Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Germanwings could replace Air Berlin for Berlin-Moscow route

germanwingsGerman low-cost airline Germanwings could replace Air Berlin for the route Berlin-Moscow in the Domodedovo airport.
"Currently, direct flights between Russia and Germany are carried out by several partner airlines of the Domodedovo Airport — Lufthansa, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines. Carriers are planning to carry out flights to Munich and Frankfurt in the upcoming winter navigation season, which will allow passengers of the airport to travel with comfort on these routes," a spokesman for the airport said.
Flights from Moscow (Domodedovo airport) to Berlin by the Germanwings airline are expected to start in the beginning of the autumn-winter season of 2015 (two daily flights).
It was reported earlier, that the second largest German airline Air Berlin decided to leave Russia due to the low demand. The route Dusseldorf-Moscow closes from November 9, Kaliningrad-Berlin — from January 10. The last flight between Berlin and Moscow will be conducted on January 18.
According to Air Berlin regional manager in Russia Yulia Vorotnikova, the company could come back in case the passenger demand recovers.
"In summer the passenger load was very good, which was followed by a serious decline. Therefore, it was decided to discontinue flights to Russia. But this does not mean that we are leaving for good. If the demand is stable, we will look at the possibility of coming back," she said.
"After the flights are closed all passengers with Air Berlin tickets will be transported by our partner companies, or will get their money back," Vorotnikova added.
In total he airline performed 32 weekly flight to Russian cities.

AerCap announces pricing of $1bn of senior notes

AerCap announces pricing of $1bn of senior notesAerCap Holdings N.V. announced today that AerCap Ireland Capital Limited and AerCap Global Aviation Trust (together, the "Issuers"), each a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, priced their previously announced offering of senior notes, consisting of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 4.625% Senior Notes due 2020 (the "Notes"). This represents over twice the offering size announced at launch. The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company and certain other subsidiaries of the Company. The Issuers intend to use the net proceeds from the Notes for general corporate purposes.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Agricole Securities (USA) Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. are serving as joint book running managers for the underwritten public offering.
The Company has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) on Form F-3 with the SEC for the underwritten offering to which this communication relates. The registration statement automatically became effective upon filing on June 22, 2015. Investors should read the accompanying prospectus dated June 22, 2015, the preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering dated October 16, 2015 and other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the Company and this offering.

Honeywell, $9.6bn sales in Q3, 2015

Honeywell, $9.6b sales in Q3, 2015Honeywell announced results for the third quarter of 2015, sales reached $9.6 billion.
Defense & Space sales increased 2% on a core organic basis (1% reported) driven by strong international growth, partially offset by lower sales to the U.S. government.  Commercial OE sales were up 4% on a core organic basis (3% reported) driven by strong Business and General Aviation (BGA) engine shipments.  Commercial Aftermarket sales were up 3% on a core organic basis (2% reported) driven by continued growth in repair and overhaul activities, partially offset by a decline in RMU (Retrofit, Modifications, and Upgrades) sales in BGA.
“Honeywell delivered another strong quarter of earnings growth and exceptional margin expansion,” said Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote.  “ In a slower growth environment, we generated earnings growth of 10% when normalized for tax, reaching the high end of our EPS guidance range. This included $34 million in net restructuring charges in the quarter, which position us for continued long-term margin expansion. In addition, Free Cash Flow for the quarter of $1.4 billion increased 43%, with Free Cash Flow conversion of 110%.  We are confirming our full-year EPS guidance at approximately $6.10, representing estimated full-year earnings growth of approximately 10% and our sixth consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth. We also announced the $5.1 billion acquisition of Elster in July, and are on track to close in the first quarter of 2016.  Looking ahead to 2016, we’re planning for a continuation of the slow growth macro environment, but we expect to deliver continued margin expansion and earnings outperformance driven by our balanced portfolio, relentless seed planting in new products and technologies, High Growth Region penetration, over $300 million of funded restructuring, and the deployment of our key process initiatives.”

