News Desk

Virgin America Becomes A320neo Launch Customer

Virgin America has signed a firm order for 60 Airbus A320s including 30 A320neos, becom-ing the first customer to sign a contract for the re-engined narrowbody airliner, and at the same time taking total Airbus orders to 10,000 aircraft.

Virgin America is the second airline to commit to the A320neo but the first to sign a contract for the newly launched A320 derivative, after Airbus announced India’s IndiGo signed an MoU for 150 A320neos earlier in January.

“We hit our 5000th order in August of 2004 – after more than 30 years. To achieve the 10,000th order just over six years later is a ringing endorse-ment of our product line,” said Tom Enders, Airbus president and CEO. “And it gives a strong boost to our new, eco-efficient A320neo when Virgin America, one of our newest and trendiest customers, places the first firm order, for which we are extremely grateful. ” Virgin America will config-ure its A320s and A320neos in 146-149 seat two class configurations, and has yet to announce an engine selec-tion for the new aircraft.

Earlier, IndiGo became the first airline to announce an A320neo commitment, part of a potential record order for 180 aircraft, which the manufacturer says would be the largest single order in commercial aviation history.

IndiGo has signed an MoU with Airbus for 180 A320s, of which 150 will be A320neos and the remain-ing 30 current model A320s.

IndiGo said in a state-ment that engine selection for its A320neos will be announced at a later date.

“This order for industry leading fuel efficient aircraft will allow IndiGo to continue to offer low fares,” said IndiGo co-founders Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia in a state-ment. “Ordering more A320s was the natural choice to meet India’s growing flying needs. The opportunity to reduce costs and to further improve our environmental perform-ance through the A320neo were key to our decision. ”

A330 & 777 Rates To Increase

Airbus and Boeing have both announced production increases for their popular A330 and 777 airliner programs.

Airbus will increase its A330 Family production rate to 10 aircraft a month from the second quarter of 2013. The popular twin is currently being built at a rate of eight per month, with an increase to nine per month already planned for early 2012.

Airbus’s executive vice president programs Tom Wil-liams attributed the rate rise to “strong market demand”.

Meanwhile, Boeing says it will lift the produc-tion rate for the 777 to 8. 3 aircraft per month in the first quarter of 2013. increasing our yearly produc – tion to 100 777s,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes presi – dent and CEO Jim Albaugh.

mer demand globally, we are fact better than expected 12 months ago,” said Tom Enders, Airbus president and CEO. “The market rebound and improved program performance In March last year Boe -ing announced it would increase 777 produc-tion from five to seven per month from mid 2011.

Russia Certifies Superjet

Russian certification au-thority IAC AR has granted type certification to Sukhoi’s Superjet 100 airliner. The approval from IAC AR certifies the Superjet 100 as airworthy, opening the door for the aircraft to start commer-cial operations. IAC AR has also granted design organisa – tion approval to Sukhoi as a result of the successful audit process which certified the Superjet’s development quality system and performance.

Launch customer Aeroflot has 30 Superjets on order.

Airbus Takes Orders Crown

-Airbus has announced that it booked 644 orders for its commercial aircraft in 2010, a slightly higher figure than the 625 sales for the year announced by Boeing. The European manufacturer also achieved a company high delivery total of 510 aircraft for the year (Boeing delivered 462), 12 more than in 498, handed end of the year. It says it plans to hire up to 3000 more em -ployees in 2011, “in particular for the ramp-up of the single aisle and long range programs as well as development and -A350 XWB and the A320neo”. Enders said Airbus expects to deliver 520-530 aircraft in 2011, and book a slightly higher number of orders. Meanwhile, Boeing took a total of 625 orders in 2010 comprising 508 737s, 76 777s, one 747, three 767s and 37 787s, but these numbers were -including 30 777s and 41 787s. The 2010 result is a major im-provement over 2009 when the -gross and only 142 net orders.

Boeing’s deliveries of 462 airliners in 2010 was slightly below the 481 it delivered in 2009, and comprised 376 737s, 74 777s, and 12 767s. “With 376 deliveries in 2010, the Next-Generation 737 set a company delivery record for the second consecu-tive year,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing -737 is the industry’s most in-demand airplane with 486 -to rely on its superior econom-ics, versatility and continuous performance enhancements. ” At the start of the year Boeing held a backlog of 3443 airliners including 2186 737s, 107 747-8s, 50 767s, 253 777s and 847 787s. –

Stronger Recovery

Airbus’s latest Global Market Forecast (GMF) predicts a more bullish recovery in demand for new aircraft, projecting an ad-ditional 900 aircraft deliver- ies over the next two decades compared to its 2009 GMF.

The 2010 GMF predicts 4. 8 per cent annual growth in airliner deliveries, compared to the 4. 7 per cent rate of growth forecast a year ago. In all, Airbus forecasts the world’s airlines will take delivery of almost 26,000 new airliners and Sales over to 94 separate customers. Orders for 2010 comprised 452 A320 Family aircraft, 160 A330/A340 and A350 range aircraft, and 32 A380s. After cancellations the net sales figure -net order figure for 2010 was 530), well up on the net orders for 271 aircraft booked in 2009. In addition, Airbus Military -21 CN235 and C295 military transports, and delivered 20. “2010 was a good year, in has been particularly encourag-ing. However, with plenty of challenges, especially in our development programs, we’ll have to work hard to further improve and also make 2011 a successful year for Airbus. ” Airbus says it recruited 2200 new employees in 2010, taking its workforce to 52,500 by the in the forecast compared to last year’s is in the single aisle category, Airbus says.

