharklets to our Airbus

ACJ320 and also adopting FlySmart [Airbus’s performance calculation software for iPad] will help us to keep it that way, as well as improving our day to day oper-ations,” says Alpha Star chief ex-ecutive Salem Abaid Al Muzaini.

“Adding Sharklets also helps us to preserve the value of our investment in the longer term, and they pay for themselves relatively quickly through the savings they deliver,” Al Muzaini says.

Airbus says FlySmart will also give savings to the Saudi operator. “It can improve payload by a tonne on challenging missions, via more precise take-off performance calcu-lation, and delivers more consist-ent results in degraded conditions, such as when landing on contami-nated runways.” ■

turboprops to find financing, leaving a significant and unnec-essary void in the market. Our straightforward yet creative fi-nancing vehicles are ideal for those who have struggled to find financing in the US and through-out the world,” he says.

Nextant Finance terms range from two to 20 years and include a range of options from capital and operating leases to fixed and floating loans.

The Directional Aviation Cap-ital-owned company has deliv-ered 42 Williams FJ44-3AP 400XTis to date and is planning to certificate and deliver the first G90XT twin-engined turboprop later this year. McGeough says it has received “tremendous inter-est” in the aircraft since the pro-gramme was launched last Octo-ber in partnership with GE. It will not start taking orders, how-ever, until the aircraft’s perfor-mance parameters have been confirmed. “We hope to have these by [AirVenture] Oshkosh in late July when the aircraft is flying with the new H75 en-gines,” says McGeough. ■

Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor service with three orders.

The Williams FJ44-4A-pow-ered PC-24 was launched at EBACE last year – marking Stans Switzerland-based Pilatus’s first foray into the business jet space. The twinjet has a projected take-off distance of 820m (2,690ft) and a landing distance of 2,530ft, ena-bling it to operate from unpaved runways and grass strips.

The first of three flying proto-types is being built at Stans. ■

UPGRADE

Saudi operator is first to retrofit ACJ320 sharklet

PROGRAMME

Pilatus takes 80 PC-24 orders

The first of three flying prototypes is being built in Stans

Company says many banks turn away small aircraft buyers

FUNDING

Nextant banks on finance to avoid losing customers Firm behind 400XTi and G90XT remanufactured aircraft says the sector it competes in is underserved

Next

ant Aero

space

Bill

yPix


EBACE 2014SHOW REPORTSerious business

SHOW REPORT P30

US business aircraft members club Wheels Up set out plans

at EBACE to launch its Beech-craft King Air 350i programme in Europe.

“This is a perfect market for the 350i,” says Wheels Up founder and chief executive Kenny Dichter.

“We plan to place up to four of the twin-engined turboprops in Europe in the first six months of 2015 which will service both existing members wishing to travel to Europe and new customers.”

The aircraft will be operated by business aviation services provider Gama Aviation, which also operates Wheels Up’s 350is in the USA.

Dichter believes the aircraft “is a perfect fit” for the region. “You can connect anywhere across the continent from Lon-don City airport, for example,” adds Dichter, who is also co-founder of pre-paid charter card company Marquis Jet.

Despite the continuing fragili-ty of the European business air-craft market, he is confident the Wheels Up brand will be well-received.

Wheels Up placed a record order last year for 105 350is and has taken delivery of 22 of the types to date. A further five aircraft are scheduled for deliv-ery before the end of the year and the remainder will be hand-ed over by the end of 2018. ■

Piaggio Aero unveiled the next evolution of its P.180 Avanti

twin pusher at the show amid hopes that the upgrades will breathe life back into the seven-seat turboprop programme,

Piaggio’s executive aviation business has been hit hard by the collapse of the light business aircraft sector. Deliveries of its Avanti II have fallen from a record 30 aircraft in 2008 to two aircraft last year, according to General Aviation Manufacturers Association figures.

The EVO features a host of im-provements and upgrades to its predecessor, the Avanti II. “It is designed to boost efficiency, re-duce operating costs, provide greater levels of comfort for pas-sengers,” says the airframer.

“With a maximum speed of 400kt (740km/h), the EVO is the fastest turboprop in the world and faster than many jets – doing so at fuel economy and emissions levels significantly below that of rival aircraft,” says Piaggio.

LAUNCH

Piaggio and the theory of EVO-lutionTwin-pusher turboprop gets revamp as Abu Dhabi-owned Italian airframer aims to inject new appeal into programme

The EVO has a number of im-provements to the airframe including winglets, redesigned nacelles, and a reshaped front wing to help boost efficiency and cut emissions by 3%. Climb per-formance also increases by 3% compared with its predecessor.

The aircraft is also equipped with new five-blade scimitar pro-pellers, which combine with aer-odynamic changes to reduce ex-ternal noise by 68% – 5 dB(A.)

The EVO’s “whisper quiet” cabin reduces internal noise by 1 dB(A). The cabin design has also under-gone a revamp with new VIP seats – developed by Italian company Iacobucci – new cabin air condi-tioning and lighting systems.

Piaggio is also offering an increased range option, which boosts the Avanti’s reach from 2,720km (1,470nm) to 3,180km.

“The EVO blends the very best of Italian style, peerless

craftsmanship, and intelligent thinking to create the speed of a light/mid-size jet, and the com-fort of a large, whisper quiet full stand-up cabin, with fuel effi-ciencies 40% greater than most business jets,” says Piaggio.

The Italian airframer – now majority owned by Mubadala following its acquisition earlier this month of Tata Industries’ 45% stake in the company – says the EVO launch shows the com-mitment to the company by the Abu Dhabi government invest-ment group.