It’s about time: greetings to your new robot co-pilot

It’s about time: greetings to your new robot co-pilotPilot error, of course, is a fancy name for human factor. So how would you like a robot co-pilot as a team member having the ability to deal with pilot’s error?
Commercial aviation is already heavily automated and modern airliners are capable of largely flying themselves. According to a recent study conducted by Duke Researcher Missy Cummings, in which she interviewed 11 commercial pilots who fly both Boeing and Airbus planes, the controls are barely touched at all. Those operating Boeing 777s reported that they spent just seven minutes manually piloting their planes in a typical flight. Pilots operating Airbus planes spent half that time.
You might be surprised, but robots fly planes all the time these days. Drones are old news and there are already a few projects looking at how to use what we’ve learned from drones to boost commercial flights.
The Pentagon’s defense research agency, DARPA, is working on ALIAS - an advanced form of autopilot that can adapt and respond to changing situations. Essentially, it's a digital co-pilot. The technology is promising enough with investing $57.5 million to make the digital co-pilot a reality for military and commercial aircraft within the next decade.
The creators from DARPA believe co-pilot may stop a repeat of the Germanwings crash, where a lone pilot intentionally flew an airliner into the ground. And the 1999’s EgyptAir Flight 990, crashed in the North Atlantic with 217 people dead, attributed by U.S. investigators to a suicidal pilot. And 2012’s JetBlue Flight 191, where a pilot left the cockpit screaming about terrorists and the FO locked him out of the cockpit.
Gary Claiton, a Chairman at the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (a non-profit trade association representing the whole unmanned aerial industry), is pretty sure that one day aviation will foremost shift towards robotic co-pilots.
“As the technologies developed for large unmanned systems become understood and trusted, we will see a reduced manning level in the cockpit. This is not to say that there will be less pilots but a backup pilot may be situated on the ground“, says Gary.
To support Gary’s opinion, there's indeed a debate in aviation circles about whether over-reliance on automation will result eroding pilots' flying skills. To calm those who are worried – the new program’s goal is to use robots to augment, rather than automate, flight.
It’s about time: greetings to your new robot co-pilot
One of the ALIAS developers, Jessica Duda, explained DARPA would like to use the humans for what the humans are really good at and the automation for what the automation is really good at.
“Airline autonomy has led to major safety gains for commercial aviation, as it reduces the workload of the pilots allowing them to manage the flight, rather than fly the aircraft”, says Richard Taylor from UK CAA’s communication department.
Still, the problem is that the passengers aren’t ready for robotic planes — and neither are human pilots.  But minds can be changed. Similar concerns accompanied the removal of a human navigator from the cockpit in the 1970s, but, hey, now we are absolutely fine.
Technology is always advancing to ensure safety, to say. “There are threats but these relate to public perception and soft issues of that nature.  The use of electro-optical sensors fused with other technologies has already proven that it can achieve a wider angle of view and at higher resolution that the human pilot can. Add to this that cloud detection, both distance estimation and type recognition, has been proved to be more reliable than the human. It is easy to see that new technologies will make all aviation safer“, explains Gary Claiton, the Chairman at UAVS.
Despite that, many experts are worried over the deployment of increasingly autonomous systems – some believe that increasingly sophisticated planes will not always be safer planes considering cyber attacks. But the military does it with drones all day, every day, and well-encrypted communications would go a long way to preventing that from happening, ensured ALIAS developers.
“Totally safe and secure command and control systems need to be developed to ensure the link between remote pilot and unmanned aircraft cannot be broken or interfered with. Unmanned aircraft technology has great potential in all sorts of areas, however, it is vital that this technology is developed safely”, comments Richard Taylor from UK CAA’s communication department.
Moreover, some have looked into a system in which one pilot and the robot is in the cockpit, and the others are on the ground. Most probably, it could save a massive amount of money for airlines in terms of pilots' salaries and more importantly put an end for highly-criticized Pay2Fly schemes expansion. So the robot co-pilot would work in cases such as the 9/11 attacks, in which the pilot, or a hijacker, or someone flying the plane, becomes the most dangerous thing to a specific plane's safety.
In fact, one of the commercial planes manufacturers already though about that. Boeing has already patented an "uninterruptible autopilot system" that could take over the plane from the ground. "A pilotless airliner is going to come; it's just a question of when," said James Albaugh, the president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airlines, in a talk he gave in August at the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference, in Portland.
“As part of the UAS industry, and someone that has researched the technologies for large UAS for many years, I welcome this path of travel. It is through the extended use of these new technologies, as additional safety aids in manned aviation, that overall acceptance will be gained leading to the introduction of more and more unmanned equivalent aircraft in the future“, says Gary Claiton.
To prove the point, technology company BAE Systems recently flew a converted Jetstream aircraft – known as “The Flying Test Bed” – with no pilot in UK air space. The trial flights did have people on board, allowing a human to take control in an emergency. But, for the large part, Jetstream flew itself.
It’s about time: greetings to your new robot co-pilot
However, the biggest impact of automated systems development for UAS, some argue, will be in the general aviation segment.  According to R. Steven Justice, the Director of Center of Innovation for Aerospace from American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the FAA will first require sense-and-avoid technology systems to be very reliable and robust to assure the safety of other aircraft and people on the ground, while we will see them migrate into the General Aviation segment to further improve utility and safety afterwards. Within a decade, explains R. Steven Justice, UAS derived automation technology will greatly improve the safety of the general aviation segment.
“In a country with very little GA traffic, it is much easier to introduce UAS while in the U.S. we must ensure that the wide use of UAS does not reduce the overall level of safely. There are almost 250,000 general aviation aircraft in the U.S., equal to the combined GA fleets across the rest of the world. Balancing safety and commercial interests is the challenge to the FAA as it moves forward with rulemaking“, continues Steven.
The other major challenge is the development of successful business models.  It is only one year removed from the first commercial authorizations by the FAA for commercial UAS operations and we are just beginning to see the natural evolution of the business sector.  The next two to three years will see many business models that fail and a smaller number that will succeed; that natural “weeding out “ process will shape the competitive landscape and drive the next round of technology development. We have overcome such issues before with other technologies and we will be successful in integrating UAS into the everyday fabric of our lives and commerce“, revealed R. Steven Justine.
On the 5th of March 2015, an American Airlines pilot died suddenly during flight, leaving the plane's first officer to make an emergency landing with 152 people on board. The scenario is rare, but not unheard of. Seven pilots for U.S. airlines and one charter pilot have died during flights since 1994, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. UAS will allow us to do many current commercial activities without the risk to human life; the same reason UAS has become commonplace in military missions.   As with any new technology we must balance the pros and cons of the technology with many issues resolved through education of the operators to minimize the negative impacts.
To get its competence and trust, the robot co-pilots of tomorrow will have to start today by exploiting niches where civilian pilots can't or won't work—just as was the case in the military or rescue operations.
“There are no barriers, just work to be done! The airspace is open, as it is for all air users, as long as Equivalents and Transparency can be proved“, concludes Gary Claiton.
With time, the systems will improve and eventually conquer additional segments of the broader market. And we believe these baby steps in automation will eventually collide with another trend in aviation - instead of a two-person cockpit, we'll see one person only, and software would serve as a backup.
Since the Germanwings crash last March, pilots’ behavior has been under scrutiny. However, researchers believe we are still a long way from switching to completely automatic, pilotless planes or even planes with just one pilot onboard. Pilotless planes, like driverless cars, will have to fit in with existing infrastructure and regulations before they can take off.