“The recovery is stronger than predicted and rein – to 2029, valued at over US$2. 9 trillion. Most of the growth new build freighters through -ing delivered 246 jets for the year and with an order back-log worth US$15. 6 billion.

forces both the resilience of the sector to downturns and that people want and need to fly,” said John Leahy, chief operating officer customers. By size category, Airbus is forecasting demand over the 20 year period for: 1700 A380 sized very large aircraft valued at US$570bn; 6240 250-400 seat widebodies worth US$1. 34 trillion; and almost 17,900 single aisle aircraft worth US$1. 27 trillion. Airbus says airlines in emerging markets are lead-ing the rebound in growth. “Airlines in Asia Pacific including China and India will carry one third (33 per cent) of the passenger traffic by 2029, making it the larg-est region, overtaking the US (25 per cent) and Europe (20 per cent),” said Chris Emerson, head of product strategy and market forecast. Freight traffic is predicted -annum over the forecast period, creating demand for around 870 new freight-ers (worth US$211bn) and 2100 freighter conversions from passenger aircraft.

$6m Premium For A320neo

In releasing its 2011 price list, Airbus has detailed the price of the A320neo (New Engine Option) as being on average US$6. 2 million more than for standard A320 -The prices, which repre-sent a 4. 4 per cent increase on 2010 list prices, comprise: A318 US$65. 2m; A319 US$77. 7m; A320 US$85. 0m; A321 US$99. 7m; A319/A320/ A321 new engine option average additional US$6. 2m; A330-200 US$200. 8m; -US$203. 6m; A330-300 US$222. 5m; A340-300 US$238. 0m; A340-500 US$261. 8m; A340-600 -US$236. 6m; A350-900XWB US$267. 6m; A350-1000XWB US$299. 7m; and for the A380-800 US$375. 3m. Notes Airbus, “Price depends on design weights, engines choice and level of selected customisation. ”

Atr Books 80 New Orders For 2010

European turboprop manufacturer ATR booked 80 orders for new aircraft in -turnover of US$1. 35 billion, leaving it well placed on the -yearly deliveries of around 70 aircraft and annual turnover of US$1. 8 billion from 2012.

CEO Filippo Bagnato said he was “delighted” by the resur-gence of interest in ATR air-craft during 2010, and that the -hoped to expand its reach fur-ther into global markets. “We registered significant orders from new customers in Latin America and the Caribbean -confidence of lessors Air Lease Corporation, thus increasing our worldwide presence. We have now a strong baseline in order to prepare ATR for our next important step,” he said. “There is an estimated demand of almost 3000 turboprop aircraft in the next 20 years, comprising 60 per cent of growth and 40 per cent of replacement needs. Our goal is to confirm our lead-ing position in the turboprop market with over 50 per cent of marketshare,” Bagnato said.

For 2011, ATR is on track to gain certification for both ATR –ies of the first ATR 72-600 will start by mid-2011, while deliveries of ATR 42-600s –

Embraer Delivers 246 Aircraft In 2010

Embraer finished 2010 haveight E-175s, 58 E-190s, and 17 E-195s; in addition to 100 Phenom 100, 26 Phenom 300, 10 Legacy 600/650/Shut – tles and eight Lineage 1000/ -ered six ERJ-145s, 11 E-170s, For the year Embraer deliv which we received as late as Friday of last week [January 28] was that further seaworthi-ness inspections had indicated Shuttle business jets; and one ERJ-135 and one Legacy 600/650 for defence customers.

“Throughout 2010, the com-mercial aviation market showed concrete signs of recovery and gradually regained its business activity,” the Brazilian manu-facturer said in a statement. “Consequently, Embraer sealed contracts for the sale of 97 new airplanes, which is very close to the 100 deliveries made. ” The company’s firm or-der backlog at the end of 2010 stood at 250 aircraft.

Guggenheim Cancels 747-8f Order

Guggenheim Aviation Partners (GAP) has cancelled its remaining orders for two 747-8F freighters after cancel-ling its other two in early 2010.

The lessor, which ordered four 747-8Fs in August 2007, says the delays to the aircraft’s de-velopment program and the as-sociated economic impact left it with “no alternative” but to can- cel the order. Two of Guggenhe-im’s 747-8Fs on order had been placed with Korean Air Lines. Meanwhile, the fifth 747-8F to join the flight test program made its first flight on Febru- ary 4. The aircraft, RC523, will be based at Paine Field and be used for functional-ity and reliability testing. –

Parts Tracking

Boeing is to launch a spare parts inventory management system using technologies such as RFID (radio fre-quency identification devices) and contact memory buttons (CMBs) in the first quarter of 2012, after signing a strate-gic alliance with Fujitsu. Under the deal, Fujitsu will provide Boeing with auto–devices, device readers, software applications and a system inte-gration and deployment service for the Boeing Transformation Service. Boeing will use those technologies to offer airlines and maintenance providers tai- lored solutions which will allow them to cut costs by reducing parts inventory and manual data entry errors without hav-ing to create new processes.