“This marks an historical mo-ment under the new ownership of Mubadala, and vividly dis-plays its commitment to Piaggio and our aircraft,” says Piaggio’s chairman Alberto Galassi. He says Mubadala’s commitment has also been shown through in-vesting in new production facili-ties, notably a new aircraft and engine manufacturing base in Villanova d’Albenga, Savona, 80km southwest of Genoa. ■

TURBOPROP

Grand Caravan’s EASA EX appealCessna has clinched European validation for its Grand Caravan EX

paving the way for deliveries to begin immediately. The first custom-

er for the single-engined turboprop is an undisclosed Turkish owner,

says the US airframer.

The Grand Caravan EX entered service in early 2013 and so far

Cessna has delivered 100 of the 10-seat types including 22 in the first

quarter. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-140- powered EX is the

latest evolution of the 20-year old Grand Caravan and is the fourth

member of the ubiquitous Caravan family. More than 2,200 of the util-

ity types have been delivered worldwide – 160 to European customers.

Bill

yPix MEMBERS CLUB

Wheels Up plans to get wheels down in Europe

New winglets and nascelles are among improvements to aircraft

Pia

ggio

Aero



SERIOUS BUSINESSOur photographers were on hand to capture the best

of the static display next to Geneva International Airport


TOP - text. Style for three lines of text on story elsewhereTOP - SUBJECT PXX


The static display at EBACE was as busy as ever with exhibits ranging from piston singles to business jetliners. Our picture shows (clockwise from main picture): Bombardier’s Global 6000, currently the Canadian manufacturer’s flagship product; the Daher Socata TBM 900 single-engine turboprop; the Dassault Falcon display; Dassault’s Falcon 7X muscles in on a display of Cessnas from the Citation X to the Grand Caravan EX, the latest variant of the Wichita firm’s single-engine turboprop to receive certification; there were two Airbus ACJ319s on display, one from K5 Aviation, and the other from Haitec; Embraer’s Phenom 100 and 300; and the Gulfstream G450

flightglobal.com

CARGO


MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON

Are freighters in decline in the air cargo business? This might seem an odd question to ask at a time when an unprecedented number of new

all-cargo aircraft – 230 widebodies in the next four years – are rolling off the production lines. This is supposed to be a golden age for freighters, when airlines have finally made long-term commitments to buy new fuel- efficient capacity such as the Airbus A330-200F, Boeing 747-8F and 777F.

Instead, the air cargo industry is suffering a crisis of confidence in all-cargo aircraft. Carriers that have invested in them seem to be struggling to make a return on capital, and those that have got rid of them seem to suffer no ill effects. So are airlines better off without them?

It is certainly possible to put forward a negative case, as does Larry Coyne, chief executive of Coyne Airways, a specialist air cargo operator that has no freighters of its own but charters capacity from other carriers. “The real problem is that the upside in the freighter business is not that big, but the downside is very big,” he says.

“In the last 10 years or so, we have seen constant upheaval in air cargo, which is a problem for carriers who have to fly freighters 14-16h a day to justify the pur-chase price. If I was the chief executive of a combination carrier, I would see freighters as a bit of a headache.”

Meanwhile Stan Wraight, executive direc-tor of consultants Strategic Aviation Solutions International, and a former chief executive of Russian cargo airline AirBridgeCargo, describes freighters as “expensive to operate and now expensive to buy, too. And with cargo prices at passenger belly operator levels, the revenue will not return to pay for them.”

This sentiment is in stark contrast to the 1990s, when operating a freighter was the sign that a carrier was “serious” about cargo. Freighter fleets grew rapidly and the widely-cited Boeing forecast reckoned that they would double in size over the next 20 years. But in fact, since 1999 the fleet has barely grown at all – from 1,676 aircraft in the Boeing 2000-2001 World Air Cargo Forecast to 1,740 in the 2012 Current Market Outlook.

FLEET SLIMMINGIt is certainly easy to call to mind major carri-ers that have eliminated or slimmed their freighter fleets. In 2005, Japan Airlines and Northwest had 12 747 freighters each; now both fleets have disappeared entirely. Mean-while Singapore Airlines has gone from 16 747-400Fs in 2005 to 13 today, and the three airlines that now make up Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo have gone from 26 widebody

All-cargo operations have been hit hard by the economic downturn, and airlines are making more use of their hold capacity. So does it make sense to invest in freighters?

freighters in 2005 to 16 today. Jade Cargo International, a joint venture between Luf-thansa Cargo and Shenzhen Airlines, exited the market in December 2011, and – as Karl Ulrich Garnadt, chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, admits – the market did not even notice that its six 747-400ERFs were no longer flying.

Other major carriers have increased their fleets somewhat, although all seem to be questioning just how big those fleets should now be. Lufthansa had 14 widebody freight-ers in 2005. It now has 18, as well as a share in eight 777Fs operated by AeroLogic – its joint venture airline with DHL – and five more 777Fs on order, the first of which are due to arrive later this year. Those five aircraft were planned as expansion for the fleet, but Garnadt says they may now be used as replacements instead.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific has risen from 20 widebody freighters in 2005 (including Dragonair, which it later took over) and now has 21, but that is after disposing of a number of older freighters in the past few years, some of which it initially expected to operate along-side its eight new 747-8Fs. It has two more 747-8Fs and eight 777Fs to come, but its director of cargo Nick Rhodes admits to a great deal of uncertainty about how big the fleet might be in future.

