Boeing, Airbus watchers fear production rates headed too high

Boeing and Airbus are ratcheting up production of narrowbody aircraft to excessive and unsustainable rates, according to many industry insiders at an aircraft conference here.

Boeing and Airbus are ratcheting up production of narrowbody aircraft to excessive and unsustainable rates, according to many industry insiders at an aircraft conference here.

Boeing decidedly doesn't think so, and is determined to build jets at full speed ahead.

The pessimistic view is held by many airplane buyers at the annual conference of the International Society of Aircraft Traders, which opened Monday.

"We are in a bubble," Adam Pilarski, a respected industry analyst with consulting firm Avitas, told his audience of airplane lessors and financiers.

He said the announced production rates of 42 single-aisle jets per month from each plane-maker by 2014 would result in 5,000 more narrowbody jets being built over the next 20 years than the two companies' own forecasts predict will be needed.

But he said in a later interview that Boeing's plans to accelerate production make strategic sense. " "You still want to enjoy it while it lasts. Why not? Eventually the bubble bursts — too bad. If I were Boeing or Airbus I'd do exactly the same thing."

Berkshire’s NetJets Forms China Venture on Luxury Demand

NetJets Inc., the business-jet operator owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), will form a venture in China as rising wealth and trade spurs demand for luxury flights.

The China operations will be part-owned by investors including Hony Capital and Fung Investments, according to a statement yesterday. NetJets, once Buffett’s “No. 1 worry,” is expanding in China as the country’s growing economy stokes flights by local and overseas customers, the company said.

“The aviation industry is really picking up now in China,” Ernie Edwards, president of Embraer SA’s executive-jet division, said in an interview at a trade show in Shanghai. NetJets agreed in 2010 to buy as many as 125 Phenom 300 business jets from the Brazilian planemaker.

Qantas, China Eastern Plan Cheap Flights for Asia Middle

Qantas Airways teamed with China Eastern Airlines Corp. to form a budget carrier in Hong Kong, the Australian airline’s fourth Asian hub, as it taps faster growing overseas markets.

The two carriers will invest as much as $198 million in equally-owned Jetstar Hong Kong, which will begin flights with three Airbus SAS A320s next year, according to a statement today. The fleet will grow to 18 planes by 2015, it said.

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce will challenge Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. in Hong Kong as he targets Asian markets to help turn around unprofitable international operations. The new venture will let the carrier bolster services in Greater China, where annual passenger numbers may double to 800 million by 2020, said Bruce Buchanan, chief executive officer of Qantas’s Jetstar Group.

Easyjet opens new bases in Toulouse and Nice

EasyJet has increased its presence in France with two new bases in the southern cities of Toulouse and Nice, in an attempt to solidify its position as France’s second largest carrier and continue its development towards becoming a pan-European airline.

Easyjet will base an A319 aircraft at each of the French airports later this month, allowing the launch of 12 new routes. This brings the total number of routes served by the carrier from French airports to 170, including eight daily services from Paris to both Toulouse and Nice.

Easyjet already has bases in Paris Orly, Charles De Gaulle and Lyon, contributing to a 12 per cent market share in France.

Business Traveller was on board the inaugural flight from London Luton to Nice on a specially painted plane with an orange map of France emblazoned with the statement ‘La France au coeur’ (France in our heart).

63 Years Flying, From Glamour to Days of Gray

As the crush of passengers boarded United Flight 618 to Hawaii here last month, they passed by a silver-haired flight attendant in bifocals who greeted them with an “Aloha, welcome aboard.”

Most of them appeared more focused on finding their seats than sizing up the flight crew, but this flight attendant, Ron Akana, stood out, not least because of the 11 sparkling rhinestones on the wings pinned to his lapel. The first one was to commemorate his 10-year anniversary as a flight attendant, and he was given another for every subsequent five years of flying.