Boeing says the service will -testing and then deployment with a launch customer prior to launch in early 2012.

Military

Manoora To Be Decommissioned

The Navy’s HMAS  Manoora amphibious transport (LPA) ship is to be decommissioned. The Manoora and her sistership HMAS -have been tied up alongside at Fleet Base East in Syd- ney since late last year on an “operational pause” due to rust and reliability issues. According to Defence Min -ister Stephen Smith, the Ma-noora is “currently in dock and on the recommendation of the Chief of Navy, it’s recommend- ed that it be decommissioned and we’ve accepted that advice, -There is a possibil -ity the -may not re-enter service as well. “The most recent advice further significant difficulties with the Kanimbla,” Smith said. “The current advice is that it will take until the middle of next year for those adverse findings to be recti-fied. So I hope that that will be the outcome but we need to take that step by step. ” With the retirement of the Manoora and issues with Kanimbla, Smith said a “new transitional arrangement” to the forthcoming LHDs, which won’t enter service until 2014-15, was needed, and could include the acquisi-tion of a surplus UK Bay Class vessel as an interim measure. “We are looking at either a lease or a purchase of a Bay Class, and I’ve already had discussions with Defence Secretary Fox and I’ll continue those discussions by phone this is that the original transition plan which was dependant upon the ongoing operational capacity of the Manoora and “That is one option. What has become clear in recent weeks week,” Minister Smith said.

Phase 1 is cost-capped be-tween $100-150 million, with final approval due in the period 2012-13 to 2014-15.

the Kanimbla and the Tobruk will not now be sufficient to make the transition to the new Landing Helicopter Docks. ” The ministers also announced the cancellation of the $40 million project to acquire six LCM2000 landing craft for the Manoora and Kanimbla.

Raytheon And Bae Team For Air 5428

Raytheon has announced its teaming with BAE Systems to bid for the ADF’s Air 5428 Pilot Training System program. The Raytheon led bid will centre on the Hawker Beech-craft T-6C turboprop trainer, but will also include simulators, training devices, instructors, facilities and courseware. –ing on flexibility, cost and schedule management as well as the expectations of our customer, we have a unique opportunity to ensure the absolute readiness of Austral-ia’s aviation warfighter,” said Raytheon Australia manag-ing director Michael Ward. Raytheon’s Australian mili -tary training programs include Hornet and Super Hornet aircrew training and operat–Motivation Initiative (RMI) AgustaWestland AW109 helicopters. BAE Systems oper-ates the Basic Flying Training School (BFTS) at Tamworth, where all initial ADF pilot training is undertaken. No other firm teaming ar –yet been announced, although it is widely expected that Lock-heed Martin will team with -Pacific to offer a Pilatus PC-21 based solution. Other compa-nies thought to be looking at bidding at some level include Boeing Australia and Thales. Air 5428 will replace the current BFTS/2FTS flight screening, initial and ad -vanced pilot training arrange-ments. It will provide training -for RAAF pilots, and initial pilot training for Army and -The T-6C is the export variant of the T-6B Texan II, as now being delivered to the US Navy, which introduced an advanced glass cockpit. Hawker Beechcraft has delivered almost 600 T-6 trainers, mostly to the US Air Force and Navy, but also to the NATO Flying -and the Greek air force.

$300m For Classic Hornet Refurbishment

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has announced the con-solidation of RAAF F/A-18A/B ‘classic’ Hornet refurbishment projects into a new combined program with a cost-capped $250-300 million budget. “This combined program is estimated to result in savings of more than $500 million over the previously planned approach, but deliver the same enhanced capability result,” the Minister said. “It will also increase the operational availability of the overall fleet of classic Hornets. ” The consolidated program “will help to ensure that the Hornets continue as a key element of the ADF’s air combat capability through -when they will be replaced by the Joint Strike Fighter. ” The Minister also announced first pass approval of Air 5431 –able air traffic management and control systems. Air 5431

Boeing Trims C-17 Workforce

Boeing will cut approxi-mately 1100 jobs from its C-17 production line by the end of 2012 as it winds down the production rate of the airlifter. The move follows a scale down in C-17 deliveries from 14 in 2010 to an announced 13 in 2011, to 10 aircraft in 2012. The lower production rate, announced in Febuar-ary 2010, is designed to give Boeing time to capture more international orders. C-17 program manager Bob Ciesla said that it had been a “very difficult decision” to cut jobs, but was necessary as deliv- eries wind down. “By reducing the number of C-17s we deliver every year – and doing that with a smaller work force – will protect jobs, and give potential customers more time to finalise their airlift requirements. ” The shift to phase two of production will result in the elimination of the second -tion line open beyond 2012, allow us to keep the produc shift at the C-17 final as -sembly facility in Long Beach, California. Boeing anticipates that the workforce reduction will primarily impact Long Beach, where approximately 900 of the 1100 job losses will take place. The remaining 200 jobs will also be cut from C-17 employees in Macon, Georgia; Mesa, Arizona; and St Louis, Missouri. The C-17, of which four are in service with the RAAF, achieved two million total flight hours in December, less than five years after it passed the one million flight hour mark in March 2006. The USAF has taken delivery of 206 out of the 226 C-17s produced so far.