What is making carriers doubt the viability of freighter operations? One factor is certainly the state of the global economy. Thomas Crab-tree, regional director of airline market analy-sis for Boeing and one of the key people be-hind its freighter forecast, compares the current era to the 1929-1939 depression.

RECOVERY WORRIESThen, he points out, it took two years – until 1931 – before cargo traffic began to fall, and in the next three years, it saw a 25% fall, only recovering to 1929 levels in 1939. Air cargo today seems to be in a similar trough, with negative growth in four of the last five years, although IATA is predicting a 1.4% recovery in 2013 after a 1.5% decline in 2012 and a 0.6% fall in 2011.

The big question is whether everything will go back to normal once the economy recovers, with air cargo resuming the vigorous growth it saw in the 1990s. Boeing essentially says that it will, predicting 5.2% growth over the next 20 years in its 2012 forecast, although many expect this year’s update to predict a reduc-tion in that figure. “Do the last 12 years reflect the next 20? We don’t think so,” says Crabtree. “We expect the end of this year to see a slight recovery – low single digits – and then to see a return to trend, or above-trend, growth.”

PUT IT IN THE BELLY

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MARKET


❯❯

At Cathay, Rhodes also says the rise in belly capacity is making the carrier “think very carefully” about how many freighters it should have. “I should stress that as a carrier based in the heart of Asia, we will always need a freighter fleet to fly to destinations where passenger aircraft don’t fly and to lift the specialist cargo that doesn’t work below deck. But the question remains – how many freighters do we need and of what type?”

Wraight identifies China as one market that will continue to need freighters. But he sees belly capacity already eroding the key trans-pacific market, and feels that as much as 80% of cargo that is currently carried by freighters could fly in passenger bellies. “With 2,300 passenger planes on their way, carriers had better start to rethink their strategies,” he says.

Is the fear about belly cargo overstated, however? At Boeing, Crabtree has a chart which shows that the percentage of air cargo carried on freighters has remained more or less constant at 60% (a figure which includes the volumes of the big four express operators). It was 56.9% in 2000 and actually rose to 60.2% in 2003, declined to 58% in 2009, and recovered to 59.4% in 2011. Boeing’s forecast is for 60.9% in 2016 and 60.2% in 2021.

In other words, the shift to belly capacity is barely perceptible. “How is this possible when Boeing is delivering cargo-capable 777-300ERs? Because shippers still by and large prefer freighter capacity where their needs are not subordinated to the passenger business,” Crabtree says. “In difficult times like these it is easy to say that freighters are in retreat, but in fact it is not true.”

He admits that it got the overall figures in its 2000 freighter forecast wrong, but interest-ingly one key component was fairly accurate. This was the forecast that widebody freighters – those over 40t payload – would rise to 999 freighters by the close of 2009. The actual fig-ure was 926, which is not a huge shortfall.

Why then, was the overall figure so wrong? The answer lies in narrowbody freighters, of which Boeing predicted 1,100 would be in service by 2009, while the actual figure was 650. “What we missed here was the rise in fuel prices, which forced express operators to drive unit costs down. There was a big diver-sion to trucking in North America and Europe as a result of that,” Crabtree says.

If the number of widebody freighters has risen since 2000, but major airlines have been reducing their fleets, where have the new freighters gone? Crabtree has a big list of carri-ers, including China Southern, China Cargo Airlines, as well as secondary Chinese carri-ers such as Yangtze River Express, which did not exist in 2000. Russian cargo operator Air-BridgeCargo is also new since 2000, as are Qatar Airways and Etihad. The latter has six freighters already and will add three this year.

it will be hard for freighters to earn the income they need to sustain operations,” Wraight says.

Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo certainly came to that conclusion some years ago. Catherine Colbus, its senior vice-president of revenue management, market and network, praises the 777-300ER for which Air France was effectively the launch customer.

“It can carry an impressive amount of cargo on very long distance flights, for example car-rying 25t on top of more than 300 passengers from Paris to Tokyo,” she says. “Every time you replace a 747 with a 777-300ER, you dou-ble the cargo payload.”

BELLY EROSIONShe adds that the average load factors of passenger bellyholds is less than 50%, leav-ing significant potential for further development: “Our conclusion at Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo is that our motto should be ‘bellies first’.”

What if growth does not come back so strongly? Or what if a structural change is un-derway in the air cargo business? Air cargo ex-ecutives worry about various nightmare sce-narios: that companies are changing the way they ship goods to make more use of sea freight; or that the traditional strong Asian peak from September to November – a key time for freighter operators to make money – is a thing of the past. But the biggest concern is about the rise of belly capacity, which is seen as squeez-ing freighters out of more and more markets.

The concern here is that while the cargo business has been moribund, the passenger business has continued to grow, particularly for long-haul widebody aircraft which are friendly to belly cargo. Wraight calculates that there are 2,300 such widebodies on the order-books, equivalent to 450 777Fs.

The great thing about belly capacity is that its costs are largely – and in some carriers al-most entirely – paid for by the passenger side of the business, with cargo only having to carry extra fuel, sales and handling costs.

