Russian VSMPO-Avisma to supply titanium components for Boeing

Boeing appointed Russian titanium supplier VSMPO-Avisma as a strategic partner for the 777X program at week’s MAKS airshow in Moscow.

Under the terms of the latest agreement between Boeing and VSMPO-Avisma, the Russian company will supply various titanium components for the new 777X’s largely composite wing. First deliveries of the new twinjet are due to be made in 2020, with production starting in 2017.

VSMPO-Avisma CEO Mikhail Voevodin told reporters that the company’s partnership with Boeing is now in its third decade. Last year, the U.S. airframer extended its framework agreement to take Russian titanium through 2022.

Speaking at the MAKS event, Sergei Kravchenko, Boeing’s president for Russia and the CIS, commented: “I do not have doubts that our joint venture will be expanding, regardless of the complicated political situation.” The Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM) joint venture was established in 2009 and is a 50-50 partnership between Boeing and Russia’s Rostec conglomerate and its subsidiary VSMPO-Avisma. The company already supplies highly machined titanium parts for the 787-8/9 widebody, using U.S.-supplied machinery. Titanium accounts for approximately 20 percent of the 787’s airframe weight and UBM supplies about half of this total. Boeing plans to increase 787 production rates from 10 per month this year to 12 per month next year.

Boeing and Russian partners, including the Krunichev Space Center, also announced the extension of their cooperation on the International Space Station program through 2020. President Putin spoke with senior Boeing officials for a prolonged period during the MAKS show.

Boeing receives $1.49 bn contract for 13 P-8A Poseidon aircraft

Boeing  will provide the first P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft for Australia and additional P-8As for the U.S. Navy following a $1.49 billion contract award from the Navy for 13 aircraft.

The order includes nine aircraft for the U.S. Navy and four Poseidon aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a long-time partner to the U.S. Navy on P-8A development.

“By working together since the early stages of P-8A development, the U.S. and Australia have created one airplane configuration that serves the needs of both countries,” said Capt. Scott Dillon, U.S. Navy P-8 program manager. “The U.S. and Australian P-8As will be able to operate with each other effectively and affordably for decades to come.”

This latest award puts Boeing on contract to build the Navy’s second lot of full-rate production aircraft, bringing the U.S. Navy’s fleet total to 62 P-8As. Boeing has delivered 28 Poseidons to date.

Based on Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800 commercial airplane, the P-8A offers the worlds’ most advanced anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. The Navy has deployed the first two P-8A patrol squadrons since operations started in 2013.

Production of the first Australian P-8A will begin later this year, with delivery to the RAAF scheduled for 2016. Boeing will also provide the RAAF with a complete training system for the P-8A, using simulators to train pilots and mission crews to operate the aircraft, its sensors, communications and weapons systems without relying on costly live flights.

Aeroflot to buy Transaero in tie-up of Russia's biggest airlines

Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline by passenger traffic, agreed to take over its closest competitor Transaero Airlines as the country’s economic woes shake the industry.

A government commission backed the “consolidation” in a meeting led by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Transaero said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. The board of state-controlled Aeroflot will vote to buy 75 percent plus 1 share of Transaero, according to a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The combined airline will probably fly more than half of all domestic passengers, according to Andrei Rozhkov, a transportation analyst at Moscow-based IFC Metropol.

“Weak airlines are leaving the market or reducing their business, on the one hand,” he said by phone. “Aeroflot is getting a boost from the Transaero deal, on the other hand.”

Transaero blamed a “sharp” devaluation of the ruble for reduced sales of international flights and increased payouts on foreign-exchange denominated loans, according to an Aug. 21 statement on its website. The company borrowed in 2010 to 2013 to expand its fleet, it said.

“In an economic situation that has been fairly described as a perfect storm, Transaero Airlines no doubt is experiencing difficulties,” the company said in the statement.

Transaero had debt of 64.8 billion rubles ($990 million) as of Dec. 31, Vedomosti reported. About 31 percent of it was foreign-exchange denominated at a time when the domestic currency plunged amid international sanctions over Ukraine and slumping oil prices, according to another Vedomosti report. Airbus Group SE last month announced it postponed the delivery of its A380 superjumbo to the Russian carrier.

Russian airline passenger traffic rebounded year on year in the January to July period, according to the Federal Agency of Air Transport. Transaero carried 2.7 percent more passengers during these seven months from a year earlier, the data showed.
Passenger numbers fell 2.3 percent to 17 million in the first quarter, the first decline since 2009, the air transport agency said.

FL Technics receives EASA Part 145 certificate for Sukhoi Superjet 100-95

FL Technics, a global provider of one-stop-shop aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, is delighted to announce the extension of its EASA Part 145 certificate by adding Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 aircraft type to its capabilities.

From the 31st of August, 2015 onwards, FL Technics engineers are ready to offer both scheduled and unscheduled checks, defect rectification, minor component replacement and other line maintenance works on SSJ100 airplanes.