Military Briefs

• The final UK Harrier sortie was flown on December 15, ending 41 years of Harrier operations with the RAF and Royal Navy. The final flight was conducted by 16 GR. 9 and T. 12 –ron and the RN’s 800NAS.

Airlines

Air Nz Buys Into Vb

Air New Zealand has bought a 15 per cent stake in new alliance partner Virgin Blue. “The investment in Vir-gin Blue is part of Air New Zealand’s strategy to de-velop scale and reach in this region,” said Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe on Janu-ary 20. “The Tasman alliance with Virgin Blue was the -Air New Zealand announced its buy-in plan after reaching the five per cent major share-ment Review Board approval to take a 14. 9 per cent stake in Virgin Blue. The New Zealand government majority owned airline says it has no plans to make a full takeover offer.

had received Foreign Invest-holder threshold, revealing it Blue CEO John Borghetti welcomed the approval. “The alliance is a key part of our strategy of building an inter- Australian law allows domestic airlines to be 100 per cent foreign owned, but Australian international airlines must be 51 per cent Australian owned. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group remains Vir-gin Blue’s largest shareholder with a 26 per cent stake. The two airlines recently received regulatory approval for their trans-Tasman codesharing and revenue sharing alliance.

Qantas Launches Dallas/fort Worth Flights, Drops Sfo

Qantas will launch new four times weekly nonstop services between Australia and Dal- las/Fort Worth (DFW) from May 16, and at the same time will drop its direct Sydney- San Francisco flights. The new route will see Qan- tas operate three-class Boeing 747-400ER direct outbound flights from Sydney to DFW -via Brisbane as QF8, while the airline will continue to serve San Francisco from May 14 under a codeshare arrangement. The new flights to Dallas/ Fort Worth will be codeshared with American Airlines, and the two carriers have an-nounced plans to expand their commercial partnership. “Alongside our entry into DFW, Qantas and American Airlines intend to deepen their existing relationship and will be seeking regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer -other relevant authorities for this expanded commer-cial relationship,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said. Qantas and American will seek to coordinate operations between Australia/New Zea- land and the US, while Qantas -Worth with American to 13 US – Albuquerque, Boise, Cleve-land, Washington DC (Reagan -(LaGuardia), Kansas City, Oklahoma, Phoenix, San Anto-nio, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Tucson – and three Mexican – Cancun, Guadalajara, and Mexico City – destinations. Once the alliance receives regulatory approval, Qantas plans to increase the Dallas/ Fort Worth services to a daily frequency. The new commercial agreement will also see AAVa-cations, American Airlines’ tour operator, offer integrated Aus-tralian and Asia Pacific holidays packages in the US market. Meanwhile, Qantas has also announced it will in-crease the frequency of its Los Angeles-New York service (QF107/108) from six times per week to daily from June. –

Accc Confirms Approval Of Virgin Blue-etihad Alliance

The Australian Competi-tion and Consumer Commis–final approval of Virgin Blue and Etihad’s planned alliance to cooperate on joint pric- ing and scheduling of serv-ices across their networks. “The ACCC considers that the alliance is likely to pro-mote competition and result in new international services, in particular between Australia and Abu Dhabi with onward connections to Europe,” ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said. In granting the authorisation, which provides immunity from court action that otherwise -Competition and Consumer Act 2010, the ACCC notes the two airlines do not currently compete, and so “ the alliance -anti-competitive detriments. ” In a media statement Virgin national network with global coverage that complements our core domestic business. ” Virgin Blue’s V Australia arm will launch direct Sydney-Abu Dhabi services on February 24. The ACCC had issued a draft determination approv-ing the deal in December.