EVA Airways to purchase 24 787-10 Dreamliners and 2 additional 777-300ER

EVA Airways to purchase 24 787-10 Dreamliners and 2 additional 777-300ER Boeing announced EVA Airways' intent to purchase up to 24 787-10 Dreamliners and two additional 777-300ER (Extended Range) jetliners, which is valued at more than $8 billion at current list prices. EVA Airways will join the 787-10 launch customer team and will be one of the first airlines in the world to introduce the newest member of the 787 Dreamliner family.
Once the deal is finalized, it will be posted on the Boeing Orders and Deliveries website.
"We look forward to welcoming EVA Airways as Boeing's newest member of the 787-10 Dreamliner launch customer group," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. "EVA Airways has been a valued Boeing customer over the past few decades and we are honored that they continue to introduce new Boeing widebody airplanes into their growing world-class fleet."
EVA Airways continues to modernize its long-haul fleet to replace aging aircraft and these new airplanes will allow the airline to expand into new markets, particularly in Southeast Asia, Oceania and North America.
The airline currently operates more than 37 Boeing airplanes in its fleet, including 21 777-300ERs. The 777-300ER is the backbone of EVA Airways' growing fleet and the carrier is the world's 8th largest 777-300ER operator and 4th largest in Asia.
With its intent to purchase two additional 777-300ERs as part of this deal, EVA Airways will have unfilled orders for 15 777-300ERs and five 777 Freighters, as well as 24 787-10s – both direct purchased and leased.
The 787-10 will be the third and longest member of the super-efficient 787 family. With its greater passenger and cargo capacity, robust range and passenger-pleasing features, the 787-10 will complement EVA's Boeing widebody fleet while setting a new benchmark for fuel efficiency and operating economics. The 787-10 will be 25 percent better in fuel and emissions than the airplanes it replaces and more than 10 percent better than anything offered by the competition for the future.

Airline business – do banks really know what they sign up for?