Wraight reckons that profitability is be-tween 30% and 60%, while consultancy Seabury Group has put it at as much as 65%.“The more reality settles in with airline chief executives of the tremendous earning po-tential beneath their passenger fleet, the more

Boeing’s 777F freighter can transport a payload of 103t

“The upside in the freighter business is not that big, butthe downside is very big”LARRY COYNEChief executive, Coyne Airways

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For assessment of the difference in profitability of freighter and belly cargo operations visit flightglobal.com/cargomkt

As Chris Seymour, head of market analysis at Flightglobal’s Ascend advisory service, ob-serves, passenger aircraft with bellyhold ca-pacity fly routes where passengers want to fly – which do not always match cargo needs. So, although the major trade lanes between the major hubs and now belly-dominated, it is emerging markets where there is more oppor-tunity for main deck freighters. For example, he cites the growth of cargo from secondary Chinese cities as a driver of main deck freight-er links to Europe and the Middle East: “There is not yet enough passenger demand to justify direct passenger routes.”

NEW CHALLENGERSMeanwhile Saudia has steadily boosted its widebody freighter fleet from two aircraft in 1998 to 12 today, with two 747-8Fs due to join the fleet this summer, and carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and LAN Cargo have become major all-cargo players in their regions.

There is another category of long-haul freighter operators which are often forgotten by the conventional air cargo industry but have had a big impact. FedEx, UPS and DHL have all put in place significant long-haul freighter networks in the last few years – FedEx, for example, now has 23 777Fs, while DHL is estimated to have 29 long-haul freighters flying.

Nearly all of this capacity has been added since 2005, and although its primary purpose is to move express items, in practice about 40% of it is filled with general cargo. This is for the simple reason that an express operator must have capacity available for any shipments that turn up on the day, so traditional cargo will always be a key buffer to enable the freighters to fly full.

It may be, then, that growth in freighter fleets has simply shifted from traditional airlines to new challengers, and with fuel prices set to stay high, that trend can only continue. That is because fuel costs have eliminated older, inefficient freighters – hit-ting the freighter conversion market hard – and forced carriers to choose between mak-ing a big capital investment in new freighters or exiting the business.

In strong manufacturing economies like China, Germany or Turkey, or for carriers with geographical advantages like those in the Middle East, that investment may still make sense. Likewise for big express operators, which are earning high yields built on premium service.

But for other carriers, given the attractions of belly capacity, it could be a lot harder to make the figures stack up. ■

Qata

r ca

rgo, E

tihad, A

irFr

ance

Qatar Airways’ A330-200Fs are provided on lease from BOC Aviation; Etihad operates three of the type, with one on order. Air France was the launch customer for the 777F

flightglobal.com

CARGO


IAN PUTZGER TORONTO

While narrowbody airliners continue to be transformed to cargo transports, the market for widebody freighter conversions has virtually dried up. Why the great difference?

UNCONVERTIBLE

Depending on which end of the mar-ket you are looking at, the freighter conversion sector is going full throt-tle or resembling a graveyard. While

Aeronautical Engineers (AEI) is straining to meet its backlog of Boeing 737 and MD-80 conversion orders and is preparing for the next types to come into the picture, the large freighter segment is hardly moving at all.

“We do not see a 747 conversion or any large freighter conversion this year or next year, and there is a question mark over 2016,” says Dan da Silva, vice-president of modifica-tion and conversion services at Boeing.

The company completed what was likely the final conversion of an MD-11 into all-car-go configuration last autumn and currently has no backlogs for large freighters. Airbus never embraced a conversion programme for its A340, but there is a concept for a low-cost freighter version that would use internal lifts to move cargo between decks to avoid the cost of installing a cargo door.

However, two years of marketing effort have not yielded a single order to date for the A340LCF, which would be able to haul 60t of cargo over distances exceeding 5,000nm (9,260km).

Data from Flightglobal’s Ascend advisory service tells the story. During 2013 the num-ber of 747-400Fs parked in storage jumped from 18 to 42; for MD-11s, the number stored grew from 11 to 20. Between 2012 and 2013, the number of widebody conversions slumped from 29 to just eight; as Ascend’s head of analysis Chris Seymour observes, the 747-400 conversions have effectively gone, leaving just the 767 and Airbus A300 – at “low levels”.

In such an environment, there is naturally no call for conversions in the bracket above 60t. On the major trunk routes where these planes usually are deployed, available capacity easily outstrips demand. A major factor in this has been the rise of widebody bellyhold capacity, notably in Boeing 777-300s and 787s. Air cargo executives frequent-ly refer to the 777-300ER as a mini freighter, as it can carry up to 40t of cargo.

UNDER PRESSUREDespite efforts of freighter airlines to curtail capacity – often by replacing older freighters with newer types rather than expanding their fleet – maindeck lift has also increased, due to the higher payload of newer models (for example, 140t versus 110t where a 747-8F replaces a 747-400F).

As a result, yields are under huge pressure, and passenger airlines can offer very aggres-sive prices on bellyhold freight, as their prime costs are covered by the passenger business. Hit by high fuel prices, over the past year several 747 freighter operators ceased opera-tions, including Evergreen International Avia-tion, World Airways and Air Cargo Germany.

On the long-haul sectors, this tilts the bal-ance in favour of more fuel-efficient models. “When you fly 16 hours a day, the cost of oper-ating overshadows the cost of ownership,” says da Silva, adding that Boeing has kept shifting its projections for new and converted freighter additions to the global fleet in its 20-year forecast over the past three years in favour of new aircraft. Boeing, he says, believes there will be demand for 100t freighters over the next decade, including conversions: “Not eve-rybody will be able to afford a new freighter.”