Tourism  Council Raises Concerns About Wa Changes

The Tourism Council of Western Australia has raised concerns over the quality of services to some regional destinations after the state government announced several changes to intrastate air routes. Incumbent Skywest is the preferred airline for Perth-Al-bany and Perth-Esperance, and will introduce Perth-Bussleton flights, but Skippers Aviation has been named as the pre-ferred airline for the Perth to Mt Magnet and Meekatharra, Perth to Laverton and Leonora, Perth to Wiluna and Leinster and Perth to Carnarvon, Mon-key Mia and Kalbarri routes. Perth-Exmouth and Perth Geraldton services, previously run exclusively by Skywest, will now also be opened up to competition from a second carrier. Qantas has already announced plans to operate between Perth and Exmouth. While the Tourism Council has welcomed the changes, it is concerned that remote destinations such as Monkey Mia are not disadvantaged by the new services. Coun-cil CEO Graham Moss said there was some concern about the changes from the smaller the quality of air services into Kalbarri, Monkey Mia and Carnarvon but we’ll wait and see what sort of quality Skip – pers Aviation are able to offer they could not be addressed. “We have some concerns about centres, but saw no reason why to ensure that those routes are adequately serviced,” Moss said. “Their concern is the quality of service and that’s the type of aircraft, the frequency of services and participation in global distribution systems. ” “So if those issues can be addressed adequately then I think it can only be posi-tive for those areas as well. ” The state government’s review of regional services will also see Golden Ea-gle Airline’s Broome-Fitzroy Crossing-Halls Creek service extended to include Derby. With the announcement of the WA government’s deci – sion, Qantas quickly detailed further expansion of its WA activities, with the new direct Perth-Exmouth service to launch on March 31, as well as basing an additional 737-800 in Perth for intrastate services. “With the Western Australian –lated routes opening Perth-Ex-mouth up to a second licensed operator, QantasLink will com -mence B717 services, initially three-times-a-week, from 31 March,” said Qantas regional manager WA and NT Ian Grey. “We also welcome the government’s decision to deregulate the Perth-Geraldton route and will now assess op-tions around a possible future operation to Geraldton. ” Grey said the additional Perth -to add nearly 7000 seats per week from Perth to Broome, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Newman, Paraburdoo and Port Hedland. “Qantas will also increase capacity between Perth and Melbourne by more than 2000 seats per week by adding four return services from 17 April, including three oper-ated by A330-300 aircraft. ”

Tiger Boosts Winter Schedule Capacity

The progressive addition of -means Tiger Airways Aus -tralia’s winter 2011 schedule will offer 20 per cent more capacity than the airline’s winter 2010 schedule. Between April and November Tiger will increase its 13 weekly Melbourne to Perth flights to 20 with a new daytime daily service, and will add another flight to its current three times weekly Melbourne to Alice Springs service. As part of the lead up to its winter schedule, Tiger will also add two new routes, with daily services between Sydney and Brisbane (due to start from February 7) and Sydney and the Sunshine Coast (from March 27). Both new services will feature three daily return flights for a total of 21 flights per week.

Tiger is set to receive its eleventh A320 for domestic Australian operations in April, and “is scoping out locations for a fourth Australian base to be announced in due course,” the airline says.

Qantas To Codeshare With Jetstar Asia

Qantas is to codeshare on 11 Jetstar Asia routes out of Singapore from April 1.

Subject to regulatory approval, Qantas will codeshare on Jetstar Asia (including Valuair) services from Singapore to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka (via Taipei), Penang, Phuket, Taipei, Bangkok, Denpasar (Bali), Ho Chi Minh City, and Hong Kong, as well as to Auckland.

Jetstar Asia CEO Chong Phit Lian said the extended codeshare partnership with Qantas was an important step in Jetstar’s plans to expand its Singapore base. “Jetstar’s ongoing strategic development and evolution of our major Singapore flying hub we predict will be greatly enabled over time by this new commercial arrangement with Qantas,” she said.

Qantas customers will be entitled to the standard Qantas baggage allowance on Jetstar Asia codeshared flights, as well as complimentary onboard offerings on Jetstar’s new Singapore to Auckland route, which is to launch on March 17.

Floods, Soft Consumer Sentiment Drive Vb Downgrade

Virgin Blue has issued a profit downgrade, saying the impacts of the Queensland floods and a slowdown in consumer spending could lop up to $40 million off its revenue for the current financial year.

“The slowdown in consumer spending experienced across the discretionary retail and leisure sector, together with the recent floods in the eastern states, could have a significant impact on trading conditions over the coming months,” the airline reported to the ASX on January 25. “The extent of this impact on revenue cannot be accurately estimated at this time but could be up to $40 million. ” The airline, which was due to report its half yearly results on February 23, says it expects to post an underlying net profit before tax for the six month period of $70-75 million.

After the crippling outage of its Open Skies reservation system in September, and “the non-cash impact of ineffective hedges”, net profit after tax for the half is expected to be in the $23-26 million range.

Qantas Ups Fuel Surcharge

Qantas has announced a significant increase in its fuel surcharge for international services, its first fuel surcharge increase since January 2008, in response to rising fuel prices.

“Fuel prices are a major issue.

Crude oil prices are currently trading at their highest levels since the global financial crisis.

The Qantas Group has a big exposure to fuel prices, although exchange rate movements partially offset their impact. But over the past four months, the Australian dollar has appreciated by six per cent, while jet fuel prices rose by around 24 per cent,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told the Melbourne Press Club on February 3.

For flights after February 19, the fuel surcharge increases from $95 to $145 one-way for flights to/from the UK and Europe; from $85 to $115 for North and South America, India and South Africa; and from $55 to $75 for routes to Asia, the Pacific and Hawaii.

Joyce says the surcharges “will not fully recover this additional cost, and we cannot rule out further changes in the future. ” Qantas removed surcharges from domestic and trans-Tasman flights in January 2009, but says that domestic and trans-Tasman fares are “under review”.

As for Jetstar, “Jetstar is committed to offering the lowest fares, and will address the fuel price issue via selective changes to air fares and increases in ancillary revenue, including baggage charges,” Joyce told the Melbourne Press Club. “As a group we will be monitoring the situation, and we cannot rule out further changes in the future. ”

Qantas Resumes La A380 Services

Qantas has resumed Airbus A380 services between Australia and the US, beginning with QF93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles on January 16.

