Airbus says first delivery of A350 to Qatar postponed

(Reuters) – First delivery of the new Airbus A350, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13, has been postponed and no new date has been set, the planemaker said on Wednesday.

“We are working very closely with Qatar Airways to meet our common goal to deliver their first A350 XWB very soon,” an Airbus spokesman said.

Qatar Airways is the biggest customer for Airbus’s new-generation wide-body aircraft.

Earlier this year, it delayed taking delivery of its first A380 superjumbo for several months in a dispute over cabin fittings.

SOURCE REUTERS

Airbus Helicopters delivers first Tiger HAD Block 2 attack helicopters to the French Army

Marignane, France, 11 December 2014

   The French Army’s Tiger combat helicopter fleet expanded yesterday with Airbus Helicopters’ delivery of the first two attack helicopters in the HAD Block 2 version, following its qualification by the French General Directorate for Armament on November 21. These two Tigers will join those already in service for the military, which have proven their capabilities during operational deployments in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Libya and Mali.

  The “Block 2” version brings additional enhancements that now offer the full capacity of the HAD version, including improved targeting accuracy for rockets, the addition of combat external fuel tanks that provide longer flight times while still enabling the full complement of armament to be used, an extension of the flight domain in which Spike and Hellfire anti-tank missiles can be fired, and the integration of digital communications for operations in today’s digital battlefield. The HAD block 2 helicopters are also “navalized,” allowing their use from ships and in sea environments.

   To date, Airbus Helicopters has delivered more than 110 Tiger helicopters to France, Germany, Spain and Australia – a total which includes six HAD Block 1 attack helicopters for the French Army, along with 40 in the HAP support and escort configuration.

   The newly-delivered HAD Block 2 aircraft will be operated by GAMSTAT (the aero-mobility group belonging to the technical “section” of the French Army), then assigned to the 1st Army Combat Helicopter Regiment, located at the Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base in France’s Moselle region. This unit already operates HAD Block 1helicopters, which have been deployed to the Central African Republic.

Aeromexico receives 1,100th Embraer E-Jet

Aeromexico hangar, at the Benito Juárez International Airport, in Mexico City. The aircraft, an E190 model, is also the 200th aircraft from the E-Jet family flying in Latin America.

“In the same year that we are celebrating the E-Jets’ 10th anniversary of operations, worldwide, we are immensely proud to be recognizing yet another milestone that this versatile family of aircraft has now achieved,” said Paulo Cesar Silva, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “As one of Embraer’s largest operators, it is only fitting that Aeromexico is the recipient of the 200th E-Jet on the Latin American continent, as well as the 1,100th E-Jet worldwide.

“Embraer has been a very important ally for over 10 years; currently, over 50 percent of our fleet is comprised of these Brazilian aircraft,” said Andres Conesa, airline’s CEO. “In Aeromexico we feel very proud to be the carrier that receives 1,100th Embraer E-Jet and integrate it into our fleet, one of the most modern in the industry.”

Aeromexico operates a fleet of 62 Embraer jets through its regional brand, Aeromexico Connect: 27 E190s, six E170s, three E175s, and 26 ERJ 145s.

The first delivery of an E -Jet in Latin America occurred in 2005. Currently, eight airlines, from seven countries, operate the E-Jets in the region, where Embraer is the leader in the segment of jets up to 130 seats, with a 70% market share.

Embraer is the only manufacturer to develop a modern family of four airplanes specifically targeted for the 70 to 130-seat segment. Since their formal launch of the program, in 1999, the E-Jets have redefined the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications.

The E-Jets family entered revenue service in 2004. Currently, E-Jets are flying with 65 airlines from 45 countries, holding a 62% market share, based on deliveries, in the segment of jets with capacity up to 130 seats. Today, E-Jets are flying with mainline, low-cost and regional carriers, as well as charter airlines. The E-Jets have a strategically located global network of customer support and services with 37 MRO service centers, worldwide, including 12 Embraer Authorized Service Centers (EASC) and 25 independent centers

In June 2013, Embraer launched the second generation of the E-Jets family – the E-Jets E2 – the first of which is slated to enter service in 2018.

LEAP. Turbofan Engine

What doesn't go into to our engine is as important as what does

MARIETTA, Ga., Dec. 11, 2014 – The Republic of Tunisia received its second C-130J Super Hercules during a ceremony today at the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] facility here.