For 747 conversions to resume, the pool of sidelined capacity first has to be absorbed. But in the meantime, more 747-400Fs are going to come out of service. Several carriers, including Cathay Pacific, Air France and Eva Air, plan to phase out their 747 contingents and freighter operators continue to shed 747-400Fs as they receive 747-8Fs. Under-scoring the challenges facing the conversion market, Ascend’s Seymour notes that Boeing

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PROGRAMMES


Boein

g For more analysis of the profitability of the bellyhold and freight markets visit flightglobal.com/cargoloads

the traditional trunk sectors to emerging econo-mies, favouring mid-sized cargo planes carry-ing between 30t and 80t. Its own contender in this space, the A330-200F, is scheduled to get a conversion equivalent by 2017 – but, says Seymour, it has no customers yet. The manu-facturer officially launched the programme in 2012 for a plane that can carry 60t up to 3,600nm or 59t over ranges up to 4,000nm.

At the instigation of a customer, Boeing has a blueprint for a 777 conversion programme, but da Silva does not expect this to get under way in the near future, given the high residual value of 777-200s in passenger service. At the same time, though, the launch of a 777 pas-senger to freighter conversion “keeps being put back”, says Seymour.

NARROWING OPTIONSIn stark contrast to the large widebody scene, there is plenty of activity in the narrowbody segment, particularly with 737-400 conver-sions. “We cannot turn them out fast enough,” says Bob Convey, vice-president of sales and marketing at AEI.

In addition to the 737-400, the company also has MD-80 conversions going on. The acquisi-tion cost of less than $1 million for an aircraft makes this a cheap option with similar pay-load capabilities to the 737-400 and the Boeing 727F. While it may have strong appeal, particu-larly for 727 operators looking for a new model as 727 maintenance programmes are winding down slowly but surely, there is one stumbling block. Its cross section does not match with the narrowbodies used by the integrators, so none of them has embraced the MD-80SF.

“I think we will do half a dozen conver-sions a year. If we can do 30 to 50, I think we’ll be doing good,” Convey says.

He is extremely bullish on AEI’s next ven-ture, the 737-800SF. The programme for a 737NG conversion was unveiled by the com-pany at the beginning of April. This will produce a freighter with 12 pallet positions – one more than AEI’s 737-400SF – and a cross section in line with the integrators.

In addition, Convey anticipates strong demand for the model in markets like China, Russia or Brazil, where rapidly rising domes-tic express traffic on the back of growing e-commerce is fuelling demand for freighters.

The same dynamics are fuelling growing interest in converted 757-200 freighters, according to Brian McCarthy, vice-president of sales and marketing at Precision Aircraft Solutions. This was highlighted last year, when Air China – historically a 747 operator in the freighter arena – ordered four convert-ed 757-200s. The airline flies these on an ACMI basis for the Chinese postal service hauling express parcels on major routes to and from China Post’s hub in Nanjing. According to Titus Diu, chief operating offic-er of Air China Cargo, this has been the only segment where the carrier has seen strong growth in recent years.

McCarthy sees the requisite factors for a successful 757 programme align, with de-mand rising at a time where feedstock be-comes available at viable prices, supported by affordable prices for engines and spares.

The demand curve for 737s and 757s ex-tends to the 767, da Silva reckons. After a three-year hiatus, Boeing has been back to converting 767-300s since last autumn. With more 767-300s becoming available as passen-ger airlines phase in 787s, he anticipates a good balance between demand and feedstock in the years ahead.

Ultimately, the situation for dedicated freighter operators is well summarised by the background market environment. Ascend head of consultancy Rob Morris notes that in 2013, Ascend’s Fleet Forecast predicted an-nual freight traffic growth of 4.2% over the next 20 years.

Morris thinks that may be achievable – IATA figures show first quarter 2014 growth of 4.4% – but while “some semblance of recovery is underway”, main deck cargo demand remains weak. He also notes that much of that 4.4% growth – if it is achieved – will go to the bellyholds of the growing number of twin-aisle passenger aircraft, not to main deck freighters. “Overall,” he says, “the cargo market is not a happy place to be right now.” ■

is having to take 747-400BCFs in trade to sell new freighters to Cathay and Air China.

As in passenger aircraft, however, fuel efficiency is driving fleet choices, and four- engine aircraft are being pushed out for mod-els like the 777-200. Wet lessor Air Atlanta expects a few more years of good business with the 747 but ultimately, says vice-presi-dent Baldvin Hermannsson: “Twin-engine is definitely where we are going.”

Airbus has made a strong case for twin- engined freighters, arguing that intra-regional flows are on the rise as more traffic shifts from

Boeing’s third-generation 747-8F is replacing 747-400Fs in the fleets of several major carriers

The 777-300ER offers up to 40t of bellyhold capacity

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named the Falcon 20, entered service in 1965. In the intervening years, the French airframer has introduced seven new aircraft and 14 de-rivatives, including its first tri-engined jet, the Falcon 50, in 1976. Production of the super-midsize aircraft – then called the 50EX fol-lowing a re-engining effort – ceased in 2008.

The 1980s marked the introduction of the Falcon 900 trijet and twin-engined 2000 se-ries. More than 1,000 variants of these aircraft are flying worldwide, says Trappier.

Dassault waited until 2001 to make its foray into the ultra-long-range market. The tri-engined 7X entered service in 2007 and the programme is now approaching its 250th de-livery milestone.

“The 7X has been a huge success for us,” says John Rosanvallon, president and chief executive of Dassault Falcon Jet. “But for some of our customers its [5,950nm] range and cabin length is not long enough.”

Rosanvallon admits the company needed to capture the move-up market to fend off competition from rival aircraft such as the Bombardier Global 6000, Gulfstream G550 and G650.

“Dassault’s answer is the 8X,” says Rosan-vallon, “which offers 5,000nm more range than the 7X.”