Despite resuming A380 services in late November following the November 3 QF32 mid-air engine failure and subsequent grounding of the type, the airline decided not to return the aircraft to Los Angeles-Australia routes as they regularly require the use of maximum engine thrust.

Since returning the A380 to service Qantas has monitored the performance of the A380’s Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, and after extensive Airbus analysis Qantas, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and CASA satisfied themselves that A380 flying on the Los Angeles to Australia route with use of maximum engine thrust could resume.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that the decision would see Qantas continue the progressive reintroduction of A380s to its existing network.

“The decision not to operate Los Angeles services allowed us to gain further operational experience before deploying the A380 on these routes,” Joyce said.

“Only when we, our manufacturers and our regulators were completely satisfied that it was safe to begin flying the aircraft again did we resume A380 services, initially on London routes only.

A spokesperson for Rolls- Royce stated that the engine manufacturer was “delighted” that Qantas could resume its LA A380s services.

“All engine thrust restrictions have now been removed of the alliance, and also in the alliance’s ‘Visit Australia and New Zealand pass’ . For passengers travelling on these fares, Jetstar will provide in agreement with Airbus, -regulators,” the spokesperson said. “Immediately following the event of November 4th we agreed a program of inspec-tion and maintenance which allowed the majority of the Trent 900 fleet to continue to fly as scheduled. This inspection regime has also been alleviated. ”

Jetstar Teams With Oneworld, Finnair

Jetstar has announced a -oneworld airline alliance.

From February 1, Jetstar -Qantas codeshare have been saleable by oneworld carri- ers and travel agents globally as part of oneworld itinerar-ies.

Parent Qantas currently codeshares on almost every Jetstar flight, allowing the ar-rangement to cover most of Jetstar’s Australia and New Zealand operations.

The move will also allow customers to include Jetstar flights with oneworld fare products, such -Jetstar’s fare agreement – which will add five Australian destinations and 56 routes across Australasia to the one -world network – will initially apply to itineraries ticketed by oneworld carriers that have existing interline agreements with the airline, including Qan-tas, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, LAN and Royal Jordanian.

However, plans are underway to extend the arrangement to itin- eraries being ticketed by other oneworld member airlines.

–pates in Global Explorer, the round-the-world fare of—ners with a number of other airlines that are not members baggage allowances comparable to other participating airlines, through check of baggage be-tween all international flights, through-check of passengers between Qantas and Jetstar international flights, and on select services, complimen-tary inflight offerings such as meals and comfort packs.

Meanwhile, Jetstar has also signed an interline agreement with oneworld carrier Finnair.

The partnership will allow Finnair passengers to pur-chase a Jetstar, Jetstar Asia, Valuair or Jetstar Pacific flight as part of a single integrated transaction and travel itiner-ary, sold on a Finnair E-ticket.

The move marks Jetstar’s 21st interline partnership.

For passengers travelling under the agreement, Jetstar will accommodate the Fin-nair baggage allowance, while for passengers connecting international to international flights, bags will be through-tagged on select services.

Airline Briefs

• Aeropelican has announced plans to offer daily Monday to Friday return flights be-tween Narrabri and Brisbane, as well as a connecting service between Narrabri and New-castle on Monday and Friday.

• Jetstar Asia has announced its seventh Chinese destina-tion with direct flights from Singapore to Hangzhou (Shanghai).

The new service, to be operated by Airbus A320s, is to commence on March 22 initially three times per week, increasing to four flights weekly by the end of that month.

Jetstar will become the first carrier to offer direct flights from Singapore to Hangzhou.

• Airnorth is doubling the frequency of its Darwin to Gold Coast via Mount Isa services with the addition of a second weekly flight.

• Strategic Airlines has an-nounced plans to operate new Brisbane-Denpasar nonstop Airbus A330 services from March 19.

Strategic plans to operate twice weekly flights on the route, departing Brisbane on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

• Jetstar has been named official airline partner of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and its associated tournaments across the Asia Pacific through to 2013.

WTA players will fly on Jetstar to attend tournaments.

• The US Airways Airbus A320 which successfully ditched in New York’s Hudson River will be put on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The aircraft, which made a forced landing on the river with no ma- – parture from LaGuardia Airport in January 2009, will be moved by road from storage in New York to Charlotte, a US Airways hub and the planned destination -sive bird strike shortly after dejor injuries after suffering a mas for the ill-fated flight, in May.

• Korean Air Lines will feature the lowest density seating ar-rangement seen on an Airbus A380 so far when its first aircraft enters service in May.

The airline says it will have just 407 seats on the 10 A380s it has on order, comprising 12 first class and 301 economy seats on the main deck, and an all business class upper deck with 94 lie-flat sleeper seats.

• Jetstar has signed an interline agreement with Cathay Pacific and Dragonair.

Jetstar says that for Cathay Pacific and Drago- nair passengers connecting international to international services under the agreement, it will provide baggage allow-ances through bag-tagging, and on certain flights, complimen-tary onboard offerings such –

Airline Briefsairports

Melbourne Airport Hits 27 Million Mark

Melbourne Airport has reported that a record 27.