Tunisia received its first C-130J in April 2013, marking the first delivery of a J-model to an African nation. Lockheed Martin signed a contract in 2010 with Tunisia to deliver two C-130Js, as well as to provide training and an initial three years of logistics support.

“Tunisia’s Super Hercules fleet is both a national and a regional asset, able to support more missions than any other aircraft in operation today,” said George Shultz, vice president and general manager, C-130 Programs, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. “We are proud to have Tunisia as a member of the global C-130J family. As legacy operators, Tunisian Air Force crews have long showcased why the C-130 is the world’s most versatile aircraft and continue to do so with its C-130J fleet.”

Tunisia’s new C-130Js are the longer fuselage or “stretched” variant of the aircraft. Tunisia’s new C-130Js will support operations across the mission spectrum, including relief efforts around the world, firefighting and traditional airlift sorties.

Sixteen countries have chosen the C-130J Super Hercules to meet their air mobility needs. The C-130J is the standard by which all other airlifters are measured in terms of availability, flexibility and reliability. With more than 1.2 million flight hours to date, the C-130J is available in nine variants and offers operators 17 different mission configurations.

CFM Technology

PALMDALE, Calif. – Dec. 11, 2014 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has completed – on budget and on schedule – the center fuselage for the first F-35 Lightning II aircraft to be ordered by Norway, a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant designated AM-1.

The company celebrated the production milestone with a brief ceremony Dec. 4 at its Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence, the site of its F-35 Integrated Assembly Line (IAL). Royal Norwegian Air Force Col. Odd-Steinar Haugen, the Norwegian national deputy in the F-35 joint program office, attended the ceremony on behalf of the Norwegian government.

“Today’s event marks another key delivery on the F-35 team’s promise to produce a fifth-generation, multirole fighter that can meet the common air combat requirements of the U.S. and its allies,” said Brian Chappel, vice president and F-35 program manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “Using our Integrated Assembly Line, we’re continuing to reduce the time and cost required to produce an F-35 center fuselage. Our success is helping the industry team meet the operational need dates of our international partners.”

The center fuselage is the core structure around which every F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft is built. As a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, Northrop Grumman designed and produces the center fuselage for all three F-35 variants: CTOL, short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) and the carrier variant (CV).

The AM-1 center fuselage is the first of 52 center fuselages that Northrop Grumman will produce for Norway. It is the 166^th center fuselage that the company has produced at its Palmdale site, and the 34^th such unit delivered to Lockheed Martin this year.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will perform final assembly and checkout of the Norwegian F-35s in Fort Worth, Texas. The process includes mating the center fuselage to the forward fuselage/cockpit and wings produced by Lockheed Martin, and the aft fuselage and empennage produced by BAE Systems.

The IAL is a highly automated set of work cells developed to assemble – efficiently, affordably and with high precision – the center fuselage for all three variants of the F-35 joint strike fighter. It occupies more than 200,000 square feet of factory floor space and includes more than 700 tools required to operate 78 positions.

Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development and production of the F-35 weapons system. In addition to producing the jet’s center fuselage, the company produces key F-35 radar, electro-optical, avionics and communications subsystems. It also develops mission systems and mission-planning software; develops and maintains pilot and maintainer training systems courseware; and manages the team’s use, support and maintenance of low-observable technologies.

The CFM LEAP family represents the engines of choice

   The CFM LEAP family represents the engines of choice for the next-generation single-aisle aircraft. The LEAP-1A is an option on the Airbus A320neo; the LEAP-1B is the exclusive powerplant for the Boeing 737 MAX; and the LEAP-1C is the sole Western powerplant for the COMAC C919. These engines had garnered more than 8,000 operates from more than 50 customers across the globe..
PROVEN

CFM and its parent companies have fielded more new engines, engine upgrades, new technologies, and have more field experience as measured in engine flight hours than anyone else. Performance and technology is better proven than promised.

BREAKTHROUGH

Performance advancements are driven by appropriate application of new technology throughout an engine. Success in development of new technology requires the combination of both consistent investment and opportunities for commercial application.

