Embraer projects 2,060 new deliveries in North America by 2034

Embraer has released its 20-year Market Outlook for the North American market in which it forecasts 2,060 new jet deliveries in the 70 to 130-seat segment. It represents nearly 35% of the total worldwide demand for aircraft in this particular segment and is valued at US$ 96 billion at list prices. Some 47% of the region’s new deliveries are expected to support market growth while 53% will replace ageing aircraft that will be retiring by 2034.

“Despite higher growth rates in other parts of the world, our projections show the US market continuing to dominate the segment because it has such a large volume of existing 70 to 130-seat jets,” said Paulo Cesar Silva, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “However, we foresee room for growth as network airlines look for alternatives to reduce the capacity gap between regional and mainline operations.”

Further growth is expected as full-service carriers restructure their intra-regional hub-and-spoke operations and deploy larger-capacity regional jets with premium seating in markets traditionally flown by 50-seat jets. The E175 has become a best-seller in its category with an 80% share of net orders in North America since 2013.

Embraer’s 2015 Market Outlook identifies the 90 to 130-seat jet segment as another cornerstone in a new era that is expected to deliver healthier financial results. Favorable crew costs in a mainline carrier cost structure now make those jets an even more attractive economic alternative for domestic operations. The aircraft provide more seats on regional routes while right-sizing capacity in markets currently served by larger narrow-body aircraft.

The E-Jets family has logged more than 1,560 orders and over 1,100 deliveries to date. Since they first entered revenue service in 2004, Embraer E-Jets have achieved a global market share of around 50% of orders and 60% of deliveries in the 70 to 130-seat segment. In North America, Embraer has more than 50% market share among aircraft in its segment with over 400 E-Jets delivered.

Avionics upgrades to drive the current generation aircraft MRO

As the global trend toward next-generation air traffic management systems evolves, and parts obsolescence issues increase, airlines operating aging fleets are considering upgrading cockpits with modern avionics as replacements for legacy systems. ICF SH&E estimates the avionics upgrade market for air transport to reach $1 billion by 2023 for a CAGR of 6.1%. In fact, avionics upgrades are projected to increase faster than the overall MRO market, which is growing at a 3.9% CAGR for the period.

As aircraft get more sophisticated, so does the technology behind the avionics systems they use. Needless to say, the availability of a cost-effective solution that enhances the product life-cycle becomes very important to aircraft operators. However, as technology advances and OEMs tend to increase their focus on what's new, the coming of next generation air traffic management is forecasted to become the major driver behind commercial airliner avionics upgrades. In turn, this will mean a significant amount of retrofitting on older aircraft, to include upgraded flight management systems, autopilots and primary displays.

“System obsolescence is an increasingly prevalent problem with mature avionics. Naturally, it is frustrating operators as they deal with potentially long spares lead times from avionics OEMs, while trying to secure scarce parts for equipment manufactured in the 1980s or early 1990s. Needless to say, these are all sound reasons for completing appropriate system upgrades,” says Kestutis Volungevicius, Head of Engineering and Training at FL Technics. “For instance, there are thousands of aircraft operating with vintage CRT displays, and with them, increasing reliability and maintainability issues for the airlines. CRTs are very expensive to repair or replace, and for products with built-in CRTs, repair costs escalate more quickly than average.”

One of major Canadian providers is currently experiencing a growing demand for modern avionics installations. According to the company, 80% of its avionics business is focused on cockpit upgrades. Moreover, Innovative Solutions & Support predicts that the avionics retrofit market could total $10 billion over the next 10 years. Analysts say the MD-80/90 series, as well as Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft will account for most of the business, with North American and European carriers generating 80% of the market.

“These upgrades improve airline operations and safety, while the increases in reliability improve both the operations and reduced life-cycle maintenance costs. However, the decision to install new cockpit displays must also be based on a bigger-picture view. Ultimately, airlines have to weigh upgrade costs against the increasing maintenance costs generated by the aging engines and airframe,” explains Kestutis Volungevicius, the Head of Engineering ant Training at FL Technics.