7 mil -lion passengers passed through its terminals last year, thanks in part to a strong December.

The 27.

7 million passenger figure represents a 10 per cent increase over 2009 passenger numbers, bolstered partly by a 14 per cent increase in international arrivals in 2010, to 5.

9 million international passengers.

The strong interna–was driven by growth from the United Kingdom, Asian and New Zealand markets.

Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff said that he believed the Ashes cricket series contributed to strong Decem-ber passenger growth, which helped to see a total of 591,108 –bourne Airport – up 13 per cent from 2009.

“We welcomed per cent increase over the same period last year,” Woodruff said.

“Access to Asia, Victoria’s fastest growing market, was further buoyed by the launch of Jetstar’s new daily Singapore -port holders in December, a 20 40,091 United Kingdom pass service in December, which provides a springboard to a fur- ther 22 destinations across Asia via Jetstar’s Singapore base.

“Jetstar also launched new direct daily Melbourne flights to Auckland and twice weekly flights to Queenstown in De-cember, offering terrific value and a greater choice of travel options to New Zealand.

”

Airport Briefs

• Airservices Australia commis-sioned Wagga Wagga Airport’s new instrument landing system (ILS) on December 16.

The $1.

6 million project was in large part funded by a federal government $1.

1 million grant, with Wagga Wagga City Council, Airs-ervices and Regional Express contributing the balance.

• Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, -2010 masterplan.

The plan features a major redevelop-ment of the passenger terminal by 2013 and the progressive upgrade of taxiways and GA facilities.

It also proposes the construction of a new ac-cess road linking McMillans Road and Osgood Drive.

• Newcastle Airport set a new passenger traffic record in 2010, with a total of 1,181,261 passengers passing through its terminal.

The 2010 figure represents an increase of four per -with 2009, and comes despite a sluggish first six month period.

In the second half of the year total passenger numbers in-creased by 10 per cent or 57,000 passengers when compared with the same period in 2009.

General Aviation

Cessna Skycatcher

-Cessna has announced it has now delivered more than 30 Skycatcher light sport aircraft.

Cessna has so far taken -its reassembly site at Yingling Aviation in Wichita, Kansas, as the company plans to deliver 150 Skycatchers in 2011.

“Our US reassembly facility is receiving Skycatchers from -yang Aircraft Coporation at airframes from China’s Shen the Phenom series, the SVT also offers a colour-coded landscape to display poten-tial flight-into-terrain risks, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation at an increased cadence, but most importantly the quality of the aircraft continues to be ex-cellent.

Feedback from our cus-tomers – individuals and flight schools alike – has affirmed the need for a light sport aircraft with the Cessna brand.

It’s en-couraging to see the Skycatcher enter service in such a positive way,” Cesssna chairman, presi-dent and CEO Jack Pelton said.

Peter Lang from Australian Cessna dealer Aeromil Pacific said a “considerable number” of Skycatchers had also been ordered locally, with the aircraft to go on display at the Avalon Airshow in early March.

Piper Terminates Pipersport

Piper Aircraft has terminat -ed its business relationship with Czech Republic based Czech -joining forces, citing differ-ences in business philosophies.

Czech Sport Aircraft’s Sport- Cruiser Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) had been distributed by Piper under the PiperSport name by a separate dealer net-work, but Piper says differences soon emerged that caused the partnership to eventually split.

“Clearly, the company has a different business perspective and approach to the market than Czech Sport Aircraft,” Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger said.

-affinity with this emerging segment of the marketplace and we have great expecta-tions for the LSA industry.

The LSA we were distributing is a good one and we encour-age aviation enthusiasts to continue their support of -“We certainly understand the implications of this devel-opment in the Light Sport -take this action carelessly.

”

Business

Airbus Delivers 15 Bizjets In 2010

Airbus delivered a com-pany record 15 corporate jets in 2010, worth a total of US$1.

5 billion at list prices.

The aircraft deliveries included 13 A318 Elites, Airbus Corporate Jetlin— tiges, plus another two VIP -For the year Airbus booked a further eight corporate jet orders – seven aircraft from the A318 Elite/Airbus ACJ/A320 Prestige Fam-ily, plus one widebody A330/ A340 – taking total Airbus corporate jet orders to 170.

–

Phenom 300 Syn Vision Certified

Embraer has received regula-tory approval for Garmin’s new Synthetic Vision Tech–300 executive jet, becoming the first light executive jet to offer the cockpit feature, after Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), the US’s FAA and Europe’s EASA gave their approval.

SVT recreates a visual topographic landscape from the system’s terrain-alerting database via graphics model-ling, which simulates what the pilot would see with the naked eye in broad daylight.

The resulting virtual reality display offers pilots a supple -mental 3D depiction of ground, -traffic.

Pilots flying in adverse weather such as fog, rain, haze, darkness or instrument only scenarios are expected to ben-efit from the new technology.

A key feature of Garmin’s Prodigy flightdeck selected for TCAS and TIS information.

Cargo

An-124 Cleared For Australian Ops

Ruslan International’s fleet of 17 Antonov An-124 commercial airlifters oper-ated by Antonov Airlines and Volga Dnepr Airlines have been cleared by the Depart-ment of Infrastructure and Transportation to operate from Australian airports.