This extra range, he argues, allows the 8X to connect to more city pairs than its stable mate.

Rosanvallon explains: “Flying at Mach 0.8


KATE SARSFIELD BORDEAUX

CUTAWAY TIM HALL

Dassault is pitching for a bigger share of the ultra-long-range business aviation sector, with a longer-legged and stretched version of its flagship Falcon, the 7X

The 8X is earmarked for service entry in 2016

“With this extra range andlonger cabin, we expectthe 8X to be well-received in China”JOHN ROSANVALLON President and chief executive, Dassault Falcon Jet

DESIGN WEIGHTS

Maximum ramp weight 33,200kg

Maximum take-offweight 33,110kg

Maximum zero-fuel weight 18,600kg

Maximum landing weight 28.300kg

Maximum fuel weight 15,830kg

SOURCE: Dassault Aviation

This is a very busy time for Dassault. Less than seven months after launching its all-new, large-cabin Falcon 5X, the French airframer has introduced a new

business jet to sit at the head of its family of high-end, twin- and tri-engined business jets.

The 8X has the longest cabin and longest range of any Falcon produced in the compa-ny’s history spanning more than 50 years. Its introduction strengthens the company’s offer-ing in the coveted ultra-long-range sector, which has been largely unscathed by the bruising financial downturn – thanks to the continued demand for these types from the world’s wealthy elite and global corporations.

Unlike the clean-sheet 5X, the 8X is an en-hanced and stretched version of its former flagship Falcon, the 7X.

The 19-seat trijet was launched internally three years ago under the project name M1000. Dassault has kept the programme tightly under wraps over this period, success-fully diverting industry attention to its all-new business jet, which it cloaked under the titles “SMS” or “Future Falcon”.

This large cabin, long-range twinjet – now known as the 5X – was finally launched in October 2013 as Dassault’s widest-cabin offer-ing. “This was the first time we have had such an overwhelmingly positive reaction to our aircraft after an official launch,” says Dassault chairman and chief executive Eric Trappier.

TO NEW HORIZONS

Dassault will be hoping the new 8X will be as well received following its launch on 19 May. “I’m sure the market is going to be en-thusiastic,” says Trappier. “This aircraft builds on Dassault expertise in aerodynamics, in precision design and manufacturing, and in advanced digital flight controls. It embod-ies the best of Falcons that have come before with the most capability of any Falcon ever.”

The 8X and 5X are being developed in par-allel, marking what Trappier calls “an unprec-edented financial investment [in Falcon jets] for Dassault”.

The company now boasts a family of six business jets designed, Trappier says, “to meet the widest possible range of operator needs at the upper end of the business jet spectrum”.

LENGTHY HISTORYThe Falcon line-up spans the 3,350nm (6,200km)-range super-midsize 2000S – Das-sault’s entry-level offering – to the latest “flag-ship” 8X, with a 6,450nm range.

Trappier points out that 2,000 Falcons have been delivered since the company’s first busi-ness jet, born as the Mystère 20 and later re-

Dassault A

viation

flightglobal.com

FALCON 8X


❯❯

Higher-thrust Pratt & Whitney CanadaPW307D engines

Cabin length increasedby 1.1m

Additionalfuselagesection

Additional fuselage section

Landing gearreinforcement

New wing structural designand profile optimisation

New winglets

Increased fuel tank capacity


KEY STRUCTURAL CHANGES COMPARED WITH 7X

Cabin length (m)

Range (nm)

14

12

10

8

6

3,000

Falcon 2000S Falcon 2000LXS

Falcon 900LX

Falcon 5X Falcon 7X

Falcon 8X6,450 nm

4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000


THE FALCON FAMILY

with eight passengers and three crew, the 8X can fly non-stop from Paris to Singapore, Lagos to Chicago, Mumbai to Sydney and Moscow to Los Angeles and importantly, Bei-jing-Los Angeles and Hong Kong to London. This will appeal to the Chinese market.” The 7X has the capacity to fly from London to Hong Kong, but not the other way around –

because of the headwinds, he says.China has become a crucial region for Das-

sault in recent years. Here, Falcon jets account for around 30% of the region’s business jet fleet. The desire for long-range aircraft, main-ly from Chinese entrepreneurs, has resulted in deliveries of 30 7Xs in the past three years alone, including 11 of the tri-engined types in

2013. “With this extra range and longer cabin, we expect the 8X to be well-received in China,” Rosanvallon says.

To give the 8X this vital extra range, Das-sault has introduced a number of refinements and enhancements to the aircraft’s design.

CAPACITY BOOSTThese include an extra fuel tank within the cen-tre fuselage section, which enables the 8X to carry up to 15,800kg (34,900lb) fuel – compared with 14,500kg carried by the 7X. The 8X will also feature a redesigned ultra-efficient wing de-rived from the Falcon 7X. “The wing structure has been redesigned to minimise the overall air-craft drag during cruise while achieving 600lb weight saving,” says Olivier Villa, senior vice president, civil aircraft. “It will also feature an optimised leading edge profile and winglets. These improvements are expected to increase significantly the lift to drag ratio.”

The 8X will be equipped with three Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307D engines, each de-livering 6,720lb (30kN) of thrust – a 5% in-crease compared to the PW307As that power the Falcon 7X. These engines will offer a new full authority digital engine control system, as well as a significant reduction in fuel con-sumption, noise and nitrogen oxide emis-sions, says Dassault.