For instance, current discounts available to purchase new airplanes may encourage some to opt for new equipment, rather than to make the investment to update legacy aircraft such as Boeing 737 Classic. However, for other aircraft such as the 757, which performs well as a freighter, upgrades may be a realistic option to extend in-service aircraft life.

“Of course, with more aircraft being retired in favour of newer, more fuel-efficient models, the avionics upgrade market could take a hit. However, while this could reduce the market's size, operators purchasing new aircraft will have to wait years for delivery—and make do with their existing fleets in the interim. As a result, airlines should be prepared to look at innovative solutions from other avenues, rather than just relying on OEMs and the status quo,” concludes the Head of Engineering and Training at FL Technics.

Bombardier to cut business-jet manufacturing in Russia

Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier reduces the production of business jet Global 5000 and Global 6000 in Russia due to decreasing demand in developing countries.

According to Martel, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, as reports Lenta.ru, business-jet sales had boomed in Russia until oil prices started falling last year, Martel said. Sanctions imposed by Canada, the U.S. and the European Union -- aimed at forcing Russia to drop support for separatists in Ukraine -- only compounded the slump.

However, a spokesman for the Canadian company, Bombardier continues to enjoy good demand in the United States.

Martel did not specify how much production will be reduced, as well as how much employees will be dismissed.

About 4,500 people work on the Global 5000 and 6000 programs at Bombardier facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Belfast, Northern Ireland. According to Martel, accurate information about the cuts will be available in the near future.

Development is continuing on the roomier Global 7000 and 8000 models. Bombardier is now assembling the first prototype of the 7000, which will be able to fly non-stop from London to Singapore and carry a list price of $72.8 million.

A Russian engineer can predict upcoming airplane crashes with 98% accuracy

Recently, we have witnessed several shocking and even mystical aviation incidents - the disappearance of the Malaysian MH370, the suicide of the Germanwings pilot Lubitz, the plane crash into the river in Taiwan. While aviation authorities are spending huge amounts of money on the possible preventative measures, an engineer from Russia Mr. Zakharov claims that for just 30 dollars he can actually calculate the odds of an aircraft crash as well as where and when it should be expected.

The story of Alexander Zakharov, a graduate of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, began when he was working as a senior engineer at the Kirov plant, a major Russian machine-building plant where he was assigned the task of designing new models of military equipment.

“Managing the survival capabilities was one of my duties. In 1985, I worked on a special project involving a military machine, which is still not available in any army throughout the world. The machine is made on the basis of the ordinary T-55, T-62 or T-64 tanks. For example, in Ukraine, there are many of these tanks. All of them can be upgraded and then sold around the world. My project was sent to the Academy of Ministry of Defence of the USSR. In order to develop more and more new survival methods, I have gradually began to study everything I could find - astrology, numerology, parapsychology, terrestrial magnetism, the resonant frequency of the noise and seismic stress in terms of rhythm,“ says Alexander Zakharov.

Since those days spent at the Kirov plant, Alexander has studied conflict resolution in business, lectured at three leading universities of St. Petersburg on systematic economic management, and worked as an advisor to the CEO of a major oil company. There was a time when Alexander was faced with very sudden and unexpected challenges, which could only be overcome by the use of what later became known as his special methods. That's when Alexander decided that the destiny gives the very license to offer his techniques to people and companies in various fields. From 2010 to 2014 Alexander Zakharov participated in more than 130 TV programs on 15 channels. Today he is known as an analyst and a crisis forecaster, whose techniques were established in 1998 on the basis of resonance characteristic of particular vibrations.

Here is what Alexander has to say today: "I would argue that a plane does not crash randomly. From 2009 to 2014 I was travelling a lot and spent a considerable amount of time testing flights for safety to meet my estimates. Unsurprisingly, almost always the real events corresponded with my estimates."