Airline business rollercoaster – do banks really know what they sign up for?Several thousand at Air France, six thousand at Malaysian Airlines and almost 11,000 at Transaero - these are the potential job cuts to be carried out by these major world carriers. This once again comes to show that airline business always balances on a fragile edge between profit and loss. However, if a carrier reaches an extreme point of bankruptcy, what awaits its financial partners? Will the banks be able to repossess the aircraft they have previously financed? Or will they end up with a $0.5-1 million loss-generating asset they know almost nothing about?
A grounded narrow-body aircraft generates approx. $40-50 thousand worth of losses each month in a form of various technical and engineering works mandatory to keep it in fit-to-operate condition. In addition, one has to pay airport parking fees – from a couple to a dozen thousands of dollars per month. Multiply that by two, three or ten aircraft and you will end up with quite a noticeable amount that someone has to pay for an unused fleet. If unsettled, these debts will eventually be transferred to the aircraft owner as grounded airplanes are often used as bail.
Moreover, if a grounded aircraft is not properly maintained or is being put on storage until better times, its preparation for re-entrance into service might require 3-4 million dollars. A wide-body will require at least twice as much. For an investor, it also means lost returns due to unreceived lease or interest payments.Airline business rollercoaster – do banks really know what they sign up for?
“As an investment, aircraft are quite attractive since they employ large sums of money and generate good returns – up to several millions of dollars per Airbus A320 type aircraft. However, ceaseless rollercoaster situation on the financial market and such events as the most recent ‘Black Tuesday’ in China discourage banks and institutional investors from putting money into securities. Instead, they explore more predictable and long-term assets which generate stable returns for a number of years,” explains Tomas Sidlauskas, Vice-President at AviaAM Leasing.
A lucky investor will enjoy anticipated 7-12% returns if the aircraft is being successfully operated by its first and second lessees for the term of both contracts. From the investor’s side, this will require minimum engagement into technical processes (often, only during aircraft redelivery and delivery to the second lessee).
In some cases, a multiple aircraft finance deal foresees that the financing of separate assets may be transferred to third-party investors. This way a major bank like Deutsche Bank, Citibank or Goldman Sachs which already has certain experience on the aviation market secures the required multi-million funding for an airline (or a leasing company), and then sells some of the liabilities to other banks or investors. That is how new aircraft market entrants and smaller banks typically receive an asset which they know little about. Of course, primary banks did all required due diligence to ensure that the asset is liquid, but it doesn’t mean that together with the liabilities second-tier investors get precise instructions how to maintain and remarket the aircraft.
“Over the past 5-7 years, dozens of airlines went down all over the world thus suddenly leaving their financial partners with numerous aircraft. Are these aircraft in good or poor condition? What are the dos and don’ts for the bankrupting operators with regard to their assets before they fully seize operation? Will it be possible to re-market the aircraft ASAP in order to ensure that no-profit generation period doesn’t exceed a couple of months? That’s quite a set of time-sensitive questions for someone who has anticipated trouble-free monthly returns 15 years in a row,” shares Tadas Goberis, the CEO of AviaAM Leasing. “In other words, aircraft financing business requires you to have both technical competence and round-the-year communication with as many potential lessees as possible. This is the only way to prevent millions of dollars worth of losses in an unforeseen situation. Otherwise, look for someone who already holds the required knowledge and let them act on your behalf.”

Lockheed eyes overhead cuts of up to 30 percent

Lockheed Martin launched a review aimed at cutting corporate overhead costs by as much as 30 percent, according to two sources familiar with the initiative.
Lockheed would already reduce overhead substantially as part of an announced plan to sell or spin off an array of services businesses with revenue of $6 billion.
Lockheed this week confirmed plans to reduce 250 jobs at its Missiles and Fire Control division, on top of 500 lay-offs already announced for the Information Systems and Government Services division now under strategic review.
Lockheed and other U.S. arms makers have been consolidating facilities, laying off workers and streamlining operations in recent years to cut costs due to a downturn in U.S. military spending. Continued budget uncertainty is driving executives to dig deeper and look for more savings.
Northrop Grumman Corp this week said it would streamline its business sectors from four to three to better align with the U.S. Defense Department's changing needs.
Howard Rubel, defense analyst with Jefferies Group, said Lockheed also faced pressure from the Pentagon to offer price concessions in several billion-dollar contracts it is negotiating: a five-year contract for up to 83 C-130J transport planes, and two separate deals for about 160 F-35 fighter jets.
"They might as well use the impetus of (those contracts) to cut cost and offset the concessions they're being asked to make," he said.
Lockheed is also restructuring the Lockheed Martin International division it first set up in July 2013 to help the company win more international orders, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Final decisions have not been made, but the business is being converted to a support function to make it work more efficiently, said one of the sources.

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A body has been found in a Lufthansa A340’s landing gear at Frankfurt airport

  A dead body has been found in the undercarriage of a Lufthansa aircraft that arrived at #Frankfurt airport from Tehran. German newspaper B...