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FALCON 8X


26ft 1in7.94m

80ft 3in24.46m

86ft

3in

26.2

9m

14ft4.27m

EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS

The 8X has an anticipated balanced field length of about 1,830m (6,000ft), an ap-proach speed of about 107kt (200km/h) at typical landing weight and an ability to make approaches at up to 6˚. “The 8X is in-credibly versatile,” says Villa. “Like the 7X, it will operate many of the world’s most chal-lenging airports, including London City, Aspen, La Mole-Saint Tropez and Saannen, which are normally not accessible to most large-cabin aircraft,” he adds.

Following in the footsteps of its smaller sib-ling, the 8X will be capable of flying non-stop from London City – which has a 5˚ steep ap-proach – to New York, says Dassault.

COCKPIT AND CABIN FEATURESThe 8X will be equipped with a totally rede-signed cockpit modelled on that of the 5X. It will feature a new iteration of the EASy flight-deck, based on Honeywell Primus Epic avion-ics – with Honeywell flight management sys-tems. Another facet of the cockpit is the head-up display technology, provided by Elbit Systems, combining an enhanced and synthetic vision (EVS/SVS) to offer improved situational awareness in darkness, fog or dense haze. EVS uses infrared sensors to dis-play terrain in darkness and reduced visibili-ty. SVS uses a global terrain database for the same purpose. In the 8X, they will be com-bined on the head-up display to provide a high-fidelity view of the outside world, even in zero visibility.

The 8X has the same cabin cross-section as the 7X, but is around 1.1m longer bringing

the total cabin length to 13m. “This extra space has allowed us to offer three floor plans for our customers, offering up to 30 dif-ferent interior configurations [including three lounges],” says Villa. The short entry-way layout is the same as for the 7X but the cabin will be 15% longer.

The middle entryway configuration offers a 25% bigger galley and a 7% larger passenger cabin, Dassault says, while the large entryway layout is equipped with “a comfortable and convertible crew rest area”. To accommodate this entrance layout, the cabin length will be the same as that of the 7X.

This arrangement, Dassault suggests, is likely to appeal to commercial operators that travel long distances and have to adhere to strict flight time regulations for their crews. The 8X also has a shower option. “This is a big constraint in the 7X,” Dassault says, be-cause of a shortage of cabin space. “We’ll offer infinite possibilities for 8X cabin configura-tions,” it adds.

The 8X cabin also features up to 33 windows, depending on the configuration, compared with

a maximum of 29 windows on the 7X.Dassault is planning to build two aircraft

for the certification campaign. The first 8X is already at an advanced stage of production, it says.

The fully assembled and pressure-tested fuselage and wings – manufactured at Das-sault’s Biarritz and Martignas-sur-Jalle facili-ties respectively – will be shipped in the third quarter to the company’s Merignac final as-sembly plant in Bordeaux. Its first flight is planned for early 2015, leading to certification in the first quarter of 2016 and service entry later that year.

The test aircraft are likely to be used as demonstrators and could be sold to customers at a later date.

Dassault is poised to expand its US com-pletions facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, to accommodate the 8X and 5X.

The 8X will be produced and sold in paral-lel with the 7X and Dassault expects to manu-facture around three aircraft a month initially.

MARKET DEMANDThe 8X will be priced at around $57 million – 10% more than the 7X. Dassault expects the bulk of the demand will come from existing 7X customers seeking to move up to a larger, longer-range aircraft or to trade-in their older Falcons.

Given the relatively small price differential between its two top-end products, is there is a danger that the 8X will cannibalise the 7X market? “We will have to wait and see what the market decides,” says Rosanvallon. “There will always be customers who don’t need the extra range and longer cabin and won’t want to pay 10% more for the 8X. Only time will tell.”

FAMILY PLANNINGMeanwhile, Dassault says it is continuing to evaluate the market for the ultra-long-range derivative of the 5X to compete against the in-development Global 7000 and 8000 and the G650. “We haven’t found a business case for an aircraft of this size yet,” Rosanvallon says.

A key concern for Dassault is the operating restrictions that a larger business jet will im-pose. “A bigger aircraft requires bigger wings and this could limit its access to popular air-ports such as St Tropez,” it argues.

Dassault is in no hurry to make a decision. Rosanvallon points to the development time-scales of its previous new aircraft pro-grammes to indicate a possible launch date. “The 7X entered service in 2007 and the 8X was launched seven years later with entry in service scheduled for 2016,” he says. “EIS of the 5X is also scheduled for 2016, so don’t ex-pect a derivative to enter the market until nine years later.” ■Cutaway P42

“The 8X is incredibly versatile.Like the 7X, it will operatemany of the world’s mostchallenging airports”OLIVIER VILLASenior vice president, civil aircraft, Dassault Aviation

❯❯


FALCON 8X

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Ref: DACPM/151/2014/1247 Date: 19 May 2014

Request for Proposal (RFP)

1. Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited is looking for CMI (Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) Partnerfor operation of 02 (two) of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to USA. These aircraft have beenpurchased with loan under the Guarantee of US EXIM Bank and Sovereign Guarantee of theGovernment of Bangladesh.