Yes, Mr. Akana has worked as a flight attendant for 63 years, clocking some 20 million miles along the way, the equivalent of circling the globe about 800 times or flying roughly 40 times to the moon and back. Though no one tracks seniority across all airlines, he is widely believed to hold the title of longest-serving flight attendant in the United States.

“People keep on telling me to apply to the Guinness Book of Records,” he said. “I’ll let somebody else do that."

Airbus, Boeing, Embraer collaborate on aviation biofuel development

Airbus, Boeing and Embraer today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together on the development of drop-in, affordable aviation biofuels. The three leading airframe manufacturers agreed to seek collaborative opportunities to speak in unity to government, biofuel producers and other key stakeholders to support, promote and accelerate the availability of sustainable new jet fuel sources.

Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh, and Embraer Commercial Aviation President Paulo César Silva, signed the agreement at the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva.

“We’ve achieved a lot in the last ten years in reducing our industry’s CO2 footprint - a 45 percent traffic growth with only three percent more fuel consumption,” said Tom Enders. The production and use of sustainable quantities of aviation biofuels is key to meeting our industry's ambitious CO2 reduction targets and we are helping to do this through R+T, our expanding network of worldwide value chains and supporting the EU commission towards its target of four per cent of biofuel for aviation by 2020."

Airlines warn of Olympic chaos at London airports

The heads of four leading airlines have warned the British government there could be chaos at London's airports during this summer's Olympic Games, which would cause major embarrassment to the country unless a deal can be reached over their concerns.

In a blunt letter to transport chiefs, British Airways, bmi, Virgin Atlantic and Easyjet said time was running out to tackle the expected surge in air traffic and its impact.

Failure to address their concerns could bring misery to millions of regular travellers and those coming to London for the world's biggest sporting event, the airlines argue.  

"As the situation currently stands the industry believes that there is a significant risk of severe delay and disruption at all of London's major airports unless urgent action is taken," they wrote in a letter seen by Reuters on Saturday.  

"Time is running out to ensure that any changes to procedures and the appropriate training are in place prior to the Games."  Britain, already the sixth most visited country in the world, anticipates an additional 700,000 international travellers during the Olympics, which begin on July 27.  

Nice Air Pictures :)

New First Officer

New Technology Could Protect Against Parts Counterfeiting

Several years ago, the FAA estimated that unapproved parts played a role in 174 U.S. aircraft crashes or less serious accidents between May 1973 and April 1996, causing 17 deaths and 39 injuries, although none involved a major airline. Every year, with the help of the industry, FAA finds "suspected unapproved parts" in the supply chain. While the number of unapproved parts flagged by FAA’s unapproved parts program is fairly small, how many counterfeit parts escape notice? How much damage do they cause? Because crashes frequently destroy the parts that fail, it’s hard to know.

We haven’t heard much about the counterfeit parts problem since 1995, when then-FAA Inspector General Mary Schiavo sounded the alarm and triggered Congressional hearings. Speculating about the threat of bogus parts isn’t a favorite talking point for manufacturers, airlines or the FAA.

We do know that counterfeit parts makers are getting more sophisticated. For instance, in 2007, FAA issued an "unapproved parts notification" regarding counterfeit tail rotor hanger bearings electro-etched with fake Bell Helicopter part numbers.

China bans its airlines from paying EU carbon tax

Beijing hardens line against European Union emissions levy that is also opposed by the US and India.

China has banned its airlines from paying the new European Union carbon charge, state news agency Xinhua has reported – stepping up the international battle over the scheme.

The levy applies to all airlines flying to and from EU countries. Companies that do not comply face fines and ultimately could be banned from using EU airports.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday that airlines were not allowed to pay the EU charge, increase freight costs or add other fees, according to Xinhua. It cited authorisation from the state council, China's cabinet.

Hinting at possible retaliation, Xinhua added: "China will consider adopting necessary measures to protect interests of Chinese individuals and companies, pending the development of the issue."