For over twenty years now Zakharov has been predicting disasters and catastrophes. According to the Zakharov’s theory, for any object, would it be a person, a plane or a car, there are certain days “X” when the natural rhythms are formed in such a way that the risk of abnormality increases to a maximum. All the nature’s phenomena are interconnected, he says, so even the number of an aircraft can serve as a source of information for the forecast. According to Zakharov, the disaster is a resonance of vibrations at a certain time in a certain place.

The laws of physics and nature serve as a basic rule for Zakharov’s theory. Alexander argues that all calculations are made based on purely scientific methods, therefore, it is possible to create a complete program and train thousands of professionals.

Alexander Zakharov presents the results of his calculations in the form of graphs with explanations, serving as a guide for future actions. Such calculations are a new level of technology for the early prevention of aircraft accidents, states Alexander.

"I was invited to Israel for an international conference on seismology, as well as presented my methods at numerous international conferences in Saint Petersburg. I have a letter from the US Transportation Security Administration. Even TSA admits that they do not have anything like this. I have worked with the Interstate Aviation Committee. However, the process of implementing my methods must be carried out very carefully and thus it is rather slow. The accuracy of my predictions is up to 98%. Despite this, many governments do not want to take the responsibility. I think that the majority is simply still not ready for such methods," says Alexander.

"For example, in March 2011, three days before the Fukushima accident, I came with my calculations to the local regional office of The Ministry of Emergency Situations. But no one responded. In June, I sent my forecast for the second half of the year to the head of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency. One of the most dangerous places and dates indicated in my forecast was the September 12 in Kamchatka. That exact day, an AN-28 crashed in the north of Kamchatka."

Zakharov explains that every plane, every pilot, every manager and even every day of the year has its own (personal) physical vibration. When the coincidence of frequencies and vibrations correlate, it leads to a failure of on-board equipment or ground-based radars. It is the resonance that leads to violations of people’s mentality, including traffic controllers, pilots and passengers.

“Back in 2011, I sent a detailed forecast to the General Consulate of Germany in St. Petersburg. My calculations were proposed to Lufthansa, but, unfortunately, no response was received. I had previously determined the days when the risks were particularly high for A320 planes. The crash in the French Alps of the Germanwings A320 happened exactly on one of those days. I believe that the main cause of the disaster is the aforementioned resonance of physical processes, which regard to the co-pilot A.Lubitz. Such processes are capable of being calculated. According to my projections, the number of plane crashes in Europe will increase. There are multiple reasons for that, both mental and technological," concluded Alexander Zakharov.

However, far from everyone believes that forecasting disasters is possible using human mind. Professor Florian Holzapfel from the Technical University of Munich, Institute of Flight System Dynamics, who for many years has cooperated with the Aviation Safety of IATA as well as several airlines, thinks that it will never be a way to predict specific accidents at a specific point of time for a specific aircraft.

“There are certain trends that may be monitored early based on the actually recorded data, allowing predictive and preventive action before something happens. We are active in the field of predictive flight safety developing such methods as they are pushed by the Airline Safety Management System requirements published by ICAO. Given the large number of indicators, it is possible to make predictive analysis and indicate a higher or lower probability for certain incident types. But it is still a probability, not a forecast,” explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Florian Holzapfel.

GE Aviation to open new $50m facility in Hooksett

GE Aviation held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new expansion at its facility here today. GE Aviation began building a 55,000 square-foot expansion today to increase capacity driven by a record backlog in its commercial engines business. This will represent a nearly $50 million investment in Hooksett over the next decade.

GE has a significant presence in New Hampshire, employing more than 1,100 across the state. GE Aviation employs 740 at its Hooksett facility, where employees manufacture rotating parts for military and commercial jet engines. While the expansion for Hooksett will not result immediately in adding additional employees, it will contribute significantly to maintaining stable employment levels at the plant for many years to come.

“This investment will position Hooksett to play a pivotal role in the development of GE Aviation's world-class engines, well known for their durability, reliability and efficiency,” stated Colleen Athans, GE Aviation vice president and general manager, Supply Chain.