The clearance comes after Ruslan was able to pro-vide certification that the aircraft met ICAO Chap-ter 3 noise standards.

“Throughout the period during which the requirement applied to our aircraft, we were always hopeful that our flights would be allowed to operate – given their irregular nature, and the fact that there is gener-ally no alternative aircraft for the outsize project cargoes we carry,” Ruslan International’s business development manager, Michael Goodisman, said.

“However, we are very pleased with this new development.

It allows both Ruslan Internation-al and our customers to plan future flights within Austral-ian airspace with confidence.

” Previously, Ruslan was re-quired to apply for exemptions and provide letters of support from charter clients, includ-ing the ADF, that the services were in the public interest in order to be able to operate the An-124 in Australia.

Emirates Operates Longest Service

Emirates SkyCargo re-cently operated its longest ever nonstop cargo service when it flew a load of valu-able racehorses from Sydney to Stewart International Airport in upstate New York in a Boeing 777-200F.

The 17.

5 hour flight eclipsed the previous longest flight of 16.

8 hours from Dubai to Houston.

“This landmark flight is especially significant for operations in countries such as Australia,” said Greg Johnson, Emirates’ cargo manager Aus-tralia.

“Being located some dis-tance from many of the world’s key markets, a high importance is placed on range capability.

” Emirates says the cargo of horses flown by EK4931 was potentially worth more than the aircraft itself!

Qantas Reaches Settlement On Freight Cartel Role

Qantas has agreed to pay a US$26.

5 million settle-ment to resolve its liabil-ity under a US class action brought against a number of airlines for their participa-tion in an air freight cartel.

“Under the terms of the set-tlement agreement, Qantas will pay US$26.

5 million, which is based on Qantas’s freight reve-nue to/from the United States,” the airline said in a statement.

from claims made by all class members who were direct purchasers of air cargo services to or from the US from January 2000 to 11 September 2006.

” Qantas has already been fined with the class action plaintiffs.

In exchange, Qantas is released “Qantas must also cooperate Fairfax Media and Foxtel.

Meanwhile, Virgin Blue has poached another key Qantas executive, this time head of airports customer experience in Australia, Canada, Korea and Europe for its participation in the cartel, but still faces a $200 million class action in Australia.

Support

Seacor Completes Hawker Pacific Investment

Secor completed its pur-chase of a minority holding in Hawker Pacific late last year.

A wholly owned subsidiary of marine and aviation as-sets company Secor Holdings Inc, Seacor Capital became a minority shareholder of Hawker Pacific with a $25 million investment.

In return, Hawker Pacific has provided newly issued common equity, allowing Seacor to appoint representatives to the Hawker Pacific board of directors.

“The newly constituted board of directors expects to invest the proceeds from the strategic investment in a wide range of initiatives designed to signifi-cantly expand Hawker Pacific’s sales and marketing resources, technical and engineering capability and further develop its MRO and FBO infrastruc -ture across Asia Pacific and the Middle East,” Hawker Pacific said in a statement.

Seacor joins Saab AB Sweden and Lynton Hold-ing Asia DK APS as Hawker Pacific’s current shareholders.

New Casa Maintenance Regs To Come Online

CASA’s long awaited -Civil Aviation Safety Regu-lations (CASRs) have been signed into law, and will take effect from June 27.

The new CASRs cover continuing airworthiness requirements (Part 42), ap- proved maintenance organisa-tions (Part 145), maintenance personnel licensing (Part 66) and maintenance training organisations (Part 147).

— proach of the new regula-tions means there is a clear focus on safety outcomes at all times, while provid-ing the aviation maintenance industry with flexibility,” said CASA director of aviation safety John McCormick.

Parts 42 and 145 at this point are only applicable to RPT air-craft and operators, and will be phased in over a two year period.

-sectors such as charter, aerial work and private flying are to “be developed at a later date, af -ter wide consultation with these sectors,” according to CASA.

New rules under Part 42 for charter operators are aimed at being in place by June 27 -RPT and charter operations and require aircraft used for these purposes to be operated and maintained to the same standard”, according to CASA.

The new rules will ensure -continuing airworthiness management systems, mainte -nance organisations will need to introduce safety systems and human factors train-ing, and all licensed aircraft maintenance engineers will have their licences re-issued.

Detailed information on the regulations is available on the CASA website.

People

New Cfo For Virgin Blue

Virgin Blue has announced the appointment of Sankar -to the position of chief financial officer fol -lowing the resignation of -Narayan has previously held the positions of CFO with Astro All Asia Networks, Roger Lindeman.

Lindeman, a 40 year Qantas veteran, joins Virgin Blue as general manager service experience.

Aviation Australia Announces New Ceo

Bill Horrocks has been appointed as CEO of Aviation Australia.

Appointed as acting CEO in September 2010 following the resignation of Paul Breder-eck, “Bill has been selected by the board of Aviation Aus-tralia to lead the company through a period of renewed growth and to reshape the company to meet the chal-lenges of the external market,” chairman Jim Walker said.

The former Australian Army brigadier has had extensive ex-perience in education and train-ing, project management, sup-ply chain management, business operations and leadership.