The EU's ambassador in Beijing, Markus Ederer, told a press briefing it hoped to resolve the issue through negotiation. Beijing's announcement came one week before a China-EU summit.

Although the scheme came into force from 1 January, fees do not have to be paid until March 2013. Supporters believe including aviation in the emissions trading scheme is crucial because the industry's carbon output is soaring.

Current Aviation Market Outlook 2011 - 2030 (Boeing)

Air travel market recovering

Passenger air traffic rose 8 percent in 2010, after declining about 2 percent in 2009. The persistent resilience of air travel is expected to sustain 6 percent growth in 2011 and keep the growth rate at or above the historical trend through the middle of the decade.

Although volatile fuel costs, political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa, and unresolved government debt in many industrialized economies create risk of a renewed downturn, commercial aviation has weathered such shocks to the system in the past. Recovery has followed each event as the industry reliably returned to its long-term growth rate of approximately 5 percent per year. We see that same resilience come into play as airlines have skillfully managed capacity to maintain profitability in face of the variety of challenges that have beset the industry as the world economy emerges from the global recession.

Purpose of the forecast

The Current Market Outlook is our long-term forecast of air traffic volumes and airplane demand. Each year's forecast starts from a blank computer screen, so we can factor the current business conditions and developments into our analysis of the long-term drivers of air travel.

The forecast details demand for passenger and freighter airplanes, both for fleet growth and for replacement of airplanes that retire during the forecast period.

We have shared the forecast with the public since 1964 to help airlines, suppliers, and the financial community make informed decisions.

The shape of the market

The long-range forecast for 2011 anticipates delivery of 33,500 new airplanes over the next 20 years, valued at more than $4.0 trillion. Looking back at our forecasts over the past 10 years reveals that our projections for long-term market growth tend to be conservative, compared to actual industry performance.

We have been admirably accurate, however, on the crucial forecast of the market share that each airplane size category will capture. Single-aisle airplanes account for the majority of deliveries over the next 20 years-70 percent of the airplanes and 48 percent of the value. Rapidly expanding air service within China and other emerging economies and the spread of low-cost carrier (LCC) business models throughout the world drive this market segment. The twin-aisle market, which includes efficient long-range airplanes such as the Boeing 787 and 777, is the fastest growing segment of the market, accounting for 22 percent of the delivery units and 43 percent of the delivery dollars. High fuel costs are compelling airlines to accelerate replacement of older airplanes. In addition, the increased capabilities of the latest long-range, twin-aisle airplanes create opportunities for operators to take advantage of the ongoing liberalization of air transport markets to open new nonstop routes.

India Aviation 2012 - Starting Now!!!

Official Website

As air show opens, forecast predicts 20-year demand for 1,330 business jets in India

India is expected to take delivery of 1,330 business jets and 4,000 commercial aircraft in the 20- to 149-seat category over the next 20 years, according to a market forecast by Bombardier Aerospace.

The growing importance of the market is one reason planemakers are heading to India’s biggest international civil aviation air show this week.

The biennial show, India Aviation 2012, will run Wednesday through Friday in Hyderabad.

India’s large land mass, large population and strong economic performance are driving growth in domestic air travel in the country, Bombardier’s market forecast said.

Bombardier will exhibit its Learjet 60XR, built in Wichita; Challenger 300 and Global 500 business jets; and the Q400 turboprop.

Boeing will exhibit its 787 Dreamliner, outfitted in Air India’s livery.

Cessna Aircraft is not participating in the show, said spokeswoman Shanda Carney. Carney did not provide a reason for the decision.

Hawker Beechcraft will showcase its Hawker 4000, Hawker 900XP and King Air C90GTx.

Hawker Beechcraft said that more than 60 percent of all business aircraft, including turboprops and super-midsize business jets, delivered into India in the past decade have been Hawker Beechcraft products. Its turboprop market share is 86 percent, the company said.