Also, the newly received certificate means that FL Technics will now provide 24/7 AOG support for SSJ100 operators throughout its Line Maintenance network in Europe and Asia.

“Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and others – this is the geography of SSJ100’s current and upcoming operations. Being a technologically advanced aircraft, step-by-step SSJ100 is growing in popularity and trust amongst international airlines. However, any airplane is not just a flying machine. It’s an integrated product which also comprises a pool of qualified pilots and engineers, a wide technical support andtraining network, flexible finance, etc.,” explains Zilvinas Lapinskas, the CEO of FL Technics.

“We are glad to be able to contribute to the development of SSJ100’s aftermarket support. In addition to line maintenance, we are planning to add base maintenance, engineering and technical training services for SSJ100 operators. With our own MRO centres in Lithuania and Indonesia as well as almost 30 line stations across the globe, we are ready to offer airlines our support for both commercial and VIP versions of SSJ100,” adds the CEO of FL Technics.

Boeing debris found at Reunion Island washed up 3 months ago

A blue 'plane seat' washed up three months ago on Reunion Island where wreckage thought to be a part of the wing from flight MH370 was found, it has been claimed. Man walking on beach reportedly claimed he found suitcases but set them alight after mistaking them for rubbish.

Nicolas Ferrier reportedly said he was on his daily patrol of La Reunion picking up debris from the beach, when he spotted what he thought looked like a bus seat.The island native said he found the seat in early May - along with suitcases which he burned after mistaking them for rubbish.

Malaysia said on Sunday the piece of debris, a 2-2.5 meter (6.5-8 feet) wing surface known as flaperon, had been identified as being from a Boeing 777, the same model as the missing Malaysian plane. Investigators in France are expected to determine whether the piece came from MH370 or not by Wednesday.

The investigators in France would also be on the lookout for other organisms such as tube worms, coralline red algae or shellfish that could also provide clues.
Marine archaeologists study barnacles for clues about shipwrecks but this was believed to be the first time they will be studied to determine the fate of an airliner.

Two bottles found washed up on Friday, with special drinking water given to the pilots to keep them awake during long flights.

For the past four days the beach has been abuzz with activity; on Friday around a dozen police patrolled the beach, while helicopters hovered overhead. Local people took it upon themselves to fly drones over the waves, in the hope of spotting more debris.

Iran plans to buy 90 planes to revamp ageing fleet

Tehran plans to purchase around 90 Boeing and Airbus planes in a bid to upgrade its ageing fleet of commercial airliners, a senior aviation official said.

"We need to add 80 to 90 airplanes (to the fleet) each year in order to have 300 young and active airliners by the next five years," Mohammad Khodakarami, deputy head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, told in Tehran.

Back in April, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi announced preparations for major investment in Iran's civil aviation industry as soon as the international sanctions are lifted under a comprehensive nuclear deal.

According to the minister, Tehran is in extensive talks with foreign companies to refurnish its air fleet and develop its airlines.

On July 14, Iran and the 5+1 Group of international mediators (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) finalized the text of an agreement on Iran’s nuclear energy program in Vienna.

Later, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the text of the deal.

Boeing has revised plane's performance specifications

     Boeing updated the technical specifications of its jetliners to reflect the way airlines use them and also the trend toward heavier passengers, seats and cargo. The world's biggest plane maker stressed that the airplanes themselves have not changed. Instead, the specifications were altered a few days ago to better reflect their actual performance, a shift industry experts called long overdue.

Boeing increased the seat count on its main widebody planes, the 787 and 777, which makes the cost per seat lower for airlines. Seat counts for the narrow-body 737s remain unchanged. Boeing cut the range for all of the planes, with the recently introduced 787-9 falling the most, by 665 nautical miles (1,230 km).

Those changes reflect the fact that the new premium seats, often lie-flat beds, are about 100 pounds heavier than in the past. Assumptions for passenger and luggage weights also are higher, but Boeing declined to say what assumptions it uses.

"That weight gain, coupled in a slight uptick in the average weight that airlines allocate for passengers and their luggage, means we’ve made slight adjustments in the average range figures for our products: about 600 nautical miles less on average for twin-aisle airplanes, and 100 or so nautical miles less for our single-aisles", says Boeing.

The larger seating capacity on its widebody jets was not an effort to show better operating economics, the company said.

Rather it reflects the fact that many airlines are flying with two-class configurations in widebody planes, rather than three-class.

However, industry sources said decisions about standard seat counts can give broad clues to the way planemakers want their products to be perceived by airlines and lessors.

Boeing's changes were first reported by industry publication Flightglobal. They come after Europe's Airbus made similar revisions to its aircraft performance figures, also showing more seats on some of its widebody jets. Under the new measurements, Boeing's biggest plane, 747-8, is no longer its largest in terms of standard capacity.