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan attended the groundbreaking ceremony and commented, “This expansion demonstrates GE Aviation's long-term commitment to Hooksett and the State of New Hampshire, as well as how our state’s high quality of life, highly skilled workforce, low-tax environment and responsive state government make us as attractive a state for business as any in the country. We are grateful for GE Aviation’s commitment to the Granite State and the additional growth this expansion will help inspire across the state.”

GE exports to every region of the world, making exports critical to GE business. Approximately 60 percent of GE Aviation’s $24 billion annual revenue comes from exports of their U.S.-made products and services.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE, is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.

Source and image: GE

FL Technics will exclusively represent Future Metals in Russia and eleven more countries

FL Technics, a global provider of tailor-made aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, has been selected to act as an exclusive representative of Future Metals, which is the leading supplier of aerospace quality metals and other materials to the global aircraft manufacturing and maintenance industry. The company shall represent the supplier in multiple CIS countries, including Russia and Moldova, as well as several neighbouring states, such as Ukraine and Georgia.

According to the partnership agreement, FL Technics will act as an exclusive seller of all Future Metal products, offering a broad range of inventory comprising aircraft quality metals and other specialty items such as seat tracks, seat track covers, welding rod, safety wire, flight control cables and more. All the products are certified for both narrow and wide-body commercial aircraft, including Airbus and Boeing.

Under the cooperation, FL Technics will represent the Florida-based supplier in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova, as well as Ukraine and Georgia.

“Our newly developed business relationship with Future Metals is not only a new source of quality aviation products for the region’s industry players, but also a way more cost-effective solution in comparison to the ones currently available in the CIS market. Whether it is an airline’s internal maintenance unit or an independent MRO, we aim to support all potential customers who require various aircraft metals and other specialty products in their daily operations. In other words, we strongly believe that this partnership will be beneficial not only to us and Future Metals, but also to the entire market,” comments Aldas Juronis, the Head of Components and Materials Sales Department at FL Technics.

Source and image: FL Technics

The first Pilatus PC-24 prototype took its maiden flight

The first ever PC-24 Super Versatile Jet took off on its maiden flight today at 10.00 local time from Buochs airport. Just under 1800 Pilatus staff, all of whom are directly or indirectly involved in the PC-24 project, were there to applaud the business jet as it taxied for takeoff. Prototype P01, call sign HB-VXA, flew across central Switzerland for a total of 55 minutes. The flight went exactly as planned with no problems whatsoever.

The PC-24 is capable of exceptional performance, and this maiden flight was a first opportunity to showcase some impressive credentials: the twin-engine business jet took off from runway 07 in just under 600 m and climbed to 10,000 feet (approx. 3000 m) in around three minutes, where the two pilots completed a series of meticulously planned tests. The maiden flight followed a route across central Switzerland – from Altdorf to Brünig via Engelberg. 

Test pilot Paul Mulcahy, who has some 11,000 hours under his belt, flew the PC-24 as pilot in command. He has already test flown countless aircraft types and has acquired a wealth of experience on twin-engine business jets. "Everything looks great so far! Beautiful handling – the PC-24 flies just as expected – a real Pilatus aircraft!", reported our second experienced test pilot, Reto Aeschlimann, by radio from the cockpit.

Throughout the flight the PC-24 was accompanied and monitored by a PC-21. As is normal on maiden flights, the PC-24 landing gear was not retracted on this occasion. Twelve flight test engineers watched the flight from the ground as they kept an eye on a stream of real-time flight data received from the PC-24. Had the need arisen, these experts could have given the pilots crucial decision-making information: another means of ensuring the safest possible conditions for the entire maiden flight.

A total of three PC-24 prototypes will be built and used to complete a rigorous test programme of some 2,300 hours over the next two years. Fewer than half those hours will actually be flown in Switzerland, the remainder will be flown elsewhere. Certification and initial deliveries of the first aircraft to come off the production line are planned from 2017.