“In the segments in which we compete, Hawker Beechcraft is proud of its market share leadership in India,” Dan Keady, Hawker Beechcraft vice president for Asia, Australia and India. “For years, the family of HBC business turboprops and jets has been in-country and proving they are an excellent fit for this region.”

The company has also expanded its service and support capabilities in the region, he said.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/aviation/2012/03/13/as-air-show-opens-forecast-predicts-20-year-demand-for-1330-business-jets-for-india/#storylink=cpy

Airbus to set up second pilot training centre in India

Airbus has signed an agreement with CAE simulator training to set up a second pilot and maintenance crew training centre in India.  The centre, to be located in Noida near New Delhi, will train 5,000 pilots and crew annually.  The agreement was signed Wednesday on the first day of India Aviation 2012, the international conference and exhibition on civil aviation.  CAE Simulator Training is a joint venture between InterGlobe and Canada's flight simulator company CAE.  The centre will be fully operational by 2013 and will have a capacity to train up to 5,000 crews annually, making it one of the biggest training facilities of its type in the region.  

The new facility will be in addition to to the Airbus Training India centre (ATI) which was opened in Bangalore in 2007.  "India is a strategically important market and we strategic partnership like the new training centre will help India's aviation sector to grow and to prosper," said Kiran Rao, Airbus Executive Vice President, sales, and President, Airbus India.  "We are confident that in due course this facility will emerge as a centre of excellence for not just India but South Asia offering access to world-class training technology and solutions to commercial aviation industry," said Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director, InterGlobe. 

Source: Times of India

Pilots' no-show grounds more Kingfisher flights

Stir against continued non-payment of salaries airline says problem temporary, operations should normalize soon.

Kingfisher Airlines on Monday grounded or merged nearly a fifth of its truncated schedule of 180 flights, because many pilots did not report for duty as protest over non-payment of salaries. Their salaries haven’t been paid for four months and travel bills for two months. An airline release said it operated 145 flights on Monday.  Around 300 of the 510 pilots in the airline did not report for duty and would continue to stay away from work. However, the cancellations did not lead to soaring air fares, as most travel agents have already stopped selling Kingfisher tickets.Air fares had risen 15-20 per cent last week, after Kingfisher was suspended from three payment systems of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), including its billing and settlement plan. The latter is a system designed to facilitate and simplify the selling, reporting and remitting procedures of IATA-accredited passenger sales agents, as well as to improve financial control and cash flow for member-airlines.

Clear to land: NASA new 'augmented reality' goggles will let airline pilots 'see' through fog

Prototype: The glasses, now being offered commercially, track the
user's eye-movements to overlay information

NASA has created augmented reality goggles which could soon be available to airline pilots and help them 'see' through fog.

The goggles can track a pilot's head-movements and overlay runways, towers and potentially other airplanes over their view - an invaluable tool when fog rolls down across an airport.

Even as the pilot turns his head, the goggles can react in real-time to ensure the virtual representations always stay in the same place as their real-world counterparts.

Trey Arthur, an electronics engineer at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, told InnovationNewsDaily: 'If pilots are not familiar with the airport, they have to stop and pull out maps.

Videos - Jetman Flies With Two Jets

To see more videos of Jetman and also aviation related videos, please visit our Youtube Channel: eFlightLevel 

Jetman, the first and only man in the history of aviation to fly with a jet-propelled wing

In 2006, the Swiss pilot Yves Rossy became the first and only man in the history of aviation to fly with a jet-propelled wing, and still is to this day.

Yves Rossy was born on August 27th, 1959 in Switzerland. After attending an airshow and admiring military jets when he was 13, he decided that was what he wanted to do. He succeeded in becoming a military pilot, was assigned on the Hawker Hunter, and later Mirage III. After his career in the Air Force, he has worked as a captain with Swiss International Air Lines on commercial flights on Boeing and Airbus airliners.