2. The intended CMI Partner may submit their proposals/offers meeting the terms & conditions ofthe RFP Schedule including the following:a. Must be able to meet the requirements of US FAA and other US and Bangladesh regulatory

authorities.b. Must hold a Category-1 AOC for passenger transportation as determined by the US FAA and

other US regulatory bodies.c. Biman will initially operate two weekly services to New York via an intermediate point,

probably Birmingham, U.K. The aircraft deputed for New York operation, will also be operatedto European/Middle East points and other destinations of Biman for optimum utilization.

d. In the process of deregistration/re-registration, ownership of aircraft including any insuranceclaim must remain with Biman.

e. The period of CMI operation will be for one year or two years to be decided at the option ofBiman.

f. CMI Partner must have experience in CMI/ACMI operation with any other airlines oroperators OR must be an international passenger airliner operating with 777-200/300 variant.CMI Partner must clearly mention their experience in carrying out CMI/ACMI operation withany other Airlines or Operators. If RFP respondent is not a current Boeing 777 operator, thenthey must clearly indicate the process and time for arranging maintenance and crew.

g. The CMI Partner must mention the rate per Block Hour for cost of Crew, Maintenance &Hull Insurance of Aircraft and also the full cost of CMI lease for one year and two yearsseparately.

3. Detail information are available in the RFP Schedule. RFP Notice and Schedule may be viewedat Biman’s website: www.biman-airlines.com.

4. Proposals/Offers are to be submitted to General Manager (Corporate Planning), BimanBangladesh Airlines Limited, Head Office, Balaka, Kurmitola, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh latest by1000 hours BST (0400 hours UTC) on 15 June 2014 through Courier Service or e-mail [email protected]. The Proposals/Offers may also be dropped in the Tender Box withinthe stipulated time and date, to be placed in Planning Division. No Proposal/Offer will be acceptedafter the closing time.

5. Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd reserves the right to accept or reject any or allProposal(s)/Offer(s) partly or wholly at any time and/or stage without assigning any reason,whatsoever, and no claim will be entertained in this regard.

Md. Belayet HossainGeneral Manager (Corporate Planning)

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd

GLOBAL TENDER FOR WET LEASE-INOF VARIOUS AIRCRAFT

Offers are invited by the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) from established companies holding AOC for Wet Lease-inof following aircraft types and locations.

Operations Area Aircraft TypeAfghanistan Beech 1900DIraq Beech 1900DSomalia Beech 1900D & Beech King Air & Dash 8Mali Beech 1900DCongo DRC DHC 6-300 or LET 410 UVP-E20 & Dash 8

The successful companies will operate under the ICRC timecharter agreement, ICRC SOP, brand name "The InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross" and with its call sign "RED CROSS".The proposed aircraft are to be inducted effective July 2014.

Closing date for submissions:Monday 02 June 2014 12:00 Geneva local time

The ICRC reserves the right to accept or reject any or all of theoffer(s) at any time and/or stage without assigning any reasonwhatsoever. Offers from agents/brokers will not be entertained.

For more information and tender documents contact:ICRC AirOps Unit

[email protected]

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flightglobal.com 27 May - 2 June 2014 | Flight International | 47

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Flight International

WORKING WEEK

flightglobal.com

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Engineering evolution at EmbraerRicardo Custodio Vidal is responsible for structures and materials at the Brazilian airframer. His team is currently working on four aircraft programmes, a challenge he describes as a “singular learning opportunity”

Vidal: Being part of a committed and competent team is truly rewarding

WORK EXPERIENCE RICARDO CUSTODIO VIDAL

What was it that first attracted you to aviation?My father was an aeronautics engineer and professor at the Aeronautics Technological Insti-tute (ITA). When I was a child, Sunday outings with the family almost always included a stop at the Board of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA) airport, where we could always get close to the aircraft. At six years old, I flew for the first time and, as a young man, I had an opportuni-ty to learn how to pilot gliders. I was always near aircraft and I al-ways liked to be near them.Where were you educated?I have a civil engineering degree from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, and I specialised in the area of aero-nautical solid and structural me-chanics at ITA.What was your first job in the aviation sector?My professional life began in 1990 at Embraer. I worked there for seven years, in the area of structural analysis. In 1997, I moved to Canada to work at Bombardier, where I stayed for two years. Then I returned to Brazil and to Embraer, where I am today. At the end of 1999, the project I was working on at Bombardier was winding down and I had begun to look for new opportunities with other pro-jects. That was when I received an invitation to join Embraer’s team to develop the E-Jets fami-ly. The challenge was attractive and I decided to return to Em-braer, where I am still working.

What are your current duties?Now, I work under the vice pres-ident – chief engineer, as the engineering manager in charge of the structures and materials area. My group is responsible, among other things, for the supervision and technical support of several groups in structural and materials engi-neering. We provide engineering methods, processes and criteria, and we approve or generate solutions for complex problems, while working on the evolution of the technology, in order to

ensure the quality and competi-tiveness of our products. It is part of my work to do the technical follow-up of new projects and, at this time, among several that are under way, we have four large projects that are simultaneously under development: the superlight Legacy 450 and midsize Legacy 500 executive jets; the E175 enhanced version; the KC-390 military transport; and the E190 E2, the first member of the new E-Jets family. Keeping track of the developments of four pro-

jects of this magnitude, all of which are taking place simulta-neously, demands a lot of dedication and an accelerated work pace but, at the same time, it has been a singular learning opportunity.What is your favourite part of the job?Developing new aeronautical products along with competent and committed teams is highly gratifying, and I consider it to be the best part of my job. Through-out my professional life, I have had the opportunity to take part in the development of several products and to do that alongside highly competent people with an uncontrollable desire to make things work. I consider that to be a privilege.What is your least favourite part of it?That’s hard to say. I think the difficulty is in areas over which we have no control and that interferes with the progress of our work. A good example of that is the susceptibility of the aeronautics market to economic crises, worldwide, which end up directly interfering with the performance of companies in this industry.

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