Two engine families have contributed significantly to the design of the LEAP engine, the CFM56 and the GE90/GEnx series of engines. The GE90/GEnx contributed the high-efficiency core architecture to minimize fuel consumption, while the CFM56 legacy drove reliability and maintenance cost design practices. At entry into service in 2017, it is estimated that the GE90/GEnx architecture will have generated 80 million flight hours of revenue service, while the CFM56 family will have over 700 million flight hours of experience. The LEAP engine family offers proven, material advantages over any other engine, with 550,000 hours of proven experience with 99.98% reliability, and 22,000 engines delivered on-time and on-spec.

The CFM LEAP pedigree ensures with confidence the ability to deliver a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency, as compared to the CFM56-7BE, while maintaining the same level of dispatch reliability and life-cycle maintenance costs as the CFM56-7BE. With its simple architecture and $2 billion annual investment in technology, the LEAP engine family offers the lowest cost and highest revenue-generating ability, saving an estimated nearly $3 million per plane.

This is CFM, proven performance, low execution risk, and the application of advanced technology both at entry into service and throughout an engine’s life cycle.

QUICK FACTS

• Proven, high-efficiency core architecture
• Up to 15% improvement in fuel efficiency compared to today's best CFM56 engines
• Same high level of dispatch reliability and low life-cycle maintenance costs as today's best CFM56 engines
• 700,000 hours of proven experience

U.S. Remains Committed To Open Skies Despite Calls To Limit Access

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government is not wavering from its open skies policy and will negotiate open skies deals with any friendly country that is interested, despite calls for the government to roll back liberalization in order to protect the U.S. airline industry, a senior State Dept. official said.

The U.S. government has no plans to change its policy, Thomas Engle, deputy assistant secretary of State for transportation affairs, said at the Airports Council International-North America international aviation issues seminar. Since the first open skies treaty was struck with the Netherlands in 1992, the U.S. has signed open skies agreements with 114 countries, including the EU. 

This has resulted in explosive growth of travel and tourism, up 68% since the first deal and responsible now for 2.8% of U.S. gross domestic product. In 1995, 19 million U.S. citizens traveled abroad, versus 29 million last year. “None of this would have happened without open skies,” Engle said. “It remains U.S. policy to pursue open skies.”

Organized labor and several legacy carriers on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing for the U.S. and the EU to limit some liberalizations offered by open skies, and rather opt for what the European Cockpit Association (ECA) and other groups call “Fair Skies.” This would allow governments to limit some traffic rights to carriers thought to benefit from unfair state subsidies, a proposal aimed squarely at the three big Persian Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.

The rise of these Middle Eastern airlines is among the “unintended consequences” of liberalization, the ECA said, a position echoed by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and several European and U.S. carriers. The Gulf carriers enjoy state subsidies, including having airport infrastructure built for them, that create “insurmountable competition” for U.S. carriers, Russell Bailey, ALPA senior attorney, said. 

Moreover, Gulf carriers—among others—benefit from lower-than-market financing for aircraft, both from Airbus and Boeing, thanks to export-credit agency financing from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. and European agencies, labor and legacy airlines say. In fact, U.S. carriers have had to scale back some routes—including to India—due to this and other competitive advantages, Bailey said.

The cargo industry has been among the main beneficiaries of open skies, Cargo Airlines Association CEO Stephen Alterman added. “We absolutely need open skies,” he said. “We don’t want protectionism and we don’t want to pull back from open skies agreements.” Alterman warned that rolling back open skies would bring the cargo airline industry to its knees and harm U.S. trade and competitiveness.

Allowing governments to “unilaterally” limit traffic rights based on perceived unfair competition is an “absolutely horrible, dangerous and ridiculous idea,” said John Byerly, a former State Dept. official during whose tenure dozens of open skies agreements—including with the EU—were negotiated. Introducing “fair skies” provisions would undermine open skies and could allow other countries to retaliate by also limiting traffic rights. This would undo the last two decades’ gains, Byerly said.

Moreover, open skies deals are a necessary counterbalance to prevailing trends in the airline industry. With the consolidation of the U.S. industry into three major carriers—and the global industry into three major alliances—open skies deals allow for new entrants to challenge legacy carriers for market share. Consolidation has been good for the industry, Byerly said, but, “what is worrisome is when these carriers try to lobby governments to roll back access.”