Yves has always dedicated all his free time to flight and experimented all its forms. His dream was however to try to fly in the most natural way possible, by removing the need for the complicated enclosure an aircraft is. He was therefore drawn to the world of  free fall, and experimented by trial and error all ways that could allow him to stay longer in the air and control his trajectory, to turn a fall into a flight: sky surf, wingsuit. Still not satisfied, he developed his first real wing, made of a rigid harness and inflatable wing panels, that he was to strap to his back to exceed the performance of all other attempts at “falling forward” that existed at the time.

Aircraft of the Future Could Capture and Re-Use Some of Their Own Power

Capturing energy direct from a plane's landing gear and 
recycling it for the aircraft's own use really could work.

Tomorrow's aircraft could contribute to their power needs by harnessing energy from the wheel rotation of their landing gear to generate electricity.

They could use this to power their taxiing to and from airport buildings, reducing the need to use their jet engines. This would save on aviation fuel, cut emissions and reduce noise pollution at airports.

The feasibility of this has been confirmed by a team of engineers from the University of Lincoln with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The energy produced by a plane's braking system during landing -- currently wasted as heat produced by friction in the aircraft's disc brakes -- would be captured and converted into electricity by motor-generators built into the landing gear. The electricity would then be stored and supplied to the in-hub motors in the wheels of the plane when it needed to taxi.

'Engine-less taxiing' could therefore become a reality. ACARE (the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe) has made engine-less taxiing one of the key objectives beyond 2020 for the European aviation industry.

Focus On Fuel Savings

As mergers, consolidation and a stressed operational environment reshape commercial aviation, fuel efficiency has risen to the top of airline business concerns. Not only is it the industry’s single biggest expense, but economic and environmental pressures are forcing carriers to watch fuel consumption like a hawk.

According to Airlines for America’s (A4A) January 2012 state-of-the-industry report, the fuel price per gallon has been the greatest cost input increase of the past decade, up 267% between 2000 and the second quarter of 2011. A4A points out that even as airlines use less fuel, they must pay more for it. In 2010, U.S. airlines used 47.4 million gallons of fuel a day, totaling $38.8 billion that year, based on an A4A analysis of Bureau of Transportation Statistics data. The numbers for November 2011 show airlines used 48.3 million gallons of fuel daily, up about 1.9% from 2010, but paid $49.8 billion to fill their tanks, up more than 28%. Moreover, A4A notes jet fuel prices have been climbing steadily since mid-December 2011.

Searching for new ways to economize on fuel has become a priority of the highest order. Whether adopting best practices via mergers, as United and Continental have done, or looking to technology for solutions, airlines are looking into all corners of their operations to push down fuel costs.

Boeing finds FMS training for pilots flawed

Pilots take much longer than assumed by manufacturers and airlines to become comfortable with operating a new flight management system, according to a Boeing study of airline pilot perceptions of training and its effectiveness.

The study, presented by Boeing's lead research scientist Dr Barbara Holder at the Flight Safety Foundation's European Aviation Seminar in Dublin today, found that 63% of pilots feel they struggle to manage the FMS on a new aircraft type until they have been operating it on the line for between three and six months. More than 40% of pilots say that most of the FMS training they get is done while flying the line. The implication is that the FMS training the pilots receive on their type rating work-up is inadequate.

Holder noted that there is no standardisation among aircraft manufacturers, avionics manufacturers and airlines in how FMS training should be delivered, or the regulators. Holder found that the manufacturers make assumptions that the pilots will have a certain - unspecified - degree of prior knowledge, which evidence does not appear to support. Comment generated by Holder's presentation at the seminar included the information that manufacturers provide no FMS training guidance at all for an operator trying to transition pilots from a second-generation aircraft like a Boeing 737-200 on to a 737NG. Holder concluded there is a need for FMS training to be radically reappraised.

Source: Flight Global